Messages from our CEO: Kickin’ It with Kimberly
It’s essential to us that we keep you well-informed about current issues and barriers affecting people with disabilities. Our CEO, Kimberly Tissot, recognizes that you are at the heart of our efforts to promote disability rights, justice, and freedoms. Letters will be written to you, our key supporters, about the injustices we uncover and the solutions we can offer as a disability-led organization.
December 2025
Kickin’ It With Kimberly: Want to Be an Ally in the New Year? Start With This.
As we wrap up the year, I’ve been thinking a lot about what true partnership with the disability community really looks like. Not the polished version people like to describe in meetings or reports, the “we value your input” version, but the lived reality disabled people experience every single day. And let me tell you, there is a massive gap between the two.
If this year taught me anything, it’s that plenty of people don’t like hearing the truth, especially when disabled people are the ones naming it and offering the real solutions that would actually work for our community. Trust me, we’ve seen the squirming. But here’s my kicker: we’re not telling the truth to make anyone uncomfortable. We’re doing it to make things better—for everyone.
We’re not asking for special treatment, a hero parade, or for systems to bend over backwards so we can feel “happy.” Disabled people are simply asking to be listened to, respected, and trusted. Somehow, those basic expectations still get treated like a radical political stance. I mean, we’ve literally been called “woke” for pointing out that we are human beings with rights. If that’s woke, then pass me another cup of coffee, because we’re not stopping.
And let’s talk about feedback this year. So many disabled people offered thoughtful, practical, lived-experience insight, and instead of gratitude, we got defensiveness. Our advocacy gets labeled as “attacks,” when what we’re actually doing is handing over solutions on a silver platter. If someone’s feelings get hurt because their harmful practice was named, the issue isn’t the truth-teller. It’s the harm.
One thing I’ve noticed again and again is that access cannot be an afterthought. If you’re redesigning your entire process halfway through because disabled people weren’t included from the beginning, that’s not partnership, that’s crisis management with sprinkles. Access is not dusting sugar you toss on at the end. It has to be baked into the recipe. When it’s not, we absolutely know where we ranked in your planning priorities.
And while we’re keeping it honest, partnership is not the same as control. Far too many agencies are still clinging to the belief that their way is the way, even when disabled people are offering solutions that are clearer, more sustainable, and more human. The best moments this year were when leaders stepped back and said, “We trust disabled people to lead this,” and actually meant it. Those moments shouldn’t feel like unicorn sightings.
Accountability has come up for me a lot, too. Not as punishment, but as respect. If something isn’t working, change it. If harm happened, name it and fix it. Accountability builds trust, and excuses destroy it.
And we have to discuss performative allyship. We do not need more “inspiration” videos about disabled people overcoming things we shouldn’t have had to overcome in the first place. We don’t need viral college acceptance posts made for nondisabled entertainment. We need authentic relationships and systems change, not feel-good optics.
Able SC is a disability-led organization. We are not bystanders. We are change agents.
And we will continue challenging the status quo, not just with critique but with solutions, strategies, and a disability lens that ultimately benefits everyone involved. Our job isn’t to make people comfortable. Our job is to make things better.
So as we head into a new year, I invite every partner, agency, and ally to pause and ask:
- Are you listening, or managing?
- Are you sharing power, or protecting it?
- Are you building access in from the start, or waiting for someone to complain?
- Are you following the lead of disabled people, or using our insight only when it’s convenient?
And here’s my challenge for the new year:
Pick one thing, just one, that you will actually change in the new year to make your work more disability-led, more equitable, and more honest.
Not a five-year plan.
Not another advisory committee.
Not a “we’ll consider it.”
One real shift that proves partnership is something you practice, not just something you post about.
Disabled people have never lacked ideas, solutions, brilliance, or leadership. What we’ve lacked this year is consistent, meaningful partnerships.
If we fix that, really fix it, 2026 could be transformational.
Thank you for showing up with open hearts and a willingness to grow, whether you’re brand new to this movement or have been pushing alongside us for decades. Disabled people deserve real partnership, and together, we can build it.
Here’s to a new year filled with courage, honesty, community, and bold disability-led change. I’m rooting for all of us.
Cheers—and let’s make 2026 our boldest year yet. 🧡
– Kimberly Tissot, President and CEO, Able South Carolina
For nearly 32 years, Able South Carolina has been a critical force for disability rights, belonging, and the right to live on one’s own terms. As a disability-led organization, we don’t just serve our community—we are the disability community. We Are All Able SC!
Now, Able SC faces a real moment of crisis. We’re calling on allies, advocates, and community members to generously invest in disability empowerment and justice. Please invest in those most affected and impacted by policy decisions. Wble South Carolina