Catarina Rivera - Speaker

Catarina Rivera, BA, MSEd, MPH, earned her BA in Psychology from Duke University with a Robertson Scholars Leadership Program scholarship, a Master of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education focusing on Dual Language/Bilingual Education, and a Master of Public Health from Hunter College.
Catarina founded Blindish Latina, a platform challenging disability stigmas through storytelling, advocacy, and education. She has over 14 years of experience in educational institutions and nonprofit organisations, specialising in program development, team management, capacity building, community organising, engagement, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
As a Latiné woman with lifelong disabilities, Catarina offers a profound understanding of intersectionality in disability discussions. She wore hearing aids from a young age but was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome at 17, which includes progressive vision loss due to retinitis pigmentosa and hearing disability.
Catarina's disability journey evolved through stages: Denial, Acceptance, Self-Advocacy, and Public Advocacy. She understands the complexities of having a nonapparent disability and the societal changes she experienced after using a white cane. She now embraces disability pride and feels empowered by sharing her story.
Bilingual in English and Spanish, Catarina's family is Cuban and Puerto Rican. She is a first-generation American on one side and second-generation on the other. Catarina shares her expertise and lived experience with disability, focusing on disability awareness, inclusion, digital inclusion, intersectionality, accessibility, allyship, and advocacy.