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Mission, Vision, Values

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HEARD’S MISSION

Video Description: A horizontal video shows Leang, a Southeast Asian woman with shoulder-length hair and a black shirt, signing in front of a purple background. “Our Mission” is in white text above her. The HEARD logo is faded in the top right corner, and there are organic shapes in the top left and bottom right corners. The video fades to a black background with ivory HEARD logo and “www.behearddc.org” in the center.

HEARD is a cross-disability abolitionist organization that unites across identities, communities, movements, and borders to end ableism, racism, capitalism, and all other forms of oppression and violence. HEARD supports disabled people and others who experience ableism by rejecting disability hierarchies and rigid definitions of disability, and by recognizing deaf people as part of disability communities. HEARD works to increase our collective capacity to identify, understand, and challenge oppression through grassroots advocacy, community organizing, peer support, mutual aid, education, and research.

HEARD’S VISION

Video Description: A horizontal video shows Leang, a Southeast Asian woman with shoulder-length hair and a black shirt, signing in front of a purple background. Above her is, “Our Vision:” in all caps and white text. The HEARD logo is faded in the top right corner, and there are organic shapes in the top left and bottom right corners. The video fades to a black background with ivory HEARD logo and “www.behearddc.org” in the center.

HEARD envisions a world where multiply-marginalized disabled people are inherently valued and have the resources, safety and love they need to thrive and live self-determined lives. We dream of a world that honors our interdependence, invests in our healing from harm and trauma, recognizes our potential for growth and transformation, and ensures our collective liberation. There are no police or prisons in the future because our communities have created the conditions, developed and provided the resources, and shared the necessary knowledge to make all forms of policing and incarceration obsolete.

HEARD’S VALUES

  • Anti-violence
  • Anti-oppression
  • Disability Justice
  • Interdependence
  • Self-Determination
  • Transformative Justice
  • Collective Liberation
  • Abolition
  • Healing
  • Love