First Former Buddy Club President

[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 differen...

[Image Description: The image has a cloudy red, orange, yellow, light green, medium blue, and light purple horizontally striped rainbow background with my First Former Buddy Club President logo in the bottom left corner. "LGBTQ+ Pride Month 2025" is in center-aligned turquoise text. "Notable People in the Disability Community Who Intersect into the LGBTQ+ Community" is in left-aligned dark purple text with an enlarged red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple rainbow flag below. ] According to research from the Movement Advancement Project, an estimate of "3 to 5 million LGBTQ people live with one or more disabilities" (GLAAD 2025). Additionally, "nearly one in two LGBTQ+ teens in the US seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. 1 in 6 made an attempt" (The Trevor Project 2024). People in the LGBTQ+ community are at an increased risk for anxiety, depression, and attempting or dying by suicide due to the constant prejudice that ...

                         [Image Description: The image has a light pink cloudy background with my First Former Buddy Club President logo in the bottom left corner. "Women's History Month" is in center-aligned violet text with "Women in the Disability Community from History" in left-aligned dark purple text below it. The pink female sign is center-aligned below all of this text. ] DISCLAIMER:   All of the below photographs except photo 1 are from Google Images. I do not take ownership for any of them except photo 1. 1. Kayla Kosmalski                        [Image Description:  Kayla Kosmalski and I (left to right) are smiling and standing next to each other on a sidewalk at the 2024 CHOP Philadelphia Buddy Walk outside of the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ]     Kayla Kosmalski is best known for being the Delaware teen wh...