Everyone has abilities. Everyone has disabilities. Engaging our abilities leverages and liberates our energies and therefore our identities, fully allowing us to express who we are. Therefore, nurturing and developing ability is key to evolving human life. The Theory of Everyone is intended to facilitate a greater understanding of the ways that society recognizes, treats, develops, and conversely, stifles ability, so as to promote that evolution.

With a wink and a nod to Stephen Hawking’s theory of everything, which attempts to reconcile gravitation and quantum physics, my theory attempts to reconcile diverse definitions of humanity from across religion and social science.

My research and reading lead me to a common thread running through all definitions of humanity – ability. Humans are uniquely able to contemplate our beginnings and our end. We are able to think abstractly, to use sophisticated tools, to build myths and cities and community.

The theory proposes a society that takes ability seriously. One that uses ability as the fundamental organizing principle of life. I envision a world which values all abilities, from love and language through math and medicine. You see, I believe that everyone has a superpower, an ability that shines brighter than it has any right to, yet society as we’ve constructed it has a hard time recognizing the light in everyone. I want to offer a vision of a society built around communities of ability that rely on one another to solve problems both pressing and every day.

My vantage point as a member of the disability community provides me with a unique perspective on identity and capacity in society. I have observed that while identity issues tend to homogenize groups, splitting us into teams and tribes, ability based groups are heterogeneous and free flowing. My theory proposes an ability-oriented society as an antidote to tribalism. In this respect the disability community serves as a model as it is the first global community organized around ability.