Little by Little

Big changes rarely happen all at once. They happen little by little.

For more than forty years, Theo W. Braddy has been writing about disability, leadership, advocacy, and life. It began when he was 28 years old and starting his career at the Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania.

Over the years, those writings became more than articles and messages. They became lessons.

Lessons about disability. Leadership. Ableism. Independence. Community. Change. And the responsibility each generation has to carry the work forward.

In Little by Little: Lessons on Disability Leadership and the Unfinished Work, Braddy brings together some of those writings with new reflections drawn from more than fifty years of living with a significant disability and decades of leadership in the Independent Living Movement.

He has witnessed extraordinary progress. Laws changed. Barriers came down. People with disabilities fought for the right to make their own decisions, live in their own homes, work, raise families, and participate fully in their communities.

None of it happened overnight.

A movement was built little by little.

But Braddy believes there is another lesson we cannot afford to forget:

Theo W. Braddy is a lifelong disability rights leader and the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL). Appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Council on Disability, he has spent decades shaping policy and advocating for equality and justice, from his early days as a young man adjusting to life after paralysis at age 15 to becoming a national voice for people with disabilities. Theo's work has inspired and empowered thousands. He lives by the belief that every setback holds the seed of a new beginning, and every voice has the power to make change. He is married to Roe Braddy, an award-winning Author, and has two children: Kimmi Braddy and Theo Braddy, II.