About DJNO
Our Vision
Creating a world where disabled people are free to be.
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Our Mission
The Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) aims to build a just and accessible Ontario, wherein disabled people:
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Have personal and political agency
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Can thrive and foster community
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Build the power, capacity, and skills needed to hold people, communities, and institutions responsible for the spaces they create​
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Our Values
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Accountability: Our work is community-led and accountable to disabled people.
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Building Community Capacity: We work collaboratively with local community members, movements and organizations to seek equity and justice for disabled people.
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Justice: We work beyond current legislation to prioritize access, empowerment and liberation for disabled people, including the creation of sustainable support systems.
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Open Door: Our door is always open. We welcome all people who support DJNO’s vision, mission, and values regardless of ability, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender or economic status.
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Resource Sharing: We are committed to supporting those with the least resources first, and addressing the dynamic needs of our communities equitably.
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Self-Determination: We respect and support disabled people and the choices they make to build better futures for themselves and their collectives. This includes the choice to disclose, discuss and manage their disability.
10 Principles of Disability Justice
These principles were developed by Sins Invalid, led by the late Patty Berne alongside many in the movement like Aurora Levins Morales and countless disabled Black and racialized people.
These principles they incubated, we strive to uphold and grow our own branches together where we are.
More resources from Sins Invalid, including the Principles, can be found here: [link to site]
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​Intersectionality: “We do not live single-issue lives” –Audre Lorde. Ableism, coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid.”
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Leadership of Those Most Impacted: “We are led by those who most know these systems.” –Aurora Levins Morales.
Anti-capitalist Politic: In an economy that sees land and humans as components of profit, we are anti-capitalist by the nature of having non-conforming body/minds.
Commitment to Cross-movement Organizing: Shifting how social justice movements understand disability and contextualize ableism, disability justice lends itself to politics of alliance.
Recognizing Wholeness: People have inherent worth outside of commodity relations and capitalist notions of productivity. Each person is full of history and life experience.
Sustainability: We pace ourselves, individually and collectively, to be sustained long-term. Our embodied experiences guide us toward ongoing justice and liberation.
Commitment to Cross-disability Solidarity: We honour the insights and participation of all of our community members, knowing that isolation undermines collective liberation.
Interdependence: We meet each others’ needs as we build toward liberation, knowing that state solutions inevitably extend into further control over lives.
Collective Access: As brown, black and queer-bodied disabled people we bring flexibility and creative nuance that go beyond able-bodied/minded normativity, to be in community with each other.
Collective Liberation: No body or mind can be left behind – only moving together can we accomplish the revolution we require.
Disability Justice Networks' Alliance Protocol
In Summer 2025, Disability Justice Network of Ontario and Disability Justice Network of British Columbia determined to formally affiliate as the Disability Justice Networks' Alliance through an affiliation protocol.
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In addition to the above values and the 10 Principles of Disability Justice, we also affirmed our principles.
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As noted in the founding documents of our originating members, the mission of each member of this Protocol is to create a world where Disabled People are free to be. We work towards our mission by:
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promoting and advancing the best interests of Disabled People everywhere;
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helping disabled people build personal and political agency;
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developing aligned networks of individuals and organizations to support disabled people and achieve systemic change;
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acknowledging and supporting challenges related to the complications of intersecting identities and systems of oppression, including but not limited to racism, ableism, sanism, cisheteropatriarchy and settler colonialism; and
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such other complementary purposes consistent with the above.
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We also affirm that, as part of these commitments we must explicitly name colonialism, imperialism, and Zionism as positions and ideals embedded in our society which we must challenge at every opportunity.
The purpose of this Protocol is to support sibling organizations that believe we cannot be beholden to world systems of violence and disablement towards marginalized people around the world.
Together, we denounce so-called disability organizations and movements in the West that operate at the expense or through the dispossession of disabled people in the East and Global South. To believe in disability justice is to truly live it in our work, to bring it forward, and to build structures to grow this position.
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That said, we remain fully separate organizations and "[w]hile this Protocol may form the basis for deeper national and international affiliations, we will not bind any member to such a structure. Instead, we respect the autonomy of each affiliate to this Protocol and will not interfere in each other’s affairs beyond holding each other to account for the principles found here. "​
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Board of Directors: The DJNO Board of Directors is made up of 10 members elected from the General Membership. The Board is responsible for setting the strategic priorities of the organization, overseeing operations and policy, supporting the youth council and committees, and completing all administrative requirements. The Board is also responsible for building relationships with our general members and community partners.
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Youth Advisory Council: The Youth Advisory Council is made up of eight youth with disabilities from across Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Each youth advisory council member has committed to a term for two years. The Youth Advisory Council is responsible for advising the Board on the direction of the organization.
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General Membership: The general membership includes all formal members of DJNO. All of our events are open to both the general public and to our members, and the Board and staff report back to the membership once a year at our annual general meetings. We will be rolling out our revised membership application in 2025.​
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We are currently in the process of revising our committee structure! Check back soon for more details!