At the 2020 Democratic National Convention, one of Winthrop University’s alumna, Vilissa Thompson, licensed master social worker, was featured as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Thompson graduated from Winthrop with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2008 then graduated with a Master of Social Work in 2012. Since then, Thompson has made great strides in the world of social work, especially regarding people with disabilities, and as a result, she was invited to speak at the virtual 2020 DNC.
Others who were included in the same segment during the DNC each finished a sentence that began with, “This time next year, we will have a president…who cares about the rights and lives of disabled people,” Thompson said.
“This year especially I’ve been more into the spotlight with the work that I do on a national level. I really like having that type of impact with the DNC and engaging with presidential campaigns. All these different angles of disability shift the way in which people understand disability and also the lives of disabled people and kind of shattering those stereotypes and misconceptions along the way, which is always the aim and it’s been pretty cool to be able to actually do that,” Thompson said.
On top of speaking up for people with disabilities, Thompson also advocates for Black people with disabilities. “I add an intersectional lens regarding the experience of disabled people of color, especially those of Black disabled women.”
Intersectionality is a term used to describe people who fall under more than one category of social standards that society has a history of treating unfairly. Through focusing on advocacy for Black women with disabilities, Thompson is utilizing an intersectional lens.
“I always try to ensure that I have that intersectional lens because disability is a very diverse community, not just with the different disability types that exist, but also with who’s a part of the community, so no matter what work I’m doing, I always trying to ensure that an intersectional understanding is there,” Thompson said.
Along with her accomplishment at the DNC, Thompson is also the founder of Ramp Your Voice, which is a “self-advocacy and empowerment movement for people with disabilities,” as defined on rampyourvoice.com. Using her own experience with disabilities, Thompson is able to lead her organization with both understanding and compassion.
Thompson, who is very open about her own journey with disabilities, says, “I identify as a wheelchair user, as a little woman, and as someone who’s hard of hearing. Those are my three disability labels.”
As a result of leading by example as well as her skills in the social work field, Thompson has made multiple appearances in news outlets and organizations all over the country.
In a 2016 article featured in The Atlantic about the growing regularity of appearances from people with disabilities on TV, David M. Perry quoted Thompson as saying, “It’s a bittersweet celebration to see disability represented… knowing that disabled people of color still… rarely have that same authentic representation by actors on the big and small screens.”
In a 2017 article by the New York Times on the brutal mistreatment of a disabled teenager, journalists Mitch Smith and Richard Pérez-Peña, quoted Thompson as saying, “People are ignorant about the extent of violence against disabled people, but what’s worse is that there’s this kind of misplaced sympathy for the perpetrator, especially when it’s a parent or caregiver.”
“As an alumna, Vilissa is the embodiment of our motto as a department, which is ‘excellence matters.’ Excellence matters within the practice of social work in [her] advocacy efforts, both at the state, local, regional and national levels. We’re just very, very proud of her as a department,” Christopher J. Ward, a professor and the online coordinator in the Department of Social Work, said.
Winthrop University is proud to have alumni who, like Thompson, actively make a difference in both the community, state and nation.
Photo courtesy Vilissa Thompson
