About Delphine
I’m Delphine (she/her) — a disabled coach, advocate, educator, and storyteller. I have a physical disability, I’ve lived with it my entire life, and I am a full-time wheelchair user. My body, access needs, care, and relationships are not background details; they are central to how I understand power, autonomy, pleasure, and what it means to take up space.
Growing up and living as a disabled woman has meant navigating systems that were intentionally designed to exclude, control, or erase bodies like mine. Over time, I learned how deeply those systems shape not just access, but internal worlds — how safe it feels to want things, to set boundaries, to trust your own desires, or to imagine a different way of being.
That lived experience is not something I bring into my work. It is the ground my work has been built upon.
How I Came to This Work
I didn’t arrive here through a single turning point. I arrived through years of experiencing — experiencing how often disabled people and others shaped by oppression are taught to adapt themselves in order to be tolerated, rather than supported. Experiencing how survival becomes the goal, while desire, pleasure, and agency are treated as unrealistic or inappropriate.
Alongside my personal experience, I spent many years working in communications and education-adjacent roles across nonprofit, cultural, and school settings. My work centered on storytelling, public-facing communication, and engaging diverse communities within complex institutions. These experiences shaped how I understand messaging, power, and belonging — and how systems both loudly and quietly communicate who matters and who does not.
Eventually, I wanted to create space where those dynamics could be named and examined with care, rather than ignored or minimized. Coaching became a way to do that intentionally.
My Approach
I approach my work as collaborative and relational. I’m interested in understanding context — how bodies, identities, systems, and lived experiences shape capacity, choice, and self-trust.
I believe people already hold deep knowledge about themselves, even when they’ve been taught not to trust it. My role is to support exploration: clarifying what matters, noticing what gets in the way, and creating room for more honest, self-directed ways of living.
Pleasure, in this work, is not indulgence or escape. It’s information. It can offer insight into agency, desire, and aliveness — especially for people whose bodies or needs have been controlled, dismissed, or misunderstood.
Experience & Credentials
I am a certified trauma-informed life coach through Moving the Human Spirit and am currently working toward my Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential through the International Coaching Federation.
I also completed the Sexuality Education Internship with the Masakhane Center, where I received training in sexuality education and contributed to zines, workshops, and educational materials rooted in collaborative, justice-centered learning.
I hold a master’s degree in mass communication and have presented at conferences including Cure SMA and the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA), speaking on topics related to disability, access, embodiment, intimacy, pleasure, and care.
Who I Work With
I primarily work with disabled people, and I also welcome others whose bodies, identities, or lived experiences have been shaped by oppression and “othering” and who are seeking a more honest relationship with themselves.
This work isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about finding your way back to what has been quieted, constrained, or dismissed — and exploring what becomes possible when those parts are given space again.