Jesús González Amago

NO BARRIERS, NO CABINETS. THE REALITY OF LGBT+ PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

ABSTRACT

It is been 15 years, and in some aspects it seems that we are still anchored in 2005, in which I had the honor of presenting the essay published by CERMI and the ONCE Foundation, entitled «Reinventing yourself, the double exclusion. Living like as a homosexual and disabled person». An essay that meant meeting incredible people, who put voice, face and courage to the closets of functional diversity. A study that took me throughout Spain (and some Europe cities), to unlock some concepts about the reality of how gays and lesbians with disabilities feel and live.

10 years later, another trip was revealing to me, in order to encourage me to write a review about the inclusion and participation situation of the disability and homosexual community. In June 2016, the Arco Iris group from Tenerife invited me to give two talks: one in the town of Santa Cruz and the other at the University of La Laguna. When I landed in Tenerife, I meet an incredible human group that awakens in me the need to tell their stories of self-improvement, courage and love. They have been the “hidden stories” that make it possible to realize the utopia that homosexuality and disability have not remained invisible.

In an increasingly connected, plural and tolerant society, some groups continue to face a double exclusion, and they hardly manage to break the invisible barrier. This is the case of LGTB+ people with functional diversity, who are members of two groups that rarely work together to include, incorporate and add. An analysis of the double exclusion, and a look to the sexual and functional diversity future in our society. Through 10 sections or chapters, the reality, difficulties, differences and the barriers that society and the collectives raise among themselves, are dissected.

BIOGRAPHY

President of the Commission of Sexual Diversity LGTBI+ Disability of the State CERMI. He is Social Media and 2.0 Human Resources Manager. From 20 years ago he has worked in the ONCE Social Group, where he has held different positions in the company’s Inserta Empleo, Fundosa Group, Ilunion and Fundación ONCE in the areas of Human Resources, Marketing, Communication and Events. He currently works in the ONCE Foundation, in the Development and Fundraising Department.

Since 2012 he has been professor in the Human Resources Master, of the EAE Business School, teaching the subject “2.0 Human Resources”. He also promotes the Marketing and Sales Management and Digital Marketing Management programs. Furthermore, he makes masterclasses on Personal Brand, Employer Branding or LinkedIn.

Founding partner and Executive Producer of Kinelogy Producciones Audiovisuales, a small audiovisual production company specialized in social cinema, that includes films such as the awarded documentary “El Sexo de los Ángeles”, “Album de Familia”, “La Mirada Ausente” or “La Historia Escondida”. In 2014 he produced for Kinelogy the fictional film “Los Amores Inconclusos” based on the true story of a young gay man with a disability.

He writes on The Topic Trend blog, and collaborates with other blogs and publications, analyzing the current Online Marketing, Human Resources, disability or LGTB+ diversity. In his blog “ReInventarse” he transfers his reality vision and gives his opinion every week on current issues, especially on the disabled people, LGTB+ people or those at exclusion risk.

In 2005, CERMI and the ONCE Foundation published “Reinventarse, la doble exclusion”, 16^th volume number of the CERMI.ES collection. It was the first worldwide trial that addressed the LGBT people with disabilities double exclusion. 13 years later, in June 2018, the editorial LOQUENOEXISTE published «Sin Barreras, Sin Armarios», a review of the rights and freedoms state of the LGTB+ group with disabilities in Spain.

In the 2019 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, he was the deputy of the #sinfiltros multimedia exhibition, organized by CERMI, with the support of the FELGTB, the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Welfare and the CERMI Women Foundation. That exhibition was a review of the cinema and television series in which disabled LGTB+ people appear as main characters.