In 2004, I traveled for 6 months across India. I self-organized trash-puppetry workshops for children who live in one of the notorious slums in Mumbai and spend their days picking through the trash piles. I partnered with a local NGO. We provided food for the children, and created puppets from the packaging of their snacks. My hope was to bring dignity to their sense of self, to create space for them to nourish their creativity with what would usually be seen as discards - as disposable waste.
From 2011 - 2012, I was an anti-fracking activist with Occupy the Pipeline. We successfully stopped the construction of a pipeline in the West Village, NYC.
From 2013 - 2018, I founded and directed THE BETES® Organization, a disability arts non-profit that became enmeshed with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and pharma-friendly “advocacy”.
From 2019 - 2020, I was the Strategy and Action Lead of T1International’s New York #insulin4all chapter. I galvanized the chapter to successfully pass state-based insulin pricing legislation and organized for universal healthcare. Listen to my testimony.
In 2021, I returned to environmental activism and built momentum for an ancient forest in the Yaak Valley, Montana through my artistic work, Dream Puppet, centering the disability community in the process.
My commitment is to land and people. No one, and no place, is disposable.