LGBTQIA+ DIVAS Stories
I Am PrideAbility
Creating Safe, Inclusive, Affirming Spaces for Disabled Black & Brown LGBTQIA+ Sistas
Navigating the Margins With Gesy Duran
Interviewed and Written by Samiyah Muhammad
Who is Gesy Duran?
Gesy Duran is a woman of many talents and titles! Some things to know about Gesy; she’s a fighter! An astute student of human behavior and motivations. She’s a proud Afro-Dominican, lesbian, who is disabled and redefining what success means for her every day!
Gesy’s story is unique because she has lived through various dynamics of disability from a young age; yet, her experiences did not break her, but instead have catapulted her to be the phenomenal woman she is today. A budding inventor, entrepreneur, loving mother, and vivacious wife. Let’s dive into how she is creating safe, inclusive, and affirming spaces for other disabled Queer and Trans folk.
Free Fall
Gesy enjoyed an early childhood free of pain and filled with joyous memories.
“One of my happiest memories before the fall was playing sports and music. Those were the first things I felt connected to.”
– Gesy
Having a fairly large family, she is very family-oriented! Raised by her loving mom, dad, and her 3 siblings. Gesy describes her family as “…traditional but liberal…”
As an Abod child, she developed an early passion for sports starting at the age of 7 years old. She played basketball, track, football, and even participated in martial arts. One day, her life would take an unexpected turn.
At the age of 12, she survived a tremendous 5-story fall as she was going down a flight of stairs. A moment Gesy describes as a “free fall, from 5 to 4, 3-2-then 1,” a critical moment resulting in a crushed pancreas.
Although she did not have any broken bones and didn’t lose her ability to walk, her journey with chronic pain and maneuvering life with an invisible disability was just beginning (ends at age 29). Her life changed almost literally overnight, yet her peers had no idea that she was living through constant agony.
Sadly, for many Black and Brown girls, there is not enough research to provide to help navigate developmental stages with disability. According to credible sources such as (Aylward et al., 2021) “…children younger than 8 years of age…were undiagnosed, with most of these children being Black or Latinx.”
Growing Pains: Adolescence Through a Queer & Disabled Lens
With her disability evolving from adolescence through early adulthood, Gesy’s unique experiences can speak to the often silenced experiences of many disabled Black & Brown Queer & Trans children, teens, and young adults. It is truly a rare perspective we have the privilege to gain insight from.
As for Gesy, adolescence was not as easy as she led a double life, concealing her ailment from her classmates to avoid chastisement and scrutiny due to common misconceptions of invisible disabilities.
She looked fine but the chronic pain was holding her back from even the small activities her peers got to enjoy. Gesy was constantly absent from school by the time she reached 10th grade, and the pain was so excruciating that her medical treatments began, including surgical interventions, as her condition advanced into chronic pancreatitis.
She was enduring pain so intense that she was struggling to live a life outside of the hospital and her bedroom. Gesy graduated high school with recurring pancreatitis.
Gesy lived with pain so consistently that she considered it a “…tattoo… ”Common for many chronic pain warriors, she didn’t know that such a debilitating condition with severe “chronic pain impacts 1.5 billion lives” daily worldwide (Chronic Pain and the Health of Populations | SPH, n.d.). Due to ableistic societal morals, ethics, and misconceptions, disability is viewed in stereotypical forms that exclude those experiencing non-obvious disabilities.
Life Changes: “My YES Year”
Gesy decided to remove her pancreas when she was 29 after many close encounters with cancer and unrelenting pain.
“The first 5 years were hard; my focus was learning how to walk.”
Cultural pressures and expectations were ever-present, and so was her run-in with depression and rediscovering herself in this new chapter. One day, in the wake of the pandemic, “I realized I was giving my all to physical therapy… What was Gesy doing to be happy?… I’m not just a person with a disability…!”
A revitalizing message took hold of Gesy, and her desire for life was reinvigorated like never before. She began exploring wheelchair basketball, began attending university online and graduated in 2024 with her associate of social work, and she married her childhood sweetheart, which was one of the greatest joys in her life.
Now, working diligently on her bachelor’s degree in social services. Gesy described it as “making 2021 my YES year!” and has never looked back! For instance, Gesy is also the Blackstone Launchpad Ideas Competition prize-winner for her accessibility tool Wheel Eating.
“…I entered just minutes before the deadline and won nationally. That moment helped me find my purpose: to create inclusive solutions for people with disabilities.”
This has not stopped her from living her best life!
Gesy has only begun in her effort to advocate and make space for restaurant people through the restaurant and food industry.
“Wheel Eating is…designed to go with you,… (and) fits into your everyday life without hassle.”(About Wheel Eating – Designed by a Wheelchair User, n.d.).
Click the links to learn more about Gesy and Wheel Eating and Gesy and her love story.
References
Chronic Pain and the Health of Populations | SPH. (n.d.). © 2025 Boston University. https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/chronic-pain-and-the-health-of-populations/
Cope, A. (2023, October 3). The double Discrimination of disabled LGBT+ People | IE Insights. IE Insights. https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/the-double-discrimination-of-disabled-lgbt-people/
About Wheel eating – designed by a wheelchair user. (n.d.). Wheel Eating. https://www.wheeleating.com/about
