The morning that changed everything for Tiffany Yu
On childhood tragedies, grit, and democratizing accessibility
The morning of 29 November 1997 started off as an ordinary fall Sunday for Tiffany Yu. The then-nine-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, had no worries other than the inevitable end of a long weekend that included both Thanksgiving and her father’s birthday.
Tiffany’s mother had a business trip that week, so the Yu family went to the airport to drop her off. On the car ride home, Tiffany was in the back seat with her brother, as her sister rode shotgun with her dad at the wheel.
Shortly after the reaching the highway, Yu’s father had a seizure and lost control of the car. The vehicle veered across the road and crashed. Yu’s father passed away in the accident. Yu and her siblings survived but sustained injuries. Tiffany broke several bones and had nerve damage that would limit use of her right arm for the rest of her life.
After a rehabilitation period that included relearning how to write using her left hand, Yu went back to school. “All I wanted to do was to fit in, but I felt so isolated and different because of my disability,” she says. “Anytime anyone would ask me about my arm I would start getting emotional. I wouldn’t let people better understand my story and what happened.”
Fast forward to today, Tiffany has been to Davos and TED, founded organizations, worked at Goldman Sachs, and dedicated her life to creating broader accessibility for all.
In The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, Tiffany Yu highlights the myriad ways in which our society discriminates against people with disabilities - and what we can do about it.
Foregrounding disabled identities that have too often been rendered invisible, she demonstrates how ending discrimination begins with self-reflection.
From recognising biases to understanding microaggressions, The Anti-Ableist Manifesto teaches us how to deconstruct ableism at work, in our communities and within ourselves.
We hosted her on Network Capital. Check out our conversation
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