DEI(but carve out the A) is Dead.

DEI is dead.

And, as it breathes its final breaths, everyone is acknowledging what we’ve all known all along- besides the fact that non-Black people, marginalized white people, in particular, have a long history of fighting for their “inclusion” in DEI when advantageous to do so- DEI has always been about Black people.

This is especially true when it’s time to malign DEI.

Nevertheless, #BigDisCo 's push for inclusion within DEI was particularly apparent during the Biden years when engaging in DEI rendered applicants for federal funding more attractive.

This wasn’t done to acknowledge the shocking levels of inequity that personal care attendants (PCAs) and other direct support professionals (DSPs), workers that are, more often than not, melanated, female, and, increasingly, immigrants, that are pervasive throughout the disability services sector.

This also wasn’t done in solidarity with melanated people with disabilities to acknowledge and address the barriers to access to services and supports that lead to a disproportionate number of Black and brown disabled people being cut off from Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and, thus, vulnerable to institutionalization, incarceration, homelessness, and death.

No, #BigDisCo engaged in systems advocacy pertaining to DEI to get an “A”- for “accessibility”- being added to the acronym.

In fact, #BigDisCo ‘s history has always been fraught with exclusion and inequity when it comes to melanated people: despite the fact that the bottom rung of the disability services workforce is primarily comprised of racially marginalized people (Black people, who comprise 12% of the US population, are 40% of the PCA/DSP workforce), that is typically where racial diversity ends. A 2024 article published by the National Institute on Health (NIH) notes that:

(t)hirty years of deinstitutionalization and the development of community living options would not have been possible without DSPs. Although life for people with IDD improved greatly, working conditions, wages/benefits, demands, stress/burnout, and trauma experienced by DSPs have worsened. Turnover and vacancy rates threaten the availability of community supports for too many people with IDD. DSPs from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds face significant workplace disparities.

Meanwhile, #BigDisCo has done nothing to address and remedy the barriers to accessing disability services and supports: that particular manifestation of “accessibility” was not a priority when it pushed for the addition of the “A” to DEI during the Biden years.

And, so, thanks to a recently leaked memo (also posted below), we now know that the current White House Administration has taken the next step regarding dismantling DEI at the federal level squarely places DEIA into the crosshairs- defunding organizations that receive federal funding from HHS (which includes the vast majority of disability service/advocacy organizations in the US) that do not affirm a commitment to not engage in DEIA practices- #BigDisCo collectively is looking for the carveout:

Disability isn’t a controversial identity is a refrain currently making the rounds in the #BigDisCo- often articulated by the very people who fought for the “A” during the Biden years.

Expect #BigDisCo to simultaneously return to advocating for accessibility via avenues outside of DEIA and affirm to not engage in DEI activities.

Not just terminating the employment of token “diversity” hires in management/executive roles.

But continuing to not address how systemic racism, including the racism within #BigDisCo, creates barriers to the accessing of services and supports by Black and brown disabled people.

They can’t jeopardize their funding, after all.

Page one of the two-page memo (alt text embedded for screen reading software)

Page two of two-page memo (alt text embedded for screen reading software)