FLDI is taking shape, and I want to bring you along as we build it.

The Full Living Disability Initiative is being created around a simple idea: disability support should be about more than diagnosis, treatment, and survival. It should also help people build the adult lives they choose — including work, relationships, independence, community, purpose, and belonging.

What we’ve been building

A lot has happened behind the scenes.

• Full Living Disability Initiative, Inc. is now an active Missouri nonprofit corporation.

• Our website is live at www.thefldi.org.

• We are preparing our application for federal recognition under Section 501(c)(3). FLDI is not yet federally recognized as a 501(c)(3).

• We are developing the governance structure and preparing to complete our initial board.

• We’ve created ways for people to express interest in volunteering, future board service, mentoring, advisory work, professional support, future employment or contract work, storytelling, and other ways to help build FLDI.

• We’re developing an article and resource library focused on real adult life with disability.

• We’re also planning a future FLDI media channel built around documentaries, interviews, first-person stories, and conversations rather than another medical or news-focused disability channel.

What FLDI focuses on

FLDI is being built around four parts of adult life that often receive too little attention in disability services:

Work — meaningful employment, education, entrepreneurship, accommodations, and contribution.

Relationships — friendship, dating, love, marriage, communication, partnership, and family life.

Independence — choice and control over personal assistance, housing, transportation, technology, benefits, money, and everyday life.

Community — belonging, recreation, peer connection, leadership, and participation.

We are beginning with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy, autism and neurodivergence, significant physical disability, and people with complex support needs — while building toward broader disability communities over time.

What comes next

Some of our next organizational steps include:

• completing the initial board;
• adopting our remaining governance documents;
• preparing the federal 501(c)(3) application;
• developing our first adult-life resources and pilot programming;
• publishing our first FLDI articles;
• building our volunteer, mentor, advisory, and professional network;
• developing documentary and interview projects; and
• continuing to identify funding that can turn the plans into sustainable programs.

Want to help build FLDI?

Because FLDI is still at the beginning, there are many ways people can help shape what comes next.

We’re interested in hearing from disabled adults, family members, potential mentors, professionals, writers, filmmakers, volunteers, prospective board members, advisors, funders, and people with other disability-community perspectives.

Interested in helping build FLDI? Visit our Get Involved page.

Why I’m sharing this every week

I don't want Building FLDI to become a newsletter that only appears when there is a polished announcement.

I want you to be able to see the building process itself — what moved forward, what we're figuring out, what comes next, and where people can contribute.

Thanks for being here at the beginning.

Ryan J. Russell, PhD
Founder
Full Living Disability Initiative

www.thefldi.org
[email protected]

FLDI is an active Missouri nonprofit corporation currently preparing its application for federal recognition under Section 501(c)(3). FLDI is not yet federally recognized as a 501(c)(3).