Our Initiatives

Empowering Vermonters

Rolling out plans,
Step by Step

VAIL is building advocacy centered on dignity, access, and real inclusion. We grow step by step to ensure every individual is empowered to thrive.

Disability Advocacy: Promoting dignity, equal voice, and meaningful inclusion.
Independent Living: Supporting individuals with the appropriate assistive technology, developing inclusive environment design for empowering and promoting independence.
Awareness & Education: Helping people understand dignity and human connection.
Advocating for Services: Not all individuals with limitations have access to appropriate services.
Community Peer Groups: Assembling virtual spaces to generate a collective voice for change

Disability Advocacy & Inclusion

We are motivated to connect local businesses and governing structures to advocate for our community members.

We want to ensure that Vermont is a place where every space is open and Accessible to All.

We promote dignity, equal voice, and meaningful inclusion in everyday life. We ensure everyone's perspective is valued.

Awareness & Education

We help people better understand disability and human connection. Education builds the bridge to a dignified world. We believe there is a gap in our educational programing that is leaving high school graduates without an appropriately supported educational experience.

This initiative includes a developing research project for gathering data and anecdotes about the educational experience of peers as members of their learning communities.

We invite current and past students to get involved by sharing their stories with us.

Please consider filling out our data collection form.

VAIL is building advocacy step by step by rolling out plans.

Our work is centered on dignity, access, and real inclusion

for every member of our community.

Independent Living

We support access to communication, assistive technology, and inclusive environment designs for helping individuals with limitations establish and sustain independence in their daily experience.

We are dedicated to supporting individuals by assisting navigation through a growing stockpile of collective resources that can help a person live their best life with full autonomy and confidence.

Our community offers a new hub for people who are in need of finding a way to share their particular gifts.

Accessing Supports for Services

Certain groups of individuals with limitations do not receive services and this leaves many people out of the circles of support established by legal actions that provide essential services.

People who meet the clinical criteria for receiving services are determined by IQ tests or a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Often people with Cerebral Palsy are left out of this circle of care. We advocate that services be extended to include all people in need of support so everyone can live their lives with dignity and a sense of agency.

Join Our Community!

VAIL Peer Support Groups

We are establishing a community of people seeking support through connections.

We offer ways for people experiencing isolation due to challenges, be they social, psychological, of physical.

We foster deep connections through the sharing of lived experiences and we provide a vital space for sharing knowledge and mutual empowerment.

Join Us!

Moving Forward Together

Looking Ahead

Collaboration

We are building strong partnerships with local organizations and community leaders. By working together, we can enhance our collective voice and create a more unified path toward access for all.

Research

We are focused on expanding our disability-centered research. Using lived experience and real data, we aim to identify service gaps and advocate for ethical, evidence-based solutions in Vermont.

Expanding Advocacy

We are reaching further into our communities to build a stronger advocate voice. Our goal is to expand our presence and support even more individuals in their journey toward dignity and inclusion.

Join Us — Help Us Grow

VAIL is just beginning.

We are building our work step by step, and we invite you to be part of it.

Together, we can create real, human-centered change in Vermont.

Ways to Get Involved

Join the community
Stay connected, follow our work, and show up in the ways that feel right for you.
Share ideas or lived experience
Tell us what dignity, access, and inclusion look like in your life. Your voice helps guide our priorities.
Collaborate or partner
If you are part of a group, organization, or project, we welcome chances to work together.
Support advocacy efforts
Add your name to petitions, speak up with us, and help push for rights-based change.
Help raise awareness
Share our initiatives, talk with others, and help shift how people think about disability and inclusion.
Connect and communicate
Ask questions, start conversations, and let us know what you care about.

Community at the Core

Every voice matters. We believe real change grows from shared effort, listening, and inclusion.

VAIL is not about speaking for people. It is about creating space where disabled people and allies can speak, lead, and act together.