Jose Torres Vega (He, Him, His) was born in Guatemala, Guatemala City during the Guatemalan Civil War. He was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at six months old. At age twelve, he had his first encounter with the war when his older sister and nephew were forced to leave Guatemala for their safety. At age seventeen, his father was killed and Jose, his mother and younger sister had to hide. He lost all aspects of his life, including his house and his girlfriend. He joined the opposition to the government at this time.
Jose and his family eventually fled to the U.S. for their safety and he began to advocate for the civil rights of the disabled. He joined ADAPT (Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) and CCDC to advocate for the civil rights of people with disabilities. According to Jose, “In these last years I have met true friends, people who fight with the same passion and love. Now I have a whole new world of opportunities, like being invited to be trained by and work for CCDC. The best has been to be able to work for and with the disability community.”
Jose is also the chairman of the board of El Grupo Vida, working with Latino immigrant families who have kids and/or other family members with disabilities. Jose has utilized his position to increase his work in the immigrant community, connecting CCDC’s advocacy expertise and political power to EGV’s “defensores” for immigrants’ rights. Nowadays, as a multilingual advocate, he takes complex cases for immigrant families and helps them get access to Colorado state benefits for their undocumented members. Jose has also helped the Colorado Immigrant Right Coalition (CIRC) & the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI) pass laws that have created benefits designed for undocumented immigrants.