The Kelsey is one of several organizations committed to new solutions to the housing crisis adults with disabilities face in Santa Clara and beyond. We’re grateful for the advocacy of Housing Choices, the Lanterman Housing Alliance, and others who work to create more housing for this community.
At The Kelsey, we talk a lot about inclusive communities and the type of people who would want to live in them. We often use the term “Inclusion Natives” to describe people with and without disabilities who grew up in inclusive settings. We want to take a moment to explain what we mean when we talk about Inclusion Natives and why they are so important to our work.
Micaela Connery discusses Harvard Kennedy School’s support of the first Social Innovation and Change Initiative workshops with people of all abilities across the country.
The work the Center for American Progress and their partners are doing to ensure disability policy has a permanent home in progressive politics is fundamental to ensuring people with disabilities have access to the protections, supports, and services they need. We’re excited to fight for access, inclusion, and equity alongside them.
Growing up in San Francisco, it was impossible and has become even more impossible, to ignore the issue of homelessness. As a child and teenager, I volunteered with various nonprofits in the Bay Area that worked with homeless individuals.
We’ve looked at stats around disability and homelessness, disability and poverty, and disability and housing discrimination. We’ve researched service and support issues, drivers of isolation, the importance of inclusion, and the changing preferences of individuals and families.
Our Co-Founder, Kelsey O’Connor, passed away on March 28th. She was and remains our reason for being — she taught us so much about community, love, resiliency, friendship, and inclusion. Kelsey sparked more impact in her 31 years than most people dream of in a lifetime. We miss her more than words but we know her legacy lives on — and will live for a long long time.
Micaela co-founded The Kelsey with her cousin Kelsey, who continues to motivate and inform the mission and work today. Micaela has been working on inclusion in communities her entire life.
“My work feels like a really wonderful combination of something that I have a personal connection to while fulfilling a need that not a lot of people are working to address,” she said. According to Connery, one in five people has a disability – a large portion of our population.
Roughly one out of every five people in the United States has a disability, making it the largest minority group in the country. But even with the sheer numbers, the population is regularly overlooked and rarely talked about. Learn how you can be part of the solution by creating more inclusive neighborhoods, workforces, and communities.