You’re a powerhouse pop artist. Can you tell us about your music career?
I got into music very young. I was born with Moebius syndrome, which means my eyes and face are paralyzed. I had to learn a lot about navigating this world without something that we all use for communication—our faces. A lot of my art and my music comes from trying to find other ways to share myself to the world. For me, there’s not a feeling that can’t be related through a song. And whenever I am going through something, I’m always listening to music.
At 15, I got an opportunity to go to Nashville to record professionally. At that time, I was only doing inspirational content on social media. When I got home from Nashville, I was like, let me write more songs about the whole spectrum of who I am. I’m not just an inspirational person. Disabled people are always put into boxes in tokenizing ways, but I wanted to write a few songs about heartbreak and love and different things.
I’ve written two albums, and I’m on my third album right now, spilling the tea on disability joy. It started from the idea of asking, why don’t we have any pop songs that talk about disabilities? There’s not a lot of music that has the words ‘disabled’ or ‘disability’ in it. I wanted to claim the identity of being disabled, and I wanted to do it in a fun, ‘Austin’ way, so I wrote a dance electro-pop song called DISABLED, saying, ‘Yeah, I’m disabled, so what? I’m hot and I’m sexy and I’m beautiful and I can do whatever I want.’
You also have experience as a model. Why is visibility of people with disabilities in fashion so important?
I still can’t believe that I walked in New York Fashion Week. But it goes back to why I got into music and art. Having a facial disability is really, really challenging. People just assume the worst. So, a lot of how I express myself is through fashion. I always loved showing who I am on the inside through my outfits and colors and different patterns. And being openly queer, being openly disabled, I would have been so much happier and more accepting of myself if I saw someone like me earlier in my life. But I never saw anyone like me with a facial difference in fashion. I wanted to be that for other people. So, I started sharing my story of beauty and disability through social media. And then I got contacted by Runway of Dreams and they put me in their show. Now, it’s a dream of mine to work with men’s fashion brands and really be out there to show that disabled people can dress up.
What advice do you have for disabled people who want to contribute to expanding visibility and representation of the disability community?
The biggest thing that comes to my mind is authenticity. I know that’s a trending hot word right now. But truly, just be yourself. For disabled people that are trying to be out there and trying to be seen and heard and represented, I say, just be what you want to be, be the light that you want to shine. You don’t need to try to fit a mold. You don’t need to try to do something that’s already been done before. I think the coolest people are the people that just have an idea, and it’s not an idea that has been done before, and they do it in ways that are new, fresh, and exciting. Whatever you’re passionate about, just lean into it. Lean into the weird. Lean into the unique. And I think that’s where the magic happens.
What disability rights issue is your biggest advocacy priority right now?
There’s so much that we need to change about how we think and feel and talk about disabilities. Right now, something that has been a tangible thing that I’m working on is just reclaiming the words ‘disabled’ and ‘disability,’ because I didn’t identify as disabled for a long time, and I think we need to destigmatize it. I’m trying to educate people to say ‘disabled.’ That’s what my new song and my new album are about. Let’s not shy away from uncomfortable conversations. Let’s talk about disabilities.
My advocacy has brought so much healing to me. The more that we don’t shy away from the ‘taboo’ conversations on disability, I think we can bring light to our community. There are so many shining stars in the in the disability community and that’s given me so much hope. It’s given me a second family that I didn’t even know I needed.
Thinking ahead, what’s next on your exciting journey?
I try not to worry about the future so much, because it feels like everything is a lot right now, but the biggest thing is promoting and raising awareness through my new music video for DISABLED. It has a very diverse cast of people with disabilities and facial differences. And we filmed it at the 3 Dollar Bill, one of the biggest queer venues in New York City. My goal is for it to go viral. I’m just so tired of seeing the same story about disability. So, I want to be a light and help other people feel comfortable in their skin. I want them to feel like anything is possible and you don’t need to try to be someone that you’re not, because you already have the tools that you need within yourself.