Rooted in Rights Blog

We’re here to challenge the status quo, pushing readers and writers alike to think beyond the tired tropes of disability. The Rooted in Rights Blog publishes pieces that share perspectives on disability, amplify key issues and ideas, and make it known loud and clear that disability rights are human rights.

Mobile app icons of assorted telehealth providers from the App Store are seen on a smartphone.

As a Disabled Person, Expanded Access to Telehealth is One Result of the Pandemic That I Hope Will Continue

The following post is part of our series on perspectives from disabled and chronically ill people regarding COVID-19. For as awful a toll as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacted on our medical system, telehealth has been a bright spot for…

Photo of the author wearing pink headphones and a hot pink jacket.

Coping with Body Dysmorphia

Finding information that are about body dysmorphia that’s by and for people who experience it can be incredibly challenging. The material is there, but you have to know where to look-it’s buried, mired in a lot of academic language. Let’s…

Part of a check with a fountain pen resting on top.

How Can You Support the Disability Community? Pay Us for Our Work.

We all know the struggle of wanting something and knowing you’re unlikely to get it. But when that extends to employment, and more specifically to the employment of disabled people, it goes beyond wanting the unlikely. It’s a matter of…

Illustration of a pink megaphone with yellow lightning shaped soundwaves coming out of it, on a teal background.

Reflecting on ADA 30 While Reckoning with COVID-19 and Racism

Content note: includes mentions of COVID-19 and police brutality toward Black people 2020 brought us the COVID-19 pandemic and shed a stark light on the pandemic of racism. The impact of both these pandemics continues to grow and serve as…

Decorative text in blue, red, and yellow reads "disability rights are human rights."

As a Uruguayan, the Americans with Disabilities Act Makes Me Believe Change is Possible

Thirty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is worth thinking about not only how it affects the United States, but also those who look at it from afar. When I wanted to enroll in…

A greyscale photo of a Black woman's face fades into swirls of pixels.

As a Black Disabled Woman, I’m Tired of Seeing Mental Health Issues in My Community Stigmatized

Growing up, I had always been a nervous child. At a young age, I grew used to that pounding sensation in my chest, that irrational uncertainty of future situations that sometimes rendered me motionless. At that time, I was unaware…

An overhead view of a crowd gathered for a protest

Finding and Reclaiming Who I Am: a Biracial Black Transgender Man with Multiple Disabilities

Content note: includes discussion of COVID-19, police brutality toward Black people, murder of unarmed Black people, transphobia As I was moving my arms back and forth next to my wife in our very first protest, chanting Black Lives Matter, two…

A Black woman with closed eyes fades into a swirl of painted rainbow colors

How Can Black People Protect Their Mental Health Right Now?

Content note: includes discussion of COVID-19, police brutality toward Black people, murder of unarmed Black people The last few weeks have put Black people through the wringer. The footage of George Floyd’s death has sparked the largest protest in history…

Woman in a grocery store holding a basket in one hand and a product in the other hand, reading its label.

The FDA’s Relaxed Food Labeling Guidelines in Response to the Pandemic are Dangerous

The following post is part of our series on perspectives from disabled and chronically ill people regarding COVID-19. If I hadn’t been born in the 20th century, I wouldn’t have survived infancy. Yet here we are, after decades of work…