Health Justice is Disability Justice: Disabled Perspectives in Public Health Research, Policy, & Advocacy

Nassira D. Nicola is the lead Health and Disability Program Coordinator in the Office of Health Equity at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. She has advised numerous programs within DPH, and across the country, on ways to learn from and include disabled people as both members of the public and colleagues. When not working (or when in long meetings), she can be found knitting piles of lace shawls and blankets for other people’s babies.

Emily M. Lund, PhD, CRC, is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education in the department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling at the University of Alabama. Their primary research interests include interpersonal violence and trauma in people with disabilities; suicide and non-suicidal self-injury in people with disabilities; the experiences of graduate students with disabilities; and LGBTQ+ issues, particularly as they intersect with disability. Dr. Lund has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and edited two books on these and similar topics. Their work emphasizes positive disability identity development, marginalization, intersectionality, and disability cultural competence.