DDA honoring founder Megan Barron’s legacy

Following the death of Megan Barron, Trinity ‘13, the Duke Disability Alliance is working to continue the efforts she began as its founder.

Barron, who was born with the rare skin disease epidermolysis bullosa, died Sept. 10 at the age of 24. She advocated for many disability awareness organizations both during and after her time at Duke. Barron founded DDA—the University’s first student group for disabled students—and worked at the National Organization for Rare Disorders after graduating. DDA is continuing many of her initiatives with the overall goal of increasing disability awareness on campus.

“She left a legacy that showed students there’s hope for people with disabilities on campus to make a difference, speak out, fight for their rights and not feel shut out or unheard,” said junior Cuquis Robledo, current president of DDA.

Last Spring, DDA partnered with Best Buddies to stage Duke Disability Awareness Week. DDA also ran a scavenger hunt this Fall that educate students about accessible pathways and entrances to buildings on campus.

“All these activities stem from Megan’s earlier efforts that hopefully the DDA will continue to deliver on,” said senior Audrey Keller, the organization’s treasurer.

Barron founded DDA in 2010, hoping to promote accessibility on campus and create a space for students with disabilities to come together and have conversations about their experience at Duke, said Tyler Bray, Trinity ’13 and co-founder of DDA. One of Barron’s first initiatives was the Accessibility Matters campaign, which continues to this day to raise awareness about campus accessibility.

“Members of the DDA took pictures around the campus and put up posters to highlight the fact that certain places on campus weren’t accessible,” Bray said. “For example, in Keohane hallways and the campus hospital entrance, there were automatic doors with handicapped buttons that led to stairs. Megan would become very excited when we passed by people and heard them talking about [the campaign].”

In 2012, Barron and fellow DDA members, in collaboration with Duke Student Government, held a campus walk with members of the administration to point out buildings that were inaccessible to students with disabilities and areas that needed improvement. Senior Bryan Dinner, DSG senator of equity and outreach at the time, attended the walk with Barron and lauded her perseverance in increasing disability awareness.

“Megan was really sharp,” Dinner said. “She kept pushing the administration to improve the DukeMobile app, so now people can see all the accessibility pathways. “

Barron’s devotion to promoting disability rights was not limited to her efforts on campus. She interned at the disabilities department of the White House in 2011 and also wrote for policy websites. After graduating from Duke in 2013, Barron was actively involved with the National Organization for Rare Disorders, a nonprofit organization that advocates for individuals with rare disorders. Considered a representative of the younger generation of rare disease advocates, she spoke at NORD’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2013 and received a standing ovation for her remarks.

Barron later worked at NORD as the social media coordinator. Mary Dunkle, NORD’s vice president for educational initiatives, said Barron utilized her strong writing skills and social media experience to help NORD transition into becoming more active and involved in online social media.

“Social media is so important for people with rare diseases to connect to others, and Megan really got a good understanding of how social media works, so her work was really helpful and important to us,” Dunkle said. “Even though in her personal life she was living with this very terrible rare disease and having to deal with daily challenges related to that, she always seemed to feel a responsibility to other people. She was a true advocate, not only for herself, but for the rare disease community.”

A memorial service for Barron will be held in Goodson Chapel in the Divinity School Nov.14, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.