Gabriela Brimmer , better known as Gaby Brimmer, was a Mexican writer and activist to whom Google pays tribute today. His work for the rights of people with disabilities and his books earned him a doodle in the most famous search engine in the world.
But what were his achievements and what was his life like? Here we tell you his biography .
Birth and studies
Gabriela Raquel Brimmer Dlugacz was born in Mexico City on September 12, 1947. She was the daughter of two Jews who were welcomed as refugees in Mexico during Nazi persecution.
Gaby Brimmer was born with severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy of perinatal origin. So the mobility of his body was almost completely limited, except for his left foot.
Thanks to the indigenous woman who took care of her, Florencia Sánchez, Brimmer discovered her communication skills. But it was her primary school teacher, Margarita Aguilar, who brought her closer to the world of letters. Since then, he began a fight to access the right to basic and higher education, while developing his literary work.
Thus, in 1971 he enrolled in the Sociology career at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he studied for three semesters, but later abandoned by decision of his family. The same lack of accessibility for people with limited mobility made him abandon a second attempt, this time in the Journalism career.
Activism
He had an adoptive daughter, at the age of 30, and in 1989 he founded the Association for the Rights of People with Motor Disorders, with the aim of advising, providing medical and psychological services and promoting respect for the human rights of people with disabilities. As well as providing basic education such as literacy.
In 1995 he received the Citizen Merit Medal for this.
In 1996, she was appointed vice president of the Mexican Confederation of Physically Limited and/or Mentally Impaired.
In 1998, she was elected a member of the Committee for Women with Disabilities for the Latin American Region of DPI by the Mexican Confederation of Persons with Physical Limitations Representatives of the Mentally Disabled (COMELFIRDEM), which took into consideration her merits and her competence at work.
His struggle and his life was taken into account by Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, who created the National Rehabilitation Award in his name in 2000.
Gaby Brimmer’s books
Renowned Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska helped Brimmer publish her first book: An autobiography titled ‘Gaby’, in 1979.
A year later he published a second book, this time of poetry and entitled: Gaby, a year later, with the Grijalbo publishing house.
biographical film
Gaby: A true Story is a film starring Rachel Chagall, which deals with the life of Gabriela Brimmer. In the film, the role of her nanny, Florencia Sánchez Morales, who not only supported her in her movements, but also gave her a voice and the possibility of communicating, takes on great relevance.
Florencia, for 50 years, helped Gaby and for this she had to face the discrimination that exists in Mexico against indigenous women. At the same time trying to help Gaby fulfill her mission as a disability rights activist.
Death
Gabriela Brimmer died on January 3, 2000, due to cardiac arrest, at her home in San Ángel, a neighborhood south of Mexico City.
