UCEDD Equity Statement

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Community Advisory Council

EQUITY STATEMENT

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Community Advisory Council is a collective of individuals with and without disabilities who believe in the broadest definition of equity and access for all people living with disabilities and their families.

• We honor the individuality, talents, resilience, and strengths of all people with disabilities.
• We are committed to working together with people with disabilities and their families to ensure that all people with disabilities can live and thrive with dignity.
• We acknowledge that ableism (discrimination or prejudice against individuals with disabilities), institutional racism (the ways in which policies and practices create different outcomes for different racial groups), poverty, implicit bias (an unconscious association, belief, or attitude toward a group of people), and gender/sexual identity bias are root causes of unequal quality of care and access to resources and services.
• We value lived experiences and strive to truly engage and empower all people with disabilities and their families.
• We advocate for radically inclusive and restorative practices.

Adopted June 25, 2021