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 shows a picture of the book titled "Fish in a Tree" as an aqua colored book cover with an aqua colored fish in a light green tree with "Lynda Mullaly Hunt" in center-aligned white text at the top and "FISH IN A TREE" in bright pink to light blue to dark blue to light orange to turquoise to bright green to light green center-aligned bubble letters. ]     Fish in a Tree written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is about a sixth grader named Ally Nickerson with undiagnosed dyslexia. Ally is frequently sent to the principal's office and has switched schools seven times in seven years because teachers just cannot seem to figure her out nor reach her. Every time Ally is enrolled at a new school, she hides her inability to read by creating disruptive distractions, which is common among students in the learning disability community to do out of frustration about their challenges. Ally experiences frequent bullying, especially from her peers ...

[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 ...