Angelica Galang: UCLA ‘10
"My first few weeks in DC were incredibly difficult. I was still adjusting to life in a wheelchair, only now I was on the other side of the country, far away from my friends, family, and the familiarity of home. The midnight monument tour (one of our first nights in DC) was especially tough because I wanted to run up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial with everyone else. The concept of accessibility was still so new to me! It felt like the adjustment period would never end, but of course it did. I regained a lot of the confidence I lost in myself after my injury, and I’m so glad I pushed through it.
During my internship at the DC Attorney General's Office, I had the incredible opportunity to work directly with current Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez to ensure that every DC polling location was ADA compliant during the November 2010 midterm election. Having just experienced my spinal cord injury in 2009, I was very new to the disability community and the societal barriers that people with disabilities face daily. I was able to apply my personal experience with disability to my work. It made me realize that my voice and perspective still mattered at a time when I lost so much.
After my injury, I worked so hard in physical therapy but there came a point where I needed to accept what happened in order for me to truly move forward with my life. When I did, I was able to fulfill my goal of going to law school and becoming an attorney. I have no regrets!”
Angelica Galang is a UCDC alumna, 2010 graduate from UCLA, and 2015 graduate from UC Berkeley School of Law. After years of therapy, Angelica was once again able to walk. Today she is a healthcare attorney at Disability Rights California. Eight years later, Angelica returned to Washington, DC for the UCLA CAPPP Alumni Reunion and experienced the city for the first time on foot. To celebrate the milestone, she challenged herself to a run from the UC Washington Center to the reflecting pool and up the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial."
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