Black Disability, Disabled Women of Color, Empowerment, Advocacy – Vilissa Thompson, LMSW

Episode 8
Guest: Vilissa Thompson, LMSW
Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Vilissa Thompson, founder of Ramp Your Voice!, shares her work advocating for the rights, visibility, and empowerment of people with disabilities—especially disabled women of color. She discusses how racism and ableism intersect to create unique barriers, and how social workers, educators, and medical professionals can move from harm to helpfulness. Vilissa also talks about creating the hashtag #DisabilityTooWhite and the Black Disabled Woman Syllabus as tools for education and action. This conversation challenges us to confront ableism and commit to more inclusive, intersectional justice.

In this episode:

• Ramp Your Voice! as a self-advocacy and empowerment movement for people with disabilities
• How racism and ableism intersect to harm disabled women of color
• How social workers, educators, and medical professionals can be helpful rather than harmful to disabled people
• The creation of #DisabilityTooWhite and the Black Disabled Woman Syllabus
• Steps anyone can take to become a better ally and advocate for disability justice

Ramp Your Voice! http://rampyourvoice.com/
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/RampYourVoice

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Music credit
"District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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