WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: SEEKING DIVERSE VOICES
by Brianne Robach, Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness
March is Women’s History Month, and the Cultural Competency & Inclusion Committee has chosen to take an intersectional focus on women with disabilities and Black women.
Today, I want to discuss a topic that intersects each of these populations: the importance of seeking diverse voices and ensuring those with lived experience inform our perspectives instead of making assumptions or defaulting to unconscious biases. The perspectives of women, people with disabilities, and people of color are essential in identifying systemic and structural barriers for these populations and generating solutions to remove these barriers.
For the disability community, one common thing that happens when excluding perspectives of those with disabilities is the objectification of people with disabilities. This can take the form of using someone with a disability as an inspiration for non-disabled people. Stella Young is a disability rights activist and talks more about this topic in her TEDx Talk, “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much.”
Being mindful of the content you consume and the perspective it portrays is one way to hear directly from those with lived experience. So, in that spirit, I want to recommend some social media accounts of Black women with disabilities who are activists and share their experiences and the challenges they face.
Social media accounts to check out:
Lauren “Lolo” Spencer
Actress, model, and influencer
Instagram: @itslololove
Facebook: @SittingPrettyLolo
Haben Girma
Advocate and author of The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law
Instagram: @habengirma
Facebook: @HabenGirma
Stephanie Thomas
Founder of Cur8able, a fashion styling service for people with disabilities and author of Fitting in: The Social Implications of Fashion and Dressing with Disabilities
Instagram: @disabilityfashionstylist
Keah Brown
Activist, journalist, and author of The Pretty One
Instagram: @keah_maria
Facebook: @KeahBrown4
Andrea Dalzell
Nurse and full-time wheelchair user
Instagram: @theseatednurse
Tobi Green Adenowo
Dancer
Instagram: @toughcookietee
Facebook: @ToughCookieTee
Tatiana Lee
Activist, actress, and blogger
Instagram: @mstatilee
Facebook: @AccessibleHollywood
Clara Holmes
Model and speaker
Instagram: @rollinfunky
Facebook: @RollinFunky
Check back later this month for another Women’s History Month blog from the Cultural Competency & Inclusion Committee.