Honoring Black History Month: Collective Impact in the IDD Space

Black advocates, educators, clinicians, researchers, and families have played a critical and often under-recognized role in advancing care, access, and civil rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Across the disability rights movement, Black leaders have helped move the field forward by centering equity, dignity, and self-determination. Advocate and artist Keith Jones has shaped national conversations around disability rights, community inclusion, and equity. Psychologists and educators such as Dr. Howard C. Stevenson have advanced trauma-informed, culturally responsive approaches that better support Black individuals with developmental disabilities and their families as they navigate education and care systems.

Black women have also played a vital role in shaping visibility, advocacy, and systems change in the disability and IDD space. Loretta Claiborne, a longtime Special Olympics athlete and global self-advocate with an intellectual disability, has spent decades advancing inclusion and self-advocacy for people with IDD worldwide. Disability justice leaders like Vilissa Thompson and Mia Ives-Rublee have helped center the voices of disabled Black women in advocacy and policy conversations, pushing the field to more fully address equity, access, and representation.

Much of this progress has come through collective action, from families advocating for their children, to community organizers, educators, clinicians, and self-advocates working to improve access, inclusion, and outcomes for people with IDD. While this work hasn’t always been highly visible, its impact is deeply embedded in today’s policies, practices, and supports.

Impruvon recognizes and appreciate the collective contributions of Black leaders and communities whose ongoing work continues to shape a more inclusive and equitable IDD system for everyone.