WEBVTT

00:00:00.519 --> 00:00:02.412
I'm Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán.

00:00:02.412 --> 00:00:07.348
I am, my day job is the
Senior Policy Manager at AIDS United.

00:00:07.348 --> 00:00:10.713
We work to end the HIV epidemic.

00:00:10.713 --> 00:00:14.391
And I would say I am
a disability advocate at heart

00:00:14.391 --> 00:00:17.516
because of my own
mental health disabilities,

00:00:17.516 --> 00:00:22.363
and I bring that throughout my entire life

00:00:22.363 --> 00:00:28.484
to try to push disability world
into one that is inclusive

00:00:28.484 --> 00:00:31.506
of all mental health
and developmental disabilities,

00:00:31.506 --> 00:00:36.261
not just the photogenic disabilities.

00:00:36.261 --> 00:00:39.521
I was a year old when the ADA passed.

00:00:39.521 --> 00:00:44.446
I am 31 years old, and we're celebrating
the 30th anniversary.

00:00:44.446 --> 00:00:47.838
So I have no memory, I grew up with it.

00:00:47.838 --> 00:00:51.099
My first memory of the ADA was my mother,
who was diabetic,

00:00:51.099 --> 00:00:55.973
getting, talking about accommodations
at her work to store insulin

00:00:55.973 --> 00:00:59.685
in the work fridge, along those lines.

00:00:59.685 --> 00:01:04.059
And I remember her talking about
this new thing called the ADA.

00:01:04.059 --> 00:01:07.947
You know how people talk
about work at home.

00:01:07.947 --> 00:01:13.302
But the ADA, I would say,
I had my own mental conception

00:01:13.302 --> 00:01:19.312
of what is a disabled person

00:01:19.312 --> 00:01:24.085
until I myself was dealing with the,
"I feel different,"

00:01:24.085 --> 00:01:28.507
both because of my being trans,
because of my mental health,

00:01:28.507 --> 00:01:34.031
and eventually dealing with it and getting
treatment when I was in law school,

00:01:34.031 --> 00:01:38.442
which I don't- Law school is always an
interesting experience in and of itself.

00:01:38.442 --> 00:01:41.059
It's a three-year hazing ritual.

00:01:41.059 --> 00:01:44.761
But I would say one of the things
that motivate me in disability

00:01:44.761 --> 00:01:50.293
is seeing just how much-

00:01:50.293 --> 00:01:56.844
In disability, we often treat people
as either poor things of pity

00:01:56.844 --> 00:02:00.721
or as scary and need
to be locked away, basically.

00:02:00.721 --> 00:02:03.659
Often, with physical disabilities,
it's the object of pity.

00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:08.166
With mental health disabilities,
it's the scary, let's lock them away,

00:02:08.166 --> 00:02:11.360
why are they allowing those people
out in the community?

00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.796
And, having seen that,
having been scared of it,

00:02:14.796 --> 00:02:21.140
having been worried about my career
if I were out,

00:02:21.140 --> 00:02:24.483
which says a lot as a trans person
being worried about being out

00:02:24.483 --> 00:02:29.017
as someone with
a mental health disability,

00:02:29.017 --> 00:02:33.131
I don't think, I mean,
I think we need to fundamentally alter

00:02:33.131 --> 00:02:38.697
how society sees what is normal
and not normal,

00:02:38.697 --> 00:02:45.747
and how that works as far as
being inclusive of all disabilities.

00:02:45.747 --> 00:02:51.471
I would say that one of the things
that impact me the most

00:02:51.471 --> 00:02:54.985
was, for example, when I got out
of law school.

00:02:54.985 --> 00:03:00.210
In law school, I received accommodations
right as I was about to graduate

00:03:00.210 --> 00:03:06.679
and help from the Assistant Dean
of Students, Sherry Abbott, at the time,

00:03:06.679 --> 00:03:10.947
because I was pretty much experiencing
a lot of problems

00:03:10.947 --> 00:03:13.467
that were related to my disability.

00:03:13.467 --> 00:03:16.490
And that probably wouldn't have
been possible without the ADA,

00:03:16.490 --> 00:03:18.320
without the spirit of it.

00:03:18.320 --> 00:03:23.467
And later, when I started my career,
a few months later, actually,

00:03:23.467 --> 00:03:27.957
I joined as a Schedule A hire
in the US Department of Labor.

00:03:27.957 --> 00:03:30.932
If it weren't for the initiative
at the federal government

00:03:30.932 --> 00:03:33.317
that was partially inspired by the ADA

00:03:33.317 --> 00:03:37.249
to make sure that people with disabilities

00:03:37.249 --> 00:03:40.221
are hired by the federal government,

00:03:40.221 --> 00:03:46.898
then maybe I wouldn't have started
in civil rights in DC when I did.

00:03:46.898 --> 00:03:49.614
So it has made a difference for me

00:03:49.614 --> 00:03:54.318
in receiving accommodations
at the jobs I've had and so forth.

00:03:54.318 --> 00:03:59.269
So it is a question of how do we-

00:03:59.269 --> 00:04:01.982
We already have a whole generation
like myself,

00:04:01.982 --> 00:04:04.995
who are in our early 30s and our 20s,

00:04:04.995 --> 00:04:08.129
all the millennials and zoomers,

00:04:08.129 --> 00:04:13.191
that don't remember the dark days
before the ADA.

00:04:13.191 --> 00:04:15.480
But we can't just coast on the,

00:04:15.480 --> 00:04:19.091
"Yay, we did the ADA,
now let's all go home and party,"

00:04:19.091 --> 00:04:24.401
because there is so much more
work to be done, basically.

00:04:24.401 --> 00:04:28.974
People with disabilities are still
routinely having to fight for their rights

00:04:28.974 --> 00:04:31.241
under the ADA to be solved.

00:04:31.241 --> 00:04:35.968
If we went around DC spotting
architectural barriers,

00:04:35.968 --> 00:04:40.555
we could spot a dozen 
in a single mile radius.

00:04:40.555 --> 00:04:44.258
And that is a problem,

00:04:44.258 --> 00:04:46.378
and this is especially true,

00:04:46.378 --> 00:04:50.788
I like to talk about the sexy
versus the non-sexy disabilities,

00:04:50.788 --> 00:04:54.431
when we talk about disability,
people often get this

00:04:54.431 --> 00:05:00.331
inspiration porn mental image
of the photogenic person in a wheelchair,

00:05:00.331 --> 00:05:05.220
extra bonus points
if they're straight and white,

00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:08.412
but don't want to talk,
and exclude from the picture,

00:05:08.412 --> 00:05:10.828
from that pretty group picture,

00:05:10.828 --> 00:05:16.609
the person who stutters,
the person who has chronic pain

00:05:16.609 --> 00:05:21.389
and can't work because of it,
the person with mental health disabilities

00:05:21.389 --> 00:05:25.767
who has had psychosis
or other experiences like that.

00:05:25.767 --> 00:05:28.487
I mean, when we talk about mental health,

00:05:28.487 --> 00:05:32.648
we try and end the stigma
and other such calls for action,

00:05:32.648 --> 00:05:38.278
we often focus on the idea of,

00:05:38.278 --> 00:05:42.321
let's talk about the people
who were depressed

00:05:42.321 --> 00:05:44.994
and took some Prozac and got better,

00:05:44.994 --> 00:05:49.063
but don't want to talk about people
who are in long-term institutions,

00:05:49.063 --> 00:05:51.313
about people who experience psychosis,

00:05:51.313 --> 00:05:54.953
about people who experience
bipolar disorder, and so forth.

00:05:54.953 --> 00:06:00.878
And we need to be clear that it's all
disabled people that matter, basically,

00:06:00.878 --> 00:06:03.809
at the risk of sounding
All Lives Matter-ish,

00:06:03.809 --> 00:06:06.648
not just those we like the most.

00:06:06.648 --> 00:06:10.699
I would say, fundamentally,
there needs to be a change

00:06:10.699 --> 00:06:15.708
in how federal law treats people
with mental health disabilities.

00:06:15.708 --> 00:06:20.007
We need to fundamentally
end institutionalization.

00:06:20.007 --> 00:06:24.982
We need to include
universal health coverage,

00:06:24.982 --> 00:06:28.209
because people shouldn't be relying
on having a job

00:06:28.209 --> 00:06:31.861
to have access to affordable healthcare.

00:06:31.861 --> 00:06:36.588
And I am also thinking, as a major change,

00:06:36.588 --> 00:06:39.267
the fundamental idea that people

00:06:39.267 --> 00:06:41.686
with mental health
and developmental disabilities

00:06:41.686 --> 00:06:44.824
have rights in general.

00:06:44.824 --> 00:06:48.874
Fundamentally change the culture
and also call in people.

00:06:48.874 --> 00:06:51.391
I like to tell people,
"Use your privilege."

00:06:51.391 --> 00:06:56.816
Kind of like how they put the signs
on the metro and the New York subway

00:06:56.816 --> 00:07:00.196
that say, "If you see something,
say something."

00:07:00.196 --> 00:07:01.341
It applies here.

00:07:01.341 --> 00:07:03.559
If you see something ableist, say it.

00:07:03.559 --> 00:07:06.650
Don't wait till someone with a disability,

00:07:06.650 --> 00:07:11.057
who's exhausted of having to fight
for themselves, has to say it.

00:07:11.057 --> 00:07:15.819
When people bring it up,
evaluate and help them. Be an ally.