Do you envision writing another book ?
Yes , I just signed my second contract with Abrams Books for a book loosely based on my life with my intersecting identities of disability and my Mexican culture heritage . That will be fiction but then I am also writing Tenacious 2.0 and I really want to highlight disabled musicians . I am really excited about this , but I understand that I ' ll have to do a bit more research because sports is my background . I already knew all of the athletes in Tenacious so that was easy . I could just call or text them for information . Music is not my scene and so it ' ll take a little more work .
I ' m constantly working on a lot of manuscripts . I write a lot about me , my experiences and my identities . Not me per se , but the identities that I hold and so , lots of my books or my manuscripts right now focus on disability .
What advice do you have for others wanting to advocate for those with disabilities ?
Very simply , I think people need to do their own work around learning about disabilities . It is such an emotional tax and emotional labor for disabled people to educate non-disabled people about their experiences . So , if you really want to be a true ally or if you ' re disabled and want to learn more about ableism ( we certainly have a lot of internalized ableism as disabled people ) I think the work starts with you . Google is at your fingertips , literally . Google ableism , for a working definition and how can you be a better ally to disabled people . Learn what language is harmful , what language is outdated and that we ' re moving away from .
I think the work really starts with you . Once you start learning more about the movement , you can plug into disabled organizations or books . Books are a fantastic way to learn more , Tenacious is one of the many vessels to do that . I think that people can find that second step once they ' ve done the work within themselves .
What advice would you give your younger self ?
Oh , my goodness ! I think , be curious and inclusive of differences . I don ' t know if I was or wasn ' t . I remember there was a girl who was a wheelchair user in my high school . And I didn ' t really try to be friends with her or want to know about her . I was just like , okay , there she is and I helped her in a couple of classes . But it wasn ' t like I went out of my way to learn more about her experiences . I think I would tell myself to be a little bit more curious and a little bit more inclusive of those with differences in general because it could be race , it could be sexual orientation , it could be disability , it could be gender identity , it could be anything . But not to be comfortable within just your own space .
What message would you share about the importance of inclusivity and sports to unite people , educate them or help them grow ?
I think that we really need to be intentional about inclusion . I think it ’ s one of those buzzwords right now but in order to truly be inclusive , we have to be intentional about those we are welcoming into spaces .
We want that inclusion , but we also want people to feel like they belong . We don ' t want to hear , “ Hey wheelchair user come in this space that ' s not very accessible .” Inclusion takes that second step of thinking I want to invite this person into the space , but I also want to make sure they feel like they belong , and we ' ve made any necessary changes so they feel included , valued .
I think we can do that with nondisabled sports and disabled adaptive sports just like with other areas — music , art , nontraditional sports or outdoor sports like hunting . I think there is great opportunity to provide that inclusion and belonging in those spaces if we ' re intentional about it .
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