National Hispanic Heritage Month 2026: 18 Notable Hispanic/Latinx People in the Disability Community from History
[Image Description: The graphic is a collage of the Ecuador, Spain, and Mexico flags at the top and the Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Portugal flags at the bottom. "National Hispanic Heritage Month" is in center-aligned enlarged bold black text. "18 Notable Hispanic/Latinx People in the Disability Community from History" is in center-aligned bold black text below it.]
DISCLAIMER: All of the below photos are from Google Images. I do not take ownership for any of them.
September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. I proudly identify as a disabled white Hispanic woman who stutters with Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS). Every year I honor observance days in honor of diverse groups by making time to make space for conversations and lived experiences that too often go unheard. Every year I hope that you hold the following key takeaways close:
- Disability is not separate from culture.
- Every disability journey is different.
- It is okay no matter what your disability/cultural journey looks like.
- Our futures are worth fighting for.
- You don't need to prove your worth.
- How are you really doing? (An invitation for honesty.)
- We deserve more than survival.
1. Annie Segarra (August 22, 1990-present)
Annie Segarra also known online as Annie Elainey is a YouTuber, artist, and disability and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate of Peruvian and Ecuadorian descent. Annie identifies as a Latinx/Latina woman of color and queer. Annie has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), which is a genetic connective tissue disorder. Annie uses her content to advocate heavily for body positivity, disability rights, wheelchair accessibility, and intersectionality. In addition, Annie frequently discusses her cultural identity and work as a disabled and queer content creator.
2. Cristina Sanz (October 25, 1989-July 6, 2026)
Cristina Sanz was a reality television personality on A&E's Born This Way. Cristina had Down Syndrome and was widely recognized and described in media and advocacy profiles as Hispanic. Cristina came from a close-knit family who are originally from Gijon, Spain. Spanish heritage placed Cristina under the broad umbrella of Hispanic identity (origin from a Spanish-speaking country). Cristina is known as the first Hispanic woman with a disability to win an Emmy Award. Cristina died from a sudden cardiac arrest when she was thirty-six years old on July 6, 2026.
3. Danny J. Gomez (October 29, Year Unknown-present)
Danny J. Gomez is a Hispanic and Latino actor and model. Danny is specifically a Columbian American man who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to parents of Columbian heritage. Danny sustained a spinal cord injury from a mountain biking accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Danny has made appearances in NCIS: Hawai'i and New Amsterdam. Danny strongly advocates for authentic disability casting.
4. Demi Lovato (August 20, 1992-present)
Demi Lovato is a Hispanic and Latina singer, songwriter, and actress. Demi is of Hispanic descent through her late father named Patrick Lovato who had Mexican and Spanish roots. Patrick Lovato came from a family with multi-generational roots in New Mexico and Mexican ancestry, which includes Spanish and Indigenous roots. Demi has spoken openly about embracing her Latin roots noting that she has Mexican American heritage and has shared DNA test results showing Spanish and Indigenous lineage alongside other European ancestries. Demi appeared on the children's television series, Barney & Friends, as a child for her first acting role. In later years, Demi starred on Disney Channel in As the Bell Rings, Camp Rock, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, Princess Protection Program, and in her own television show called Sonny with a Chance. Demi struggled with bulimia nervosa and self-harm along with being bullied as a child, which led to her being homeschooled. In 2010, when Demi was 18 years old, she withdrew from the Jonas Brothers live-in-concert tour to enter a rehabilitation treatment facility for mental and physical health concerns where she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and drug/alcohol addiction. After being 5 years sober, Demi relapsed and overdosed in 2018. The overdose caused Demi to have three strokes, a heart attack, brain damage, a vision impairment, and a hearing impairment. In 2021, Demi came out as nonbinary and currently identifies with they/them/theirs/she/her/hers pronouns. Demi stated in her 2021 documentary series, Dancing with the Devil, that she believes that she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and self-diagnoses as having Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) instead. Demi is known for her activist work for mental health, disability rights, drug/alcohol addiction recovery, eating disorders, LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, trauma, and bullying prevention. Demi married a male musician named Jordan Lutes at the Bellosguardo Estate in Santa Barbara, California on May 25, 2025.
5. Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907-July 13, 1954)
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist born and raised in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico and lifelong Mexican national. Frida was of mixed Mexican and German heritage making her Latina and by modern United States definitions. Frida was Hispanic through her birth and upbringing in Mexico. Frida's father named Carl Wilhelm (Guillermo) Kahlo was a German immigrant of Hungarian German descent. Frida's mother named Matilde Calderon y Gonzalez was a Mexican woman of Indigenous (Amerindian) and Spanish heritage. Frida deeply embraced her Mexican culture, traditional indigenous clothing, and the artistic movement known as Mexicanidad. When Frida Kahlo was six years old, she was told that she had an illness called polio, which made her right leg grow shorter and thinner than her left leg. Frida's disabling illness caused her to be isolated from her peers for months, start school later than her peers, and she was bullied. Frida was a student who performed well academically who planned to attend medical school until she got into a bus accident when she and her then-boyfriend named Alejandro Gomez Arias were on their way home from school when she was eighteen years old. Several passengers were killed in this accident and Alejandro suffered minor injuries while Frida was injured by an iron handrail that went through her pelvis and suffered many other severe injuries. Frida's injuries from the bus accident caused her to have chronic pain and fatigue, be confined to lying in bed for many months to recover and struggling with medical health concerns for the rest of her life. Frida's pain motivated her to paint about her pain and things that she loved to channel her healing. Frida expressed herself through her paintings as a Mexican woman, suffering person, and relationships with both men and women as a bisexual woman. Frida's right leg was amputated at the knee due to gangrene in 1953, which followed by her struggling with severe anxiety and depression and an escalated dependence on painkillers. When her husband named Diego Rivera cheated on her, she attempted suicide. Frida had a high fever and was in extreme pain on the night July 12, 1954, which was followed by her nurse finding her deceased at 6:00am the next morning. While the official cause of death is said to be pulmonary embolism, no autopsy was performed, and biographer Hayden Herrera has argued that Frida died by suicide. Frida grew up in a house called Casa Azul in Mexico City that is now a museum.
6. Gina Rodriguez (July 30, 1984-present)
Gina Rodriguez is a Hispanic and Latina actress born in Chicago to Puerto Rican parents. Gina proudly identifies as Latina and starred in Jane the Virgin. Gina frequently uses social media to raise awareness about Hashimoto's Disease and anxiety.
7. Jeison Aristizabal (1983-present)
Jeison Aristizabal is a community leader with cerebral palsy from Cali, Columbia. Jeison won the CNN Hero of the Year Award in 2016 for founding a center that supports children in the disability community.
8. Jillian Mercado (April 30, 1987-present)
Jillian Mercado is a Latina model and actress born in raised in New York City. Jillian identifies as queer and Afro-Dominican American. Jillian is the biological child of Dominican parents, has spastic muscular dystrophy, and uses a wheelchair. Jillian is one of the few professional models who has a visible physical disability in the fashion industry and has starred in major global fashion campaigns. Jillian has appeared in popular television shows and frequently highlights her identity as an Afro-Latina and disabled woman in the fashion and entertainment industry.
9. John Melendez (October 4, 1965-present)
John Melendez is a television writer, comedian, and radio personality of Puerto-Rican and Danish descent. John Melendez was born to a Puerto Rican father and a Danish mother and is a person who stutters, which is why he is famously known as "Stuttering John." John has made appearances on The Howard Stern Show and The Tonight Show.
10. Lauren Ridloff (April 6, 1978-present)
Lauren Ridloff is a Black and Latina woman actress born and raised deaf in Chicago, Illinois. Lauren's father is Mexican American, and her mother is African American. Lauren played the role of Connie in The Walking Dead. In addition, Lauren made history as the first deaf superhero (Makkari) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals.
11. Lizzie Velasquez (March 13, 1989-present)
Lizzie Velasquez is a world-renowned Hispanic and Latina motivational speaker, advocate, author, and YouTuber who grew up in a large Mexican American family in Austin, Texas. Lizzie was born with an extremely rare congenital disease called Marfanoid-progeroid-lipodystrophy syndrome, which prevents her from accumulating body fat, gaining weight, and caused blindness in one eye. Lizzie was cyberbullied as a teenager and turned it into a global anti-bullying movement. Lizzie frequently speaks about how proud she is of her Hispanic heritage and culture. In fact, Lizzie has been recognized by organizations like Hispanicize for her work and platform as a Latina motivational speaker and activist.
12. Dr. Miguel Toribio-Mateas (mid-February 1970s-present)
Dr. Miguel Tori-bio-Mateas is a Hispanic gay clinical neuroscientist, applied microbiologist, nutrition researcher, and author of ADHD Body and Mind: A Compassionate Guide to Rewilding Your Nervous System with Neuroscience, Nutrition, and Gut-Brain Health. Dr. Toribio-Mateas grew up in Madrid, Spain and was late diagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when he was forty-seven years old.
