Don't look now but there are new leaders in the independent living movement! It's an intriguing development that, unfortunately, has very little to do with the broad disability community's work in leadership development over the years.
In Massachusetts there are several new leaders who are mostly women with disabilities. They are college-educated and embrace community organizing and work in social justice and equality. They’re pushing for IL to go beyond its current paradigm and work in other areas and systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. They see the common thread of disability running through other social and cultural categories that have typically been siloed such as gender, race, class, sexual orientation, religion, age etc. They are also asking the tough questions like "why is the IL movement predominantly controlled by white men?"
Intersectionality, as it's known, is not really new but people with disabilities never really got pulled into other social movements. As ableism is further defined and incorporated into the categories of systemic injustice and social inequality, it is slowly becoming part of the paradigm. Today, many colleges offer degrees in Disability Studies and nondisabled young adults also learn about the historic discrimination and oppression of people with disabilities throughout history.
I haven't been this excited about new leaders coming along ever. Why? Well, think about it; by building relationships with other oppressed groups, the IL and disability rights movements in turn become strengthened. The opposite is also true. The stronger the coalitions become, the more sensitized each of the groups become about each other's issues and that is leading to a major sea change.
I do believe we are witnessing the makings of a revolution and, I for one, think it's long overdue.