Sarah Triano Bio

Sarah Triano is a Disability rights activist, writer, and speaker who is best known for her dynamic, provocative, and engaging presentations.

Born in 1974 in South Lake Tahoe, California, Triano received her B.A. in History of Public Policy from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997, graduating valedictorian, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. In the late 1990s, she worked closely with some of the top Disability-rights scholars in the United States, including Drs. Paul Longmore, Devva Kasnitz, Carol Gill, and David Mitchell. In 1999 she received a scholarship from the University of Illinois at Chicago to participate in the first PhD Program in the world in Disability Studies.
While at UIC, she co-founded the UIC Disabled Students Union and went on help start the National Disabled Students Union (NDSU).

Triano is currently the Director of Programs at Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, and previously served as Access Living's Associate Program Director and Youth/ Education Team Leader. She was instrumental in the creation of the nation's first, locally-based, 16-week, leadership/ organizing training for youth with disabilities. Triano herself was one of the original delegates to the first annual California Youth Leadership Forum for High School Students with Disabilities in 1992. She volunteered as a counselor at this Forum from 1993-1998, and was actively involved with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (formerly known as the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities) in the replication of this model youth leadership forum throughout the United States. In 1998, Triano participated in the National Council on Disability's Second Annual Youth Leadership Development Conference in Washington, DC, and soon thereafter contracted with NCD to produce a policy report on the issues facing minority-group members with disabilities in the U.S. entitled, Lift Every Voice:
Modernizing Disability Policies and Programs to Serve a Diverse Nation.

Triano has received several national awards for her work in the area of disability rights and social justice, including an ELA Foundation Fellowship (presented by the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities) and a Justice for All Disability Rights Award.  In March of 2003, Triano was selected as a Paul G. Hearne/American Association of People with Disabilities Leadership Award recipient, a prestigious award and $10,000 cash prize which is given annually to people with disabilities nationally who are emerging as leaders in their respective fields.

Since receiving the Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award, Triano embarked on a nationwide Disability Pride Tour in order to break down the internalized shame among people living with disabilities, support a systematic redefinition of "disability," and promote the belief in society that Disability is a natural and beautiful part of human diversity that Disabled people can take pride in. Stops on Triano's tour included: Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas, Washington, D.C, Baltimore, Carson City, and New Mexico. As part of her effort to promote Disability Pride, Triano also created a website,  www.disabledandproud.com, and wrote the entry on, "Disability Pride," at the request of Sage Publications for the Encyclopedia of Disability. She served as the co-chair for the nation's first annual Disability Pride Parade held on July 18, 2004, and partnered with Dan Wilkins from The Nth Degree to design a line of Disability Pride products (including t-shirts, bumper stickers, and buttons).
Triano proudly and openly identifies as a young woman with a non-apparent disability, and believes it is essential to instill a positive sense of Disability identity and pride within people with disabilities throughout the world. Triano lives in Chicago with her husband and partner, Jason Lopez, and their Whippet puppy, Diva.
 
*Note:  Most of the initial funding for the Disability Pride Parade came from Sarah’s Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award.—ed.