This is the John Fugel-Sang Podcast.

So Asian American was a term that was established by activists in the 1960s as a very well intentioned

means to build social and political power.

Of course it's been criticized for really obscuring the incredible diversity among the people it claims to cover.

When you think about it, Asian Americans comprise over 50 ethnic groups who speak over 100 languages.

We're talking about Indian Americans, Chinese Americans,

Taiwanese and Filipino Americans,

Vietnamese and Korean Americans,

Japanese, and Korean Americans, Japanese,

Japanese, Pakistani, Cambodian Americans,

Hmong Thai, Leosian, Bangladeshi Americans,

Burmese Americans, Nepalese Americans,

Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Malaysian, Bhutanese Americans

and Mongol Mongolia Americans.

That's just some of the diversity this umbrella term

tries to cover.

Now, in the 80s and the 90s with the census,

they tried to broaden the classification a bit to the term Asian American and

Pacific Islander which is the AAPI phrase we all know and use now but that's

proven quite contentious as well for many reasons.

I am so thrilled to welcome our next guest.

Maya Ives Rubly is the director of the Disability Justice Initiative

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