Sean Gold

Sean Gold is a young, Black, gay man with a disability and a desire to enlighten, inform, and support others in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and beyond. He is an advocate for people with disabilities, an author, and a public speaker. In 2020, Gold was elected president of the disability-owned nonprofit organization Coalition in Truth and Independence. In 2021, he published his debut book, “Pure Love, Or Is It?” In 2023, Gold became the Media Director of FestAbility and a board member of the Saint Louis Publishers Association. He is currently attending UMSL for his bachelor’s degree in English.

Gold began public speaking at the age of 16. He was flown out to Houston, Texas, two years in a row to present at a Cerebral Palsy conference that his former neurologist puts on each year. Before his nineteenth birthday, Gold auditioned for a TedTalk in Saint Louis, which he got to present in 2019, titled "The Obstacles of Disabilities" after his twentieth birthday. Since then, he’s given over fifteen talks on disability advocacy, justice, education, and inclusion.

Gold hosts a YouTube series, Crippled by Culture, that debuted in January of 2023, where he discusses and interviews both disabled and non-disabled people on the intersections of disabilities and topics that interest each guest. He has his “voice” speak out everything that’s written in a document that he types up beforehand, as well as any additional comments and questions he has during the interview.

He considers his faith, family, and friends the most important things in his life. His physical disability is Cerebral Palsy, and he has had a Tracheostomy Breathing Tube since he was only one and a half years old. Even though he’s nonverbal, his love of creative writing and storytelling doesn't get in the way.