"And The Truth Shall Set You Free..."

Daniel Hill 

Have We Forgotten Our Black LGBT Youth With Disabilities?
National Youth Pride Services

Daniel Hill is the leader of our national program for black LGBT youth with a disability called SWAG.


I am hearing impaired and lived with it since I was 4.

I first find out that I was gay when I was 7, but I didn’t know what was gay was at that time. I just always had some kinds of attraction to males.

My disability has somewhat made me stand out from the LGBT crowd. However I used to be very insecure and shy about it.

I never had much of a teen social life growing up until I was 18,when I finally embraced it.

I feel that the LGBT population doesn’t pay enough attention for the ones who have disability. I felt as if the LGBT population only have one face. Often time I do not feel apart of the LGBT community.

I did not find it easy at all, because we are the minority in the LGBT community. We don’t see them (LGBT people with a disability) much that often.

To this day, I cant really say I know anyone else that has a disability in the (black) LGBT community.

I don’t think that there is enough (HIV) education specifically for the disability. Its always just a general thing to the (able) LGBT community.

I never thought about committing suicide, however there’s time I would be very depressed and self-hating
because I didn’t have friends that actually know what Im going through – not even my family at that time.

Most of my gay experience was at high school, most of my years I spent being the quiet kid, I found it to be easier to avoid anything in school.

My family deals with my sexuality a lot better now than when I came out when I was 16. They had been more understanding than they were before.

I hope that NYPS can bring more visibility to people like us. I want people to know that LGBT people are every race, size, kinds etc,, even disability.

We want to feel more included.

I would tell others like me that living with a disability doesn’t mean you cant do anything, look at it as a challenge and its up to us if we want to win or lose.

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"Fear Eats the Soul"