Mia Ives-Rublee
{{Short description|Disability rights activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mia Ives-Rublee
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Mee Hye Hong
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Busan, South Korea
| nationality = American
| education = University of Illinois (BA){{Cite web|url=https://www.wunc.org/race-demographics/2020-04-20/meet-mia-ives-rublee-an-endorphin-junkie-who-made-the-womens-march-accessible?_amp=true|title=Meet Mia Ives-Rublee: An Endorphin Junkie Who Made The Women's March Accessible|website=WUNC|date=20 April 2020 }}
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MSW){{Cite web|url=https://www.wunc.org/race-demographics/2020-04-20/meet-mia-ives-rublee-an-endorphin-junkie-who-made-the-womens-march-accessible?_amp=true|title=Meet Mia Ives-Rublee: An Endorphin Junkie Who Made The Women's March Accessible|website=WUNC|date=20 April 2020 }}
| known_for = Disability rights advocacy
}}
Mia Ives-Rublee is an American disability rights activist, policy analyst, social worker, and public speaker{{Cite web |last=Pellicer |first=Laura |date=April 20, 2020 |title=Meet Mia Ives-Rublee: An Endorphin Junkie Who Made The Women's March Accessible |url=https://www.wunc.org/race-demographics/2020-04-20/meet-mia-ives-rublee-an-endorphin-junkie-who-made-the-womens-march-accessible |website=WUNC}} who currently works as the Senior Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress.{{Cite web |last1=Bade |first1=Rachael |last2=Daniels |first2=Eugene |last3=Lizza |first3=Ryan |last4=Palmeri |first4=Tara |date=2021-05-03 |title=POLITICO Playbook: Is Liz Cheney about to get the boot? |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/05/03/is-liz-cheney-about-to-get-the-boot-492695 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=POLITICO |language=en}} She is best known for her work on the Women's March in 2016, co-founding the Women's March Disability Caucus and developing the accessibility plans for the original march in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/womens-march-organizer-reflects-on-2017-and-next-steps_b_5a468402e4b06cd2bd03df91|title=Women's March Organizer Reflects on 2017 and Next Steps|date=December 30, 2017|website=HuffPost}} She was nominated by President Joe Biden on December 20, 2021 to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.{{Cite web |last=Venkatraman |first=Sakshi |date=2021-12-20 |title=White House names members of AAPI visibility task force |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/white-house-names-members-aapi-visibility-task-force-rcna9382 |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=NBC News |language=en}}
Early life and education
Ives-Rublee was born in South Korea with the Korean name. She was born with osteogenesis imperfecta.{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Tiffany S. |date=2009-08-23 |title=Service dog faithful friend |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-and-record-service-dog-faithful-fri/170810358/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=News and Record |pages=96}}{{Cite news |last=Friend |first=Elizabeth |date=2017-01-29 |title=Activist puts access on the progressive agenda |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-activist-puts-acce/170810185/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=The News and Observer |pages=A1}} She immigrated to the United States through inter-country adoption at the age of three. She attended Walter Hines Page High School in North Carolina{{Cite news |last=Barkley |first=Meredith |date=July 10, 2004 |title=BIG WHEELS KEEP ON WINNING WHEELCHAIR ATHLETE MIA IVES-RUBLEE, WHO HAS A BONE DISEASE, IS SETTING NATIONAL RECORDS IN TRACK AND FIELD |url=https://greensboro.com/big-wheels-keep-on-winning-wheelchair-athlete-mia-ives-rublee-who-has-a-bone-disease/article_373bc0f9-2c62-534e-a589-7648457e537a.html |work=Greensboro News & Record}} and studied sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At Illinois, she competed in Wheelchair Track and Road Racinghttps://libsysdigi.library.uiuc.edu/OCA/Books2010-05/sigmasigns/sigmasigns2006delt/sigmasigns2006delt.pdf and was the president of Delta Sigma Omicron, a disability service fraternity.https://libsysdigi.library.uiuc.edu/OCA/Books2010-05/sigmasigns/sigmasigns2007delt/sigmasigns2007delt.pdf After graduating with a bachelor's degree in sociology, she attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and obtained her master's degree in social work.{{Cite web |last=White |first=Susan |date=March 22, 2023 |title=Bobby Boyd Leadership Lecture: Mia Ives-Rublee urges social workers to be conduits for change |url=https://ssw.unc.edu/2023/03/bobby-boyd-leadership-lecture-mia-ives-rublee-urges-social-workers-to-be-conduits-for-change/ |website=University of North Carolina School of Social Work}} She then worked as a research associate, and wrote a guest column about service dogs in The News and Observer.{{Cite news |last=Rublee |first=Mia Ives |date=2016-11-02 |title=Please don't pet the dog without asking its owner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-please-dont-pet-t/170809720/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=The News and Observer |pages=A6}}
