Kalyn Heffernan is an MC for the band Wheelchair Sports Camp. Heffernan was born with the genetic disorder

osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may b ...

. She was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, spent her early life in Southern California, and returned to Denver at age 8. Heffernan is a community activist, participating in a 2017

ADAPT ADAPT (formerly American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) is a United States grassroots disability rights organization with chapters in 30 states and Washington, D.C. They use nonviolent direct action in order to bring about disability justi ...

sit-in at Senator

Cory Gardner Cory Scott Gardner (born August 22, 1974) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as a United States senator from Colorado from 2015 to 2021. A Republican, he was the U.S. representative for Colorado's 4th congressional dis ...

's office to protest a proposed healthcare bill that would have cut

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and ...

by $722 billion. In 2018, Heffernan announced her intention to "sit" as a candidate for the 2019 Denver mayoral race. Heffernan identifies as queer, and was named as one of "Eight Openly Queer Rappers to Watch" by ''

ColorLines ''Colorlines'' is a digital media platform that seeks to build a political home for everyday people and activists. The platform creates accessible multimedia to power its vision of a just multiracial democracy where all thrive. History ''Colorlin ...

.'' She received a 2016 ''

Westword ''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue cir ...

'' MasterMind award in recognition of her work co-founding Royalty Free Haiti, a partnership between artists in Haiti and Denver and in 2018, ''Westword'''s "Best of Denver" named her the year's "Best Activist Musician."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heffernan, Kalyn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Artists with disabilities Queer artists Musicians from Denver American rappers American women rappers Activists from Colorado American disability rights activists 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century women rappers