Elise Roy: Local Action Hero
Hannah Cohen-Blair, HRC Family Project, Feb. 22, 2009
From a young age, Elise Roy has been driven to succeed in every task she takes on. Despite profound hearing loss, Elise has excelled in her athletic endeavors, her work as a lawyer and in her tireless pursuit of equality for LGBT people and people with disabilities (PWD). She has received countless awards and recognitions, and her work has made an undeniable impact both nationally and internationally. I recently had the opportunity to interview Elise about her passions, achievements and her current projects.
Hannah Cohen-Blair: Sports is clearly a very important and driving force in your life and in your career. Were you always active in sports?
Elise Roy: I started playing soccer in the second grade. My mom was nervous placing me on a team, but my gym teacher really pushed it. I think my mom just really had the wrong view of women in sports and thought of us as too fragile. I broke my wrist that year and she almost pulled me off the team, but I pleaded and begged and she let me stay.
Throughout the years, her views changed dramatically and she became one of my biggest supporters. I think she saw the U.S. women’s team — how amazing they were — and the passion that I had for the game. I also think she saw how far soccer could get me and its potential to help me in school. My teachers were surprised if I had the option to pick a topic for an assignment and I did not pick something sports-related.
My dad still lives in Massachusetts; he wasn’t that involved in that part of my life. But when I was in college, I lived near him and he came to a lot of my games and was really supportive then.
Hannah: After you began to lose your hearing, did your involvement in sports change?
Elise: No, I was too naive to think about that. Sports also became a realm of normalcy for me when everything else seemed to have slipped out of my grasp. It was a realm where I always excelled and where I did not really have to struggle like I did in school. I was also really tough then — I loved playing with the boys and never let anyone see me cry. I’m not sure how I ended up like that, but I’ve always rebelled against things people told me to do that I didn’t agree with.
Hannah: After your hearing loss, were your teammates and your coaches receptive?
Elise: Yes, I was on a great soccer team. I think the biggest thing is no one really knew how to help me.
Hannah: And as you got older, did you continue to get positive receptions?
Elise: Not all of them were like that. I think when a coach or anyone meets me and has never really interacted with someone who has a hearing loss, they sometimes have lower expectations, fear or uncertainty.
Hannah: And how did you deal with that?
Elise: I hated anyone who lowered their expectations of me because of my hearing. I always kept the same dreams and same personal expectations even though I lost my hearing. … I guess you just start to realize that it’s going to happen and all you can do is prove them wrong.
Hannah: Is that what made you interested in law — preserving ambitions and proving people wrong on a larger scale?
Elise: Well, with the law I knew I could make change happen, and to have that kind of power was a pretty cool thing. But actually, I’m no longer practicing right now — I am moving away from policy and development and have begun doing photography and design and even some writing. I realized that I was a lawyer to prove to people that I could do it and I really just did not enjoy the work that much. However, I did enjoy the change I could create — the outcome. But I realized I could still do that through my art and writing.
Hannah: Well, that makes sense to me. Law and art can have very similar ends. In transition from athlete to lawyer to artist, did you have any influential persons that helped you to do your good work?
Elise: Yes, lots of them. One coach who was kind of like a second mom when I was in high school and dealing with losing my hearing, said to me once when I was having a particularly rough day, “You know Elise, everyone has a disability in their own way.” And that really opened my eyes in many ways. I wasn’t so different. And it also told me to not dwell on my own differences.
Hannah: When you were growing up, did you know others who had disabilities like you?
Elise: Not when I was growing up, no. That is the one thing that I think my parents did wrong: I was “mainstreamed” in school. I never really met any other deaf kids and it made me feel so different and I had no one to talk to about how it felt or how to deal with certain situations. But at the same time, I am glad that they “mainstreamed” me because I think if I had gone to an all-deaf school I may not be able to participate in both worlds like I do now — the hearing and the deaf world. I just wish I had a chance to know some kids who were like me outside of that setting.
Hannah: Is that the reason why you started “Ready-Set-Go” (a program that educates children with disabilities about human rights issues and HIV/AIDS through culturally specific, sports-education exercises)? To give kids who might not know other deaf kids a chance to interact?
Elise: Well, that was a result of wanting to see the policy that I created at the United Nations in action. My work at the UN involved helping to write an international treaty that protects the human rights of people with disabilities. My part was on the human rights involved in the sport, recreation and leisure realm. The entire program was to get kids with disabilities involved in sports and teach them their human rights. I ended up doing some similar work in Africa. Ready-Set-Go is no longer running, but I am working with an organization to get up a program that is somewhat similar but on a much bigger scale.
