Dear SDS community members, I’m writing this letter on a cold, gray and blustery day in Upstate New York. The leaves are deep into their transformation into a carpet of yellow, red, and orange along the Hudson River, and I’m taking it as an opportunity to assess the changes SDS has gone through over the last few years and the changes we’re anticipating in the future. I’m dwelling on SDS’s reemergence after the difficulties we have all encountered during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and how SDS can become a model of a more-than-scholarly organization that can promote accessibility, community engagement, and sustainability in the years to come. As a board, we are actively working on this future for the organization, so it is with some excitement that I reveal what we’ve been working on these last several months. First, we are beginning a new Social Media Internship <https://disstudies.org/index.php/about/open-positions/> program to foster a broader impact for the organization and more regular engagement with community members. We’re hopeful that several community members will apply to serve in this role and that we’ll be able to foster critical discussions and community engagement through our various social media outlets. In the service of these goals, please take the time to fill out this Social Media Use Survey <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe57M0IIZjk4Ngn13uU53V7hLsgw3YWDSyU85122bUDZFpENA/viewform?usp=sf_link> to help us ensure that we are focusing our efforts on venues that are meaningful to you. (If Facebook is one of those venues, please join the new SDS Facebook page here <https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551657447916>.) Second, we are inaugurating two new participatory councils, a Community Advisory Council and Global Advisory Council <https://disstudies.org/index.php/about/open-positions/>. Both are intended as means for people who are committed to SDS to participate in the development of our policies and programming and seek to catch different kinds of community members. Members of the councils will be asked to consult on ideas that emerge from the board and membership without the obligation of attending board meetings. We’re hopeful that this asynchronous model of participation will allow for people who are in different time zones and personal and professional situations to engage meaningfully in the work of SDS. Third, in January we will launch participatory affinity groups to engage with SDS members and community members about how the organization can better serve multiply-marginalized communities. These are one-time meetings where we’re hoping for an infusion of ideas to guide the board as we navigate the near term of organizational redevelopment. There is still time to register to participate, and you can do so here <https://disstudies.org/index.php/events/>. Fourth, we are planning a series of web-based events. These events will support graduate students and junior scholars, including dissertation writing and professionalization seminars, as well as serving as a place for the membership to come together for public events, including book talks and scholarly and artistic presentations. We are in the early stages of planning these events, so anticipate announcements in the coming months. Fifth, in spring 2024, the SDS conference will return. We’re planning to move away from the centrally-organized and located conference and toward a more accessible and sustainable model that works across locally-organized nodes. This will enable local organizing committees to develop mini-conferences under the SDS umbrella that will co-occur and share plenary talks and other events. If you are interested in hosting a local node, please contact us through this form <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczIEcfBJyHRf467ptC80WcW9GXMcQ0VA8yg7pKyDXRHVP38w/viewform?usp=sf_link>. The model of the “destination conference” has fallen under trenchant critique for its damage to the environment, high costs, and difficulty to attend. Many of our members have been unable to travel long distances safely to attend conferences during and before the pandemic. We’re hopeful that a more modular approach to the annual, in-person conference will provide people with the community that is so vital to the well-being of the organization and its members while also exhibiting the organization’s commitment to accessible and sustainable conferences. Sixth--and by far the most banal of my announcements--is that we are in the process of transitioning away from our membership management software, Wild Apricot, and toward a more innovative platform. Members have experienced several technical problems with Wild Apricot and we’re hopeful that we can migrate our membership to a more responsive and forward-aimed platform for engaging with SDS. If you are waiting to renew your membership, please wait a little longer until the new platform is in place. My thanks to the board members who have served over the last year and who have just joined us for their work toward these goals. There’s a lot of work to do, and I know that we can work together to achieve an inclusive and sustainable future for the organization and its members. My thanks to the editorial staff at DSQ, who have recently published a massive special issue on race & disability <https://www.dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/> that I encourage you to spend some time with. Finally, I want to thank Joe Stramondo for serving as Co-President and President of SDS for the past two years. His leadership was critical in navigating some choppy waters associated with changes in the membership of the board and hiring new support staff; his diligence ensured that the boat was righted by the time I stepped into the role of President. His work with Emily Nussbaum, our long-serving Treasurer, to organize the 2022 SDS meeting was essential in maintaining the social connections among the membership that we all value. Joe is such a vital part of the SDS community and we’re so pleased to have him continue as a member of the board. My best wishes to you all, and my (virtual) door is always open, Matthew Wolf-Meyer