13. Salma Hayek (September 2, 1966-present)
Salma Hayek is an award-winning actress and film producer of both Latina and Hispanic heritage who was born and raised in Coatzacoalcos, New Veracruz, Mexico. Salma's mother is of Mexican and Spanish ancestry, and her father is of Lebanese descent. Salma's native language is Spanish, and she was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was a teenager. Salma has spoken openly about navigating Hollywood as an actress with a learning disability alongside learning English as a second language.
14. Selena Gomez (July 22, 1992-present)
Selena Gomez is a notable Hispanic and Latina actress, singer, songwriter, and producer born and raised in Grand Prairie, Texas. Selena's father named Ricardo Gomez is of Mexican descent and her paternal grandparents immigrated to Texas from Monterrey, Mexico. Selena's mother named Mandy Teefey is of Italian descent. Selena proudly identifies as a third-generation Mexican American and has embraced her heritage through projects like her Spanish language EP Revelacion and her role in her Spanish language film titled Emilia Perez. Selena appeared on the children's television series, Barney & Friends, as a child for her first acting role. In later years, Selena starred on Disney Channel in Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana, Princess Protection Program, and in her own TV show called Wizards of Waverly Place. Selena has also played several other television and film roles and currently stars in the Hulu series called Only Murders in the Building. After performing in North America and Europe for her Stars Dance Tour in 2013, Selena cancelled the Australian and Asian legs of the tour set for December claiming to be taking a hiatus to spend time with family. In January 2014, news reports revealed that Selena had spent two weeks at Dawn at the Meadows, which is a treatment center that supports young people with addiction and trauma, which her representative confirmed. In 2015, Selena opened up about being diagnosed with lupus and that she went to entered rehab to receive chemotherapy. In 2017, Selena opened up on Instagram that she withdrew from public events during the past few months because she had received a kidney transplant from actress and friend named Francia Raisa. In 2020, Selena opened up about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Selena is known for her advocacy work for mental health and gender, racial, and LGBTQ+ equality and being a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2009.
15. Sofia Jirau (March 26, 1996-present)
Sofia Jirau is Victoria's Secret first model with Down Syndrome Sofia is both Hispanic and Latina. Sofia was born and raised in Puerto Rico, which is a United States territory in the Caribbean. Sofia is the second oldest of four children and her height is 4'9". Sofia started her modeling career when she was sixteen years old at a fashion show for designer, Wanda Beauchamp, and has modeled for many top designers. Sofia modeled at New York Fashion Week in 2020 where she became one of the few models with Down Syndrome to participate in the event.
16. Tamara Mena (April 21, 1986-present)
Tamara Mena is a Hispanic and Latina motivational speaker, model, actress, bilingual creator, and ambassador born and raised in Leon, Mexico. Tamara immigrated to the United States when she was thirteen years old. Tamara identifies as Mexican American and Latina. Tamara has hosted shows such as American Latino and participated in Nuestra Belleza Latina. Tamara became paralyzed from the mid-chest down in a life-changing car accident when she was nineteen years old. Tamara advocates globally for disability rights.
17. Tony Coelho (June 14, 1942-present)
Tony Coelho is a Portuguese-Azorean former United States of America Congressman with epilepsy and was born and raised in California. Tony's parents were the children of Portuguese immigrants. Tony has historically been counted as Hispanic or Latino within the United States of America House of Representatives and by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus while Portugal itself is on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe rather than Latin America. Tony was initially denied entry to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the early 1980s because he was not considered Hispanic. Tony later joined the Caucus in 1985 and is frequently referenced in congressional history as the first Hispanic American to reach high-level House Democratic leadership as Majority Whip. In addition, Tony was a sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.
18. Celimar Rivera Cosme
Celimar Rivera Cosme is a Hispanic and Latina deaf artist and interpreter born and raised in Naranjito, Puerto Rico. Celimar proudly shares her Puerto Rican identity and culture. Celimar made history as the first performer to use Puerto Rican Sign Language (PRSL) during the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. In fact, Celimar proudly identified as "Primera Latina Deaf Performer" to take the Super Bowl stage. Celimar worked with Bad Bunny to incorporate PRSL for his major live performances and residency sets. This initiative originated from advocacy by the Deaf community in Puerto Rico ahead of his twentieth century/2022 tour stops, creating historic representation that centers local sign language rather than defaulting exclusively to American Sign Language (ASL).
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