The tragic death of Stacey Park Milbern has hit her world so hard, her sudden death was on her 33rd birthday two years ago.
Milbern was known to be well-recognized American disability rights activist who helped create the disability justice movement and also advocated for fair treatment of people with disabilities.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration, Google is honoring the activist with a Doodle on Thursday on Stacey’s 35th birthday and her second death anniversary.
Google Doodle: Stacey Park Milbern Cause Of Death
Stacey Park Milbern was 33 years old at the time of death, which was two years ago on her 33rd birthday, on May 19, 2020, due to surgical complications. Over Stacey’s life, this pioneer in the disability justice movement also advocated for fair treatment of people of color.
Stacey Park Milbern advocated for those who are transgender and gender-nonconforming and also for those people without housing.
Stacey faced health issues. Even her surgery to remove her own fast-growing kidney cancer was postponed due to shelter-in-place orders (lockdown restrictions).
She passed away on her thirty-third birthday in a Stanford hospital. The Korean American activist is recently highlighted as Google Doodle honors the champion of the disability justice movement on Thursday.
Thursday is also Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which encourages digital accessibility and inclusion for people with all disabilities. It is intended to honor the contributions of Asian and Pacific Islanders to the country’s history.
Stacey Park Milbern Health Reviewed
Stacey Park Milbern was known to be born with congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in the U.S. Army Hospital in Seoul on May 19, 1987. She was mixed-race, born to a white father and Korean mother.
Growing up in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in a military family, as her father was in the United States Army, she always embraced and celebrated elements of her identity that stood out in an evangelical Christian family, especially her sexuality.
She often penned poetry and wrote referring to disability issues on a personal blog in which she explained herself as “just your everyday queer disabled Korean girl living in the South.”
Stacey could walk but eventually began using a wheelchair, further leading to her increased disability activism and awareness. While only in her teens, she started serving on disability rights commissions.
In 2007 Stacey was instrumental in helping pass a North Carolina law requiring that disability history curriculum be taught in schools. Later she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, a region central to the disability rights movement at 24.
Stacey Park Milbern was born to a white father and a Korean mother. She grew up in a military family in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Stacey’s father was in the United States Army, as mentioned earlier.
Stacey relied on her family as caregivers as a child. Still, as she began to identify as queer, she feared her evangelical Christian parents’ judgment and later aimed to move out.
At 16 years old, Stacey began serving in disability rights leadership roles, including as Community Outreach Director for the National Youth Leadership Network, she wasn’t married until death.
Duriing the time of the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the Bay Area, Stacey, alongside her four friends constituting the Disability Justice Culture Club, dispersed disease prevention kits, disinfectants, hand sanitizer, and respirators, in the early 2020.