ASDAH Purpose, Vision, and Values
Please review the Purpose, Vision, and Values, along with respective explanations. Use the space below to share your feedback.
ASDAH Purpose
To create the conditions for people of all sizes, particularly those most impacted by systemic fatphobia, to have equitable and barrier-free access to the care and resources we need to support our wellbeing.
ASDAH Vision
We dream of care that:
- is compassionate;
- is collective and community based;
- is without systemic barriers to wellbeing, care, and healing; and
- takes the whole person into account to provide personalized care.
ASDAH Values
Abundance | We believe that there is an abundance of resources in this work for everyone, particularly the most impacted by medical fatphobia, to receive the care that they need and deserve. There are enough resources for ASDAH to do its work and pay the marginalized folks who labor on its behalf. By being in right relationship with ourselves and others and by uplifting solidarity, reparations, wealth redistribution, and mutual aid networks rather than charity and the status quo of the nonprofit industrial complex, those resources will easily flow to and through this organization.
Accountability | As an organization we strive to be accountable to self and to those with whom we are in community. Our goal is to align our actions with our values and to do so with intention and integrity. In ASDAH spaces we aim to foster accountability rather than safety, which cannot be assured, and bravery, which puts undue burden on marginalized folks.
Collaboration | We value collaboration, cooperation, and interdependence over competition and individualism. We cannot, neither should we, do this work alone, individually or as an organization. We rely on each other, fat liberation activists, organizers, and scholars, healthcare professionals, and community members. We depend on collective thinking, wisdom, scholarship, and action in order to accomplish our shared goals.
Curiosity | We acknowledge that we do not have all the answers. There is no ONE answer to the problems we are trying to solve. There is no ONE way to know, be, or do things. Understanding this we commit to being curious, open, and inquisitive. Rather than finding The Answer, we commit to being in the question of liberation, the ongoing process of exploration, investigation, learning, and unlearning.
Joy | The work to disrupt fatphobia within the medical industrial complex is challenging, exhausting, and, at times, even demoralizing and hopeless. Despite this we must not lose sight of our humanity, love, and joy. We commit to choosing, experiencing, fostering, and creating joy in the face of oppression and discrimination and in spite of insurmountable odds.
Trailblazing | With a deep commitment to our purpose and vision, we forge a new path forward as we build the new world beyond the abolition of health and the medical industrial complex. We trailblaze with innovative thought leadership, new ideas & methods, and being an example of values-aligned leadership. Our goal is to be the go-to organization for institutional support regarding health equity and fat liberation.
Transformation | Despite calls for things to remain the same, the world is crying out for change. Those who are most impacted by medical fatphobia want change. Our goal is to be a part of that change. We commit to and prioritize growth and transformation so that we can better serve our global community and succeed as an organization.
The Revised Health at Every Size® Principles
Review the revised Principles:
Healthcare is a human right for people of all sizes, including those at the highest end of the size spectrum.
People of all sizes, including those at the largest end of the size spectrum, have the right to healthcare without exception. Obtaining a certain BMI, losing weight, and/or holding health as a value or pursuit must not impede fat people’s access to compassionate & adequate healthcare. Gatekeeping healthcare is harmful to people of all sizes and is the antithesis to Health at Every Size®.
Care must be free from anti-fat bias.
Anti-fat bias, anti-fatness, or fatphobia are detrimental to the health and wellbeing of all people, especially fat people. Those who provide Health at Every Size®-aligned care must strive to dismantle anti-fat bias and provide care that keeps all bodies in mind. Along those lines, people in larger bodies must be considered when it comes to the provision of care, research design & results interpretation, and the physical design of healthcare spaces.
Health is a sociopolitical construct that reflects the values of society.
How our society currently defines health is rooted in white supremacy, anti-Black racism, ableism, and healthism. As the values of our society become more rooted in collective liberation, we have the opportunity to critically examine and redefine how we define health, disease, and illness. In order to access Health at Every Size®-aligned care, it is not an individual’s or community’s imperative to achieve our society’s current definition of health.
Wellbeing, care, and healing are resources that are both collective and deeply personal.
Because health exists on a continuum that varies with time and circumstance for each individual, Health at Every Size® aims to focus on wellbeing, care, and healing. These are resources from which we can all pull to meet our needs. And we get to have others pour those resources into us and vice versa. Community care and mutual aid is key. Health at Every Size® providers and advocates must work to promote and create the conditions that support wellbeing i.e. environmental care, clear air & water, equitable access to food, and more. We must also provide care knowing that each person is the expert on what is best for them, even whether they value or prioritize health among all the other important aspects that make up a life.