Transcript of, "An Interview with Angela," produced by Rooted in Rights

ANGELA: Hello, my name is Angela Lemus-Mogrovejo.


I use she/her/her pronouns,


and I'm, I guess,
the interview subject for today.


I would say the best way to describe myself

is just a writer in general.


I, in particular,


like to describe myself with a lot of
the identity categories


I associate myself with the most.


So when I say writer,


I generally say disabled trans woman-of-color writer,


a lot of these different terms that,


they don't seem important
and they seem needless


to people who've never had to deal


with not being treated as default,


and I think because of that,


it's why I'm specific in saying


I am a disabled trans woman-of-color writer.


But a lot of the issues, I'd say,


to sum up my interest
in a lot of the topics


and a lot of the things that I try
and talk about and advocate around,


are usually based on starting with -


- what's happening to, let's say,


disabled youth of color,


or homeless trans women of color who,


let's say, are sex workers,


or who are dealing with -


- abusive relationships,


whether those are from people who are


not in activist communities
or organizing communities,


or whether they are just
dealing with trauma in general.


I think trauma is one of those areas


that is so dicey to get into,


but I think it's grounds
for fertile conversations


and very productive conversations


of disability rights
and disability justice,


and just disability advocates in general.


Folks who are talking in those circles


start talking about
how they connect to other people,


'cause I think disability justice 
has been one of those areas


where we've seen so much productive conversation


about where so many different,
apparently disparate,


topics actually have major
connections to one another.


I think, ultimately, disability justice is


about enacting a world in which


we actually care about each other,


and what I mean by 
'actually care about each other' is that -


- we stop really trying to
work from perspectives


that say our productivity
equals what we're worth,


that when we make mistakes,


we should be tossed aside,


and that people who have done intense harm -


- can't be redeemed.


We need to be able to
talk about mental health disabilities


within that sphere -


- of topics that disability can have space for.


Because really, I've seen
so many different people,


and even in disability rights spaces,


they still use kind of the language


of idiot or intelligence,


or they use crazy or insane or bipolar.


And I realize, again, I'm saying this as someone


who openly is fine with being considered crazy


when it's a positive term that I take on,


and that, if you're anyone from overlap


of queer, trans, disabled
communities of color and such,


you know the differences between


people taking on a term
to reclaim for themselves


and other people throwing it on you


as a sign to indicate you are less than.


I think we still need to
push a little bit more


and keep expanding the room to
say disability can hold this,


and if it can't, why can't it not?

I hope that, at the very least,


we can get to a point where,


if we're talking about mental health issues


and we're talking about mental illness,


whatever terms you're wanting to use,


psychiatric disabilities I know is one,


that we're just able to give it


the full three-dimensional complexity


that it deserves.


I'm a crazy person. I know this.


I'm perfectly happy with this,


but that sense of contentment with that


came from a lot of evaluation


and a lot of looking at various things.


There's enough room in this world


for multiple experiences
and positions to exist.


It is, in my eyes,
fundamentally always worth believing


that there is a future that you can believe in,


that you can help create,


that you can be an active member in,


or just a background passive member,


and that there's a future
that you can live towards,


that has space for you,


that has space for all of us
to care about one another, to live,


if not always the happiest,


then worthwhile lives


without having to prove ourselves,


and that the future that
you want to create is -


- worth it, that I fundamentally believe


there is enough love, care, and tenderness
within our communities


and within the communities
that we want to build for our futures,


and that I think anyone watching this wants to create


and has it in their minds what they want to see better,


in terms of love, care, and goodness.


I think that all the futures
that all of us are working on


across various disabled communities,


I think there's enough room in those futures
for them to be possible,


and for them to be made,


and just ultimately to not feel like


we are tragedies waiting for
the right person to pity us


for those lives that we live,


but we are amazing potential
waiting to unfold in the world.

[End of transcript]