Disability Is Not A Means To An End with Dr. D'Arcee Neal

According to CDC.gov CP was significantly more common among Black children than white children and (82.9%) of the children identified with CP had spastic CP.  Well, Dr. D’Arcee Neal is no newbie to the disability and others (Spastic Cerebral Palsy and onset fluency). Neal was born with CP and navigated his other disabilities throughout his life. As a proud LGBTQIA and BIPOC community member, Neal has fought over the years for advocacy rights. Aside from his community and health background, Neal is a professor, writer, singer, advocate, activist, and many more.

According to a CAP20 2022  survey, community members reports of experiencing some form of discrimination in the past year were elevated among LGBTQI+ respondents of color (45 percent), LGBTQI+ individuals with disabilities (47 percent), and transgender or nonbinary individuals (56 percent), as well as people with intersex traits (67 percent). 

Neal discusses various topics on the show (career, advocacy, family, friends, and hurdles with dating). Many of the topics discuss global issues among many disabled individuals, especially, when it includes racial and sexual identity. However, raising awareness about these key topics is extremely important for other communities to be knowledgeable about avoiding ableist and discriminative responses.

On another note, the Dateability dating app services, founded by Alexa Child and Jacqueline Child, provide space for the disabled community to establish dating connections. However, this is just a tiny fix to addressing dating, among other issues (discrimination against career, housing, etc.), which is still an ongoing issue in the communities (disabled, LGBTQIA, BIPOC, seniors, etc.) navigate daily.

Neal believes it’s time to make significant improvements and change under turbulent political election times, considering the outcome for many communities affected by bureaucratic and selfishly constructed policies that are designed to protect white, male, extremist fanatics’ objectives of dismantling so many communities in the United States.