activist who took to Twitter to denounce Walensky ’ s comments as “ ableism .” Walensky later apologized .
Wong , 47 , moves and breathes with the aid of a power wheelchair and a ventilator because of a genetic neuromuscular condition . Unable to walk from around age 7 , she took refuge in science fiction and its stories of mutants and misunderstood minorities .
Her awakening as an activist happened in 1993 , when she was in college in Indiana , where she grew up . Indiana ’ s Medicaid program had paid for attendants who enabled Wong to live independently for the first time , but state cuts forced her to switch schools and move back in with her parents . Wong relocated to the Bay Area for graduate school , choosing a state that would help her cover the cost of hiring personal care attendants . She has since advocated for better public health benefits for people who are poor , sick , or older or have disabilities .
The founder of the Disability Visibility Project , which collects oral histories of Americans with disabilities in conjunction with StoryCorps , Wong has spoken and written about how covid and its unparalleled disruption of lives and
institutions have underscored challenges that disabled people have always had to live with . She has exhorted others with disabilities to dive into the political fray , rallying them through her podcast , Twitter accounts with tens of thousands of followers , and a nonpartisan online movement called # CriptheVote .
Wong is nocturnal — she typically starts working at her computer around 9 p . m . On a recent evening , she spoke with KHN via Zoom from her condo in the city ’ s Mission District , where she lives with her parents , immigrants from Hong Kong , and her pet snail , Augustus . The interview has been edited for length and clarity .
Q : Why do you often refer to people with disabilities as oracles ? Disabled people have always lived on the margins . And people on the margins really notice what ’ s going on , having to navigate through systems and institutions , not
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