Examples of Black and African American College Graduates with Disabilities

It's rare to hear much about people with disabilities in the movies or on TV, unless they are tragically brave, an object of pity, evil, or "supercrips" who try to show the incredible ways they can overcome their disabilities (as if disability is a negative thing - which it's not).  Disability is part of our diversity as humans, and these people didn't succeed in spite of their disability - the disability helped make them who they are.

It's even rarer to see Black people with disabilities portrayed in a positive way, and African American people with disabilities are especially likely to be victims of violence and police brutality (see also information on the "Disability 101" page and Black Lives Matter section of this website).  You may or may not know all the people listed below, but it's worth noting how many Black disabled college grads have been "out" about their disabilities.  And they all attended college while they had their disabilities! Click on any names of people or colleges to learn more about them.

Want to add someone (including yourself) to the list?  Just contact us. 

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David Banner

• Rapper, musician, record producer, actor
• Depression
• Southern University

Chris Bell

• Disability studies scholar, writer, disability activist
• HIV/AIDS
• University of Central Missouri, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Nottingham Trent University

Dwayne Michael Carter ("Lil Wayne")

• Rapper, musician
• Epilepsy
• University of Houston and University of Phoenix

George Washington Carver

• Scientist and Inventor
• Breathing and Physical Disabilities from Whooping Cough
• Iowa State Agricultural College and Iowa State University

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Patrick Cokley

• Employer Policy Advisor for ODEP at US Dept. of Labor, disability activist, a founder of Lead On Network
• Visual impairment
• Howard University

Monica Coleman

• Professor of theology, scholar, researcher and activist, ordained elder in African Methodist Episcopal church
• Depression
• Harvard University, Vanderbilt Divinity School

Bobby Coward

• Disability activist
• Quadriplegic
• University of the District of Columbia

Antonio Ellis

• Education professor and researcher at the College of Charleston
• Speech and language impairment
• Benedict College, Florida A&M University, Howard University

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Don Galloway

• Disability activist, musician
• Blind
• California State University, Los Angeles and San Diego State University
  

Haben Girma

• Lawyer, disability rights activist
• Deafblind
• Lewis & Clark College and Harvard Law School

Danny Glover

• Actor
• Dyslexia, Epilepsy
• San Francisco State University

Claudia Gordon

• Disability liasion to the White House, lawyer
• Deaf
• Howard University and American University Washington College of Law

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Cheryl Green

• Yahoo website moderator, author, dean at Eastfield College, motivational speaker
• Arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (born with deformed lower limbs)
• Yale University, The Ohio State University, and Southern Methodist University

Ever Lee Hairston

• Blind activist, director of Camden County Health Services in New Jersey
• Blind
• North Carolina Central University

Jerron Herman

• Dancer in  Heidi Latsky Dance company
• Cerebral palsy
• The King's College

LeDerick Horne
(note that video is not captioned)

• Poet, disability activist, entrepreneur
• Dyslexia
• New Jersey City University

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Dwayne ("The Rock") Johnson

• Wrestler, actor, producer, football player
• Depression
• University of Miami

Barbara Jordan

• U.S. Senator, politician, professor
• Multiple sclerosis
• Texas Southern University, Boston University School of Law

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

• Track and field athlete, Olympian
• Asthma
• University of California, Los Angeles

Ayisha Knight

• Poet, artist
• Deaf
• University of California, Santa Cruz and Gallaudet University

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Johnnie Lacy

• Activist in Independent Living Movement and race/disability issues
• Physical disabilities from polio
• San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley

Carl Lewis

• Professional track and field athlete, Olympian, UN Goodwill Ambassador
• Dyslexia
• University of Houston

Audre Lorde

• Poet, civil rights and lesbian activist
• Visually impaired, cancer survivor
• Hunter College

Lynn Manning

• Poet, performance artist, actor, playwright, Judo athlete
• Blind
• Los Angeles City College

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Nathie Marbury

• Professor and American Sign Language researcher
• Deaf
• Gallaudet University, California State University Northridge, Lamar University

Leroy Moore

• Musician, founder of Krip Hop Nation, journalist, author
• Cerebral Palsy
• University of Notre Dame

David Paterson

• Former Governor of New York, politician, radio personality
• Blind
• Columbia University and Hofstra Law School

Denise Pease

• Regional Administrator, U.S. General Services Aministration
• Traumatic brain injury, epilepsy
• Columbia University

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Zarifa Roberson

• Founder of i.d.e.a.l. magazine, motivational speaker
• Arthritis
• Millersville University and Coppin State University

Shawn Robinson

• Professor and researcher in education at Rock Valley College
• Dyslexia
• University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, DePaul University, Cardinal Stritch University

Bonnie St. John

• Paralympic medalist in downhill skiing, motivational speaker
• Amputee
• Harvard University

Vilissa Thompson

• Founder and CEO of Ramp Your Voice, writer, activist, social worker
• Osteogenesis Imperfecta
• Winthrop University

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Herschel Walker

• Professional football player, mixed martial artist
• Mental illness (Dissociative Identity Disorder)
• University of Georgia

Sylvia Walker

• Researcher, scholar, disability activist
• Visual impairment
• Queens College, Hunter College, Teacher's College at Columbia University

Donna Walton

• Founder and CEO of Leggtalk Inc., founder and director of Divas with Disabilities Project and model for Raw Beauty NYC and Bold Beauty
• Amputee
• American University, Syracuse University, and George Washington University

Heather Watkins

• Disability advocate, author, mother
• Muscular dystrophy
• Emerson College

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James West

• Inventor, acoustician, scientific researcher, founding member of the Association of Black Laboratories Employees (ABLE)
• Dyslexia
• Temple University

Montel Williams

• Television personality, radio host, actor
• Multiple sclerosis
• U.S. Naval Academy

Britney Wilson

• Journalist
• Cerebral Palsy
• Howard University

TyKiah Wright

• CEO and founder of WrightChoice, Inc., disability inclusion trainer, Commissioner of White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans
• Muscular dystrophy (CMT)
• Wright State University

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