Taline Alonso Da Silva, M.S.

Taline Alonso da Silva is an interdisciplinary Community-Based researcher with the Massachusetts Disability Policy Consortium. She holds a M.S. from Oklahoma State University and is a specialist in participatory research methods to ensure the voice of underrepresented groups are being heard through research led by them. Taline is currently working on a project with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that aims to analyze the intersections of disability, race, and language within BIPOC populations to understand and raise awareness to why and how people with disabilities are still being discriminated when it comes to health and wellness equity.

Taline’s research agenda includes the intersections of new age spirituality (e.g., Tarot, Witchcraft, Mysticism), quantum mechanics, and metaphysics. She aims to better understand the changes in spiritual practices over time and the view that the human being is first and foremost a spiritual being. In addition, Taline has also conducted research on religious discourses within human trafficking advocacy campaigns.

Taline Alonso da Silva is a 2022 grantee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Community Research for Health Equity program, managed by AcademyHealth.

Authored by Taline Alonso Da Silva, M.S.

Grant

White Systems, Black Lives: Exposing Racial and Linguistic Barriers to Independence and Community Living for Disabled BIPOC in Springfield, MA

The goal of this community-based participatory action research study is to expose racist, ableist, and culturally biased systems that lead to poor health outcomes for Black, Indigenous, People of Color with Disabilities (BIPOC-PWD) in Springfield, MA, and that prevent them from living meaningful independent lives in the community of their choice.