You have been on a remarkable personal journey. Can you share more about your story?
I am first-generation American born to immigrants from the Dominican Republic. I grew up in the Bronx. I wanted to be a chef growing up, so I went to school for that. My bachelor’s degree is in culinary nutrition. A little over a year after graduating, while I was living in Pennsylvania, a tree fell on my car and it broke my neck. I became quadriplegic. After that, I came back to New York and had to find a place to live. I was young, I didn’t have the things I needed to live on my own, so I had to live in a nursing home for a couple of years until I could find accessible, affordable housing. Thankfully, I did. It took a while, but after getting acclimated, I became involved with organizations in the city. I became a board member of United Spinal’s New York City Chapter. I went through the whole vocational rehab journey and they were trying to find me things in the realm of food service, but I didn’t find anything that lit that fire in me like being a line cook did until I started working in youth services for an independent living center. To be working at a place where the majority of the employees have disabilities and the people that we’re serving are people with disabilities motivated me to want to serve this community even more.
I also was a participant in support groups, namely one at Mount Sinai. There was a lot of talk about women not feeling like they could be as candid as they would like to be in this setting of a co-ed support group. So, I worked with another member to create Women on Wheels.
Tell us more about Women on Wheels. Why is it so important to foster a sense of community among women with disabilities?
We get together and we talk and vent and laugh. But we also have education opportunities, like a gynecologist came in to talk about reproductive health. We had the fire department come and talk about emergency preparedness. We had cooking classes and holiday celebrations. And when the pandemic hit, I decided to take it virtual and it expanded exponentially. So now, we’re an international organization and a nonprofit. It’s a big learning curve for me. It’s daunting, but it’s a beautiful community that we’ve built. The mentorship and fellowship in the community is beautiful.
For women to be able to feel their voice is heard is huge. If you’re in an environment where you feel like you can’t vocalize your feelings safely and feel understood, you’re not going to speak up. But one of the most empowering things that you have is your voice. And unfortunately, a lot of the women with spinal cord injuries that I meet sustained them at the hands of a male abuser or violence of some sort.
Also, there are things women with spinal cord injuries want to talk about. It can be a very scary and daunting thing to talk about motherhood, if you can even be a mother, what that looks like now, and all of the health issues that come along with it. Or they might want to discuss sex, infections, or their menstrual cycles and how best to manage it. So, you want to be around people that are going to be knowledgeable, that you can feel safe and comfortable talking about these things with.
What insight would you share with other disabled people who want to share their stories with the world?
Speak up about your story to every person that will listen. It helps to break some of that shyness away. For instance, I have a mentee who is a survivor of domestic violence and it took her a while, but she came to me and said that she wanted to get into public speaking. She wants to be of support to anyone else that’s been through what she’s been through. And I said, well, I can connect you with Barrier Free Living, which has a wheelchair accessible domestic violence shelter in the city, and that’s what I did. And they’re going to start collaborating on things, because it is an incredible story that she has, but she had to first gain the confidence to have the conversation with me to build that bridge and then be open to speaking to other people. By speaking out, people in your community can support you and hold you accountable.
What disability rights issue is your biggest advocacy priority right now?
Accessibility. I feel like we can make a difference in a lot of ways, but when you can get in the door, it makes a massive difference. I know the feeling of being invited to places that one would think were knowledgeable about what accessibility is then being stuck outside feeling like I’m less than or an afterthought, if even a thought. It’s a discouraging feeling. If I can’t get in the door, and it’s a business where I know the necessary renovations to make it accessible would be considered a reasonable accommodation, I’m going to advocate for it. It’s 2025. You know better, so do better.
Looking ahead, what’s next on your exciting journey?
It’s definitely to get more comfortable and confident in my role as an executive director to be able to grow Women on Wheels. I want to continue to grow the community and provide resources and services to women with disabilities, primarily with spinal cord injury and paralysis, because that’s our specialty. But I’d help any woman with any disability that I can. I’ll also be graduating in May with my master’s degree in disability studies, so I plan to look into working in accessibility or disability services at a school.