The Disability Justice Project (DJP) is a strategic partnership between the Disability Rights Fund (DRF), an international NGO funding grassroots organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in the Global South, and journalism educator and human rights filmmaker Jody Santos and other nationally recognized media makers from Northeastern University’s School of Journalism in Boston, Massachusetts. Based on a fellowship model, newer professionals with lived experience of disability from the Global South are paired with mentors/professional journalists in the U.S. In an exchange of ideas and experiences, the fellows learn about digital storytelling from some of the best in the industry, while the mentors learn about the global disability justice movement from frontline activists – with the goal of incorporating that new understanding into their reporting for publications like The New York Times and The Guardian or for broadcasters like PBS and ABC.

Recognizing the centrality of storytelling to systemic change, the DJP is a 12-week virtual program, training fellows in everything from video production to rights-based reporting. Sending storytelling kits (cameras, mics, lights, etc.) to fellows all over the world, the DJP supports persons with disabilities to “take back the narrative” on disability justice. The DJP website is the first platform of its kind dedicated to disability justice in the Global South. Its purpose is to build a sustainable media network of persons with disabilities, with collaborators from all over the world.