November 2024

As we begin pulling together our first annual report, we’ve been taking stock of what this past year has involved — not just in terms of activity, but in how Haki Collective has taken shape.

Over this period, we’ve moved from being an idea and a collective into a functioning start-up, focused on raising awareness, training and consultancy that centre the intersection of disability and racial justice.

A lot of our first year was about relationships: learning how to work together, building trust, and finding ways of working that felt aligned with our values.

Alongside that, we navigated the practical realities of becoming a legal entity — an important step, and one that required time, care and patience.

We also spent much of this year building the operational foundations needed to work responsibly and sustainably. Between the directors, we developed and implemented eight core policies that now underpin Haki’s work, including safeguarding, equality and inclusion, data protection, complaints and disciplinary processes, volunteering, and how we make information accessible.

Much of this work happens behind the scenes, but it’s been essential in shaping how we show up as an organisation.

As part of this first year, we were fortunate to bring in two disability justice practitioners with extensive experience to support our strategic development. Their insight has helped strengthen our thinking and ensured that disability justice remains central as we grow.

Through conversations with Black and Global Majority communities, we’ve also deepened our understanding of the knowledge gaps that exist around disability justice and its connection to racial justice.

We’ve seen how many services and community-led projects - including those within our own communities - are created without fully recognising what accessibility means in practice: an example that stuck with us is when one of Haki’s directors asked about accessible toilet facilities at a local Black-owned business.

Although it was initially described as accessible, the narrow hallway and layout made it unusable for wheelchair users. This was a reminder that disability is often created by environments and systems - and that access is shaped by resources, awareness and structural barriers.

Looking back, these early experiences have shaped Haki in important ways.

They’ve strengthened our commitment to bridging knowledge gaps, supporting more accessible ways of working, and holding disability justice and racial justice together as deeply connected — both in our work and in how we build the organisation itself.