Narrator: Disability Pride. Minnesota Council on Disability. Diego Ozuna-Clark.
Diego Ozuna-Clark: Disability Pride was not something I understood in my life until much later.
Growing up, my mother was my biggest supporter and my ally. She encouraged me to break down barriers to challenge the systems. She embraced me being Deaf, encouraged me to learn American Sign Language, took me to Deaf events when I was a kid and so much more.
My mother made sure that I had the services and resources I needed as a Deaf child, and that’s wonderful. But somehow for myself, I grew up struggling with the idea of being a Deaf person, living in a hearing world. I did not want to be different. I did not want to be Deaf.
My parents were hearing. My uncles, aunts, cousins, my grandparents were all hearing. Everyone in my family was hearing except for me.
For the longest time, I was bitter about my identity, feeling like I was dealt a crappy hand. And it wasn’t until college when I was willing to learn more about the Deaf communities, cultures, and start to unpack my internal ableist and audist beliefs.
But coming from that incredibly ableist thinking, I didn’t want to be different because I felt I deserved better.
Other people could listen to audio books while driving, while I had to read every single word on the physical page. My teammates could run miles and miles listening to their music while I had to run the same miles with only the thoughts in my head. People could make a quick call to their bank to fix some confusion while I have to go through a relay service with interpreters and explain what’s happening to them, have them call the bank, and the whole process can be really awkward and annoying. It’s the convenience of being hearing was what I wanted.
And then around age 21, I realized I had to shift my attitude and it took me exactly one course on Disability, History and Culture to change my entire belief system.
Looking back, my attitude was my biggest barrier in life. I let the systems tell me that I was not as good as others. It’s the systems that I understand now are at fault, not us. Not me.
My attitude over time has shifted to affirming my identity as a Deaf person, discovering the rich cultures, communities, and languages that exist within the Deaf worlds and learning about Deaf Gain.
Deaf Gain is a concept that Deaf people are able to do some things better than hearing people. For example, we process images differently, faster. We have much stronger spatial awareness, understanding what’s happening in our environment and how we relate to the spaces that we’re in. And we are transnational, which means that we easily communicate across borders through gesture, which means we can travel anywhere in the world.
There are so many ways to be Deaf and we are not what I used to think, missing out on something, but we’re living the way that we were supposed to through our hearts.
It is so important to learn the histories of how existing systems are established, how societal constructs cause harm, and how these systems do not want us to know about Disability Pride.
Disability is still a taboo in many areas of the world, and even in the most affirming spaces, we still struggle to justify our existence.
Being disabled is a natural part of the biological systems, and it’s the societal system that leads us to think that it’s not and promotes those ableist norms.
Disability Pride Month is an opportunity for everyone to learn disability histories, understand the fight for our rights, and continue to challenge those systems. We are here and we’re not going anywhere.
Narrator: MCD thanks Diego Ozuna-Clark for sharing their Disability Pride story.
For more information about disability rights and resources, call 651-361-7800 or email council.disability@state.mn.us.
Minnesota Council on Disability.