Last Updated on 23/09/2023 by Crip Life
Non-binary is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’. Most people who identify as non-binary use the pronouns “they/them/their”.
In part three of our Pride Month series, we list 6 intelligent and ambitious non-binary disabled influencers who work in the world of fashion, technology, law, medicine, language and activism.
1. Sky Cubacub
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Sky Cubacub is a non-binary, xenogender and disabled Filipinx queer person from Chicago. They have lifelong anxiety and panic disorders as well as a still undiagnosed stomach disorder, PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), depression, C-PTSD and environmental illness.
Sky is a chain maille artist who can design and sew clothes. They also own a company called Rebirth Garments. They believe the fashion industry fails disabled and non-conforming bodies and that the teachings of fashion in schools need to change.
Rebirth Garments has been featured in Teen Vogue, Nylon, Playboy, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Vice, Wussy Mag and the New York Times.
Sky is also the editor of the Radical Visibility Zine, a full-colour cut-and-paste style zine that celebrates disabled queer life, with an emphasis on joy.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Sky is interested in fulfilling the needs of disabled queer life, with an emphasis on joy. Additionally, they are the Access Brat and the editor of a section on ethics and inclusion called Cancel & Gretel at the literary fashion magazine Just Femme and Dandy.
Sky has also created a queer fashion programme series with Chicago Public Library called Radical Fit. They have had over 45 fashion performances and lectured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Utah, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University.
Sky was named 2018 Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune and is a 2019/2020 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist and a Disability Futures Fellow.
You can follow Sky Cubacub on Twitter and Instagram.
2. Dom Evans
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Dom Evans is a multiply disabled (SMA, OCD, ADD, anxiety, chronic pain) non-binary trans queer filmmaker, writer, gamer, streamer, film scholar dad and a confessed nerd.
Dom uses ‘they’ and ‘he’ pronouns. This means that he doesn’t limit his gender expression to the constraints of what society has set to be acceptable to be a man or a woman. He identifies as queer, which to him means he finds attraction to people not binary ideas of gender.
They have a BFA in Film and also studied political science. In 2014, Dom founded the Twitter chat #FilmDis, a discussion on disability representation, which has evolved into FilmDis, a media monitoring organisation that offers a multitude of services. With his partner, Ashtyn, they are set to release their second study into disability representation on television in spring 2021.
On Twitch, Dom typically plays games laying down due to chronic pain, which makes it painful to sit in their wheelchair for hours. Dom streams four days a week with Ashtyn.
Through gaming, he has fought for the inclusion of disabled people on Twitch and in other aspects of gaming culture. They hope that one-day Twitch will include a disability tag.
As a prolific public speaker, Dom has spoken at events around the world, including two years at New York Comic Con and in Australia. Since 2019, he’s been working with major studios out of Hollywood, with the hope of creating accessible spaces and opportunities for disabled people in the industry.
You can follow Dom Evans on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
3. Lydia X. Z. Brown
Honored to be on @GoldHouseCo‘s #A100 list!
I would love to see Khairani Barokka, Jina Kim, Mia Mingus, Nirmala Erevelles, Johanna Hedva, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Shayda Kafai, Kay Ulanday Barrett, Alice Wong, Sandy Ho, Maysoon Zayid, Karen Nakamura, and many more here! pic.twitter.com/Xfqe3Z79uj
— Lydia X. Z. Brown (@autistichoya) May 1, 2020
Lydia X. Z. Brown is an autistic, queer and non-binary Chinese-American recognised as a pioneer in disability and LGBTQ+ advocacy.
Lydia is an accomplished attorney, working with the Centre for Democracy and Technology on technology bias and discrimination affecting disabled people. They also serve as the Director of Policy, Advocacy and External Affairs at the Autistic Women and Non-binary Network.
They are an educator, teaching classes on race, gender, disability and neurodivergence at Georgetown University and American University.
Lydia is the founder and leader of The Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of Color’s Interdependence, Survival, and Empowerment and is co-editor of the anthology All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialised Autism.
Lydia was honoured as a Champion of Change by the Obama Whitehouse in 2013 and has been featured in the Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, and many more.
You can find out more about Lydia X. Z. Brown by visiting their website and following them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
4. Dax Everritt
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Dax Everritt is a medical researcher, writer and disability activist from Leeds in England. They became disabled at the age of 14 after contracting viral meningitis, which eventually resulted in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Since then, they have also been diagnosed with endometriosis, asthma and depression.
Dax is co-chair of Leeds University’s Disability, Accessibility and Mental Health Staff Network, and broaches other topics such as feminism, bisexuality and being non-binary to highlight the impact of intersectionalities on their life.
Dax also has an award-winning blog – Diary of a Disabled Person – where they give a biographical look at disability in the 21st Century and was set up as a means to communicate social issues to a wide audience with both humour and compassion. They’ve written content on disability justice, ableism, accessibility, employment, health and wellbeing, LGBTQ+ equality, and much more.
Follow Dax Everritt on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
5. Olu Niyi-Awosusi
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Olu Niyi-Awosusi describes themselves as an ethical technologist and accessibility advocate and identifies as “mad/disabled” (mentally ill and disabled). They advocate for an online world that is relevant, useful and inclusive for people with disabilities, access and functional needs and/or those with limited access to technology. According to Olu, their passion for ethics in technology was sparked through studying philosophy.
In addition to their technology-focused work, Olu also founded a mutual aid group aimed at providing gender identity-affirming clothing to the LGBTQ+ community in the UK and beyond.
Olu’s other interests include social justice, singing, sewing and weightlifting.
Follow Olu Niyi-Awosusi on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
6. Phoenix Gray
the amount of Londoners & tourists who did a double take at a wheelchair user in a miniskirt out late.👩🏾🦼& proud binches! all i got on is lipgloss & a miniskirt & my hair hasn’t been done in 3months because that’s #MyDisabledReality. i look fly as fuck regardless. #DisabledAndCute pic.twitter.com/9pGxaiEUSf
— nix (@silverswansong) August 6, 2022
Phoenix Gray is a London-based writer and disability activist. They graduated in 2013 from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Phoenix has OCD, Tourette’s syndrome, dyspraxia and a blood disorder.
Phoenix spends their time tweeting about disability, poverty and race at @silverswansong, and they are currently engaged as an expert by experience to improve NHS services for mentally ill people in East London.
They were awarded special mention poems in the university category for poetry committed to social change in the Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Competition 2012.
Follow Phoenix Gray on Twitter and read their article My Disabled Identity and Non-Binary Gender Are Inextricably Linked.
Do you have a disability or health condition and identify as non-binary? Or do you know other non-binary disabled influencers we should be following? Let us know in the comments box or on social media.