For 29-year-old Keah Brown, she can recall an instance growing up in which she was bullied by an able-bodied Black classmate for having cerebral palsy. She said her first introduction to disability was her peer ridiculing her.“Growing up, the first time that I realized that I was disabled and disability was a bad thing was when I was 12,” Brown told TODAY. “It was in the cafeteria and this kid named Aaron, who was also Black, made fun of me.
After repeated experiences like that throughout her education, Brown had to dismantle the internalized belief that she was “wrong” or “broken.” As a Black queer disabled woman, she grappled with suicidal thoughts for many years, thinking that if she was in a different body and was more conventionally attractive that she would be worthy of love.