Disability activism
= Women's March =
Ives-Rublee became involved with the Women's March on Washington following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. She saw posts online about the march and decided to get a group of disabled friends together to push for the event to include disabled people.{{Cite web|url=https://www.girltalkhq.com/activist-mia-ives-rublee-on-being-a-leader-in-the-movement-for-disability-rights/|title=Activist Mia Ives-Rublee On Being A Leader In The Movement For Disability Rights|date=May 8, 2019|website=GirlTalkHQ}} Estimates showed over 40,000 disabled people attended.{{Cite news |last=Vargas |first=Theresa |date=January 24, 2017 |title='They want a voice': Disabled who couldn't go to Women's March found a way to be heard |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/they-want-a-voice-disabled-who-couldnt-go-to-womens-march-found-a-way-to-be-heard/2017/01/24/5f74073e-e280-11e6-a453-19ec4b3d09ba_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post}} The event was one of the first progressive political events to have Deaf certified interpreters.{{Cite web |last=Cassidy |first=Shannon |date=November 2, 2021 |title=Episode 56. Mia Ives-Rublee - Accessible Voices |url=https://bridgebetween.com/episode-56-mia-ives-rublee-accessible-voices/ |website=Bridge Between}}
= Center for American Progress =
Ives-Rublee currently works at the Center for American Progress as the Senior Director of the Disability Justice Initiative.{{Cite web |last=Luterman |first=Sara |date=2024-05-23 |title=Today, 'disability justice is reproductive justice' — but that hasn't always been the case |url=https://19thnews.org/2024/05/house-resolution-disability-reproductive-justice/ |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=The 19th |language=en-us}} On September 21, 2021, she provided testimony to U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy during a hearing on "Policy Options for Improving Supplemental Security Income".{{Cite web |title=User Clip: Mia Ives-Rublee #1 |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5015519/user-clip-mia-ives-rublee-1 |website=C-SPAN}} Shortly after her testimony, she also contributed a guest column to The New York Times about disability beneficiaries.{{Cite news |last=Ives-Rublee |first=Mia |date=2021-09-23 |title=Opinion {{!}} These Americans Helped Save Health Care. Don’t Forget Them Now. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/opinion/biden-spending-bill-SSI-disability.html |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
In May 2022, Ives-Rublee wrote an opinion piece in response to Ed Yong's "The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo" for The Atlantic, where she advocated for continued masking and other public health measures to support immunocompromised people.{{Cite news |last=Ives-Rublee |first=Mia |date=2022-05-11 |title=Masks remain essential tool to combat Covid |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-and-democrat-masks-remain-esse/170810608/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=The Times and Democrat |pages=A8}}
She worked with Representative Ayanna Pressley, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and Senator Patty Murray on a resolution to establish a "Disability Reproductive Equity Day".{{Cite news |last=Luterman |first=Sara |date=May 23, 2024 |title=Today, 'disability justice is reproductive justice' — but that hasn't always been the case |url=https://19thnews.org/2024/05/house-resolution-disability-reproductive-justice/ |work=19th}}
Awards and recognition
Ives-Rublee was named one of the Glamour's 2017 Women of the Year, along with other Women's March organizers.{{Cite web |date=October 30, 2017 |title=Revolutionaries To Supernovas: Glamour Names Women Of 2017 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/glamour-names-women-2017/ |website=CBS Texas}} In May 2019, the UNC Chapel Hill's School of Social Work gave her an Outstanding Alumni award.{{Cite web|url=https://ssw.unc.edu/2019/05/ssw-honors-outstanding-alumni-for-2019/|title=SSW honors outstanding alumni for 2019|first=Rich|last=Stewart|date=May 14, 2019}} She was also named She the People's 20 Women of Color to Watch in 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a30222332/women-to-watch-politics-2020/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFZn1JleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVrYXUyngUMym9rR0tJjeHqYsy_D0F7t3ulTaFi7iHy8tzByCxYjJ2Sujw_aem_yluc0StcMjC1h7fHYcob-w|title=20 Women of Color in Politics to Watch in 2020|date=December 17, 2019|website=ELLE}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ives-Rublee, Mia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ives-Rublee, Mia}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)