Catalina Galvan
Scholar & Activist
crestre2@uic.edu
Catalina Galvan is a first-generation college student who is currently attending the University of Illinois at Chicago and pursuing a major in Applied Psychology and a minor in Disability Studies. Once she graduates with her Bachelor’s Degree, she plans to attend the Jane Addams School of Social Work in their joint Master’s program of Social Work and Public Health. Ultimately, Catalina wants to use her education and her skills to be able to work in community based programs, community activism work, and policy change specific to the intersectionality of undocumented immigrants and people with disabilities. However, she hopes not to stop there. Catalina wants to continue her education by entering a PhD program where she can do research on the disparities and inequalities that undocumented immigrants, people with low income households, and those with disabilities face while navigating the healthcare system in relation to access, resources available, health, and wellbeing. She hopes her research can be used in community based programs, hospitals, and doctors’ offices that can help remedy the issues while also creating policy change. Catalina has one last aspiration and that is the possibility of Law School.
Catalina immigrated to the United States with her family when she was only 5 years old from Colombia. Her parents wanted Catalina and her brother to be able to experience the American Dream through all the opportunities that were available in the United States which were not available in Colombia. Unfortunately, navigating through their American Dream has had countless obstacles for Catalina and her family; such as, limits to an education, employment, and lack of access to resources and healthcare. From a young age, she recognized the hardship of not being able to pay for medical costs due to the lack of insurance, as well as the high cost for having insurance. For the last eight years, Catalina has had to experience firsthand how the systems set in place neglect to assist her father and grandmother, who have disabilities, due to their financial and immigration status. Consequently, influencing the wellbeing of everyone in her family. These lived experiences and her education have lit a passion in Catalina’s life to be an activist, an advocate, an ally, and a support for people with disabilities in the Latinx community.
Scholar & Activist
crestre2@uic.edu
Catalina Galvan is a first-generation college student who is currently attending the University of Illinois at Chicago and pursuing a major in Applied Psychology and a minor in Disability Studies. Once she graduates with her Bachelor’s Degree, she plans to attend the Jane Addams School of Social Work in their joint Master’s program of Social Work and Public Health. Ultimately, Catalina wants to use her education and her skills to be able to work in community based programs, community activism work, and policy change specific to the intersectionality of undocumented immigrants and people with disabilities. However, she hopes not to stop there. Catalina wants to continue her education by entering a PhD program where she can do research on the disparities and inequalities that undocumented immigrants, people with low income households, and those with disabilities face while navigating the healthcare system in relation to access, resources available, health, and wellbeing. She hopes her research can be used in community based programs, hospitals, and doctors’ offices that can help remedy the issues while also creating policy change. Catalina has one last aspiration and that is the possibility of Law School.
Catalina immigrated to the United States with her family when she was only 5 years old from Colombia. Her parents wanted Catalina and her brother to be able to experience the American Dream through all the opportunities that were available in the United States which were not available in Colombia. Unfortunately, navigating through their American Dream has had countless obstacles for Catalina and her family; such as, limits to an education, employment, and lack of access to resources and healthcare. From a young age, she recognized the hardship of not being able to pay for medical costs due to the lack of insurance, as well as the high cost for having insurance. For the last eight years, Catalina has had to experience firsthand how the systems set in place neglect to assist her father and grandmother, who have disabilities, due to their financial and immigration status. Consequently, influencing the wellbeing of everyone in her family. These lived experiences and her education have lit a passion in Catalina’s life to be an activist, an advocate, an ally, and a support for people with disabilities in the Latinx community.
