Values

Values

Recognizing Wholeness

All humans are inherently worthy, valuable, and whole.

Neurodiversity

There is no “correct” way for the brain to work. Instead, there is a wide range of ways that people perceive and respond to the world, and these ways of being are to be valued and supported. We reject the idea that a neurodivergent brain is a disordered version of a neurotypical brain.

Intersectionality

We recognize and combat the ways that multiple forms of oppression compound themselves and create distinct forms of harm, discrimination, and oppression.

Dignity

Dignity for disabled people means being recognized and treated as fully human—worthy of respect, autonomy, safety, and care—without needing to change, mask, or prove their value. It means having the right to exist as you are, to access the world without barriers, to make choices about your body and life, to be believed, and to be included not as an exception or accommodation, but because you exist. Dignity means disabled people must not be humiliated, manipulated, exploited, or subjected to oppressive therapies, restraint, seclusion, and corporal punishment.

Autonomy

Everyone has the capacity to make informed, uncoerced decisions. Coercion means trying to change people’s behavior even if the people do not want to change their behavior. Behavior support services use coercion to force autistic and neurodivergent people to do things they do not want to do. Held in Humanity supports autonomy.

Nothing About Us Without Us

“Nothing About Us Without Us” means that disabled people need to be involved when their disability is discussed. For example, decisions about autism and supports need to be led by and made with autistic people.

 

Inclusion

We believe that environments, opportunities, resources, and rights should be designed for equitable access for all marginalized people from the start rather than retro-fitted for them. We believe in actively creating environments where all people feel valued, respected, and supported.  In educational settings, curriculum and instruction should be designed by and for disabled and marginalized groups from the start, and no one should be segregated and excluded by special education. Curriculum should be decolonized, multi-racial, polyethnic, global-centric, anti-oppressive, and liberatory.

Self-Determination

We advocate for individuals’ right to choose how their lives are led and control such without external control or coercion.

Collective Liberation

No body or mind shall be left behind. True liberation can only be achieved when all marginalized people are free from oppression.

Interdependence

We believe in meeting each others’ needs and practicing community care, knowing that individualism prevents collective liberation.

Abolition

We believe in dismantling systems of harm, including prisons, policing, and other institutions rooted in punishment, control, and oppression. We support building life-affirming alternatives grounded in care, accountability, and community support.

Anti-capitalist Politic

We live under capitalism, where making money is often valued more than people or the planet. That system sees land and human lives as things to use for profit. When our bodies or minds don’t fit what that system expects, we challenge those values just by being who we are.