Prefigurative Community Building (Part 24)
Disability Justice Pods: A Power With Approach to Collective Care
In a world structured by ableism, even well-meaning efforts to build a better future often reproduce the same patterns of exclusion and harm. That’s why Disability Justice offers not just a critique, but a path forward. Developed by disabled queer Black and brown activists, the 10 Principles of Disability Justice remind us that liberation means no one is left behind, and that care is not a service but a relational, political practice.
These principles include intersectionality, leadership of those most impacted, anti-capitalism, cross-movement solidarity, interdependence, collective access, and collective liberation. To embody them, we must reject Power Over patterns that make decisions for disabled people, tokenize their voices, or reduce access to afterthoughts. Instead, we need Power With, a coordination pattern rooted in mutual respect, consent, adaptability, and shared responsibility.
Disability Justice Pods are one way to do that. They are peer-organized mutual aid groups centered on radical access, collective care, and emotional support. Unlike institutions, they don’t manage care from above. Instead, they facilitate care between people, care that honors autonomy, cultural difference, and individual pacing.
Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a Disability Justice Pod
Step 1: Ground Yourself in Disability Justice Principles
Before forming a pod, everyone involved should take time to study and reflect on the 10 Principles of Disability Justice. Center the leadership of disabled people. If you are non-disabled, show up in a learning posture, not as a savior or fixer.
Resource: Sins Invalid – 10 Principles of Disability Justice
Step 2: Form a Pod Based on Consent and Trust
Pods are made up of a few people; friends, neighbors, chosen family, who agree to support one another in times of need. Start by asking: Who do you trust to support you, and who trusts you to support them? If you’re a disabled person forming a pod, be clear about your needs and boundaries. If you’re joining someone else’s pod, be clear about what you can offer without overpromising.
Resource: Mutual Aid Pod Mapping Tool by Mariame Kaba
Step 3: Co-Create Your Care Agreements
Each pod should draft flexible, living agreements based on the needs and abilities of the group. These can include access preferences, communication styles, emotional check-ins, safety planning, and resource sharing. Importantly, they should be co-authored, never imposed, and reviewed regularly.
Resource: Creating Access-Centered Cultures – Mia Mingus
Step 4: Prioritize Collective Access and Radical Flexibility
Access isn’t just about ramps or captions, it’s about creating conditions where people can show up fully and safely. That might mean flexible scheduling, trauma-informed approaches, translation, transportation support, or understanding that someone might not respond for weeks due to chronic illness. Don't punish or judge, adapt.
Resource: Disability Intersectionality Summit Resources
Step 5: Rotate Support Roles to Prevent Burnout or Hierarchy
Power With means no one becomes the “default caregiver” or the “main organizer.” Instead, roles like coordination, checking in, gathering supplies, or hosting virtual meetings should rotate based on capacity and consent. This prevents hidden power from concentrating in informal hierarchies.
Resource: Crip Emotional Support – Downloadable Zine
Step 6: Create Feedback Loops to Strengthen Trust
Hold regular, low-pressure reflection sessions to talk about what’s working and what isn’t. Use formats that honor neurodiversity, visual charts, audio notes, or body language check-ins. Normalize repair when harm happens. Disability Justice means we make room for imperfection and learning.
Resource: Catalyst Project – Accountability Process Guide
Step 7: Connect with Other Pods and Mutual Aid Networks
Once your pod is stable, link up with others. Share resources, strategies, and solidarity. But don’t rush to scale, replication beats expansion. Offer workshops, write zines, and encourage others to start pods rooted in their local context and identities.
Resource: Disability Justice Mutual Aid Directory
Two Examples of Existing Projects
1. Disability Justice Culture Club (Oakland, CA)
A BIPOC-led collective centering disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, and queer folks. They organize mutual aid, distribute air purifiers and PPE, and host access-centered gatherings, all based on pod logic, not top-down structure.
https://www.disabilityjusticecultureclub.com
2. Project LETS (National, US-based)
A grassroots org led by people with lived experience of mental illness, madness, disability, and trauma. They organize peer support collectives, provide advocacy training, and build care pods within universities and communities.
Conclusion: Designing for Inclusion from the Start
Too often, accessibility is treated as an afterthought, an add-on, a burden, a separate track. But when we design from the margins, we make space for everyone. Disability Justice Pods are blueprints for a world where care is shared, where power is balanced, and where no one is forced to navigate crisis alone.
Power With means not assuming what others need. It means building relationships, not services. When we start projects with these values at the core, we prevent the repetition of harm. We don’t wait to be reminded. We remember, always, that access and dignity are not optional.
And when that memory is alive in the structure of how we organize, not just the intent behind it, we don’t just include disabled people. We build a better world with them.