Lydia X. Z. Brown

J.D., Esq.

Abolitionist Advocate, Organizer, Attorney, Strategist, and Writer (they/them)
Lydia X. Z. Brown (they/them) is the Director of Public Policy at the National Disability Institute, Executive Director of the Autistic People of Color Fund, and a professor at Georgetown University and American University. Lydia serves as Co-President of the Disability Rights Bar Association, member of the National Executive Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, and founding board member of the Alliance for Self-Direction and Disability Rights. They are a Senior Advisor to the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network and Disability Rights Special Advisor for the American Bar Association’s Section on Civil Rights & Social Justice. Lydia also serves as an advisor for the Transgender Law Center’s Disability Project, the Nonbinary & Intersex Recognition Project, and Disability Rights Maryland’s PAIMI (Protection & Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness) Program. Lydia brings nearly 15 years of experience as a committed advocate, community organizer, and policy expert at the nexus of disability rights and disability justice. They have spoken, facilitated, and consulted internationally and throughout the U.S. on a range of topics related to disability rights and disability justice, especially at the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and has published in numerous scholarly and community publications. Lydia’s work addresses the deep interconnections between ableism and other forms of systemic discrimination, marginalization, and oppression, and has often focused on interpersonal, state, and corporate violence, deprivation, and exploitation targeting disabled people at the margins of the margins.
Disclosures for Lydia X. Z. Brown, Esq.
FINANCIAL: Lydia receives a salary from the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Georgetown University (including the federally-funded University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities), and American University. Lydia is also the owner/principal of an independent consulting firm, Mycelia Groundwork LLC and receives compensation for their work.
NON-FINANCIAL: Lydia is an unpaid executive director of the Autistic People of Color Fund. They are also currently a candidate in a partisan election for the Maryland House of Delegates, running as a Democrat. Lydia is autistic and has friends and colleagues who are autistic, as well as being a caregiver/support person to other autistic people.