Meet Priya Ray | Indian American Disabled Woman, musician, artist, activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Priya Ray and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Priya, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
The idea that we can succeed by “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps”. This kind of mindset leads us to believe that we do not need a community or each other to succeed. When people are successful it isn’t because they alone were able to create success. If you dig deeper, you would see that people successes come from a community that provide them the an education they need, a family fed them, a teacher that saw something provided them with support that gave them confidence, and much more . No person one person is an island but rather a mass of land filled with people.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My primary medium is photography. I have been for photography for about 45 years. I love photographing people, but after I became disabled, that became difficult. So I started photographing landscapes from different perspectives. While my disabilitymist definitely influences my work, it is not necessarily all about disability. It is about the things I think about, see, or hear. The thing I would want people to know about me is that whatever anyone’s identity is, it doesn’t mean you or I fit into the narrative that the media presents. None of us fit into the box that is created. People identities are diverse and we must embrace that. With DIYabled I like to say that Disabled People are People

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If an old friend of min visited me, we would hang out and catch up. Play music for each other or show each other art we haven’t seen. We’d go to see a local band at Static Age in Asheville. Hang out with other people that they know. We’d probably go to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in this part of the Appalachian Mountains, and enjoy the view. Then come back and hang out and cook dinner and enjoy each other’s company.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The person that I would give a shout out to you as my mother. She was disabled, all my life growing up. And when I became disabled 25 years ago, it was her strength and power during my childhood that made me realize I when I became disabled, that I had a value as a human. This led me to speak out about my rights as a disabled person, and our community needs to be inclusive to every person in it, including disabled people.

Website: DIYabled.com

Instagram: DIYabled

Image Credits
Robert Price