Research Symposium

BIO

Leah King is a Biological Sciences Major and a part of FSU's Honors Medical Scholars. She is working with Dr. Meghan Martinez to study the inequalities faced by people of color with disabilities in the United States. After Undergraduate School and achieving a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences, Leah plans to attend medical school. Her hopes are to become a pediatrician in the future.

Intersecting Oppressions: Race and Disability in the U.S.

Abstract

Our research question is how does race and disability affect individual equality in America. We are investigating this question to identify how racial minorities in America who live with a disability are inhibited from reaching their goals due to race and ability prejudices. Our research is relevant to the reader because it clarifies the systematic inequalities a minority group in America experiences.

In our research, we’ve explored various scholarly sources that determine the context, consequences, and systems that enabled bias against people of color who also live with disabilities. We approached our data analytically, thinking about how this research applies to the present, and how our research can help abled people, or people of a more privileged group, understand through the sources exactly how marginalized the group we studied is.

From my method, the research resulted in detailed literature reviews that verify the need for greater advocacy and awareness for people of color who live with disabilities. To the reader, our research means that advocacy is needed. Through awareness, the minority can have better access to equal treatment from school aged minors to working adults. The next steps are to challenge law enforcement and U.S. systems that inhibit equality for this minority.

The results of our study suggest that change is needed to give equal access to people of color with disabilities.The implications are that past laws promoting equality for both race and ability have been met with inaction by schools, employers, and society.

Keywords: Race, Disability, Equality