15 Disabled Latina Changemakers You Should Know

With it being Disability Pride Month, it’s time to celebrate the disabled community and its accomplishments, contributions, and importance. Honored every July to coincide with the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990, this month we want to recognize and uplift disabled activists who are continuing the work that the ADA law began. However, as with most movements, disabled people of color often get overlooked, even though they face higher levels of oppression because of the intersection of disability, race, and ethnicity. In fact, as of 2023, more than 6.1 million Latinxs in the U.S., or 10 percent of our community’s population, are disabled and face significant challenges including higher levels of unemployment, higher high school dropout rates, and less access to assistive devices. That’s why it’s so important to turn the spotlight on disabled Latinas, who are often the most vocal advocates, activists, and champions for those with disabilities. From deaf Afro-Mexican actress Lauren Ridloff to Dominican American model and actress Jillian Mercado, who uses a wheelchair, we wanted to put together a list of disabled Latinas who are breaking barriers and forging new ground in their respective industries. Read on to learn more about 15 disabled Latina changemakers you should know.

Sofía Jirau

Sofía Jirau was born with Down Syndrome in Puerto Rico in 1997 but that hasn’t stopped her in her professional pursuits. She began modeling when she was 16 years old, making her debut at a fashion show for the designer Wanda Beauchamp. When she was 23, she began modeling professionally and has appeared in shows throughout the U.S. and PR. In 2020, she made her debut at New York Fashion Week, where she was one of the few models with Down syndrome to appear in the event. Two years later, she became the first model with Down syndrome to appear in marketing campaigns for Victoria’s Secret in the company’s history. She works to be more visible in the fashion industry, organizing awareness campaigns to shed light on Down Syndrome and encourage her community to follow their dreams.

Lauren Ridloff

Lauren Ridloff was born in 1978 to a Mexican American father, who was a counselor and musician, and an African American mother, who worked as an artist. Her parents were both hearing and they initially believed that Lauren had a developmental delay, only to realize later on that she was deaf. In school, she found a passion for the arts and cheerleading, where she became one of the first deaf American cheerleaders to compete in an international competition. For several years, she was involved with other passions including a deaf performing group, a Miss Deaf America competition (which she won), and working as an ambassador for the National Association of the Deaf. After a brief stint as a teacher, she decided to finally pursue her lifelong dream of acting. Since 2017, she has appeared in a number of film, stage, and TV projects including The Walking Dead, Sound of Metal, and Accused. In 2021, she earned global recognition for her role as Makkari in Marvel’s Eternals, becoming the first deaf superhero to appear in a live-action Marvel film. Outside of acting, she is a vocal advocate for those who are deaf and hard of hearing, raising awareness about disability and fighting more greater diversity and inclusion in entertainment and media.

Danielle Pérez

Danielle Pérez is a queer Afro-Latina stand-up comedian, actor, and writer who, when she was 20 years old, was hit by a trolley in San Francisco. After her lower legs were amputated, she began using a wheelchair and has worked to normalize wheelchair use in media and entertainment. Since 2015, she has appeared on multiple talk and game shows like The Price is Right, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and A Little Late With Lilly Singh. However, she has cultivated and grown her own career, performing comedy at a number of festivals around the country and appearing on MTV’s Decoded, NBC’s StandUp, Comedy Central, and Buzzfeed in several of their sketch videos. She has even appeared in film, starring as Sun-Spider in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. She has organized to provide more support and resources for other underrepresented voices in the comedy space, like founding Thigh Gap Comedy, a comedy collective that puts on live shows around Los Angeles.

Jillian Mercado

Jillian Mercado was born in New York City in 1987 to Dominican parents. As a child, she was diagnosed with spastic muscular dystrophy, which requires her to use a wheelchair. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a degree in fashion merchandising. Before turning to modeling, she worked as an intern for several magazines and attended New York Fashion Week as a volunteer. In 2014, she made her professional debut as a model for the designer denim brand Diesel, which was so successful that she ended up landing a modeling contract. She has since been seen in marketing campaigns for Nordstrom, Vogue Paris, Target, Glamour, Posture, and Cosmopolitan. She was even featured as one of three models for Beyoncé’s merch in 2016. Today, she is one of the few models and one of the most prominent with a physical disability in the fashion industry. She brought that visibility to TV with Maribel in The L Word: Generation Q where her character explored her sexuality in a relationship with a trans man.

