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Team

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Amina

Pronouns
Position
Prison Correspondent
Image of Amina, a light-skinned Black person with shoulder-length brown locs and a gold septum piercing, smiling while sitting outside in front of a transparent igloo tent. Amina is wearing a black coat with a white t-shirt underneath and is holding a cup of hot chocolate.
Image of Amina, a light-skinned Black person with shoulder-length brown locs and a gold septum piercing, smiling while sitting outside in front of a transparent igloo tent. Amina is wearing a black coat with a white t-shirt underneath and is holding a cup of hot chocolate.

Amina is an advocate, researcher, and organizer from Maryland. As Prison Correspondent for HEARD, Amina supports currently incarcerated deaf/disabled community members by sharing resources and tools for self-advocacy.

Amina has a graduate degree in social work from Gallaudet University and undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African & African American Studies from the University of Rochester. Outside of school and work, Amina is a cat parent, avid reader, and aspiring green thumb!

Trinity

Pronouns
she/her
Position
Secretary
Trinity, a dark-skinned Black woman, has a closed, slight smile, standing in front of flowers and trees in the forest. She is wearing a tan headscarf, black short-sleeved shirt, with dark blue and green plaid patterned dress pants. She is posing with the book, Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie.
Trinity, a dark-skinned Black woman, has a closed, slight smile, standing in front of flowers and trees in the forest. She is wearing a tan headscarf, black short-sleeved shirt, with dark blue and green plaid patterned dress pants. She is posing with the book, Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie.

Trinity McFadden (she/her) is a Black-Indigenous deafdisabled thinker, abolitionist, disability justice advocate, and digital organizer, with a passion for learning and community building. As HEARD staff, she oversees the organization’s external communications efforts, including our website, social media, quarterly newsletters, e-alerts, fundraising, & more. Trinity serves on HEARD’s Board of Directors as the Secretary.

Outside of HEARD, Trinity enjoys dancing and spending time with her dog.

Jessica Murgel

Pronouns
she/her
Position
Treasurer

Jessica Murgel (she/her) is a social worker, mental health therapist, and a Coda. She recently obtained her Master of Social Work with a certificate in Trauma-Informed Practice from Case Western Reserve University to better serve her community, and in particular, marginalized individuals. She currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon for Cascadia Health serving people with mental health disabilities, as well as legal system involvement to help navigate societal barriers and receive the support they need. Previously, she has worked in the nonprofit sector in development and communications as well as has teaching experience at the university level. She has also earned a Master’s degree in Deaf Studies from Gallaudet University and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and History from American University.

Dustin Gibson

Pronouns
he/him
Position
Chair
Dustin, a light skin Black man, stands in the middle of the photo looking directly into the camera. He has dark hair, a low cut fade with a part and a dark beard. He is wearing a backpack and a white tee-shirt that has an aqua blue circular shape on it. Behind him is a blurry crowd of people, a delivery truck, a building and tree as well as a traffic sign. The people in the crowd are all facing the same direction and at least one of them is holding a sign.
Dustin, a light skin Black man, stands in the middle of the photo looking directly into the camera. He has dark hair, a low cut fade with a part and a dark beard. He is wearing a backpack and a white tee-shirt that has an aqua blue circular shape on it. Behind him is a blurry crowd of people, a delivery truck, a building and tree as well as a traffic sign. The people in the crowd are all facing the same direction and at least one of them is holding a sign.

Dustin (he/him) is the Co-Director of PeoplesHub where he supports disabled movement workers and helped implement a framework of disability justice. He most recently served as the Director of Access, Disability and Language Justice. He comes from an organizing tradition of Independent Living with commitments to deinstitutionalization and youth self-determination. He’s also a peer support trainer and member of several abolitionist organizations.

Roxanne

Pronouns
Position
Incarcerated Advocacy Program Director
Image of a laughing Roxanne with tanned white skin, a big smile, round tortoise glasses, and short hair, wearing dangly earrings of multiple interlocking circles and white overalls. Roxanne’s clasped hands are visible at the bottom of the image and the Brooklyn Bridge and East River are visible in the background.
Image of a laughing Roxanne with tanned white skin, a big smile, round tortoise glasses, and short hair, wearing dangly earrings of multiple interlocking circles and white overalls. Roxanne’s clasped hands are visible at the bottom of the image and the Brooklyn Bridge and East River are visible in the background.

Roxanne is an attorney, organizer, and facilitator from the gulf coast. Roxane joined HEARD in 2019 and now primarily supports advocacy efforts with currently imprisoned deaf/disabled people.

Roxanne has a law degree from CUNY Law and undergraduate degrees in Communication Sciences & Disorders: Deaf Education and Rhetoric & Writing from the University of Texas at Austin. Outside of working at HEARD, you can find Roxanne tending to their house plants, spending time in nature, and cooking for others.

Kaj

Pronouns
he/him
Position
Operations Director
Kaj, a white man with a beard, smiles while standing in front of a tan wall. He has short dark red hair and is wearing a black crew neck.

Kaj Kraus (he/him) is a deaf linguist, researcher, educator, and advocate. As staff he supports HEARD’s operations and advocacy efforts, which includes corresponding with currently incarcerated deaf/disabled people and providing cultural/linguistic competency training to attorneys representing deaf/disabled people. He is also a doctoral student in linguistics and adjunct faculty at Gallaudet University. Kaj’s research focuses on language acquisition and the cognition-language development interface, and he has published on the importance of early exposure to accessible language for deaf children. Previously, he earned a Bachelor’s degree from New York University and a Master’s degree from Gallaudet University.

Esperanza

Pronouns
she/her
Position
Reentry Program Director
An image of Esperanza standing in front of a tan wall. She has tanned white skin, long brown hair pulled over her shoulder, and wears a grey t-shirt.
An image of Esperanza standing in front of a tan wall. She has tanned white skin, long brown hair pulled over her shoulder, and wears a grey t-shirt.

Esperanza (she/her), is a Latinx deaf social worker and abolitionist mama.

I live in the Bay Area, California on the original homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. I work as the Reentry Program Director at HEARD. I specialize in supporting currently and formerly incarcerated deaf/disabled people and their loved ones. I am dedicated to confronting and challenging issues in legal and prison systems that impact deaf/disabled folks and support them to navigate those systems. My approach is guided by the transformative justice, disability justice, healing, abolition, and harm reduction principles with the goal of supporting people to live their lives free from all forms of policing and incarceration.

Outside of HEARD work, I enjoy doing crafts, outdoor activities, reading books and spending time with my precious little ones.

Trinity

Pronouns
she/her
Position
Communications Director
Trinity, a dark-skinned Black woman, has a closed, slight smile, standing in front of flowers and trees in the forest. She is wearing a tan headscarf, black short-sleeved shirt, with dark blue and green plaid patterned dress pants. She is posing with the book, Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie.
Trinity, a dark-skinned Black woman, has a closed, slight smile, standing in front of flowers and trees in the forest. She is wearing a tan headscarf, black short-sleeved shirt, with dark blue and green plaid patterned dress pants. She is posing with the book, Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie.

Trinity McFadden (she/her) is a Black-Indigenous deafdisabled thinker, abolitionist, disability justice advocate, and digital organizer, with a passion for learning and community building. As HEARD staff, she oversees the organization’s external communications efforts, including our website, social media, quarterly newsletters, e-alerts, fundraising, & more.

Outside of HEARD, Trinity enjoys dancing and spending time with her dog. Trinity also currently serves on HEARD’s Board of Directors.