Disabilities, whether physical or mental, are not an obstacle to others. Disabled people have shown that their medical conditions could never halt them from accomplishing anything.
Women have been making history for centuries; for others, it was the only alternative they had. For young women, in particular, it was either behaving the way people wanted or fighting for the life they believed they deserved.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Serving as a junior U.S. Senator from Illinois since 2017, Tammy Duckworth made a name for herself with a variety of firsts: she became the first female helicopter pilot to command a military operation, the first double amputee in the Iraq war, the first Thai-American citizen and the first disabled female to be elected to Congress and the first senator to give birth while in office. Duckworth has gone a long way in her political career to introduce a number of bills to make life easier for parents — and to do it all with a sense of humor.
Jillian Mercado
Jillian Mercado became one of the first women to be appointed with a physical impairment. When she began to see modeling as her preferred profession, she sought to find other models who used wheelchairs but didn’t have any success. There were barely any people with physical disabilities whatsoever.
About four years ago, Mercado made an open casting call that ended up shifting her life alongside the modeling industry. She was recruited for an ad advertisement on Diesel Jeans, and IMG Models renewed up a year later. Since then, she has participated in Beyoncé ‘s promotional promotion for her Creation Run, appearing in Target advertisements.
Judy Heumann
After Judy Heumann was sent home for “fire hazard” in high school, she learned how cruel the world could be, so she decided she had to make a difference. She winded up becoming the first wheelchair user to teach in New York City since the board of education first refused her license. Heumann sued for prejudice after she found that she was rejected because of concerns that she should support a pupil in an emergency or go to the toilet on her own — won and went on to teach for three years.
After teaching, she was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Special Education and Health Programs and is currently working with the State Department as a Special Advisor on International Disability Rights.
Stella Young
Stella Young took over the media seeking to normalize disability — she wrote posts, edited a digital magazine, had a comedy series of her own, and hosted No Boundaries, Australia’s first disability culture TV show. She also made a TEDx talk in 2014 entitled “I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much.”
With her TEDx presentation, she opened millions of people ‘s eyes and coined the idea of “porn-inspired empowerment.” It’s where viewers view someone with disabilities as “real, breathing, feel-good memes” because as weird as it is, it’s not unusual for anyone with a disability to be told they’re an empowerment when they’re performing their everyday routine.
Photo de Marcus Aurelius provenant de Pexels
