About Me

Used pronoun(s): she/her/hers; they/them/theirs

I identify as a cisgender woman, who is a Vietnamese adoptee, bisexual, gender non-conforming, and has lived in the Midwest all my life. I grew up with two moms and another adopted sister. My standpoint theory comes from being a brown, queer Asian American who has had to negotiate, navigate, and survive predominantly cis, white, middle class spaces.

I acknowledge my various privileges of being highly educated, middle class upbringing, and documented status.

I currently am a PhD student in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. My research interest is in the relationship with student disability service centers and their peer cultural and diversity centers in higher education. I assert that student disability service centers are in another growth stage where they can and should be doing more disability culture and community building work in addition to services and accommodations. This is hard still when 1) budget constraints, 2) still using the medical model, and 3) not hiring staff from Disability Studies.