RespectAbility, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities, will now be known as Disability Belongs.
In a Sept. 4 news announcement, the organization, based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said, “This name is the result of a year-long rebranding process that sought input from the organization’s staff, board, program alumni, partners, supporters and the disability community at large.”
“We are proud to be a disability-led organization and, to reflect that, we wanted the word ‘disability’ in our name,” said Disability Belongs President/CEO Ariel Simms. “We also felt strongly that our new name should be a statement of our core belief: that we belong in all aspects of society and community.”
The announcement added that the new name “was designed with an intentional focus on accessibility.” The organization’s tagline also changed and is now “Redefining Narratives. Developing Leaders. Driving Opportunity.”
“This theory of change guides the way the organization approaches disability inclusion,” the announcement said. The new logo — two overlapping droplet shapes — “represents the fact that disability is intersectional in nature and a key part of human diversity,” the organization said.
Disability Belongs advocates for “systemic change” in “how society views and values disabled individuals in all aspects of community, including in business and the workplace. Disabled people need more than just accommodations — they need to belong. The mission and core programmatic areas of Disability Belongs — entertainment and news media; faith inclusion and belonging; leadership and workforce development; and policy and civic engagement — are not changing with the new brand.”
In July, Khadija Bari was elected the organization’s board chair. Bari is the director of job placement services in the workforce development department at VISIONS/Services for the Blind & Visually Impaired, a New York-based nonprofit.
The organization will be launching a new website in coming months. The current website can be found at www.DisabilityBelongs.org.
