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.

Against a bright yellow background, a small pile of earbud headphones, in different colors, is tangled up together.

Tangled: Exploring the Overlapping Symptoms of ADHD and Trauma

CONTENT NOTE: discussion of domestic/child abuse . . . . . . . . . Hypervigilance, trouble focusing, dissociating, trouble maintaining relationships. These are only some of the common symptoms that overlap between ADHD and the effects of trauma. …

Close up of three hands. An elder's hand lays between the hands of a younger person's two hands. All three fair-skinned hands rest on the younger adult's lap.

A Life Worth Living: An Elegy For My Mother

CONTENT NOTE: discussion of systemic ableism, death, end-of-life care, and euthanasia My mother and I were always a team. When my Girl Scout troop had a roller skating party, my mom strapped skates to my feet, took hold of …

The “Imperative of Efficiency” and The Importance of Interdependence

“The experience of illness is one of dependency, and the social mores of our day regard dependency as weakness.” — New York Times review of Megan O’Rourke’s The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness The Starbucks iced green tea and …

Outdoors. A tree surrounded by green grass is seen from the tree top down to its complex roots. The roots are surrounded by soil because they're all underground.

Getting to The Roots: Why Does Subminimum Wage Persist?

In 2018, the National Council on Disabilities reported that people with disabilities in the U.S. have decreased chances of finding work. In addition, the report found that disabled workers often work for subminimum wage, low wages, and under substandard employment …

A fair-skinned, dark-haired person holds a megaphone to their mouth. They're joined by out-of-focus protestors in the background.

It Doesn’t Get Better: Online Activism and TMAU Awareness

A parent with the odor-related medical condition trimethylaminuria (TMAU) recently drew attention to an episode of the NetFlix series Word Party titled “The Search for the Stink Monster.” It reportedly teaches children “You’re never stinky as long as you have …

A close up of a yellow canary bird surrounded by white-petaled flowers with green leaves and gray-brown branches with green shrubbery in the background.

You Make Me Sick: The Dehumanizing Trauma of Disability Benefits Processes

CONTENT NOTE: in-depth discussion of trauma, including medical ableism, as well as brief mentions of childhood neglect and abuse, antisemitism, physical violence, and war/conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . One Sunday in…

Stressed brown-skinned teacher with long, straight, dark hair in a colorful classroom, sitting at the toy table.

Removing the Stigma of Alcoholism in the Teaching Profession

CONTENT NOTE: detailed discussion of substance abuse and trauma . . . . . . . . . . . I began drinking heavily during college when I took a semester off, moving from Boston back to Baltimore to…

Two older white women, characters Grace and Frankie, sitting outdoors in separate patio chairs while holding hands and gazing at each other.

This Isn’t A Cane, It’s A Weapon: Ageism, Ableism, and Grace and Frankie

One thing that always frustrated me was when elders would compare my disability to theirs. At first, I brushed off my frustration as reactions to their sometimes ableist and adultist comments. A common assumption I frequently confront is “You’re too …

A blue, orange and red graphic with solid black text and illustrations. The text in the blue portion reads: "ADA Americans with Disabilities Act." Below that, in the orange and red sections, are solid black illustrations that are meant to symbolize or represent various types of disabilities. Listed in order: signing hands, two arrows pointing to an ear with a device in it, a pair of black glasses, an eye with a line crossed through it, representation of braille text with the word underneath, the traditional wheelchair user symbol, an amputee using a cane, a service dog, a person with a white cane, and a person's head with the brain visible.

Busting Barriers: ADHD and ADA Accommodations at Work

When I speak to other ADHDers who were diagnosed as adults, they share a common refrain: “Why didn’t anybody tell me sooner?” No, it’s not supposed to be hard to sustain friendships or clean the house. In fact, there are…