A green background with VCR static. In the foreground, in the center of the image, is text that says: “3 Disabled Black Women Who Shaped the Independent Living Movement.” Above the text are three squares: a photo of Lois Curtis holding two of her paintings, a dark green-white patterned box, and a photo of Latonya Reeves. Below the image’s central text are three squares: a dark green-white patterned box, a photo of Johnnie Lacy, and another dark green-white patterned box. The very top of the image has a label with the words: “@HealthJusticeCommons. Black Futures, Black Health.”
A green background with VCR static. In the center of the image is large text with the name JOHNNIE LACY. There are two accompanying photos — one from 1975 and one from 1998 — of Johnnie, a smiling Black woman with dark brown skin and an afro. In the photo where she is older, Johnnie wears glasses and a clip-on microphone. It is not apparent in the tightly cropped images, but she is a wheelchair user. The text in the foreground of the image, from top to bottom, reads: “Johnnie Lacy (1937-2010) was a fierce disability rights activist who was integral to the independent living movement. At the age of 19, Lacy survived polio, experienced paralysis, and became a wheelchair user. She contracted the virus while completing her nursing practicum as a student at Chico State University. When she went to attend San Francisco State University to major in speech pathology, Lacy experienced a widely inaccessible campus. She also experienced other forms of discrimination based on her disability, such as being denied entry into the speech pathology program and not being allowed to participate in her graduation ceremony.” The very top of the image has a label with the words: “@HealthJusticeCommons. Black Futures, Black Health.”
A green background with VCR static. Near the top of the image is large text with the name JOHNNIE LACY. Below this, the text reads: “These experiences propelled Lacy into disability rights activism. Lacy completed her graduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, which became a major site for disability rights activism — mostly centered on white men who were wheelchair users. Lacy was a co-founder of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living, the first of its kind in the country. She went on to serve as executive director for Community Resources for Independent Living. Another of her many roles was with the California Attorney General’s Commission on Disability. As a Black disabled woman, Lacy worked hard to highlight the intersections of race, gender, and disability as axes of oppression. In her own words: ‘One of the things that I’ve learned is that I cannot allow myself to fall into the trap of being identified by others, that I have to have a sense of my own personal identity. And that sense is very much tied into who I am as a woman of color and as a disabled person, and I try not to distinguish between the three anymore.’” The very top of the image has a label with the words: “@HealthJusticeCommons. Black Futures, Black Health.”
A green background with VCR static. In the center of the image is large text with the name LATONYA REEVES. There are two accompanying photos of Latonya, a smiling Black disabled woman with dark brown skin. She is a wheelchair user. The remaining text on the page reads, from top to bottom: “Latonya Reeves (1964-2023) was a fearless disability rights activist who, with the support of community, secured her own freedom from institutionalization inside a nursing home. She spent her life working hard to support people on similar journeys, resisting institutionalization while fighting to access dignified in-home care. She was a member of ADAPT, a national disability rights group that, among other work, played a major role in getting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed. Reeves’ work has improved the lives of disabled people across the country. In 2023, ADAPT introduced the Latonya Reeves Act, a national bill that would expand and protect people’s ability to receive long-term services and supports in the setting of their choice across the US.” The very top of the image has a label with the words: “@HealthJusticeCommons. Black Futures, Black Health.”
Black people have been at the forefront of disability rights and justice movements for generations. Today, we are highlighting the lives of 3 Black disabled women — Johnnie Lacy, Latonya Reeves, and Lois Curtis — whose activism and advocacy have catalyzed and shaped the independent living movement.
