At the age of 16, I became a quadriplegic because of a diving accident. Since then, I’ve experienced multiple urinary tract infections, pressure sores, and a long litany of other medical issues. And like a bad movie, I am also a breast cancer survivor, having a right mastectomy 10 years …
Growing Up with Death
Growing up with Death sounds so weird, right? How can I possibly grow up with Death? But that’s how I feel. Death has been in my life since I was in kindergarten. If you’re immersed in the world of people with physical disabilities, death might have been with you throughout …
Stare All You Want. I am Disabled and Beautiful.
One of the biggest complaints disabled people have about non disabled people are the stares. You know the ones where you are minding your own business and people stop in mid action to stare at you. I’ve chosen to use those stares to my advantage. I was born with a …
A Disabled Woman’s Nude Photo Shoot Confession
My journey to accept my body and disability has not been simple or straight. How does one learn to accept what one cannot change? How does one unfold? When rheumatoid arthritis invaded my life as a child, much of my self-esteem disappeared. My hands are always hidden in old photographs, …
A New Tomorrow. Thank You Covid-19
A few weeks ago, I had a good old rant on Facebook bemoaning all the buzzwords that I would prefer never to see again. Buzzword terms like unpack, disrupt, power couple, finger-on-the-pulse, go-getters. The list is inexhaustible. Not long after my posting this on social media, my sister gave me …
We Need To Stop Demonizing Relaxation
We live in times when there is so much pressure to hustle. To be doing, doing, doing; being constantly productive, striving for more, being better. Disabled people in particular – who may have been excluded from traditional employment due to barriers both in accessibility and in attitudes – have been …
Twitter’s Powerful Disabled People
This Covid-19 has all of us looking for information and for people to interact with or follow on social media. Twitter has amazing disabled advocates who are humble, full of audacity, information and passion. There is so much pettiness in the world. The disabled community needs people who know how …
Disabled and Healthy
Disable AND healthy.I already know what you’re thinking… It seems like a contradiction. I know what question is going through your mind right now. How the heck can I be disabled AND healthy? I used to think the same exact thing. For many, MANY years. The answer finally came to …
Saving Our Own Lives Again
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 …