Empowering Community and Authentic Allyship Through Disability Pride

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When Tiffany A. Yu, MSc first floated the idea of a disability pride club during her senior year at Georgetown University, people gave her strange looks. 

“They couldn’t understand how a disabled person could be proud,” recalls Tiffany, who has a brachial plexus injury from a childhood car accident that resulted in permanent paralysis in one arm. “So much of that is rooted in attitudes and ableist beliefs about a disability experience.”

Despite the less-than-enthusiastic response, Tiffany persisted in founding the club, which began life as the Diversability Working Group. Initially, she could only get Georgetown staff members, disability studies professors, and students from surrounding universities to join. But gradually, the group started to grow, even winning a $500 grant designed to help students shape life on campus. 

That was 2009. Since then, Diversability® has evolved into a community of over 80,000 people who want to be proud of their disabled identity or be better allies. Tiffany has also transformed from student and grant recipient to business woman and decision-maker, serving as founder, dean, and trustee of the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter, which awards $1,000 monthly grants to disability projects. 

A lot has changed. But as someone who still receives unsolicited “advice” about cutting off her arm on a regular basis, Tiffany can attest there’s still a long way to go before workplaces (and society as a whole) become anti-ableist and disability pride is seen as the norm. That’s why she’s leading by example by “being the most me I can be.” 

Be unapologetically yourself 

As a first-generation Taiwanese-American, Tiffany’s childhood experience of disability was complicated by her intersectional identities. She had been taught not to draw attention to herself, and especially not to things that others might view as shameful. This led her to try and hide her disability for years, avoiding asking for accommodations that would have greatly benefited her. 

“In a way, I tried to live as a non-disabled person in a disabled body,” she says. 

Tiffany’s experience was made doubly isolating by the fact that she felt she couldn’t talk about what had happened to her. She had lost her father in the same accident that paralyzed her arm, but cultural stigma made it difficult for her to get the support she needed. “Not only could I not validate and honor and grieve what had happened, but I had to carry around a different version of the story than what I knew really happened,” she explains. 

Tiffany is done with hiding. In TEDx Talks, LinkedIn and TikTok videos, and her upcoming book, The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, she talks openly about her disability and ways that allies can practice anti-ableism. Whatever the medium, she aims to be unapologetically herself.

The catalyst for this change? Community. 

Find pride through community

From the very beginning, Diversability has always been a safe space for people with disabilities to connect, talk about their experiences, and, in doing so, find their pride. For many members, it’s the disability-focused employee resource group they wish they had at work. For Tiffany, it’s everything she wished she had when she was younger, and it’s helped her find her strength and her voice.

“In community and in realizing that I wasn’t alone, I realized that we are actually more powerful than we give ourselves credit for,” she says. 

It sometimes takes time for people to reach this moment of realization. Since the Diversability community contains non-disabled allies, there’s no pressure for members to “out” their disability if they don’t feel comfortable. That’s why Tiffany encourages people to “lurk” if they want to, feeling out the community and seeing how much members support one another and celebrate the wins. She’s always elated when someone finally feels ready to share their story, and that has included people with non-apparent disabilities in her own life.

“We want to help as many disabled people as possible realize that it’s external environments that are making us feel shame about who we are,” Tiffany says.

“But when we feel pride, which we find in community, we can accomplish a lot more.”

Fostering disability pride hasn’t just helped Tiffany find the community she always wanted. By giving voice to her own experience and empowering others in the community to do the same, she’s encouraging non-disabled people to listen, learn, and become better allies. 

Create understanding through familiarity 

While Tiffany is no longer shy about asking for the accommodations she needs, many workplaces and other public spaces are not set up to help people with disabilities thrive, and fellow employees may be nervous or unsure about how to act around a disabled coworker. 

“Part of why we’ve gotten to the place that we are now is that we feel so uncomfortable with the idea of disability,” Tiffany says. 

Tiffany is tackling this discomfort by calling out ableism when she sees it and telling authentic stories that combat media stereotypes. This has already led to real change. After watching her TEDx Talk “The Power of Exclusion,” one pediatric hand surgeon added a mental health professional to his team to help ensure that other young people don’t experience the kind of traumatic isolation that Tiffany once did. 

But it’s not just medical professionals who can take action for change. Tiffany and other content creators like her regularly post about small but meaningful steps that anyone can take to be anti-ableist, such as avoiding offering unsolicited advice and asking rather than assuming what a person needs. 

Seeking out existing content like this is one of the best ways for allies to learn about disability through people’s lived experience, without being intrusive or placing the burden on others to educate them. 

“When you learn more about our experiences, you create intimacy,” Tiffany says.

“Intimacy, to me, is where non-performative allyship begins — when you fundamentally believe in another person’s value and worth and you want to get to know them because they are them.”

How has community shaped your experiences in the workplace? Share your story in the comments. 

Fill your LinkedIn feed with great insights and ideas. Tiffany recommends following these three thought leaders: 

• Aubrey Blanche-Sarellano, Founder & CEO of The Mathpath  
• Lachi , Advisory Board Chair at RAMPD  
• Marisa Hamamoto, transformational speaker, movement artist, and creator  

Looking for more tips to help you thrive in the workforce or be a better ally? Check out these articles and resources next: 

• Embracing Inclusion: Why Disclosing a Disability in the Workplace Matters: Disclosing a disability at work can be a deeply personal decision. Here are some potential benefits to consider. 
• How Workplace Allyship Supports People With Invisible Disabilities: Not all disabilities are apparent. Learn how creating a culture of inclusion helps everyone thrive. 
• How do you make your mentoring program accessible for people with disabilities?: LinkedIn members weigh in on ways to design, deliver, and evaluate your company’s mentoring programs to ensure they’re accessible and inclusive. Got a tip you’d like to share? Add it to the collaborative article!

Got feedback? Want to request a particular topic or suggest a thought leader we should speak to? Share your thoughts by commenting below.