Nancy M. Yang
Community advocate and organizer
We are proud to induct Nancy M. Yang into the Susan Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.
Nancy Yang is a community advocate and organizer who has developed their skills, expertise, and research on the topics of ableism, sanism, and disability justice both in and out of the Hmong community.
Nancy’s journey in advocacy began when they were a student activist fighting for a Critical Hmong Studies program at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire (UWEC). Not too long after, Nancy became disabled and rerouted their advocacy journey to include mad pride, psychiatric survivorship, and eventually, disability justice.
As a Hmong queer disabled person, Nancy has always been an advocate for Hmong issues in some way, while also always bringing their intersectionality to the table. Nancy has been a domestic violence advocate for Hmong women, a youth program coordinator for Hmong youth, and an avid advocate for disability justice in Hmong disability and larger Hmong communities.
Previously, Nancy held a leadership role at United Hmong with Disabilities (UHD), the only national disabled-led organization for Hmong people. Nancy co-facilitated UHD’s first national virtual conference on Hmong disability and served as UHD’s inaugural Associate Director. Beyond their work with UHD, Nancy leads the Hmong disability community in its path towards disability justice-centered practice and language, supporting peers in their own journeys of disability identity and co-creating liberation.
Nancy is a committed Project Coordinator with the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network (AWN), where they organize AWN’s Liberating Webinars series on disability justice and neurodiversity-related topics. Nancy earned a Bachelors in Geography from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse (UWL), and they are currently working towards their Masters in Disability Studies at the City University of New York School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS).