Dior Vargas

[Image Description: Gold centered text on a black background with gold confetti reads, “The D-30 Disability Impact List. Below, centered black text in a gold box reads, “2020 Honoree”. Below, left, white centered text reads, “Dior Vargas”. Below, centered in a gold box, black text reads, “United States”. To the right, a color headshot of Dior with a white outline. In the bottom left corner, the white Diversability logo with “#D30DisList” centered below in white text.]

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Dior Vargas (she/her)

Latina Feminist Mental Health Activist

USA

For the past 6 years, Dior has worked tirelessly towards removing the stigma for those living with mental health conditions, specifically communities of color. She started the People of Color & Mental Illness Photo Project and she added image descriptions/captions. She shares her story and travels around the country to talk about the unique stigmas BIPOC face. She was honored with a White House Champion of Change for Disability Advocacy under the Obama administration. Last year, she published the book version of her project, The Color of My Mind, in both English & Spanish. She participated in “Community Talk: Art and Disability” at the Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays in 2019. She also gave “Tactics for self-care as caregivers and tools for allies and support of under-represented students” and “Creativity as an outlet for self-care” workshops and a keynote at Washington State University in 2020. She also did a Zoom call with CNLD to discuss mental health. Learn more about Dior.