Diego Mariscal
Diego Mariscal is disabled and proud! He is also very passionate and strategic about the relationship between disability advocacy, entrepreneurship, and sustainable impact.
At the age of 18, Diego started “Limitless Prepa Tec” a disability education program for students in Monterrey Mexico. In four years, the program expanded to seven high schools across the country, reaching more than 3,000 students nationwide. To this day, Limitless continues to be one of the largest youth-led programs in Monterrey Mexico, working to educate students about disabilities. In 2015, Diego founded 2Gether-International (2GI) a non-for-profit accelerator that supports entrepreneurs with disabilities and moves us closer to a world where disability is recognized and valued as an asset for business and entrepreneurship. In his role as CEO and Chief Disabled Officer, Diego has collaborated with multinational organizations such as the U.S. Department of State, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank and corporate companies like Google, Blackboard and McKinsey to help them better understand disability as an asset for startups and entrepreneurship. Diego has been internationally recognized for his work, most noticeably by the Waldzell Institute in Vienna as an Architect of the Future and by the British Council as a Global Changemaker. In 2014, he was also a Youth in International Development and Affairs Fellow for the U.S. International Council on Disabilities. In 2016, Diego was invited to the first United Nations World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul. In 2017, Diego became the first entrepreneur with a disability, from the US delegation, to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Hyderabad, India. Diego has also been an honorary guest and spokesperson of the US Embassy of Panama and the US Consulate in Cd Juarez Mexico.
In 2017, Diego also received the Global Leadership in Equitable Development Award from the World Trade Credit & Risk Summit in Washington, DC.Born with Cerebral Palsy in New Orleans but raised in Monterrey, Mexico, Diego also represented Nuevo Leon in the Mexican National Paralympics from 2004-2009.
Full Interview:
Interview Transcription:
SPEAKERS
Molly Joyce, Diego Mariscal
Molly Joyce 00:03
What is access for you?
Diego Mariscal 00:15
Access for me means being able to bring your whole self into a situation what is carried to you care for me means recognizing and honoring your needs, what is control for you. control for me means independence.
Molly Joyce 00:41
What is weakness to you
Diego Mariscal 00:44
Weakness for me means ego.
Molly Joyce 00:48
What is the strength for you?
Diego Mariscal 00:51
strength for me means vulnerability.
Molly Joyce 00:58
What is cure to you?
Diego Mariscal 01:00
Cure for me means possibility.
Molly Joyce 01:10
What is interdependence for you?
Diego Mariscal 01:13
Independence for me means collaboration
Molly Joyce 01:18
and what is assumption to you?
Diego Mariscal 01:22
Assumptions for me means reality.