- What does disability justice mean to you?
- There's this kind of growing framework
about looking at the ways
disability connects with other issues.
And when we're really, really able to stretch it out
to like, what do people need to be who they are,
creating a world where everybody can really participate in,
disability justice really pushes that forward.
- Stacey Milbern, she was a huge dreamer
in championing justice
for those that are often left on the margin.
- She was proudly all of her identities,
Korean American, disabled, queer,
and that these things do not exist without each other.
- She was incredibly funny, incredibly loving,
but also very fierce,
and that's what made her the amazing activist
and friend that she was.
Hi, my name is Andraea LaVant.
I am a dear friend of Stacey Milbern
and a consultant for the Google Doodle,
celebrating Stacey's 35th birthday.
- My name is Stacey Milbern.
I study political science,
and I've always been really interested
in social justice issues.
- [Andraea] Stacey started in disability related work
when she was very young in the state of North Carolina.
She actually worked to pass a law to ensure
that disability history is taught in schools.
She had a blog, you know, active on social media platforms,
working to educate non-disabled, and disabled people alike,
that we need one another to survive.
- As a disabled, queer, Bengali American artist
I wanted the artwork to celebrate Stacey's complexity
by simply representing her.
Hi, I'm Art Twink.
I am an artist and illustrator from Northern California,
and I'm the guest artist for the Google Doodle
celebrating Stacey Milbern's 35th birthday.
For the process, I started with sketches of Stacey,
a lot of studies of Stacey.
She had this like light pink, her favorite color,
pair of plastic rimmed glasses.
And I also asked Andraea for little tidbits about Stacey.
And one of my favorite
was that she was always putting on lipstick,
like really, truly a fashion icon.
- So, interestingly, Stacey and I met formally online.
I knew of her for many years,
with her being a pioneer
around disability justice and intersectionalities,
which centers the experiences of disabled queer,
Black, Indigenous, people of color
who often are experiencing intersecting forms of oppression.
And as a Korean American woman,
her heritage was incredibly important to her and we clicked
as disabled women of color and us learning from one another.
- Visually for this doodle
I wanted things that were important to Stacey.
To be shown through metaphorical representation in the art,
the house that she lived in
she brought together disabled people
for the Disability Justice Culture Club.
So the doodle shows a little party of disabled people
with Stacey in the foreground
having facilitated this amazing community.
And outside her house, she had an orange tree,
and oranges are such a symbol
of life and community for everyone.
- Stacey really stood for love, for belonging,
for disabled communities in particular.
Us seeing and embracing ourselves.
And the fact that Global Accessibility Awareness Day
is also her birthday,
and the same time as
Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month,
I mean, kismet, divine timing.
I know that she would be so excited.
And when people see this Doodle,
I hope that in seeing Stacey,
people will see themselves embracing who they are
in whatever communities that they're a part of.
- When people see this Doodle,
I really hope they think about how we are a whole person
made up of all these identities.
Her Korean American identity,
queer identity, her disabled identity,
they cannot be separated.
And by making things as accessible as possible to everybody,
we live in a way that honors Stacey.
(gentle music)