LGBTQ+ Advocate Chella Man Shares His Unique Story
Chella Man is thankful that he grew up in the generation that he did. Had he been born a decade earlier, the social media platforms that aided him in finding his identity would not have been present in his adolescence and his life path would have been very different.
Speaking on our podcast show, Man reminisced about the internet figures that helped with his journey of self-discovery. Man pointed to the increasing diversity on platforms like YouTube that made him feel welcome and a part of a greater community as he started the process of transitioning from female to male in his late teens.
Man would find comfort in watching people go through similar life experiences on YouTube or Instagram, describing it as a found community of diverse individuals that recognized the power of representation.
Now, Man is paying it forward by being a figure of representation for the next generation.
As a member of both the LGBTQ+ and disability communities, Man is committed to being an advocate for young people who don’t know where they fit in within greater social justice movements. The opportunity to help build a community of like-minded individuals on the internet is what brought Man to begin to document his life story on his YouTube channel, where he currently has over 259,000 subscribers.
Man hopes that his channel documents his diverse and unique experiences as a trans and deaf advocate. He shares films, vlogs, and backstage looks at important milestones in his life.
As one of the few Youtubers who is a part of both the disability and LGBTQ+ communities, Man highlights the importance of blending the two communities together. For him, it is all about authentic representation. To only document his life as a trans man or to only document his life as a deaf man would be inauthentic to his whole identity. People do not often fit into one community, and Man strives to embody that in his social media work.
Recently, Man has begun to expand his quest for accurate representation to the small screen.
Man pushes against the idea that minority groups can only be portrayed as being a part of one group. Television has started to recognize the importance of including LGBTQ+ actors and including actors with disabilities, but there still aren’t any actors who are a part of both the communities. Why not have a blind trans person play a role? Why not have a bisexual actress with down syndrome?
The film and television industry have taken steps in the right direction when portraying diversity, but it is social media platforms and the people that use them -- like Man -- who truly embody diverse representation of the human experience.
Only when the big film companies look to social media for inspiration regarding representation will true diversity show itself on the big and small screens. Advocates like Chella Man are leading the way, documenting their identities as a way to push back the idea that everyone can only fit into one box.
Want to hear Chella Man speak in his own voice? Check out the YouTube podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlxV8vgqEE8&t=199s
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