Sean Gold
Sean Gold is a young, black, gay man with a disability, his desire is to enlighten, inform and support others in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and beyond. He is an advocate for people with disabilities, an author, a public speaker, and has one Microsoft certification for web design. In 2020, Sean was elected as president of the disability-owned nonprofit organization, Coalition in Truth and Independence. In 2021, he published his debut book, “Pure Love, Or Is It?” In 2023, Gold became the Media Director of FestAbility and a board member of Saint Louis Publishers Association. He is currently attending UMSL for his bachelor’s degree in English.
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Online accessibility
Accessibility is important to the disabled community, especially online accessibility where the community is connected with each other the most. Sean speaks about the importance of making online events, education, social media platforms, and websites accessible for everyone.
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Intersectionality of disabilities
Intersectionality is often associated with race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. However, disability is almost always forgotten about. Every majority and minority group has disabilities tied to them except for nondisabled people. Sean brings his knowledge to explain how everything in life can have an effect on individuals with disabilities.
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Ableism
Discrimination can happen to anyone, and the disabled and chronically ill community is not an exception. Sean defines and explains different types of ableism and how it affects anyone.
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Disability history and pride
Sean is proud to be disabled. He often studies and researches new information about how the disability movement came to be. From the Ugly Laws to the passing of the ADA, Sean is able to guide people through the history timeline of how the community navigated the world through certain times in life.
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Black disabled history and pride
Being Black and disabled allows Sean to witness and experience what it’s like to be in multiple minority groups. He understands the need to work with Black disabled and nondisabled people to make progress in the country. Black disabled lives matter and most of the time the disability gets ignored and overlooked during police brutality, poverty, racism, and other factors that people have to face.
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Disability inclusion and accommodations
Desegregation by ability in schools is an important issue to Sean. He understands the disadvantages that come with keeping disabled students in a classroom with no interaction with the nondisabled students. It should not matter how many disabilities someone has, Sean believes that keeping them separated contributes to the lifelong hierarchy that exists within society. Gold also understands the importance of accommodating around a student’s educational needs to help them succeed.
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Disability in politics
Disability is political. Many laws are designed to disable people and to keep them from advancing in life. Also, Sean recognizes that a lot of movements and changes aren’t happening because most are forgetting to talk about the disability side of everything. From minimum wage to the healthcare system, Sean brings awareness to factors that never get focused on a national conversation.
See Sean Gold in action.
Host, Crippled By Culture
Sean Gold is a young, black, gay man with a disability, his desire is to enlighten, inform and support others in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and beyond. He is an advocate for people with disabilities, an author, a public speaker, and has one Microsoft certification for web design. In 2020, Sean was elected as president of the disability-owned nonprofit organization, Coalition in Truth and Independence. In 2021, he published his debut book, “Pure Love, Or Is It?” In 2023, Gold became the Media Director of FestAbility and a board member of Saint Louis Publishers Association. He is currently attending UMSL for his bachelor’s degree in English.
Gold began public speaking at the age of 16. He was flown out to Houston, Texas two years in a row to present at a Cerebral Palsy conference that his former neurologist puts on each year. Before his nineteenth birthday, Sean auditioned for a TedTalk in Saint Louis which he got to present in 2019 titled The Obstacles of Disabilities after his twentieth birthday. Since then, he’s given over fifteen talks over disability advocacy, Justice, education, and inclusion.
Sean hosts a YouTube series, Crippled by Culture, that debuted in January of 2023 where he discusses and interviews both disabled and nondisabled people on the intersections of disabilities and topics that interest each guest. He has his “voice” speak out everything that’s written in a document that he types up beforehand, and any additional comments and questions he has during the interview.
He considers his faith, family, and friends the most important things in his life. His physical disability is Cerebral Palsy, and he has had a Tracheostomy Breathing Tube since he was only one and a half years old. Even though he’s nonverbal, it doesn’t get in the way of his love of creative writing, and storytelling.
Our speakers get attention.
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Historymaker Sean Gold is Set to GraduateSean Gold made history as the first student speaker for staff development day in St. Louis Community College’s 60 years.
