Writer, editor, and disability justice activist Alice Wong can add MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner to her already incredibly impressive resume.
On October 1, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, announced that Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project, was one of 22 “creative and inspiring” individuals to win the prestigious “no strings attached” fellowship.
Wong, 50, was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that causes muscles to weaken and atrophy. One of three daughters born to parents who immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong, Wong grew up in Indianapolis. In her twenties, she relocated to the Bay area of California where she earned a master’s degree in medical sociology from the University of California, San Francisco.
Over the years, Wong has used her platform to bring awareness to systemic ableism and to highlight the diverse experiences of people with disabilities.
According to the Mercury News, the Disability Visibility Project began as an oral history project in partnership with NPR’s StoryCorps, but has since grown to include “a podcast, a blog, social media, arts projects and spaces for connection and community building.”
In addition to creating the Disability Visibility Project, Wong has published two anthologies of essays including Disability Visibility (2020) and Disability Intimacy (2024). Her memoir, Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life, was published in 2022.
Wong has also spearheaded disability movements such as #CripTheVote, a nonpartisan campaign that encourages political candidates to engage with the disability community around issues of concern to them. She has advocated for continued masking in healthcare settings and for keeping plastic straws in restaurants for disabled individuals who need them.
In a video produced for the MacArthur Foundation, Wong explained that she wants “to change the way people think about disability from something one-dimensional and negative to something more complex and nuanced. There’s such diversity, joy and abundance in the lived disabled experience. We are multitudes,” said Wong.
As a MacArthur fellowship recipient, Wong will receive $800,000 over five years, to use in any way she sees fit. According to Marlies Carruth, Director of the MacArthur Fellows Program, the fellowships are meant “to cultivate the next generation of innovators; highlight the importance of imaginative thinking in creating objects of beauty that inspire; spotlight the value of risk-taking in addressing deep-rooted societal problems; and influence how people think of creativity.”
We can’t wait to see what’s next for Wong!
