As Hispanic Heritage Month ends, consider who has been forgotten

As Puerto Ricans we celebrate our heritage, taking pride in “la beautiful bandera” across the state, nationally and throughout our country. Enchantment Island and pearl of the sea. We are a proud island and a proud people, so the celebrations we enjoyed during this Hispanic Heritage Month were timely.

But those of us with disabilities (and contributions) remain invisible in “El Lamento Borincano.” Although we are inherently a close-knit community, those of us with disabilities are often swept under the rug or shut down in order to put our best face, dish, and foot forward.

Puerto Ricans were the first Latino group to move to the states in large numbers and faced discrimination in access to language, education, housing and employment, along with gang violence. Socioeconomic determinants of health continue to amplify racial divisions more than half a century later. I was born in El Barrio, the son of migrant parents from Puerto Rico. My parents were among those who came to the mainland from the Caribbean during the rise of air travel. The fictional landscape of West Side Story definitely highlighted the frightening experience of the Puerto Rican situation as second-class citizens of the U.S.

Doris Maldonado Méndez

I’m also one in six. Two days after my birth, I was diagnosed with birth defects that would affect my daily life with physical and developmental disabilities in undefined and invisible ways. I have lived with limitations that have forced me to have a combination of special supports throughout my life, for prolonged periods.

Degrees of separation

One in four people nationally is diagnosed with a disability, which is equivalent to almost 30% of North American adults living with a disability or approximately 61 million people. More than 19% are children under the age of 18 and one in six people with disabilities is Latino. For some of us, the disability is congenital; for others, it is acquired at some point in our life. Some of us disclose our disability as part of our identity; others don’t. And although many of us may experience functional limitations, this is not the case for all of us. Our significant demographic presence is not accessible, inclusive, and reflected in the Puerto Rican/Latino diaspora, leadership, media, or celebratory representation.

Finding no census data that provided more local numbers of people with disabilities, I challenged the director of the University of Connecticut’s Puerto Rican Studies Initiative, Charles R. Venator-Santiago, to test his data skills. In UConn’s “Puerto Ricans with Disabilities in the State of Connecticut” survey, results estimate that in 2021 19% of Puerto Ricans lived with a disability, compared to 14% of Latinos/a/és and 13% of the total population in Connecticut.

Puerto Ricans were more likely than Latinos and the overall population to have a disability. Among the most prevalent disability types in Connecticut were 10% with cognitive disability, followed by independent living and ambulatory disability. Nearly twice as many Puerto Ricans (10%) lived with cognitive disability compared to Latinos/a/és (6%) and the total population (5%).

Only in recent decades have data findings finally recognized that Latinos with disabilities are significantly underrepresented, leading to a lack of focus on issues specific to our communities. This absence is reflected in policy-making, misleading narratives, research priorities, resource allocation and even heritage celebrations.

While we appear to address intersectionality in data, we remain suspended in implementing and participating in meaningful inclusion. This superficial approach leaves many of us feeling tokenized rather than truly included. While some voices from our disability communities are considered, we are often included only to meet a diversity quota — and not to genuinely address our lived experiences and perspectives. Are the Boricuas just checking the intersectionality boxes until the exit door once we satisfy the data sets? Or even losing our collective Latin power?

Let’s talk and celebrate Bruno!

Most of us have heard Disney’s Encanto with its DEI attempt to cinematize a Latin fairy tale with a lyrical montage that includes the catchy song “We Don’t Talk about Bruno.” The song introduces the audience to Bruno, a prophetic phenomenon of the Madrigal family. Their differences are enough to warn children to “live in fear of Bruno’s stuttering or stumbling”. After questioning his belonging and identity, this misfit’s cousin, Mirabel, concludes: “I should never have asked about Bruno.”

Although the enchanted and scenic plot is not staged in Puerto Rico, the premise echoes a generational taboo. We learn that there are things and people we should not talk about, even those who are expelled to live in seclusion, far from home and community life and parties. We remain out of sight and out of mind.

As a proud Puerto Rican born with a disability, descended from African tribes and Taino natives, I do not practice fight or flight, but rather courage over complacency. Latinos with disabilities do not enjoy the luxury of failing or being invited to the table. As parents of children with disabilities, my children and I honor those who came before us, the villages that embraced us and those who sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom, justice and the pursuit of happiness.

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