Alice Wong (activist)
Disability rights activist, writer, and founder of the Disability Visibility Project.
Due to spinal muscular atrophy, a neuromuscular disorder she had from birth, Wong ceased walking when she was seven or eight years old.[1] At age 51, Wong passed away from an infection on November 14, 2025, while in a San Francisco hospital.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 27 March 1974
- Birthplace
- Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
- Died
- 14 November 2025
- Place of death
- San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Activist, writer
- Education
- Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (BA); University of California, San Francisco (MA)
- Organization
- Disability Visibility Project
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Wong earned a BA in English and sociology from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in 1997 and a master's degree in medical sociology from UCSF in 2004.[3] She worked at UCSF as a Staff Research Associate for over ten years and served as vice chair of the UCSF Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Disability Issues from 2006 to 2009.[3][4] In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Wong to the National Council on Disability, where she served until 2015.[4][5] Wong founded the Disability Visibility Project in 2014, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture.[6][7]
She co-founded #CripTheVote, a nonpartisan online movement encouraging political participation of disabled people.[6][8] In 2015, Wong attended a White House reception via telepresence robot, becoming the first person to visit the White House by robot presence.[9] Wong received the designation of MacArthur Fellow in 2024.[10][6] On the Netflix series "Human Resources", Wong provided voice acting for a character named Alice, a fictionalized version of herself, in the second season.[11][6]
What the cited sources add
The Disability Visibility Project website states Wong is the founder and director of the project and a co-partner in DisabledWriters.com, #CripLit, #CripTheVote, and Access Is Love.[6] The UCSF announcement of her appointment notes Wong was president of the San Francisco In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Governing Body and a board member of Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California.[4] The same source reports Wong advocated for UCSF's professional schools to include disability-related curriculum in cultural competency courses.[4] The Adolescent.net interview records Wong saying she served one term on the National Council on Disability from 2013 to 2015.[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wong, "A Mutant from Planet Cripton, An Origin", The Nerds of Color, April 3, 2014; Risen, "Alice Wong, Writer and Relentless Advocate for Disability Rights, Dies at 51", The New York Times, November 15, 2025; Risen, "Alice Wong, Writer and Relentless Advocate for Disability Rights, Dies at 51", The New York Times, November 15, 2025; Mitzi Baker, "Alice Wong Wins National Disabilities Organization Award", University of California San Francisco, March 22, 2016; Wong, "A Mutant from Planet Cripton, An Origin", The Nerds of Color, Ap en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Risen, "Alice Wong, Writer and Relentless Advocate for Disability Rights, Dies at 51", The New York Times, November 15, 2025 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hernandez, "Alice Wong, disability rights advocate and wordsmith, dies at 51", The Washington Post, 16 November 2025; Risen, "Alice Wong, Writer and Relentless Advocate for Disability Rights, Dies at 51", The New York Times, November 15, 2025; "Alumni & Giving", School of Liberal Arts; "Sociology graduate Alice Wong publishes NYT Opinion Piece Sociology Doctoral Program", UC San Francisco; "Biography: Alice Wong", National Women's History Museum (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Cisneros, "President Obama Appoints Alice Wong to National Council on Disability", University of California, San Francisco, January 30, 2013. facts only, no text reused. ucsf.edu
- Powell, "The visibility of disability: an interview with activist Alice Wong", Adolescent.net, January 10, 2019. facts only, no text reused. adolescent.net
- "About", Disability Visibility Project, June 3, 2014. facts only, no text reused. disabilityvisibilityproject.com
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Alice Wong Sets Out to Chronicle Disability History", NBC News, August 20, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "About Us – Disabled Writers"; "About Us – Disabled Writers"; "About", Disability Visibility Project, June 3, 2014; Wong, "Social Media Narrative: Issues in Contemporary Practice", Narrabase, November 16–21, 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shumaker, "San Francisco's Alice Wong's historical White House visit", Laura Shumaker, July 22, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blair, "Here's who made the 2024 MacArthur Fellows list", NPR, October 1, 2024 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alice Wong (activist)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kirichanskaya, "This Cameo Makes 'Human Resources' Final Season Better", Collider, June 15, 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Alice Wong (activist) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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