Hannah: Why do international when there is so much work to be done domestically?
Elise: Well, the need in other countries is so huge in comparison to the need in the U.S. Also, I just have this thing for different cultures, or maybe just differences in general. I feel most alive when I am learning new things, new lifestyles…
Hannah: I can imagine. In that light, will you tell me about being a law fellow for the Human Rights Campaign and what that was like?
Elise: It was great. I had some great mentors like Lara Schwartz and some others who have since left HRC. The experience of working there really opened my eyes to how important it is to really follow what is happening in the world and how significant just my vote is.
Hannah: I am sure! Where do you see the LGBT and PWD movements overlapping?
Elise: I see them overlapping in many ways — I presented at the Out & Equal conference on this a little while ago … First, they both have a coming out process. Second, they are both about accepting people for who they are and growing comfortable with differences. Sometimes PWD have their disabilities visible, but they are still going through the tough process of accepting themselves as someone with a disability, just as we do with our sexual orientation. Also, each community needs to recognize that the other is a part of their community — PWD are LGBT and there are LGBT persons who have disabilities. The other issue that links these two communities is healthcare.
Hannah: Tell me more…
Elise: Well, many people don’t believe that PWD are sexual, but they are. This is especially important in, say, the context of a kid with Down syndrome who has never been educated on LGBT issues, who doesn’t have a name to place with the feelings they have. It can be a scary and uncertain process when people don’t think to educate them on these things or include them in the possibility that they might be LGBT.
Hannah: What is the state of communication between the LGBT and PWD communities and organizations?
Elise: There isn’t much. I have been trying to pull together LGBT and disability organizations to create a speaker series so that the issue is more out there… But currently, I am focusing on my art. Recently I was able to combine my passion for advocacy with my art by working for a liberal political advertising firm on the election campaign ads. That experience was part of what solidified my decision to transition to art/design.
Hannah: Around what point did you begin to label your daily actions and goals as “advocacy”?
Elise: While I was at Brown, the disability support services coordinator at the time took an interest in me and started getting me involved more in disability issues on campus. She asked me to speak to the board of directors about disability. That was an eye-opening experience because of how clueless they were that PWD are at Ivy League universities.
Hannah: Thinking more broadly for a moment — in a perfect world, how would PWD and LGBT organizations come together and what would they create?
Elise: I think one action would be to include the PWD viewpoint in all actions that an LGBT organization takes. Also, I think it’s about making sure we hire both and have the diversity of views and, if possible, working groups to ensure that organizations collaborate effectively. Both have things to share about their struggles that can be beneficial to the other. Another issue is exposure — we need to see LGBT with disabilities in LGBT ads (and other media) and vice versa.
Hannah: How have you navigated identifying with both communities?
Elise: Well, sometimes being both gay and having a disability is overwhelming because you feel as if you have so many things wrong with you and you are so different than the norm. But as I began accepting myself as both a lesbian and as someone with a disability, I have found some of my closest friends in these communities.
Hannah: Was there ever a time that you just wanted to retreat into normalcy?
Elise: Of course ... But then I remember that it has made me who I am today. My differences have made me more compassionate and understanding and they have given me a career direction and all those amazing opportunities I have had.
Hannah: Do you feel that you are working for feminism too?
Elise: Yes, especially because of my athletic background. I saw so much inequality in that realm. I once spent an entire semester in this writing and persuasion class at Brown, arguing why women deserve to be treated on a level playing field. And I was at Brown while the Brown v. Cohen case was going on, so that was inspiring as well.
Hannah: Lastly, I want to know your thoughts on how society at large can be helpful and inclusive of LGBT persons and PWD?
Elise: I think that more affirmative action plans would help foster inclusion of LGBT persons and PWD, and encourage stereotypes to be broken. Also, particular scholarships targeted toward them, and campaigns to educate the public would be very helpful and important. The more chances people have to see people with disabilities excelling — whether it be at sports, in the classroom or in the employment setting — the more chances they have to have their stereotypes broken down. I think that’s why sports are such a great mechanism — you have a low-cost and universal tool to put everyone in a realm where the focus shifts off of their disability and differences and onto their abilities and potential.
For more information about Elise Roy, please visit www.eliseroy.com.