“Why Not?” Creating Sustainable Cross-Disability Communities

Abstract

This paper shares insights from founding and running a large international cross-disciplinary, cross-disability virtual conference (Including Disability Global Summit) and accompanying online journal (Including Disability) that has built a global network of disabled people, advocates, educators, scholars, government officials, family members, and other allies and accomplices. Founding members share challenges, lessons learned, best practices, and technological solutions that could support virtual event planning and facilitation across different types of disabilities, languages, and locations, as well as detailing issues such as advertising, registration, real-time participation, and software selection for events with many disabled participants. This paper also reflects on the role of collaborative mentorship and the necessity of volunteers to help bring the original vision to life. Ultimately, the paper meditates on the possibility of embracing the opportunity when confronted by the need.