Tamara Mena

Tamara Mena is a motivational speaker, actress, and model who was born and raised in León, Mexico. When she was 13 years old, she immigrated to Modesto, California. Six years later, she was involved in a car accident in San Diego that injured her spinal cord and left her paralyzed from the chest down. Now 38, she graduated from CSU Stanislaus in Communication Studies with honors. Today, she works as a motivational and keynote speaker, breaking new barriers in the entertainment and media industry. She was the first woman in a wheelchair to enter the Nuestra Belleza Latina beauty pageant and has been recognized by multiple publications for her ability to inspire and motivate audiences. She’s even modeled for New York Fashion Week and similar international shows. Throughout the years, she has been a tireless advocate for diversity and inclusion for people with disabilities: executive producing a TV show that showcases disability-inclusive content, appearing in a commercial for Kay Jewelers, and creating empowering projects like the “Embrace YOU Project.” She is constantly looking for more ways to inspire others and encourage them never to give up on her dreams.

Steffi G

Steffi G was born in Colombia with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (also known as Brittle Bones Disease) type II, which is considered fatal, and was given 24 hours to live. When she was 10 years old, her family saw that Colombia had a huge problem with disability awareness and a lack of accessibility in both public and private buildings. To provide more opportunities for Steffi, they decided to immigrate to the U.S. and settle down in Miami, Florida. She works as a model and beauty influencer and also uses her social platforms to post videos educating on the importance of accessibility, the disabled community, and the importance of resilience and speaking up for yourself.

Maryangel Garcia-Ramos

Mexican human rights activist Maryangel Garcia-Ramos graduated from the Monterrey Center for Higher Learning of Design of Monterrey with a Bachelor’s degree in design and art. She also has an MBA from EGADE Business School in Mexico, with additional credentials in International Human Rights, Gender Studies, and Communication and Culture Strategy. She has been front and center in multiple organizations fighting for more diverse and equal representation for marginalized communities. She founded Mexicanas con Discapacidad, a network that uplifts the voices of Mexican women with disabilities. She also led the Center for the Recognition of Human Dignity at Tecnológico de Monterrey, one of Mexico’s top universities. Today, she works at Women Enabled International (WEI) as their Executive Director, where she strives to improve the state of diversity and inclusion when it comes to gender and disability all over the world. She also serves as the President of the Council for Persons with Disabilities for the State of Nuevo León, México, where she is championing a State Plan for Disability Inclusion.

Marcela Marañon

Marcela Marañon was born in Ica, Peru and moved to Dallas when she was 19 years old. The following year, she was involved in a car accident caused by a drunk diver, which left her paralyzed from the waist down and her left leg had to be amputated. However, she soon found a way to make her new lifestyle work for her. She began driving a career with hand-controls, graduated from college, had a daughter, and moved independently. In 2014, she made it her mission to take complete control of her life and inspire others to do the same with disabilities. She was selected to be one of the first ambassadors for ReWalk, a device that helps disabled people with spinal cord injuries to stand, sit, walk, and climb stairs. Today, she works as a social media influencer and blogger, where she shares what her life looks like with a disability. Over time, she’s grown a large audience, especially for her travel content, which follows her visiting different places with and without accessible accommodations in public places. Since 2017, she’s traveled to 16 countries and, in 2020, she became the first Latina wheelchair user to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with the help of a Paratrek, an off-road wheelchair designed for hiking.

Daphne Frias

Born in West Harlem, New York, Daphne Frias is a 26-year-old freelance activist with Cerebral Palsy and a proud wheelchair user. She began getting involved in activism after the 2018 Parkland High School Shooting in Florida where 17 people died and 17 were injured. She helped in busing hundreds of students from her college campus to a March For Our Lives (MFOL) event. From 2019 to 2020, she served as the NY State Director for MFOL, growing passionate for increasing voter turnout in young people under 30. She was able to create her own non-profit organization Box the Ballot, which partners with college students to collect absentee ballots before the annual midterms. She’s also a fearless climate change activist, speaking to raise awareness about how marginalized communities are disproportionally affected by climate change. She’s worked with the U.N. to highlight the work of youth activists and peacemakers. Today, she serves her home district of West Harlem as a county committee member, advocating for her community’s essential needs.

