Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

PeerConnect: Body Appreciation & Disability

May 17, 2023 @ 6:00 pm CDT - 7:00 pm CDT

Join us for an engaging conversation on body appreciation, self esteem and disability. Our  guests Disability Justice Activist Ligia Andrade Zúñiga, Registered Dietitian Shelley Wood, and Sex Educator Rafe Eric Biggs will discuss what body dysmorphia is, how it relates to disability, and ways to navigate through body image issues.

 

SPECIAL GUEST:

Ligia Andrade Zúñiga, M.P.A

Ligia is a strong leader and activist committed to educating and empowering young people of color with disabilities around higher education, reproductive justice, civil rights, the independent living philosophy, and disability justice. Following her spinal cord injury in 2009, Ligia has been a Peer Supporter through the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center SCI Peer Support Program and is part of the NASCIC. She has also been a Sexuality and Disability Educator since 2013, in 2018 co-founded the Bay Area Sexuality and Disability Network.

Shelley Wood, MPH, RDN

Shelley is a registered dietitian nutritionist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. She has nine years of medical nutrition therapy experience working with acute spinal cord injuries. Shelley has also served as an Advisory Board Member for NorCal SCI, and works closely with Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s Rehab Research Team. Shelley completed and published a Christopher Reeve Foundation-funded telenutrition project.

Rafe Eric Biggs, PhD CMSC

Rafe is the founder of Sexability an organization committed to transforming sexuality and disability. In 2004 while on spiritual retreat in India, he fell from a building which resulted in a SCI. He earned his Masters and Doctorate in Organizational Psychology and is a member of American Society of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. He is the founder of Sexuality and Disability Support Group at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley, CA. Rafe was featured on the TLC show Strange Sex – Surrogate Manhood. Rafe is an expert on non-genital orgasms and has been featured in Huffington Post, The Sun, International Business Times, and Chat Magazine.