July 26, 2020 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act – and to honor the landmark anniversary, our team at the Campaign for Southern Equality is reflecting on the intersections of LGBTQ identity and disability in a series of video conversations with CSE staffers and community members.
In this first video, CSE Director of Engagement and Organizational Development Al Murray interviews Dede Norungolo, MRC, CRC, LPC, LAC. Dede is based in South Carolina. She has a long history of working with people with disabilities, including working with folks to help them get back on their feet, working and situated in safe places following serious injuries.
“If we build things with the least barriers for the most people to enjoy, the most people to use, the most people to understand and be influenced by – that is what accommodations and accessibility are,” Dede told Al. “That’s what we strive for. The ADA was to level the playing field. It was to give us more equitable systems, and this is still something we’re working on.”
Dede also shared the story of her own disability – a traumatic brain injury that she endured following a car wreck more than 20 years ago. The accident left her with significant cognitive challenges, and Dede talks through how that experience changed her worldview and changed the trajectory of her own career and life.
Listen to the Interview:
Read More About the Queering Disability Justice Series:
- BLOG POST: Ivy Hill introduces the series and shares their experience with disability justice.
- VIDEO INTERVIEW: Rhóna Ramsey and Emily Fox speak about disability justice – including Rhóna’s experiences living with Wolf-Hirschhorn and an Atrioventricular Septal Defect and Emily’s experiences with neuro Lyme disease and diet restrictions.
- VIDEO INTERVIEW: Priya Ray speaks with Liz Williams about the work she does to advocate for people with disabilities, as well as the intersections of her identities as a Southerner, an Indian, and a person who uses a wheelchair.
- VIDEO INTERVIEW: Adam Polaski and Cecil Robinson reflect on their personal experiences with stuttering, a speech disorder. They talk about the intersections of their gay male identity and their stutters.
- VIDEO INTERVIEW: Holiday Simmons interviews Mark Travis Rivera about his work at the intersection of disability and dance, his experience developing cerebral palsy at a young age, and his advocacy alongside and on behalf of people with disabilities.
