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Disability History and Culture

“Nothing about us, without us!” That’s the overarching message of these pieces.

Letter tiles spelling out "words have power."

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…
A wooden table filled with Thanksgiving food

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…
A photo of Haben Girma's book cover positioned over a background of piles of books.

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. …
Photo of parent and child Laura and Wren Reeve

Two Generations Reflect on Life Before and After the Americans with Disabilities Act

The following is a conversation about attitudes, access, and ableism before and after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) between Laura and Wren Reeve, mother and offspring, aged 48 and 19. Both have multiple chronic illnesses (between …
A photo of pills and American money, indicating "big pharma."

Pharmaceutical Sponsorship’s Threat to Dwarf Pride

Addressing disability pride in her book The Minority Body, Elizabeth Barnes writes, “the benefits of pride movements are not merely emotional or affective – what or how we feel. Pride movements also affect what we can know.” Her argument is…
Photo of a woman in a blue jumpsuit standing at a podium on stage, speaking. She is looking up at the lights.

I’m Not Sorry If My Disability Makes You Uncomfortable

I spent the first 30 years of my life doing everything I could to not let people know I couldn’t see things. I ordered the same things at the fast food restaurant, I got dropped off a block away so nobody knew that my parents were driving me, I didn’t follow my dream to study medicine or be a scientist.
Video Still with a stylized photo of Shannon Finnegan.

Creative Control with Shannon Finnegan

Creative Control is a video series showcasing artists with disabilities and the ways they are helping to evolve cultural narratives.
Rainbow infinity symbol of neurodiversity

The Joy of Being Autistic in Spaces Built By and For Autistic People

When Haley Moss, an attorney, visual pop artist, and author from Florida, was 13, she went to the Autism Society of America Conference, a conference dedicated to presentations, discussions, and workshops about autism. It was the first time she’d …
Black background with the headshot images of Claudia and Angela in a collage style format. In the lower left corner is the title of the poem in white font, “A Blessing All My Own.”

A Blessing All My Own

For National Poetry month, Rooted in Rights is excited to share “A Blessing All My Own,” a poetry collaboration between Claudia Castro Luna and Angela Lemus-Mogrovejo.