Disability History and Culture

Giraffes Say, “Habitats for All!”

Lyla introduces her friend Dave the Giraffe from Woodland Park Zoo, and shares how people and animals of all abilities and disabilities need different types of habitats.

Tortoises Say, “Fun for All!”

Hudson introduces his friend Rivera the Tortoise, and talks about his day at the Zoomazium on Sensory Friendly Friday at Woodland Park Zoo, where people of all abilities and disabilities can have fun.

Hawks Say, “Help for All!”

Julian introduces his friend Gunnar the Hawk from Woodland Park Zoo, and shares how people and animals of different abilities and disabilities can do all kinds of things when we get the help we need.

Looking at “Independence” Through the Lens of Disability

After my first day of college classes, I wanted to quit. I felt out of place and overwhelmed. As I sat with my mom in a local diner, I rattled off my fears – class sizes were bigger, the workload…

For the Disability Community, Authentic Representation Makes a World of Difference

When I was in sixth grade, I started a scrapbook of articles about disabled people.  Each article was carefully cut out from newspapers and magazines, or printed out from the early 2000s Internet, and slipped into a page protector in…

Rooted in Rights Reviews – Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

The prologue to Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner starts with the words, “I never wished I didn’t have a disability.” It’s a powerful way to begin a memoir, one…

Finding Peace On The Disability Terminology Battlefield

I was a junior in college, newly transferred from a small campus where I was the only wheelchair user to a bigger university known for its disabled community. “I don’t want to sit at the cripple table,” I said to…

Friendsgiving is my Favorite Queer, Disabled Chosen Family Holiday

Our first Friendsgiving was in a dorm apartment on the third floor; we carried my friend, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, up the stairs along with her manual wheelchair. We drank cheap wine and ate home-cooked turkey…

Rooted in Rights Reviews – Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law

In her memoir Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, Haben Girma welcomes readers into her world. “I like my deafblind world. It’s comfortable, familiar. It doesn’t feel small or limited,” she writes, and the memoir illustrates that. …