she/her
Rahimeh Ramezany joined The Kelsey in 2024 as an Inclusion Concierge after working in the diversity, equity, and inclusion field within multiple consulting and nonprofit organizations, in addition to as an independent consultant where she specialized in helping organizations expand their existing DEI efforts to incorporate Muslims and religious identity. In 2017 she graduated from San Jose State University with an MA in intercultural communication, which greatly informs her approach to inclusion and equity work alongside her lived experiences as a multiethnic Muslim American hijabi with ADHD.
What part of The Kelsey’s mission are you proudest to be part of / support?
Most advocacy organizations focus either on the broader efforts of creating change at the institutional level or interrupting the day-to-day experiences of injustice that the community faces. Approaching things from a bird’s eye view or from the ground floor, if you will. Now there are many facets of The Kelsey’s mission that I am proud of being able to contribute to, but I most appreciate the fact that The Kelsey has done what so many organizations struggle to do, which is to work both on the institutional level while simultaneously improving the lives of those living within their affordable and disability-inclusive residential buildings.
What does it mean to you to be Disability-Forward? Why does it matter?
To me being disability forward is to start with and center the needs of those living with disabilities rather than leaving them as the last priority, if not outright ignoring them completely. And while it is certainly true that every disenfranchised community deserves to have their turn being prioritized within inclusion and equity efforts, focusing on the disabled community as it relates to housing access is especially important given the extreme challenges the 1 in 4 Americans with disabilities face in finding and retaining affordable, inclusive housing.