It's Disability Pride Month #ADA26NYC! To celebrate, we're bringing back #DiversabilityAMA -- a live 'ask me anything' event with Stigma Fighters founder Sarah Fader (featured in The Washington Post), White House Champion of Change Dior Vargas, and Suffering the Silence co-founders Allie Cashel and Erica Lupinacci (featured in Refinery29) in conversation with Gina Moffa, LCSW, MA.

People of all abilities and from all communities are invited and welcome.

DATE & TIME: Wednesday, July 27 from 6:30-8:30pm EST

LOCATION: Joynture, 48 Wall Street, NYC

COST: goes to help cover food, drink, and other event costs. Extra $$ will go to support our speakers' work & future programming. If the cost of a ticket is a barrier to your attendance, email us (info at mydiversability dot com) and we will find a way to sponsor you.

ACCESSIBILITY: Venue is wheelchair accessible. For additional accommodation requests, please contact us by Thursday, July 14.

This Month's Featured #DiversabilityAMA Speakers

Allie Cashel, Co-Founder of Suffering the Silence

@alliecashel @ststogether

Allie Cashel is the author of Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme disease in an Age of Denial and is co-founder of the original Suffering the Silence web community. Since starting work with STS, Allie has been invited to speak at events around the country ranging from private fundraisers to congressional forums, from medical schools to book stores and support groups. She hosted and organized the 2015 Suffering the Silence Symposium in London, is the Chair of the Global Lyme Alliance Jr. Board, and has worked as a founding member of the social action startup Postcard.com, PBC, a certified B Corporation, for the past two years.

Erica Lupinacci, Co-Founder of Suffering the Silence

@ericaloops

Erica Lupinacci is an actor, producer, and the co-founder of Suffering the Silence, a community for people living with chronic illness and disability to share their stories and experiences. Erica was diagnosed with Lupus at 18 and is dedicated to raising awareness for people who have felt silenced or alone because of their differences. 

Sarah Fader, Founder/CEO of Stigma Fighters

@TheSarahFader

Sarah Fader is the CEO and Founder of Stigma Fighters, a non-profit organization that encourages individuals with mental illness to share their personal stories. She is an author and blogger, having been featured on The Washington Post, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, HuffPost Live, and Good day New York.

Sarah is a native New Yorker who enjoys naps, talking to strangers, and caring for her two small humans and two average-sized cats. Like six million other Americans, Sarah lives with panic disorder. Through Stigma Fighters, Sarah hopes to change the world, one mental health stigma at a time.

Dior Vargas, Latina Feminist Mental Health Activist

@DiorVargas

Dior Vargas is a Latina Feminist Mental Health Activist. She is the creator of the People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project, a response to the invisibility of people of color in the media representation of mental illness. Dior is the recipient of numerous awards including The White House Champion of Change for Disability Advocacy Across Generations.

Gina Moffa, LCSW, MA

@gmoffa4

Gina Moffa has been in the field of mental health for over 15 years, working for several community-based mental health organizations, as well, as international not-for-profits, where Gina worked with survivors of genocide an violence in various countries within Africa. She is currently the Clinical Director of the highly acclaimed Addiction Institute of NY at Mt Sinai-St. Luke’s. Gina also maintains a private practice in Manhattan, where she attends to the needs of individuals, couples and families, providing therapy in the areas of grief (including complex grief and ambiguous loss), trauma, anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder. Gina is also an accomplished singer, creating one woman shows depicting emotional themes with various genres of music and has been featured in the New York Daily News. 

For questions or for more information, please contact:

• info at mydiversability.com

----------

Special thanks to our friends at Joynture for hosting us!

About Joynture: Joynture is a membership community. Startups, entrepreneurs, small businesses and freelancers come to our coworking space to work, collaborate and grow!

Want to sponsor this event as an organization or individual? Contact us about the great benefits of becoming a Diversability partner.

----------

By registering for a Diversability event, you are giving permission for Diversability to use any photos of you from this event for Diversability promotional purposes and for Diversability and/or Diversability's partners to contact you via email after this event.