Imani Barbarin
Imani Barbarin (born March 1990) is an African-American writer, TikToker, public speaker, and disability rights activist.
Early life and education
Barbarin grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia. She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2.
She attended Eastern University where she earned a degree in creative writing and a minor in French. Barbarin has a masters in communication from American University of Paris.
Career
Barbarin works as a communications manager for a disability legal office in Philadelphia. She has written for Bustle,Cosmopolitan,Forbes,The Philadelphia Inquirer,Refinery29, and Rewire. She has spoken at American University,Brock University,George Washington University,Miami University,University of Minnesota,University of North Carolina Chapel Hill,University of Oregon,University of Pittsburgh, and Western Washington University.
In 2020 Barbarin hosted a five-episode podcast called Vote for Access, which investigated the difficulties of voting while disabled.
In May 2022 she appeared on MetroFocus to discuss her push to reinstate New York City's mask mandate. In October 2022 she headlined the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference alongside Schuyler Bailar. In January 2023 she was a guest on The Assignment with Audie Cornish during an episode discussing Long COVID.
Barbarin has been involved with some small acting projects, including a short film for the 2023 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge.
Personal life
Barbarin identifies as queer.
Online presence
In 2014 Barbarin launched the website Crutches and Spice as a space for her to write about her experiences as a disabled Black woman.
Barbarin has spearheaded several hashtags to promote discussion of disabled issues and experiences. In 2018 she started #DisTheOscars to call attention to the lack of disabled representation. In 2019 she started #AbledsAreWeird and encouraged disabled people to share their experiences of abled individuals misunderstanding their needs and experiences. In January 2020 she started the hashtag #MyDisabledLifeIsWorthy in response to remarks by Rochelle Walensky about the "encouraging" fact that most deaths caused by the omicron variant of COVID-19 were in disabled individuals.
Barbarin joined TikTok in 2020, where she began posting both comedic and educational videos. By February 2022 she had 140,000 followers on Twitter and 370,000 followers on TikTok. She criticized Twitter policy changes after the company's acquisition by Elon Musk in late 2022.
Accolades
- 2022 – The Root 100 Honoree