Olivia Garcia-Godos Martinez is a compassionate, disabled student leader and disability rights activist at Sacramento City College, who has successfully helped introduce educational support for disabled folks through programs such as Student Government, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) and more.   

The Express recently spoke with Garcia-Godos Martinez about her leadership, advocacy and her hopes for City College’s Disability Community Center (DCC).

May you introduce which pronouns you use, how you identify as an individual and naming your disability?

My name is Olivia Garcia-Godos Martinez, and I am an autistic student. I use she/her pronouns, and I’m proud to be autistic, because when you say “neurodiverse,” it can be broad — everyone in the neurodiverse community is different. But if you know someone’s specific disability, they can at least be like “Oh, she has autism, so this is how I should try to support her.” Or at least, the general support, you know?

 If you wouldn’t mind sharing, what was your experience in navigating disability while growing up?

I come from a middle-class family. Even though I’m from a middle-class family and have had health insurance all of my life, autism isn’t something that is [commonly] studied in females. For example, stimming is very different when it comes to females versus boys. [Garcia-Godos Martinez later noted that] girls often stim in more subtle ways — like hair twirling or tapping, which are easier to overlook or mislabel. Boys’ stimming is more likely to match the “classic” autism image, so it gets recognized more. Women are usually quieter about their traits and often hide them, making it harder to diagnose or understand. Autism has mostly been studied in boys, so traits linked to boys — like intense interests in trains — are what people think of as “typical autism.” It’s treated as typical for autistic [boys], like “Trains, that’s just a ‘boy thing’.” 

I got diagnosed with ADHD, which was wrong. I started taking medication, which wasn’t what I needed, growing up with the wrong support. Getting diagnosed at 22 with autism was very hard because it was a really long process, and there’s not as much support for adults. I asked myself, “Why did I get diagnosed if there’s not going to be any support?” That’s one thing I wanted to change.

Did you discover a support system for yourself while you were younger? Or did you feel you had to rely on yourself more often as a form of support?

It felt like I had to support myself a lot of times because I wasn’t in “special ed” at the time, and I didn’t take any classes. People thought I was introverted, reading a book — but it’s because I’m autistic. I closed off, and nobody understood what I felt because I didn’t have a name for what I was.

What have you been involved with during your time on campus, and how has your involvement coexisted with your disability?

Thank you for that question. When I started community college, I was very shy. Then I saw Student Government on campus, joined, and because of that I’ve grown into my identity — it’s helped me open up. I’ve actually helped Student Government. [I] was told that I was the first person to push disability rights at Student Government level. [Student Government adviser Deborah Knowles] helped me open up and advocate for more disability rights.

What does your being an advocate through Student Government look like in action?

I was also part of the SSCCC, which is basically a statewide student government for all [California] community colleges. Recently, I went to a conference for pre-med students, and there I immediately went to the workshop for pre-med disabled students. I felt it was really important for students to be in that community.

I’ve pushed for resolutions around making sure that Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM] is disabled-friendly, making disability learning communities, and making sure that disability learning communities — just like the DCC we’re going to have on campus — are at every community college to help students.

What might your vision be for how City College’s DCC can support the kind of work you’ve been doing on campus for disabled folks?

The DCC, it’s going to help people learn about their disability, and make sure that it’s a place where people are celebrated for their identity. I feel like sometimes we think of disability as something disabling, which isn’t that true. For some people, it’s just a different way of thinking or way that they function. So my vision is for the [DCC] to become a community hub so people can meet other people. You don’t know if someone has autism, or if someone has [a disability] that you cannot see — it’s not like a broken leg, right? The disability community is the community you can come in and out of and be seen, so many people need a community. The [DCC] can be for anyone that is discovering their disability and identity.

From your own experiences of navigating a disability on campus, what have you wanted to see improvement in?

When you sign up for Disability Services and Programs for Students [DSPS], they ask you what kind of accommodations you need. As someone who got diagnosed with autism at 22, that was something where I didn’t know what I needed, I didn’t know what they offered. So finding ways that [DSPS] can help me and tell me what they offer as a way for me to learn what I need. I may have accommodations, but there are other accommodations that are better for me. Making sure that you only have to do one application for DSPS — sometimes colleges have different [accommodations] they offer, and so having to apply for DSPS at every single school is kind of annoying — I put my foot on the gas, and don’t even bother with DSPS, because I’ve probably already done it somewhere else. 

If without a secure disability diagnosis, how might students advocate for themselves? 

I think people say self-diagnosis is really bad, but I think that it helps narrow down what you might have. In the autism community, self-diagnosis is actually valued because sometimes it’s really expensive to get diagnosed, or really hard. So I think the first step is to try and figure out what you have, knowing that you’re not going to be 100% correct, but you’re the best person to understand yourself. …Also, try to fight for [disability] testing. When I first started finding out I was autistic, I had to do a couple layers of testing, and some people were like “Oh, you don’t have autism,” but just always fight the system in a way that you best can, without hurting yourself, making sure that you can get the right diagnosis. 

What goals might you have in what you aspire to do through your education and future?

I’m interested in STEM and computers, so I really want to go into neuroscience, possibly become an adult autism specialist, or neuroscience and neurodiversity in general. I feel like there’s not a lot of [neurodiversity] research, and having lived experience will make my job even better — to treat patients better than other people would.

What is currently most important to you at City College, in helping improve your skills and in supporting yourself?

I wish I would have known that STEM is for everyone. I had a counselor say “You’re fighting math, are you sure you want to do neuroscience?” But that goes back to why I think we need more support for people with disabilities, in terms of finding out how they study. Sometimes I realize that I don’t know how to study, so that’s something I wish the campus would do. I wish the campus would do better in teaching, in helping you find your major too, because that’s been my main challenge of being in college. I’ve changed my major so many times because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. If someone would just say, “This is how you study, this is what major is best for you based on what you say,” then that would be better for myself.

Will you use the DCC personally for support? Are there any specific tools that you would like to see provided?

I think making sure that that room has less lighting, stim toys and making sure that there is tutoring for people with autism, because it’s very different than teaching someone without autism. Also, having support for people that want to transfer.

Is there anything else you feel is important to share about City College disability support, or your own experiences in supporting disability on campus so far?

I think one of the things that people overlook is being active on campus. People pay to go to school, and it’s not just about the classes. Also, lots of schools offer travel. I’ve been able to go to conferences because of the Math, Engineering, Science Achievement Program [MESA] and Student Government. It helps you want to do better. Most of these programs say you have to have a 2.0 GPA [minimum], and that helps you be in community with other people. Being a part of the newspaper, a club or anything, can help you make friends. Sometimes you meet people, and they’re like “Oh, you guys are studying computer science? Take this class,” and that helps people graduate easier because they have people they can lean on.

This Q&A has been edited for length, clarity, and flow.

Express Exchange is a Q&A series that highlights the people in the Sacramento City College community. Each conversation explores unique experiences, challenges these people overcame and perspective into what matters most in their personal journey. This series provides a space to connect and share meaningful experiences. Have an idea of someone for us to interview? Contact our editors at [email protected] and [email protected]