When I received my diagnosis of hidradenitis (HS), I had to face a new challenge in a world that was already not built for me. I was born with cerebral palsy (CP), a physical disability that affects my balance and fine motor skills. My CP is highly visible; I use a walker and an electric wheelchair to navigate my college campus. When I discovered the cyst under my arm, I initially felt a wave of insecurity; could people see the cyst under my left arm when I used my walker? How do I navigate the pain, drainage, and itchiness? With an amazing team of dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and my own mother, who was diagnosed with HS in 1984, we work together through a variety of treatments to manage my symptoms as cysts appear or flare and allow me to live my life to the fullest. I have a newfound empathy for those with invisible disabilities and I am becoming a fiercer advocate for all disabled people. Armed with my extracurricular leadership skills, I co-founded and am Co-President of Colorado College Disability Alliance, a student-led affinity group for those with disabilities (physical, learning, autoimmune, etc.). This group creates an inclusive space within our campus community to come together, understand each other, and fight for change. This includes a yearly Self-Advocacy Workshop, where we think through how to respond to scenarios in which we need to advocate for ourselves. My experiences with both hidradenitis and cerebral palsy have made me acutely aware of including ALL types of disabilities in community conversations around disability. The community I gained and leaned on during treatments allowed me to be a fearless leader in my own community, leading to more self-confidence in the process. I still have bad flares and days where my CP makes me stiff while my cysts cause pain, but I've improved my self-care, self-advocacy, and network. I am strong enough to advocate for others, but I also know how to lean on my network of friends (especially other disabled folks) to get me through when I have a bad day. I will do the same for them, and that means showing up however I can and taking their access needs into account. I have become strong through managing my symptoms and strengthening my community, but the interdependence I have fostered among my friends and peers makes me stronger. As I continue to navigate my journey with hidradenitis, I am now able to view my HS as a strength and not a setback. Living with HS and consistently overcoming its struggles has allowed me to deeply appreciate and understand the disability community and navigate the world with flexibility and resiliency. As I gained new skills while managing both my disabilities, it further fueled my desire to use my voice for solidarity and change.

Community service means connecting communities to resources and innovating structures so communities can thrive long after you stop working with them. For me, community service has always looked a little different. With my physical disability, I have not been able to do as many manual labor tasks that have often been categorized as community service or volunteer work. Outdoor Because of this, I learned how to hone my administrative and people skills to best serve the communities I want to impact. I am incredibly passionate about resource navigation: connecting people to resources, especially when those resources have not traditionally been accessible. This past summer, I participated in an unpaid internship with Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS). My main project was working on a resource tracker for all of the wraparound services within their organization. I researched, contacted, categorized, and input over 200 organizations from an old Excel spreadsheet into a live SharePoint that can be edited at any time across the organization. Not only did this familiarize me with the resources the Colorado community has to offer, but it also showed me the long-term positive effects of resource navigation; since all departments have access to the resource tracker, they can look up the services that work best for their clients. I was able to bridge that gap and help ensure success for JFS in the future. Aside from my administration work with Jewish Family Service, I also have hands-on experience with combating hunger and maintaining a diverse professional environment. In the Community Resources for Stability (CRS) department, I checked in clients at the food pantry, where clients can shop in a grocery store environment. In this role, I conversed with clients in English and Spanish. I formed relationships with the staff and clients representing a wide variety of demographics, including some clients who spoke a different language than I did. The CRS department showed me what concrete steps could be taken to combat hunger and encouraged me to develop strong relationships with clients and staff. The variety of demographics that I worked with reinforced my desire to work within diverse communities in my future career. My internship experiences this summer and my commitment to community service has informed how I'm going to move forward in my future career In nonprofit and/or public policy work. In addition to resource navigation, I am passionate about work that has a direct impact on communities: for example, Coloradans, Spanish speakers, and the disabled population. Whatever work I do next, I want to make sure I am directly impacting the community with my work and that I can form relationships with the community I serve. As I am moving towards my final year in my undergraduate career at Colorado College and looking to join the workforce in the Colorado Springs or Denver area post-graduation, I am excited to use the administrative and interpersonal skills that I have gained thus far and the skills I will continue to gain to give back to my home community and its subsets.

I am no stranger to breaking barriers. I was able to walk and roll my way through a 4,000-person public school with four buildings and hold several leadership positions that helped me grow as a person, leader, and advocate. As a teenager living with cerebral palsy, life is not without challenges. Nonetheless, my limitations that come with my cerebral palsy have only added to my personality and passions. Fear of falling. Struggling to put on my shoes or my hair in a ponytail. Being unable to drive at 18 because my reflexes are too slow for me to drive safely and confidently. It is an undeniable fact that I need help. I am in a world that does not always adapt to my needs. I am constantly trying to maneuver through life independently. I have to rely on my family and friends for rides, a balancing arm when I don’t have my walker, and help scouting out accessible venues and routes. Help from others has gotten me where I am today. I received a lot of help throughout my life, but I also learned invaluable self-advocacy skills. I fought for hours to receive accommodations for tests and programs and get handrails in our Fine Arts Theater. Through using my voice and making my needs known, I was able to level the playing field and get an equal chance to excel. Even if I couldn’t fix certain situations entirely, I made administrations aware of my challenges which will cause them to think more deeply about accommodations within their buildings. I combined my advocacy with leadership within my Jewish youth group, BBYO. This year, I was honored to serve as a co-chair for the International All Abilities Inclusion Task Force. With three other co-chairs across the United States and Canada as well as a task force of over 40 disabled Jewish teens and allies, we partnered with organizations and created programming and inclusivity guides to help regions and chapters truly include all disabled teens throughout the International Order. All Abilities helped me promote change in an organization that gave so much to me throughout my high school career. Experiences like my time at Camp Simcha Special, where I (along with other kids with disabilities) discovered being truly limitless, helped shape who I am. At this camp, I drove an adaptive car for the first time. The car was adapted so I could steer without pedals; my right hand on the steering knob and my left hand on the stick for gas and brake. After learning not to stop the car every time my instructor said “easy on the gas,” I felt freer in those 10 minutes than ever before. For a moment, I was able to forget all of my friends already had their licenses. As I drove my modified car in circles out on the gravel, I realized the help from these adaptations went a long way in achieving my goals. I learned to welcome help from others and I use that same power to help others. When the suicide prevention organization Sources of Strength was introduced in my school during my sophomore year, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. Sources’ mission is to lift others up instead of focusing on trauma, and that is what I try to embody in my own life. My strong sense of empathy and my passion for helping others inspired me to enact real change across my school and school district. The skills that I learned and the opportunities I have been given have guided me in an incredibly positive direction in my life. When asked what I want to do with my life, I have always said “I want to help people.” There are many individuals who need resources that are inaccessible to them, such as AFO's, which are a necessary aid in my life. They may seem small to some, but they are life-changing for someone else. I want to work with nonprofit organizations to connect people to those resources and teach people the same self-advocacy skills that I honed and implement on a daily basis. My dream job would be an intersection between disability and mental health advocacy so I can give back to my disability community and other communities in multiple ways. Armed with the tools from my family, my friends, my school, my camp, and my extracurriculars, I am determined to break every barrier that comes my way in Colorado Springs and beyond.