The Truth About Disability Rights: Rebecca Cokley

Nov 17

Written By

November 17th, 2022

“We have to fundamentally shift to an equity mindset.”

Rebecca Cokley is a disability-rights advocate and the first U.S. Disability Rights Program Officer for the Ford Foundation. From 2009 to 2013, she served as an appointee in President Barack Obama’s White House. We discuss the lived experience of being disabled in America. It's an important conversation that truly exposes the inequities of our society.

We don't live in a society that allows for equality for disabled people. In fact, if you're disabled, you're more likely to be poor. Also, most people see disability rights as extra. We have to fundamentally shift to an equity mindset and go back to address the historic inequities from the beginning.