Stacey Park Milbern was born with congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in the U.S. Army Hospital in Seoul on May 19, 1987. She was mixed-race, born to a white father and Korean mother.
Growing up in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in a military family, as her father was in the United States Army, she always embraced and celebrated elements of her identity that stood out in an evangelical Christian family, especially her sexuality.
She often penned poetry and wrote referring to disability issues on a personal blog in which she explained herself as “just your everyday queer disabled Korean girl living in the South.”
This week is dedicated to remembering and celebrating the life of Stacey Park Milbern, our dear friend, colleague, and ancestor. Stacey passed away on May 19th, 2020 — her birthday. We remember her joy and her big dreams.
A #StaceyTaughtUs 🧵
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As a young girl, Stacey could walk but eventually began using a wheelchair, further leading to her increased disability activism and awareness. While only in her teens, she started serving on disability rights commissions.
In 2007 Stacey was instrumental in helping pass a North Carolina law requiring that disability history curriculum be taught in schools. Later she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, a region central to the disability rights movement at 24.
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