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Month: April 2026

New grant opportunities for disability justice nonprofits!

Published April 8, 2026 by Liz Henry

I want to share two new funding opportunities for disability led, disability justice focused nonprofits! DIF x Tech and Collab Grants RFPs are up on the Borealis Philanthropy website. Please read the details, and if you have questions, please register for the presentation and Q&A session; it will be April 15, 11am PST/1pmCST / 2pm EST.

silly cartoon of a person in a powerchair with a computer handing them a stack of cash

Borealis’s Collab Grants are for disability justice collaborations between two or more organizations. You can read about the details at that link. The basics: If you are a nonprofit with a disability justice focus, and want to work on a project in collaboration with another organization that fits the description in the info about the Collab Grants, then take a look — this might help you create a great collaborative relationship and contribute to general movement building and power.

The second opportunity is focused on disability and tech. DIF x Tech invites proposals at the intersection of technology and disability rights and justice.

 

For the Disability x Tech grant, here’s more details for you now.

This opportunity may be a good fit if you are doing work in any of these areas below:

  • Disabled people sharing technical skills and knowledge with others in the community.
  • Disabled people leading policy, rights, and disability justice activism work related to tech.
  • Disabled people participate in all stages of the design and development of new tech that will enrich lives of people with disabilities.
  • Enabling collective and equitable access to technology and to digital infrastructure.
  • Expanding the participation, leadership, and thought partnership of overlooked and under-resourced people with disabilities in all areas of the technology sector.
  • Partnerships between disability-focused engineering design labs and maker spaces within schools, centers for independent living, or local nonprofit organizations.

That might be a bit confusing! To see what DIFxTech funds, please look at some of the organizations that are currently funded by DIFxTech. You can “click through” to read a little about their work!

Here’s a partial list of current DIFxTech grant recipients and what they do:

  • Designing and building 3D printed wheelchairs for young children (Make Good)
  • Deaf/blind TV production studio workshops (Visionaries of the Creative Arts)
  • Maker spaces and tech/STEM education by and for Deaf people (CymaSpace)
  • Improving video conferencing software for disfluent speakers (AImpower)
  • Policy advocacy for assistive and augmented communication users (CommunicationFIRST)
  • Deaf scientists and educators who are creating online courses to bring STEM education alive in ASL (Atomic Hands)
  • Identifying and fighting algorithmic biases that harm disabled people (DREDF, Bazelon)
  • Tech education and internet access for residents of assisted living facilities (Alliance for Community Services)
  • Plain Language Policy Dashboard, making new legislation more accessible (New Disabled South)

And just to be super clear and transparent: I’m the Program manager for Disability x Tech at Borealis! You can ask me questions about the grant program directly at difxtech@borealisphilanthropy.org.

Cheers, Liz

 

Note: image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cartoon_Guy_Being_Handed_Money_By_A_Computer.svg, edited by hand to make it look like a wheelchair not a desk chair

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Tune-Up Tuesday, April 7th at the Disability Cultural Center

Published April 3, 2026 by Liz Henry

GOAT and ILRCSF and other volunteers will be at the Disability Cultural Center next Tuesday afternoon, April 7th from 2:30pm to 4:30pm. We will have free mini toolkits to give away!

As usual, we are at your service to look over your gear – wheelchair, powerchair, scooter, walker or rollator, or whatever other assistive tech you bring. We’ll hear you out to see what is broken, or might be improved, on your device, and will see what we can do to help with those issues.

That might be:
– teaching you and your friends/family basic maintenance and repair
– finding you the service manuals for your devices
– figuring out next steps with insurance, vendors, donations, or other resources

woman wearing a mask with tools working on a manual wheelchair with its rider consulting

The DCC has free tea, coffee, and snacks and is a great place to hang out. We set up on the outdoor patio but there is indoor space as well with nice couches and chairs. It’s by Civic Center BART and a block from the 49 bus stop.

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Mutual Aid Swap with bonus Wheelchair Tune-Up

Published April 2, 2026 by Liz Henry

From the Bay Area mutual aid crew!

Note, Olga and Liz will be at this event to give out Mini Fix it Kits, accessories. We will set up to do wheelchair and other assistive tech inspections in the swap space! And, we will happily teach you some useful preventative maintenance, and can also help to connect you with repair resources for more complex problems.

April 25th 2026 from 1-5pm in Berkeley! Don’t miss our second mutual aid swap: Medical Equipment Edition!

📣We’re back!!! After a hugely successful first mutual aid swap, we are finally ready to host our second swap.

This time we’re asking for medical supplies, equipment and food donations! We know that cuts to Medicaid are impending and it’s expensive as fuck to be alive right now. We know many disabled people have a surplus of medical supplies in their garage/closet/storage unit. We want to help distribute it to folks in our neighborhood who need it!

Come by from 1-5pm on Saturday, April 25th on the corner of Rose and Sacramento St. in Berkeley.

You can help by coming to the swap, bringing any extra supplies that you have, or come to pick up supplies you need.

Mutual Aid Swap *Medical Equipment Edition*. Saturday 4/25 from 1-5pm. “Bring what you have. Take what you need. *Masks Required*. Corner of Rose and Sacramento St Berkeley CA. Images of grocery bags, toilet paper, a grabber, covid tests, CPAP machine, kn95 masks and a blue rollator.

Image 1: Mutual Aid Swap *Medical Equipment Edition*. Saturday 4/25 from 1-5pm. “Bring what you have. Take what you need. *Masks Required*. Corner of Rose and Sacramento St Berkeley CA. Images of grocery bags, toilet paper, a grabber, covid tests, CPAP machine, kn95 masks and a blue rollator.

Call for Donations. Drop off Hours: Saturday 4/25 1-5pm Corner of Rose + Sacramento, Berkeley. Food donations: frozen meals + veggies, apples + pears, bananas + citrus, onion + root veggies, peanut + nut butters, canned tuna + chicken, instant meals, bread + butter, protein bars, shelf stable juice, electrolytes, flour + sugar, salt + spices, rice + grains, cereal + sweets, pasta sauce. NON food-donations: individually wrapped toilet paper, new toiletries, plastic straws, clean/new linens

Medical Equipment Requests – shower chairs, rollators, walkers, canes, crutches, knee scooters, grab bars, seat cushions, grabbers, knee/back/arm/leg braces or slings, CPAP machine parts or accessories, Air purifier, transfer benches, toilet risers, commodes.

Medical Supply Requests – Depends/diapers, gloves, chucks, wet wipes, gauze pads/rolls, bandaids, ice packs, period products, electrolytes, distilled water, wound care supplies, compression socks, chest binders, specialty pillows (pregnancy/mastectomy)

Swap hours: Sat 4/24: 1-5pm Corner of Rose + Sacramento, Berkeley. Come as you are + leave with any of the following: free groceries, medical equipment and supplies, masks and COVID rapid tests!

Mutual Aid Swap. Bring what you have. Take what you need. Swap hours: Sat 4/24: 1-5pm Corner of Rose + Sacramento, Berkeley. Come as you are + leave with any of the following: free groceries, medical equipment and supplies, masks and COVID rapid tests! It’s ok to come empty handed and leave with a lot! We need each other now more than ever. ❤️

ACCESS INFO: wheelchair accessible backyard. Masks required for entry. Limited street parking. 0.3 miles from North Berkeley BART. Rain or shine! Covered canopy. Sat 4/25 1-5pm. Bring what you have. Take what you need.

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