Announcing the 2020 D-30 Disability Impact List #D30DisList on ADA30
July 26, 2020 — Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Diversability announced the 2020 D-30 Disability List, honoring the unique accomplishments of 30 disability leaders globally.
In May 2020, we made an open call for nominations to this inaugural list and after receiving almost 400 nominations for almost 150 disability leaders, the D-30 Selection Committee helped us highlight the work of 30 individuals with disabilities. We know that this list is not comprehensive of all the disabled people doing great work, but we hope that this can be a catalyst for continuing to advance disability inclusion, leadership, and representation at all levels.
A message from D-30 Selection Committee member Alex Locust to all those nominated, as recorded on a special episode of the Tiffany & Yu podcast: “That impact is unconditional that you’ve already made. And reading all of these stories, all around the globe, so many different disabilities, so many intersections of identities, my heart swelled reading these and realizing how much people are just triumphant, and how much disability creates so much beauty in the human spirit and so much resilience and strength and power. And they are already possibility models for people in their lives and people like myself witnessing that.”
2020 D-30 Disability Impact List honorees by the numbers:
Age range: 14-83 (median age: 38)
Number of countries represented: 11
Gender identity: 63% female, 27% male, 10% nonbinary
Black: 33%, non-Black people of color: 47%, LGBTQIA+: 27%
On a black background, a gold circle centered in the middle with the white Diversability logo and black silhouettes of people with mixed disabilities. Below, curved to meet the circle, white text reads, “#D30DisList”. Surrounding the circle is a grid of photos of the honorees.
Meet the 2020 D-30 Disability Impact List (in alphabetical order by first name):
Abha Khetarpal (she/her) - Counselor | India
Annet Babirye (she/her) - Social Worker | Uganda
Brenda Mudzimu (she/her) - Executive Director, Miss Albinism Zimbabwe Trust | Zimbabwe
Cara Elizabeth Yar Khan (she/her) - Entrepreneurial Humanitarian | USA
Caroline Casey (she/her) - Founder, The Valuable 500 | Ireland
Catalina Devandas-Aguilar (she/her) - Special Rapporteur, United Nations OHCHR | Costa Rica
Dhanya Ravi (she/her) - Freelance Content Writer and Disability Evangelist | India
Dior Vargas (she/her) - Latina Feminist Mental Health Activist | USA
Donna Lee (she/her) - RID (NIC) Certified American Sign Language Interpreter | USA
Florence Ndagire (she/her) - Lawyer and International Disability Rights Consultant | Uganda
Garrison Redd (he/him) - Founder, The Garrison Redd Project | USA
Haidi Peng (he/him) - Artist | China
Ikponwosa Ero (she/her) - U.N. Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism | Nigeria
James LeBrecht (he/him) - Filmmaker | USA
Jennifer White-Johnson (she/her) - Professor of Visual Communication at Bowie State University | USA
Jennison Asuncion (he/him) - Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism, LinkedIn | Canada
Jordan Reeves (she/her) - Disability Advocate and Author | USA
Kenny Fries (he/him) - Writer | Germany
Kiran Nayak. B (he/him) - Disability Rights Advocate | India
Leslie Irby (she/her) - Disability Advocate | USA
Michael Hess (he/him) - Executive Director/Founder, Blind Institute of Technology | USA
Milagros (Millie) Gonzalez (she/her) - Public Relations Professional | USA
Namulinda Esther (she/her) - Founder/Chairperson, Support Organization of Parents with Disabilities | Uganda
Roberta Louise Francis Watene (Robbie) (she/her) - Co-Founder/Director, The Lucy Foundation | New Zealand
Ryan J. Haddad (he/him) - Actor and Playwright | USA
Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu (they/them, she/her) - Executive Director, Project LETS | USA
Teresa Danso-Danquah (she/her) - Manager, NextGen Initiatives at Disability:IN | USA
Wendy Lu (she/her) - News Editor and Disability Reporter, HuffPost | USA
Wil A. Alveno (he/him) - Disability Advocate | USA
ziggy farrow walker (they/them) - Community Organizer | USA
We also recognized the impact of Stacey Park Milbern (1987-2020) as an in memoriam honoree. Learn more about Stacey in the Disability Visibility Project and the New York Times.
A special thank you to our D-30 Selection Committee Members (in order of first name):
Alex Locust, he/she/they - Counselor, Workshop Facilitator, Glamputee | USA
Amornthep Sachamuneewongse (Sanju), he/him - Founder, Sati App | Thailand
Emon Shakoor, she/her - Founder & CEO, Blossom Accelerator | Saudi Arabia
Erin Brown, she/her - Disability Inclusion Consultant | The Bahamas
Joe Vasquez, he/him - Venture Partner, Revel Partners | USA
Lani Dickinson, she/her - Freelance Artist, Teacher, and Salesforce Administrator Trainee | USA
Tatiana Lee, she/her - Model, Actor, and Hollywood Inclusion Advocate | USA
The D-30 Disability Impact List was made possible by Diversability team members Katy Brennan and Alyssa Yam.
Learn more about the #D30DisList and D-30 honorees at http://mydiversability.com/d30.