My Disability Advocacy Journey, Why I Started Living My Best Di…

If I am being frank, I did not always want to be a disability advocate. When I was younger, I wanted to distance myself from my disability identity. I had a lot of internalized ableism. My mindset started to shift around the summer before I graduated high school when I attended the youth leadership forum.

Bridgewater State University Youth Leadership Forum is a disability leadership conference for youth with disabilities. It is a combination of panels, team-building exercises, networking, and social events such as karaoke night and dance. It was then that I realized that I did not have to be ashamed of being disabled and it does not define me. It is only part of me. If someone had told me that my career would involve advocating for the disability community, I would have never believed them.

Fast forward to college, and I joined a club called Eagles Gather, which was a disability awareness and advocacy club on campus for students with and without disabilities. We hosted a variety of different events to spread awareness about disabilities. When the pandemic hit, and we were forced to have virtual meetings, I took it upon myself to offer to reach out to different individuals with disabilities to come speak to the club.

This allowed us to ask other disabled individuals questions and advice. I coordinated these virtual guest speakers until I graduated in December 2021.

I was lucky enough to have moderated these discussions. Most notably, we talked with Shane Burcaw and Rebekah Taussig, who are two incredible disabled advocates and authors. I then realized that I love hearing other disabled people’s perspectives on different issues and hearing what advice they would give to other disabled people. It was then that I realized that I wanted to get started in disability advocacy and share my story and many others with the disability community.

My hope was that I could find a unique way to advocate for the disability community, educate both disabled people and those who may not be disabled, and celebrate the disability community. I did not really know where to start.

There are so many different avenues and aspects of disability advocacy. With that being with, I did not want to do it traditionally; I wanted it to be creative. A lightbulb or off my head, and I realized I could combine my love of interviewing and my newfound passion for disability advocacy by creating a podcast that discusses different relevant disability-related issues.

I had the idea each episode would be centered around a different topic, such as education advocacy, work relationships, or an episode focused on a specific disability. Take this as a lesson, do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, you never know what incredible experience is waiting for you!

Until next time,

Liv