Andrea Lausell

Andrea Lausell is a queer disabled Latina of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent with Spina Bifida, a central nervous system condition that affects the spinal cord. As a social media influencer, she creates content around disability education, advocacy, and awareness. Some of her recent posts include what she carries in her bag as a disabled person, fashion tips, ableist words to avoid, how to take care of surgery scars, and how to improve poor blood circulation. Her content always centers the voices of disabled Latinas and women of color, creates a supportive community of other people with disabilities, and shares helpful, sometimes life-changing, tips and advice for disabled folks.

Paula Carozzo 

Paula Carozzo is a disability activist, influencer, model, and speaker who was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. When she was five years old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which motivated her family to move to Miami, Florida where she could receive more comprehensive and accessible medical care and health resources, including a cane to move around. After graduating from Florida International University with a Bachelor’s in Public Relations and Business, she found her calling to raise awareness about disability, especially when it came to inaccessibility, stereotypes, and poor treatment. Today, her online content touches on a variety of topics including fashion and lifestyle in order to present a different view of disability. She has also worked as a model and speaker for top-name brands like Google, Clinique, Wells Fargo, Tommy Hilfiger, and Facebook, as well as universities, in order to further champion adaptive fashion, accessibility, wellness, and disability rights. In the future, she hopes to launch her own fashion line and podcast to break more barriers for disabled people in the media and entertainment industries and showcase both the challenges and joys of living with a disability.

Giovanna “Gigi” Giscome

Giovanna “Gigi” Giscome is a disabled Afro-Latina who was born and raised in New York City. Growing up, she was surrounded by a supportive family who taught her to love her disability, but that wasn’t always true when it came to people who didn’t know her, who were often confused or uncomfortable. She was motivated to raise awareness about being a wheelchair user by pursuing one of the most visible careers in the industry: modeling. Today, she works as a model in San Francisco, pushing against the stereotype of models as white and able-bodied. She is also a fashion enthusiast and constantly brings together her clothing with disability rights activism.

Nefertiti Matos

Nefertiti Matos is a blind Latina with chronic pain, a disability rights advocate, and a voice artist. Her birth and early years were fairly standard, even learning how to walk, talk, and read. But when she was three years old, she began walking into things, her knees buckled, her eyes crossed, and she experienced headaches. When she was taken to a doctor, she was diagnosed with benign astrocytoma, a non-cancerous brain tumor. Though it was removed with surgery, her optic nerve was damaged, leaving her totally blind. Over time, she began to get some usable sight back but was still legally blind, and also had to navigate two organ transplants to help her chronic illness. However, she didn’t let that stop her. In school, she learned how to read Braille, use her cane, and navigate the world without sight, which she used to her advantage. Since then, she’s been able to work as an assistive technology instructor at the New York Public Library and currently has her dream job as a voice actor with the Audio Description Collective. In her current role, as well as her personal life, she hopes to motivate other people with disabilities, reminding them that achieving their dreams is still possible.

Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek is an award-winning actress with dyslexia, a neurological disability that can make reading and other language-related tasks very difficult, including poor spelling and confusing words. Born and raised in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, she began pursuing her passion for acting and performance, starring in a local theater production of Aladdin. While she was a good student, she’d always struggled with reading and was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was a teenager, which affected how she learned her scripts and memorized lines. She pushed ahead but came face to face again when she wanted to move to Hollywood because she would have to learn English, which was incredibly difficult because of the work it takes to learn English with or without dyslexia. However, she didn’t let that stop her and she is now one of the most successful Latina actresses in Hollywood with many films to her name including Frida. Earlier this year, she posted about being dyslexic on Instagram writing: “For all my fellow dyslexics, especially the ones going back to school. You’ve got this.”

Diana Romero

Diana Romero is an award-winning Latina writer and producer who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2003 while working as a production coordinator and line producer. While it was a major twist in her life, she didn’t let that stop her, pursuing a Master’s degree at AFI and winning awards for a short film she wrote and produced. In 2007, her physical issues caught up with her, and she accidentally fell off a treadmill, causing one leg to give out. Three years later, she had a relapse and couldn’t lift her right leg, which led to her using a cane to walk around. Today, she uses a mobility aid and a wheelchair for longer distances. Still, she made her career in the film and TV industry work, performing stand-up comedy and writing a pilot for a TV show. She also participated in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant, representing her home state of California. In a letter to multiple sclerosis for The Mighty, she wrote: “You’ve made me tough. You’ve made me fierce, you’ve made me a warrior and a survivor. In fact, you have changed me completely to be the best that I can be.”