Donate now to support Disability Equity Center

Disability Equity Center (DEC) is a disability justice nonprofit organization in the mid-Willamette Valley of Oregon. DEC is made for disabled people by disabled people. Together in community, DEC connects, empowers, amplifies, and celebrates people with disabilities.

DEC has grown a lot in just three years, and it is time to sustain and support that energy! When you donate money to DEC, you fund important activities that connect, celebrate, and amplify the voices of people with disabilities.

Here are some examples of what your donation can do:

• 10 people donating $15 each helps cover the cost of ASL interpretation at one of our community events
• A $30 donation helps put a new, disabled artist and creator on the map through DEC’s Project Amplify
• A $75 donation helps us staff health and wellness programming led by and for people with disabilities
• A $100 donation helps us build DEC’s advisory board of paid self-advocates

Donations can be made here on Network for Good

Or you can send a check to 1654 NW Crest Pl, Corvallis OR 97330

Thank you for being a part of DEC. Please help spread the word!

(Image description: Five people stand with their arms around each other, smiling at the camera. They are wearing dresses of various colors. They stand in a light colored room with cabinets behind them and a dog at their feet.)

Some of our DEC team (Zina Allen, Kate Williams, Laura Estreich, Atticus, and Allison Hobgood) with Senator Sara Gelser-Blouin at our Healthy Lifestyles: ADA Celebration + Community Wellness event on July 26, 2022.

Laura and Kate shared tips for leading an empowered interdependent healthy life and shared health and wellness kits for folks in the disability community in Corvallis, OR.

(Image description: A group of people and a dog sit and stand in an open concrete space with wooden beams making an open roof. Around them are wooden chairs. The group are smiling and holding a banner that says "Adventures Without Limits". Behind them is green grass, mounatins and a blue sky)

This summer, DEC partnered with Adventures Without Limits for an accessible camping adventure in Cottonwood Canyons State Park.

(Image description: Three people enter an indoor space. A person sitting in a wheel chair with their face turned away from the camera is wearing dark pants and a light blue top. The wheel chair has pink parts. A person is pushing the wheel chair and is wearing dark pants and a park top. A third person stands to the right and is smiling at the camera, wearing light colored pants and a dark top with long dark hair.)

A highlight of 2022 at DEC was connecting folks with awesome new friends in the community!

(Image description: Two people on stage. Lily is to the right and is standing behind a microphone. She has short blonde hair and is wearing a dark short sleeve top over a pink long sleeve top and dark pants. The person on the left is sitting and hold a guitar. They have short dark hair, and are wearing dark glasses, a light short sleeve top and light color shorts. Behind them are lights and a guitar. The stage has a red rug under them.)

Lily Mullen is a musician and poet in the DEC community and an active creator in the Magic Luscious Spirit Sounds group. Magic Luscious Spirit Sounds is a collaborative music group through DEC that meets Mondays to share sounds, ideas, and joyfully create together.

(Image description: Karissa sits at a table holding a work of art. She has short dark hair that is pulled into small puffs and wears a black medical mask. She wears a pink sweater over a dark colored top. She is in a light colored room with chairs behind her.)

Karissa shares art during a Moth Dreams Community Art Meetup. Moth Dreams is an art and writing zine group for folks with and without disabilities, with a goal to create art and publish a disability justice magazine.

(Image description: Artwork is laid out over a table. The artwork is various bright colors including yellow, blue, pink and green. The table is light colored. Behind the table are chairs.)

Here the final layout of Moth Dream zine is being approved by folks on the team… this issue is coming soon!

(Image description: A cardboard box has several items in it, inlcuding stickers, a journal, deodorant, gift cards, fidegt toys, towels, snacks, condoms and personal lubricant. Inside the box top, a heart has been drawn and the words "Disability Equity Center" have been written. The box sits open on a table covered with a small pink floral pattern tablecloth.)

DEC hosted Friendship & Dating, an accessible and inclusive sexual health and wellness education program for adults with disabilities this spring! A cohort of folks with disabilities made wonderful new relationships while exploring how to build healthy and happy friendships and safe and strong romantic partnerships. In 2023, DEC is excited continue to offer sexual health and wellness education with some wonderful and exciting community partners and with new resource tools.

(Image description: Dan sits in a corner booth in a restaurant in the center of the image. He is wearing glasses with dark frames, a plaid shirt over a light blue shirt, jeans and sneakers. The booth and walls around him are orange and brown. On the walls around him are artwork framed in red, blue and green.)

DEC sponsored many disabled creatives in the community through Project Amplify. Project Amplify supports community equity by seeking out and enhancing the passions and talents of disabled folks through artist-to-artist connections and mentorships, by funding platforms to share artwork and artist websites, providing assistance with materials and resources to create and share work in the community, and so much more. Project Amplify artists shared work across Oregon this year; recipients taught classes, connected to the community through podcasts, and displayed work in art shows. Here Project Amplify artist Dan JH is smiling after hanging artwork for his first solo art show. Dan works with an artist mentor through Project Amplify and together they built an artist website sharing his work and found new ways to elevate his work and his voice. Check out our website to explore other Project Amplify creators.

(Image description: Laura has long brown hair and wears glasses with dark frames. She is wearing a light colored top. She points with her right hand to a magazine she holds in her left hand. The magazine is open to an article about Disability Equity Center, featuring her picture in the middle. The room is bright and behind her is a board with images pinned to it and a circular lamp above her.)

Laura Estreich who has been with DEC since its dreaming days in 2019, pictured here with an article about DEC, transitioned her role from WINGS intern to a staff position: Peer Health Facilitator! In addition to planning and facilitating awesome community events, Laura will be coteaching the Health Lifestyles program.

Thanks to Zina Allen, who is an amazing artist, advocate, and DEC's Health and Wellness Ambassador, we have a beautiful new logo! The logo incorporates the sweet swirl of our hearts’ mascot the snail, which slowly and intentionally making its way in the world. The logo captures the beautiful brightness of our community.