About The Founder

Vilissa Thompson is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) from Winnsboro, SC.  Vilissa is the Founder & CEO of Ramp Your Voice!, an organization focused on promoting self-advocacy and strengthening empowerment among disabled people. Being a Disability Rights Consultant, Writer, & Activist affords Vilissa the opportunity to be a prominent leader and expert in addressing and educating the public and political figures about the plight of disabled people, especially Black women and femmes with disabilities.

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She has been featured in ESSENCE for its Black History Now 2019 series and its “Woke 100 Women” 2018 list; spoke about her entrepreneurship and activism work for Forbes; invited to be a panelist for the Know Her Truths conference at Wake Forest University; invited to be a keynote speaker at Purdue University for its Focus Awards; and appeared in MTV, Healthline, The Hill, NY Times (2020)/(2017), Black Women Radicals, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Bitch Media, Upworthy, Daily Dot, Daily Beast, and The Atlantic.  

 In addition to her activism work, she is represented as a public speaker by CCMNT Speakers, as well as co-hosts the Wheelin' & Dealin' podcast, which dissects politics from an intersectional lens.  

 She also acted as a consultant for the Sen. Elizabeth Warren 2020 Presidential campaign, where she assisted in the development of the Disability Rights & Equality policy plan.  

She created the #DisabilityTooWhite viral hashtag in 2016 that addressed the lack of diversity within the disability community, and how a lack of representation impacts disabled people of color and their ability to feel fully included and accepted within the community.  Demanding that diverse disabled experiences be seen within media and the collective community is a mission for Vilissa’s activism focus, and she aims to make this a permanent reality.

Everything she does revolves around being unapologetically herself - Black, disabled, and making good trouble to shake up the status quo.

Organizational Engagements & Partnerships 

To better understand how Vilissa’s services and expertise may benefit you and your mission, here is a short list of the organizations and initiatives she has engaged with:
Advocacy/Grassroots

  • #CripTheVote

  • Disability Visibility Project

Comic Book Conventions

  • Universal FanCon

Disability Organizations

  • American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

  • Center for Disability Rights

  • disABILITY Link

  • Disability Intersectionality Summit

  • National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)

  • Ruderman Family Foundation

  • The Arc – Diversity Committee

  • Arc of South Carolina

Social Service Organizations

  • SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Social Work

  • #MacroSW

  • National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW)

  • National Association of Social Work – SC Chapter

Universities

  • Winthrop University – NEW Leadership South Carolina