What I can do
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to study medicine. I volunteered at hospitals and got into a mentorship program that selected only 150 out of thousands of students nationwide; then I found out I might not be licensed as a doctor in Canada because I could not perform CPR. That was a hard pill to swallow, and I could have given up right there. Instead, I created another path for myself: I decided to use my advocacy skills and pursue a career in law. People didn’t expect anything from me, so I had to show them what I could do. I had to show myself, too.

Labels my way
We need language; labels aren’t going to go away. I will play by the rules, but I’ll play by the rules on my own terms. Whatever label is assigned to me—brown, Muslim, female, disabled—I will tell you what it means: capability, perseverance, insurmountable independence. Those are my terms and I will stand by them.

Ayesha Zubair is a student at York University in Toronto, Ontario.