A Mindset Shift

Heather Watkins ’97, Disability Rights Advocate and Author

WHAT’S YOUR BIG IDEA?

Changing people’s mindsets to think beyond themselves.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Continuing to have informed conversations raises awareness about, and positively impacts, people living with
disabilities.

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Heather Watkins ’97 proudly identifies as a Black woman living with a disability. “It’s okay to see my disability and my complexity. Those bits of granularity contribute to my grand mosaic,” she said.

Born with a form of muscular dystrophy (MD), Watkins is a disability rights advocate, published writer, mother, and more. In her work, she pushes for social policy change to be more inclusive of, and thoughtful about, members of the disabled community. And she wishes more people considered the needs of people with disabilities. “That’s the idea I want to plant—thinking past an individual basis,” Watkins said.

For instance, MD impacts Watkins’ quality of life, housing, healthcare, employment, education, how she socializes, how she votes, and how she parents. “Disabled persons are navigating systems in all these intricate ways that the nondisabled society would have no idea about because none of it was built with disabled people in mind,” she said. “It’s not just people with physical disabilities. It’s non-apparent disabilities like someone who might be autistic or have a psychiatric disability.”

She compares making life choices to throwing a pebble into the water: there’s a ripple effect. Her daily choices affect her child, and her child’s choices impact the community.

“We don’t live in silos. We impact everything we’re touching. That’s the idea and message I wish more people understood,” she said.