Curran Brown
Occupational Therapy Student, Disability EmpowHer Network
“Mentoring to me is all about making those meaningful relationships. Growing up disabled in this society I sometimes felt lonely and no one really understood me. I enjoy just providing a space for individuals to be vulnerable and authentic about themselves and the issues they are facing without judgement. I also have learned from the lives of others and gained confidence in myself that you do not have to be this well-established or successful person to make a difference. Mentoring it’s not just a one-way system, we learn from each other. I absolutely love to see the growth in the people I interaction with, I enjoy watching them accomplish things they never thought they could accomplish. It makes me happy knowing from mentoring the future of the disability community has the confidence and drive to conquer the world.”
We are proud to induct Curran Brown into the Susan Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.
Curran Brown is from Decatur, Georgia and has been living and thriving with a spinal cord injury since six years old. As a disabled African American she has always been the different one in most communities she has been a part of. Shortly after her injury adaptive sports, especially wheelchair basketball and the people she has met and learned from while playing have paved a way for her to gain confidence in who she is and teach her that different is not a bad thing. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelors in Kinesiology while receiving a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball.
After graduation she began her mentoring journey by working at the Shepherd Center as a peer supporter for individuals with newly acquired spinal cord injuries. She connected with individuals of all ages and many different backgrounds but personally enjoyed working with adolescents and young adults that are still finding themselves in this world. When working as a peer supporter she recognized the need for people with disabilities to have an active professional role in SCI rehab and found her love for occupational therapy (OT).
As a result and her desire to explore the world, she moved to London, England to pursue her master’s degree in occupational therapy at Brunel University and is expected to graduate November 2022 with serious interest in targeting occupational injustice within young people with disabilities, SCI rehab, and forensic OT working with individuals that are incarcerated.
While studying she became a mentor for young girls with disabilities with Disability EmpowHer Network with the main goal to guide their mentees to gain their independence, confidence, and leadership skills to achieve their goals. Wheelchair basketball is still an integral part of her life and still continue to play. She is currently playing for East London Phoenix which is apart of the first women’s wheelchair basketball professional league in the UK. Pursuing her master’s in occupational therapy while playing at this level has been a super awesome opportunity to show the world how extraordinary women with disabilities are and show young disabled girls anything is possible.