Sophie Stern

Sophie Stern is a 22-year-old choreographer and actress from Arizona who has Down syndrome. A member of the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, she has been actively involved in advocating against the use of ableist language, particularly the r-word, in her community. Stern has confronted peers who use the slur and has petitioned for its removal from scripts, expressing that its resurgence in everyday conversation is hurtful and damaging.