Zully JF Alvarado - "I Never Labeled Myself as Disabled"

Zully JF Alvarado - "I Never Labeled Myself as Disabled"

Inclusion

Education

Advocacy

The school principal was shaking her head. "She said that I wasn't wanted." At first, Zully Alvarado thought the American grammar school she was so excited about attending was rejecting her because, as an emigrant to the U.S. from Ecuador, her appearance and language were different from other kids. She hadn't realized "that there was something else wrong with me." "It's always been the disability that people looked at first."

It was an emotional moment for Zully when she returned to the school in adulthood as a consultant regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act. In this 2021 interview excerpt, she talks about people’s perceptions of her as a wheelchair user and the intersection of her identities as a person with a disability and member of an ethnic minority. Zully has founded VOCART (Volunteer Office for Community Accessibility, Resources, and Training) in Gary, Indiana and the organization Causes for Change International.

Indiana Disability History Project

Center for Health Equity at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community and Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities

2021-04-09

Zully J.F. Alvarado - interviewee

Jane Harlan-Simmons - interviewer

Peggy Holtz - videographer/editor

Copyright © 2021 The Trustees of Indiana University

video/mp4

English

Moving Image

181-mi-01

Open to all users

"Zully JF Alvarado - I Never Labeled Myself as Disabled" YouTube video, 00:05:57, from an interview by the Indiana Disability History Project, posted by "Indiana Disability History" on September 20, 2021, https://youtu.be/ReJr5hS3sX8

Indiana, Lake County, Gary