The Impossible Dream

I have a tendency to be extremely stubborn.  I'll explain what I mean in a minute. Maybe you've seen some crowdfunding going on in a serious way on social media lately. A few examples? My friend and colleague Amy Sequenzia:

Image is a photograph of Amy with a monochromatic scarf in shared of yellow to chartreuse on the left and a donation amount of $865 with a contribute button to the right. The title of the image is black on a white field and reads "Help me go present at TASH Conference
Amy is a poet activist. She is a nonspeaker and types to communicate. She needs $2000 to help her support person and herself meet all the expenses of presenting at TASH 2014.

Or maybe you've seen Cara Liebowitz's fundraiser. also a colleague and friend of mine:
Image is a photo of Cara Liebowitz speaking into a microphone while seated. On the right of the photo is a donation tracker with the amount $225 . A donate now button appears below the tracker with white print on a purple field
Cara is trying to reach her $850 goal. Then there's photographer, activist, Jane Strauss:

Image of Jane Strauss in cornrows and a purple shirt on a page entitled "Help Jane attend TASH to present" a donation tracker on the right of the image reads $355 and a Contribute button is in white print on an orange rectangular background.

What's going on? Well disabled disability rights activists are trying to find a way to raise the money
http://conference.tash.org/events/2014-tash-conference/
they need to meet the expenses they must pay in order to present their topics, research, life experiences, and truths to the people they fight for. There are so many people trying to raise what they need to meet the costs of travel, conference, registration, lodging and food that I decided to create a communal crowdfunding effort to try and help people reach their goals if they have already begun fundraising and help others who need help as well.

Now here's where the stubborn comes in. I truly believe that all these people, both those mentioned and dozens of others, have a right to present since they were told their presentations were approved. I also believe that no one should have been put in this position, as all of the people now in this position are highly educated, highly qualified to present, passionate in their advocacy, and disabled to boot.  In some cases, parent-youth teams are presenting topics together. I know of activists trying to come from Canada. This makes the costs involved impossible to meet. And no one is getting paid to present these things. No one is getting paid to speak here. So it is up to us to do something here.

So I'm writing about them because they have the courage to say they need your help. Particularly in people who are marginalized on a daily basis and fight for themselves and others anyway, to feel so strongly about what they want to say to the world that they are willing to put themselves out there to try and raise the money is incredibly brave. I have this crazy idea that my own community Fundrazr effort, which is being held with the help of the Ollibean Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Ollibean,  will somehow help everyone get the influx of donated funding, airline miles, hotel credits, or anything needed to make their trip to Washington DC happen. I believe in all these amazing activists. Regardless of why this year things are so unaffordable. I also have an unsinkable faith in humanity. I believe in all of you.  This is the Community Fundrazr:



click on the giant link. I am an idealist romantic. I think we can do this. We can help nearly all the people trying to get to TASH and present by sharing this and supporting it anyway possible. Make the impossible dream possible. 

Help us help them change the world. 
Much love


P.S. Read all about TASH and what the conference is all about by clicking here.


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