Kristin Walker is a Clinical Psychology PhD student at Stony Brook University. She earned her MA in Psychology from Stony Brook University in 2023 and her BA in Psychology, with minors in American Sign Language/Deaf Studies and Neuroscience, from the College of the Holy Cross in 2018. Kristin is a member of the Social Connections and Treatment Lab, led by Dr. Matthew Lerner, and serves as a graduate student clinician at Long Island Mental Health and Wellness and Stony Brook University’s Krasner Psychological Center. Before entering graduate school, Kristin was the lab manager of the Language Creation Lab at the University of Connecticut led by Dr. Marie Coppola. Her research is driven by a strengths-based perspective, focusing on the inherent value of diversity. Her work aims to:1) deepen the understanding of the experiences of d/Deaf and hard of hearing individuals, as well as those within the autistic community, with a particular focus on the intersectionality of these identities, and 2) identify and address disparities faced by the disability community. Kristin has been recognized with a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She is a member of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association (ADARA), the Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disabilities Special Interest Group for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR).