Texas Disability History Collection

Monique Jannette was born September 23, 1962 and graduated from Warren Travis White High School in Dallas, Texas, earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Geology from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1987, and her Law Degree from Southern Methodist University in 1992.

While in middle school and high school, she became interested in science and competitive diving. Jannette exceled at diving and traveled throughout the United States and other countries with diving teams. She earned a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University (SMU), but due to an accident shortly after graduation from high school in 1980, she became paraplegic.

Starting in 1981, Jannette attended the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), where she studied geology and participated in adaptive track and field under the direction of Jim Hayes. While attending UTA, she was selected to the 1988 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field team, and Table Tennis team in Seoul, South Korea. In 1992 she was selected again to compete with the U.S. Paralympic Team in Barcelona, Spain.

Upon graduating from UTA, Jannette went back to SMU to study law. During her time there she collaborated with architects to make SMU more accessible to people with disabilities. After graduating law school, she and a partner began to practice civil rights law, helping the communities and business in and around the Dallas area. Their primary clientele were people involved with sexual harassment lawsuits and disability accessibility. After some health issues, she had to quit the firm and concentrate on her health. Jannette then began to concentrate on art, but is still heavily involved with the community and disability rights.