Every March, Women’s History Month arrives with a familiar rhythm. Social media fills with the names of trailblazers, classrooms revisit historic milestones, and organizations celebrate women who shaped the world we live in today.

But too often, disabled women are missing from those conversations.

And when disabled women are included, the stories of Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women are still left out.

This isn’t a coincidence. It reflects the same systems that have historically pushed disabled people—and especially disabled women of color—to the margins of public life. Ableism, racism, sexism, and economic inequality intersect to determine whose stories are remembered and whose contributions are overlooked.

Yet despite these barriers, Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women have always shaped history.

Their leadership, advocacy, and creativity have moved entire movements forward—even when their names were left out of textbooks.

This Women’s History Month, it’s time to recognize what should have been clear all along: Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women are not footnotes in history. They are central to it.

The Leadership That Shaped Movements

Across generations, Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women have organized, resisted, and built the foundations for Disability Justice and civil rights.

Take Fannie Lou Hamer, whose activism for voting rights reshaped American democracy. Hamer experienced lifelong health impacts after being subjected to a forced sterilization without her consent—a practice known as a “Mississippi appendectomy.” Despite the trauma and chronic health issues that followed, she became one of the most powerful voices in the civil rights movement, co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and challenging the exclusion of Black voters from political participation.

Her work reminds us that disability and racial justice have always been interconnected struggles.

Or consider Bessie Blount Griffin, a Black nurse, inventor, and physical therapist who developed assistive devices for disabled veterans returning from World War II. When institutions dismissed her innovations, she continued her work independently, later becoming a forensic handwriting expert for law enforcement.

And then there is Haben Girma, the first Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School, who has worked internationally to advance digital accessibility and disability rights.

These women—and many others—demonstrate a powerful truth: Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women have always been innovators, strategists, and leaders.

They did not simply survive barriers. They reshaped the systems that created them.

Why Their Stories Are Often Missing

The absence of Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women from Women’s History Month narratives reflects deeper systemic patterns.

Historically, disabled people have been excluded from education, employment, and public leadership spaces. For women of color with disabilities, these barriers are intensified by racial discrimination and economic inequality.

This erasure also shows up in media coverage, academic research, and historical archives. Stories about social movements often focus on a narrow set of leaders, leaving out the organizers and thinkers who worked behind the scenes.

But Disability Justice reminds us that movements are collective. Change happens because communities organize together—not because of a single figure at the center.

When we broaden our understanding of leadership, the contributions of Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women become impossible to ignore.

The Future of Justice Is Being Built Now

While Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women shaped the movements of the past, they are also building the movements of the future.

Across the country, disabled women of color are leading work in:

• Disability Justice organizing
• Accessible healthcare advocacy
• Climate justice
• Voting rights and civic engagement
• Cultural storytelling and media

Their leadership reflects the principles of Disability Justice—centering those most impacted by systemic barriers and recognizing that liberation must be collective.

When we listen to Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women, we gain new frameworks for understanding justice, community care, and political transformation.

Their perspectives push movements to be more inclusive, more intersectional, and more honest about the systems that shape our lives.

Reclaiming Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month should not simply celebrate a handful of familiar names.

It should expand our understanding of whose leadership matters.

Recognizing Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women means acknowledging that the fight for gender equity cannot be separated from disability rights, racial justice, and economic justice.

It means telling fuller stories about the movements that shaped our world.

And it means making space for the leaders who are building the future right now.

Because the truth is simple:

Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled women have always been part of history.

The question is whether we are finally ready to tell those stories.

Resources & Further Reading

You can access our accompanying guide here.

Disability Justice and intersectional leadership are deeply rooted in the work of Black, brown, and Indigenous disabled activists, scholars, and organizers. The following resources offer additional history and context:

National Women’s History Museum. “Fannie Lou Hamer.”
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/fannie-lou-hamer

MIT Lemelson Program. “Bessie Blount Griffin.”
https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/bessie-blount

Disability Rights Florida. “Impactful Black Disability Advocates and Advocates.”
https://disabilityrightsflorida.org/blog/entry/impactful_black_disability_advocates_and_advocates

National Center for Learning Disabilities. “Unsung Heroes of the Disability Rights Movement.”
https://www.ncld.org/news/honoring-black-history-month-unsung-heroes-of-the-disability-rights-movement/

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Fannie Lou Hamer and the Fight for Voting Rights.”
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/fannie-lou-hamer

EveryLife Foundation. “Disparities in Public Health for Rare Disease Communities.”
https://everylifefoundation.org/rare-advocates/rare-diversity-hub/disparities-in-public-health/