Andrew Letchuk, FUTURES Activation Project

What if community-building didn’t have to happen on anyone else’s schedule?

For FUTURES alumnus Andrew Letchuk, that question sits at the heart of Disabling the Ableism. It is an ongoing online community project. It gives Disabled, D/deaf, and neurodivergent people a space to learn, connect, and share their experiences.

The project began as an envisioned site of resistance to ableism on social media. Over time, it transformed into something broader: an online community shaped by connection, storytelling, and the idea that Disabled people should be able to participate at their own pace.

Building community differently

A key part of Andrew’s project is the concept of crip time.

Crip time challenges the expectation that Disabled people should always operate according to conventional schedules and timelines. It recognizes that Disability can change how we experience time and that people may need flexibility to participate.

Andrew has built this idea directly into the foundation of his project.

He also draws on the spoon theory, a framework often used within Disability communities to describe limited energy and the need to make choices about how that energy is used.

Together, these concepts helped shape the way Andrew approached building his community.

Instead of expecting everyone involved to move at the same speed, the project creates room for people to participate according to their own capacity.

From an idea to a community

This project didn’t come together overnight.

Andrew describes several months of careful planning and reflection. He and his team developed a website and Instagram page before launching their call for submissions.

The project invites Disabled, D/deaf, and neurodivergent people to share their stories and connect with one another.

Importantly, the submission process itself was designed with flexibility in mind.

Andrew proposed allowing people to submit their stories at any point between early April and late June.

That flexibility reflects the values at the centre of the project: people shouldn’t have to push beyond their capacity in order to have their voices included.

The reality of building together

Like any community project, there have been challenges.

One of the trickiest parts for Andrew has been coordinating the availability of team members. When several people are balancing their own work, responsibilities, and lives, finding a time that works for everyone isn’t always easy.

But Andrew also recognizes something important: that’s okay.

There have been successful meetings, progress has been made, and the project continues to move forward.

As Andrew puts it, people may be busy with other things in their daily lives, and that’s okay.

That understanding isn’t a side note to the project.

It is part of the project itself.

A project that doesn’t have to end

Disabling the Ableism is intentionally ongoing.

Rather than treating the Activation Project as something with a fixed beginning and end, Andrew is interested in seeing where the community can go over time.

That openness is fitting for a project rooted in crip time. There is no need to rush the community into becoming something before it is ready.

For Andrew, the project is about creating a space where Disabled people can connect, share, learn, and participate on their own terms.

And perhaps that’s one of the most powerful forms of resistance to ableism: creating a community where Disabled people don’t have to constantly adjust themselves to fit someone else’s timeline.

They can simply show up as they are.

And take the time they need.

Read more about FUTURES Intensives.

You can also read what 60 Disabled and neurodivergent young adults taught us about leadership.

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Apply to FUTURES

FUTURES is a free leadership program for Disabled and neurodivergent young people in Canada, ages 18 to 30.

Every participant builds their own activation project, like the one you just read about.

Intensive Hybrid October runs twice a week for six weeks, online and in person.

Registration closes Monday, October 19, the day before the cohort starts.

Apply to FUTURES Intensive Hybrid October

Want to talk through your access needs first? That conversation is optional, and it is yours to book: book an access needs conversation with Ratsamy