National Leadership Program, Fall 2021
Mary McGill Lucas
Mary McGill Lucas (they/them) was a Communications Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Fall 2021. RespectAbility is a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.
Lucas is nonbinary and queer and has cerebral palsy and hemiplegia. They live in Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated from the College of Charleston’s REACH Program in 2016 with a certificate in Women and Gender Studies.
Lucas created their blog DISHability in 2018 because they wanted to create a space to engage in conversations with disability, body positivity and beauty and fashion as self-celebration. They pride themselves on authenticity and living intentionally. Lucas wants DISHability to be a space where they can share their experiences as well as create and engage in conversations with other individuals and uplift other marginalized communities.
Lucas is a certified Crisis Counselor at Crisis Text Line. They want a world where mental health is destigmatized, where you can openly ask and talk even about suicide because suicide isn’t selfish. Though they have experienced more hardships than neurotypical people, they believe that these experiences have made them the person they are today. Through these experiences, they have become resilient. Lucas feels confident in using their disability as a tool to inform others about their own experience and other systemic inequalities in our society.
Lucas has a long-term career goal of publishing poetry books on mental health topics and writing freelance articles on disability, mental health, and racial justice issues. In 5-10 years, Lucas wants to work with a larger network and base of fellow writers, activists, and creatives who dismantle oppressive structures They want to go back to school and their dream job is to be a full-time content creator or a full-time writer. The most important thing for Lucas is to be able to work from home, which they have learned is the best environment for their mental and physical health. Lucas is open to doing a variety of work-from-home jobs so they can have the flexibility and stability to make their dreams come true.
