Last week, Buffalo lost one of its leaders in disability advocacy: Gwen Marie Squire. Squire died on Friday at age 60.
"She was loved by so many people. So many have reached out to me saying how much impact she had on their lives," shared her niece, Melissa Stone, with BTPM on Tuesday.
"She never let her disability stop her from achieving what she wanted to do," Stone added. "People telling her she couldn’t pushed her to prove them wrong."
Born with spina bifida, Squire started her advocacy journey early while growing up in the former West Seneca Developmental Center. After being adopted by a center employee, Squire went on to graduate from Frontier High School, Hilbert College with a degree in human services, and then the University at Buffalo with a Master's degree in rehabilitation science.
Squire had a long career in rehabilitation, advocacy, and education, and was involved with several local organizations.
"Gwen was a fierce advocate for people with spina bifida and people with disabilities throughout our community," wrote Spina Bifida of Western New York. "Her advocacy work made a lasting impact, and she will be deeply missed by everyone whose life she touched."
Stone says the family will have a celebration of life at a later date.
On this week's Disabilities Beat, we remember Squire, sharing excerpts from our interview with her in 2024. Squire spoke with BTPM's Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins for the series "Voices of Disability Pride" about her self-advocacy journey and guiding belief that you should "never be afraid to try."
You can listen to or read the full interview with Squire from 2024 by clicking here.
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was produced by a contractor and may be updated over time to be more accurate.
Emyle Watkins:
Hi, I'm Emyle Watkins, and this is the Disabilities Beat. Last week, Buffalo lost one of its leaders in disability advocacy: Gwen Marie Squire. Squire died on Friday at age 60. Born with spina bifida, Squire started her advocacy journey early while growing up in the former West Seneca Developmental Center. After being adopted by a center employee, Squire went on to graduate from Frontier High School, Hilbert College with a degree in human services, and then the University at Buffalo with a master's degree in rehabilitation science. Squire had a long career in rehabilitation, advocacy, and education, and was involved with several local organizations. Today, as we remember her, we share excerpts from our interview with Squire in 2024.
Gwen Squire:
I mean, I lived in an institution, back in the '60s I was placed out there, until 1977, and I saw things and heard things, and I would talk to the director about it if I thought it was wrong. And I didn't realize it back then, but I was advocating for people that couldn't advocate for themselves. So I remember thinking to myself, even when I was 10, "When I get older, I'm not going to let things like this go on, people getting hit or having their hair pulled because they talked back or for whatever reason," because not all the staff were like that, of course, but there were a few staff that were not nice. And I just remember thinking, "I'm not going to let that happen for people who can't talk. I'm going to talk for them if I have to."
Emyle Watkins:
That's incredible to hear, and I imagine that had to be a really difficult place to grow up.
Gwen Squire:
Yes, it was.
Emyle Watkins:
And I know that for much of your career, from what I've read, it's focused on self-advocacy and self-determination. Can you tell me a little bit more about why that's important for people with disabilities to understand these movements and skills?
Gwen Squire:
I think especially self-advocacy, you're advocating for yourself. And it's really important to let people know, like for myself, I'm just like everybody else, in spite of the fact that I have a disability, I may do things differently, but I can still do those things. Doctors told my biological parents, "Well, she'll never make it past a certain age." It was like 12. First it was one, then eight, then 12. And then, "She's never going to go to high school. She's never going to go to her prom. She's not going to learn how to drive."
I've done all those things. And I think if I had listened to the negative stuff being told, I probably would've believed it. But I've thought to myself, "I want to prove to myself too that I can do those things just like anybody else could do them and the wheelchair's not going to stop me. Having a surgery isn't going to stop me."
Emyle Watkins:
Do you think the expectations of people with disabilities has changed?
Gwen Squire:
I think it's gotten better, definitely since I was born. Yes, since the '60s. I think sometimes people, doctors are still predicting when someone may or may not die or what they can and cannot do. But I think that if parents keep an open mind and say to themselves, "Well, if I listen to the doctors right now or so-and-so, my kid might not achieve anything. But if I let my kid kind of go and I don't put a label on them right away of being slow or whatever, let's try them in a classroom first and let's see how they do." I think if you do it that way, you can give your kid, even though they've got a disability, you can give them what they need to try. Never be afraid to try.
Emyle Watkins:
And what would your advice be to a younger Gwen or someone else with a disability who's just kind of getting started on their own journey of advocating like you did when you were 10?
Gwen Squire:
Probably to never give up on your dreams and just never to give up on what you believe in and to always speak up for people. If they can't speak up for themselves or if you are afraid to speak up for yourself, just take that chance and just go ahead and jump. If you fail at it, then you fail at it. At least you'll learn from the failure, "What did I do wrong? What did I say wrong? Did I approach it wrong?" So I would tell my younger self to just keep trying.
Emyle Watkins:
What do you wish non-disabled people understood about our community and understood about us?
Gwen Squire:
I wish they understood that just because we do have a certain disability, it doesn't mean that we're not people, that we don't think like other people do, that we can't do the things that they can do, but we do it differently.
Emyle Watkins:
And lastly, is there anything that you've learned in your career that sticks with you? Maybe a skill or an idea that you carry with you every day?
Gwen Squire:
If I were to say that, I touched on what I said earlier, about making mistakes and it's okay to fail. I've learned that it's not a terrible thing to be a failure at something. You can fail at something and learn from it and just improve off of it maybe the next time or not, maybe you have to let it go, but that it's okay to do that.
Emyle Watkins:
That's Gwen Marie Squire who died last week speaking with BTPM in 2024. You can hear that interview in its entirety on our website at btpm.org. I'm Emyle Watkins. Thanks for listening.
