Next in THE FINE PRINT: Artist, filmmaker and business woman Reveca Torres on leaders with disabilities and the urgent need for Health Philosophy Transformation in the United States
By Kimberly J. Soenen
(Self portrait by Reveca Torres.)
Next in THE FINE PRINT >
You may have heard it’s a presidential election year in the United States of America. That means, healthcare policy is being politicized and weaponized, as ever. Recycled buzz words and polarizing rhetoric are already flying. Year in, and year out, how does the unrelenting politicization of healthcare access in the United States feel to residents and citizens—especially to those persons who have disabilities?
Paralyzed in a car accident as a teenager, Reveca Torres is now an international thought leader on Peer Support Programs for persons with Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI.) She is the founder of BACKBONES and an acclaimed artist, curator, and filmmaker. Torres uses painting, illustration, photography, film, movement, and other media as forms of expression and tools for social justice advocacy.
After completing degrees in Fashion Design and Theatre Arts, she worked as a costume designer and simultaneously with organizations doing disability work in health, recreation, and Peer Support.
(“My body loves warmth, heat and humidity…” Jalisco, Mexico, December 1,2023.)
She started BACKBONES after realizing that years of interaction and friendship with others living with spinal injuries (SCI) made a significant impact in her own life. She wanted to ensure that others, especially those newly injured, had access to resources, information, and the same type of support she has had.
She is a frequent contributor to New Mobility magazine and has served on the leadership boards of United Spinal Association and North American SCI Consortium. In 2020, she was awarded the Craig Neilsen Visionary Award for her art and advocacy work.
(Reveca Torres behind the camera.)
“I want to see representation of disability in leadership roles including keynote speakers, organizational consultants, committee chairs, CEOs, advisory boards, and more. Leaders with disabilities can fill these roles and offer a different perspective and lens."
-Reveca Torres | Hispanic Executive Magazine
How do disabled persons manage their health maintenance while living in a country with a fragmented For-Profit medical care model? Just what is a day-in-the-life like for a person living with SCI? What does the experience of living with chronic pain teach us? And, how are wit and humor tapped as tools for survival?
That’s next in THE FINE PRINT.