A Google Doodle honors Stacey Park Milbern, a disability rights activist who died tragically two years ago. The Korean-American was a tenacious advocate for the rights of people who face discrimination.

What disability did Stacey Park Milbern have?

Stacey Park Milbern, who died on her 33rd birthday two years ago, is being honored today as a dynamic leader with a talent for organizing people. Throughout her life on Earth, she fought for the rights of people of color, transgender and gender-nonconforming people, and the homeless.

Google is honoring the self-less human activist with a Doodle today (May 19)as part of its Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration.

Stacey was apparently born with the congenital muscular dystrophy disease to mixed-race parents. In her case, she was able to walk for some time as a child but eventually had to use a wheelchair, which led to her increased disability awareness and activism.

What is congenital muscular dystrophy?

Congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) basically refers to a group of muscle developmental disorders that manifest themselves at or near birth. In general, muscular dystrophies are genetic, degenerative diseases that primarily affect voluntary muscles.

The majority of CMDs are inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. In short, if a disease is recessive, it requires two copies of the defective gene (one from each parent) to cause the disease.

ncG1vNJzZmifmJa7orLUqGWcp51kxKmt02aboquRl7attdOyZJ2hlGLAta3CnrBmqJGnuG65yKWZnqqeYrWiwsRmmqiml5q7qsDApWSmraOYwq2t0Wabsqukp7yxtNhmnLGonJa2r7HDaA%3D%3D