Draft:Alex Vasquez

Alex Vasquez (born December 15, 1995) is a Costa Rican human rights and disability activist, content creator and digital communicator, and TikTok personality. They identify as queer, non-binary, and disabled. As part of their work in human rights, Vasquez has focused their career on digital communications and the representation of diversity through the lens of intersectionality.

Vasquez is mostly known for their posting as @TheWheelsBlog on Instagram and TikTok about their everyday life as a LGBTQ+ person with a disability. Their TikTok profile became viral after posting a video about a staircase that transforms into a lift for wheelchair users in London, United Kingdom.

Early life and education
Vasquez was born on December 15, 1995, in San Jose, Costa Rica. They were diagnosed at birth with a rare bone condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta which mainly attacked their left femur, making them unable to walk and using a wheelchair to move around. Vasquez grew up in the suburbs of Costa Rica's capital city, San José, where they first started their activism by getting involved with the LBGT movement and disability movement in Costa Rica.

Vasquez acquired Type 1 Diabetes at age 7 as a secondhand effect from a medication they were given to strengthen their bones in 2003. Since, Vasquez has also become an active member of the worldwide awareness movement for Diabetes.

Vasquez first graduated from the Universidad de Costa Rica in 2019 from a Bachelor of Arts in English. They also attended the University of Arkansas (2017) for a short exchange program from the U.S. Department of State in journalism. . Finally, Vasquez moved to London to study at King's College London (2022) in a Master of Arts in Digital Culture and Society]] as part of the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office scholarship program Chevening. Vasquez has since graduated from King's College London.

2012–2021: Early Activist Trajectory
Vasquez's first introduction into the Human Rights movement in Costa Rica happened after they publicly came out as gay in 2012. Afterwards, they started attending protests and Pride day activities in Costa Rica. They became most notable in Costa Rica's movement after a photo of them (at age 15) was taken without consent and posted on Facebook to promote a homophobic campaign from a presidential candidate of the time.

Since then, Vasquez had been getting involved in different Human Rights campaigns in Costa Rica and the region, as well as growing their social media channels to raise awareness about sexuality and disability.

2021–2022: Transition and initial media appearances
After moving to London for their postgraduate degree scholarship program, Vasquez's TikTok profile became viral for the first time with a video posted in February 2022 about a staircase that transforms into a lift for wheelchair users at the Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel in London, United Kingdom. The video gathered 25.5 million views and was shared over numerous online forums discussing disability access to buildings and other similar topics regarding disability rights.

They were nominated in 2022 for the Blue Badge Access Awards in the category of 'Bespoke Hotels Access Champion of The Year,' for which they were involved in a controversy after the host of the event introduced their profession with homophobic remarks of “a disability advocate, well-known on TikTok, and a campaigner for LBG... whatever the letters are these days”.

Vasquez also worked at the BBC World Services in part of 2022, where they collaborated as a Digital Journalist and contributed to articles on a wide array of topics, including disability and World Diabetes Day.

2022–present: 'Disability, Queerness, and TikTok'
Up until now, Vasquez continues to grow their audiences online, where they became well known in the disability and Human Rights movements in the U.S., UK, Europe, and Latin America, mainly on their Instagram and TikTok. They are currently working at the Human Rights organisation of Amnesty International and providing diversity and Human Rights consultancies to different companies and institutions.

They also continue their advocacy for disability rights by exposing their lived experiences as a disabled and queer immigrant.

Personal life
Vasquez lives and works in London.