Value Statement

Our Values

The Disability Advocates Union is committed to maintaining an equitable, welcoming, and inclusive environment. That commitment requires an acknowledgment of the intersections between ability, status, race, gender, faith, orientation, and other marginalized identities. No action will be taken that discriminates against a member based on any aspect of their identity.

In addition, the Disability Advocates Union is also committed to its members' needs for privacy and wellness. No record of a members' participation in DAU activities will be publicized, documented, or otherwise maintained without that member's full knowledge and consent. No disclosure of ability status will ever be required of DAU members. There is no requirement for meeting attendance, activity, or engagement within the DAU to maintain membership within the organization.

The Disability Advocates Union is dedicated to democratic principles. While the organization maintains an Executive Board to organize meetings and deal with logistics, decisions are made by the general membership.

Registered Student Organization of Cornell University

Land Acknowledgement

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ leadership: Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ are members of the Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

In addition to the land acknowledgment but separate from it, the students in the Disability Advocates Union would like to recognize that Cornell's founding played a direct role in the dispossession of millions of Indigenous People which eventually led to a genocide through taking the land that was stolen under the Morrill Act of 1862.