We are all dealing with a lot of fear right now as news about the fast spread of COVID-19 reach our communities and change the landscape of our daily interactions, and the way we operate socially and physically. It almost seems like, from one minute to the next, a threat …
Yes, Please Define Me by My Disability
If you grew up as a child with a disability in the ‘80s and ‘90s, you heard this phrase at least once: “I am not defined by my disability!” It was usually spoken by some well-meaning advocate promoting equality. You see, in the ‘80s and ‘90s we preserved the self-esteem …
Why Disabled Women Haven’t Joined the “Me too” Movement
The “Me too” movement sparked a wave of revelation and liberation for women around the world. It gave women a voice to free the voice they had kept quiet for so long, sometimes an entire lifetime. When women say “Me too”, they say it knowing they’re not alone. They do …
Art Wins by Default
Editor’s Note: I found Katherine’s post about her art work with Rod Stewart’s album cover and I knew immediately that she needed to be on AudacityMagazine. At first, she was going to be interviewed but her writing definitely does a much better job of expressing herself than any interviewer could …
Avoiding A Life In Stephen King’s Movies
My biggest concern for my future is to be alone without my parents. Living my life with Cerebral Palsy requires me to have extra assistance, that’s where my parents have triumphantly pulled through every time. Knowing that one day, they will no longer be around is not only a sad …
Disabled with an Addiction
“Just one more,” I think to myself. “The pain is really bad, so I have no choice.” That was my mantra. What I tried to convince myself was the truth, time after time. This is how my story begins, my story of addiction. It started innocently enough, I truly was …
My Disability Isn’t My Competition
I’ve come a long way since a car accident that left me paralyzed neck downwards in December 2009. From being completely immobile after the accident to winning 4 gold medals in the recently concluded State Paralympic Swimming Championship in India
Writing for Audacity Magazine
It hardly seems possible that I have been writing for Audacity Magazine for well over a year, now. Every article I have written has been a new challenge. Every article, I have written, has been as different as the article before. And every article I write comes from a place …
Can You Hear Me Now?
At the age of fifty after recovering from a spinal fusion, I was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, a neuromuscular disease that affects the peripheral nerves. Shortly after I was fitted for an ankle brace and later four constructive foot and ankle surgeries. As I coped with all the changes, I …