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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 Alice Wong, a disability rights activist and author whose independence and writing inspired others, has died. She was 51.<\/p>\n
Wong died of an infection Friday at a hospital in San Francisco, said Sandy Ho, a close friend who has been in touch with Wong\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Ho called her friend a \u201cluminary of the disability justice movement\u201d who wanted a world in which people with disabilities, especially ones of marginalized demographics who were people of color, LGBTQ and immigrants, could live freely and have full autonomy over their lives and decisions.<\/p>\n
The daughter of Hong Kong immigrants, Wong was born with muscular dystrophy. She used a powered wheelchair and an assistive breathing device.<\/p>\n
Ho shared a statement on social media that Wong wrote before her death in which she said she never imagined her trajectory would turn out as it did, to writing, activism and more. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture,\u201d Wong wrote.<\/p>\n
She advocated for \u201cgetting people out of institutions and remaining in the community,\u201d Ho said and her works \u2014 including books she wrote and edited and the Disability Visibility Project blog, which she started \u2014 shared her writing and voices and the perspectives of others.<\/p>\n
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