Alice Wong became a disabled ancestor yesterday, and the world will never be the same. Alice was a Disabled Oracle — a disabled person who is a source of wisdom and truth. Her work through the Disability Visibility Project and writings via many other publications and platforms made the complexity of disabled experiences visible to the world. She taught disabled people to honor our full complex existences, and taught non-disabled people to see us for our whole selves — our disabled joy, disabled rage, and the ferocity we unleash through our advocacy. As a proud disabled Asian-American woman, Alice was intentional about ensuring her work never aimed to please or center whiteness or non-disabledness. She changed the public story of disability, and changed so many of our individual stories of disability. Alice changed us all. It's not a coincidence that many disabled people are saying today, "Alice was my first introduction to disability advocacy" or "Alice was the first person who showed me there is a place in the disability community for me." Alice expanded our movement, disabled people's lives, and the minds of millions. AAPD was privileged to witness this expansiveness in real time. Every AAPD intern receives a copy of Alice's first book, Disability Visibility, which they then discuss as a community. For many of them, the book is a transformative reframe of their disability and personal power. Alice was part of the AAPD community as a recipient of AAPD's prestigious Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award in 2016 to support the Disability Visibility Project. Finally, Alice was a frequent collaborator with AAPD's REV UP campaign, through her founding and continued work on the #CripTheVote hashtag. Alice felt deep disabled rage at the systemically forced precarity of disabled people's lives, and encouraged all of us to tap into our own disabled rage. In honor of Alice, we will continue to uplift disabled stories and rage on. Credit for the collage art of Alice on slides 1 and 4 to the incredible @jtknoxroxs. The photos are images of Alice at AAPD's 2016 Leadership Awards Gala, using the Beam Telepresence to connect with attendees.
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