“I was talking with the panelists the night of the screening about how the community we’ve built here at DSU feels a little like a mini version of Camp Jened, in the sense that it’s a space where people can be themselves without feeling the need to mask their disability. I think that’s quite special.”
“We talk a lot about who in our society has the right to pleasure, which is specific to that course,” Zachary said. “But we look at all various ways in which society continues to marginalize and oppress others, not only in issues of race or gender, but in areas that we haven’t fully explored like disability, like sexuality.”
Overall, Occidental as an institution needs to do better for its disabled community so that equal access to learning and opportunity can prevail.
June 9, 2019. Ali Stroker wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. An actor, singer, and wheelchair user, Ali Stroker has been a trailblazer for disability representation on the stage. She was the first wheelchair user to graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department at New York University. In 2015, she was the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway, starring as Anna in the musical, Spring Awakening. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!, Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award in 2019.
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