Mobility International USA (MIUSA)

Mobility International USA empowers people with disabilities with leadership opportunities through international exchange and human rights advocacy. This award supports its general operations.

Mobility International USA (MIUSA), founded in 1981 and based in Eugene, OR, empowers people with disabilities to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development. This gift provides Mobility International USA with general operating support.

Mobility International USA (MIUSA), founded in 1981 and based in Eugene, OR, empowers people with disabilities to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development. MIUSA hosts the Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD), which brings together women nonprofit leaders with disabilities from across the world to build their capacity for leadership, learn about resource mobilization, strengthen international networks for advocacy, and support and plant seeds for collaborative relationships, in order to advance human rights and opportunities for women and girls with disabilities around the world. This grant provides Mobility International USA with flexible support for general operations.

Mobility International USA (MIUSA) annually holds the International Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD),  which convenes women with disabilities from Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East to build capacity for leadership, strengthen international networks for advocacy and support, and plant seeds for collaborative relationships, in order to advance human rights and opportunities for women and girls with disabilities around the world. MIUSA delivers  virtual WILD workshops in 2021 and in-person portions of its WILD program in summer of 2022.

Mobility International USA is a U.S.-based organization co-founded in 1981 by MacArthur Fellow Susan Sygall with the mission to empower people with disabilities around the world in order to advance the human rights of disabled people through international exchange and development. The funded project involves three MacArthur Fellows: Susan Sygall (2000); flautist and arts entrepreneur Claire Chase (2012); and composer and pianist Reginald Robertson (2004), who together plan to create and present a musical and narrative work combining activism and artistry that amplifies the voices of all people with disabilities through storytelling.  The narrative stems from Sygall’s work with disabled women and is brought to life by Robinson’s compositions as well as through other works selected and arranged by Chase. The production takes place in Eugene, Oregon, before a community of musicians, faculty, and students from the University of Oregon. This inclusive event is presented with sign language interpretation, audio devices, and visual description and is to be recorded, captioned, and shared globally through social media.