Disability History and Culture

Billie Eilish Isn’t “Just” a Musician with Tourette’s, But She Makes Me Feel Seen 

There are many reasons why I’m obsessed with Billie Eilish. Though she’s six years my junior, Eilish has become a personal heroine of my in a short amount of time. Her bold and unapologetic sense of style, her dreamy and…

#EqualPay4OurWork Twitter Chat: The Fight to Eliminate the Subminimum Wage

Archive of Twitter Chat When the Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 1938, it included a revolutionary protection:  a minimum wage.  But Section 14(c) of the Act included an exemption allowing some workers – people with disabilities – to be…

On Valentine’s Day, Let’s Recognize Why #AccessIsLove

Roses, chocolates, galentines…there is a lot of emphasis on love for people in our personal lives this time of year. I could cry into my glass of rosé over the lack of romance in my life but instead, …

The Disability Intersectionality Summit: A Gathering for Justice

On a damp and chilly Saturday in mid-October, I rolled out of bed several hours earlier than I usually would have in order to attend the biannual Disability Intersectionality Summit in nearby Cambridge, Mass on the MIT campus. Groggy but …

Identifying as “Disabled” Brings Me Peace in a World Hostile to My Existence

Before I entered college, I never thought about disability. Or at least, I never thought about it with that exact word. Mental illness. Mentally ill. Disorder. Burden. These were all words I used to describe myself before “disabled” and “disability” …

Empower Your Students Through Disability-Conscious Teaching

Historically, disabled people have been subjected to isolated, segregated education. And there’s still a notion that a disabled person in the classroom is a shocking and novel thing, and disabled people don’t belong in school. In a classroom space where…

My Disabilities Make Me Both Broken and Whole

A dichotomy is defined as a contrast between two things.  It is two stones with a gulf between them, two planets on opposite sides of the sun, two opinions, two political parties, two opposites.  And in my case, one person. …

28 Years After the ADA, Disabled People are Still Fighting for Accessible Event Seating

This winter, my friends and I bought tickets to see “50 Shades Freed,” because hate-watching and laughing at the franchise’s terrible movies is a tradition that we started when the first film premiered for Valentine’s Day. When we got to…

If You’re Writing About Disability, You Need to Read These Guidelines

Sometimes I imagine what the media’s typical coverage of disability might say if it was written about me—covering the two proms I went to with my girlfriend in high school, celebrating my ability to graduate from college after almost failing …