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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.

An empty room in a nursing home with a bed, chair, desk, and window.

An Account of Being Sentenced to Life in a Skilled Nursing Facility

Content notes: toileting, neglect, isolation, institutionalization This morning I watched my roommate eat her breakfast on a bedside commode that had been full since yesterday. Again. I don’t really know which stench was worse, the potty or the shame. If…

A person with shoulder-length dark hair sitting at the end of a bed, pensively facing an open window.

Intimacy After Trauma: Navigating Re-Entry Into a Pandemic World

Content note: eating disorders, COVID-19, sexual abuse, sex, trauma How do you let someone love you when you’re afraid of yourself? I first asked myself this at age 17, anorexic and emotionally isolated by the fear of what my body…

A group of people sitting around a table having a meeting, including a white female-presenting wheelchair user.

To Meet Disability Employment Goals, Disabled People Must First Have Access to Care

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, so let’s talk numbers: In 2020, 17.9% of people with disabilities were employed in contrast to the employment rate of 61.8% for people without disabilities. Although there have been shifts in employment…

An old jail cell interior with barred up window with light rays penetrating through it reflecting the image on the floor

My Incarcerated Truth: How Solitary Confinement Affected My Mental Health

This post mentions suicide. If you or someone you know are in need of support, please reach out for support. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 En Español: 1-888-628-9454 For people who are deaf/hard-of-hearing: 1-800-799-4889 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to…

A pattern of of illustrated speech bubbles that have different emoji indicating harassment.

The Harms of Perpetuating “Illness Fakers”

I had not long been a part of the online chronic illness community when I discovered the Illness Fakers page on Reddit. I only saw it because someone I followed was being harassed, and their content being taken apart on…

Without Meaningful Allyship, Hearing People are Doomed to a Never-Ending Cycle of Poor Deaf Awareness

Deaf people exist, and if you’re a hearing person and are aware of that fact, then you win – though I don’t have any stickers left, and there’s no way for me to know that you are aware of my…

An elevator next to a staircase inside an apartment building.

Accessible Housing is Healthcare. It Could Have Prevented My Hospital Readmission.

When my friend’s car pulled up to the front door of the hospital, I wanted to feel giddy with relief that I was finally heading home. Instead, my head spun with fatigue and vertigo. My body felt weak and my…

A Black woman with short curly black hair in a light pink t-shirt, sitting at a desk using a laptop.

Self-Diagnosing: A Response to Inaccessible Healthcare

Disclaimer: this post is not intended as medical advice. Before I got a medical diagnosis for anxiety and depression, I self-diagnosed. There were many things about my mental health that I couldn’t explain. For instance, why would I, as a…

Malvika Padin standing in a well-lit hallway wearing black-rimmed glasses, shoulder-length dark brown hair left loose, clad in a black top, jeans and a grey coat with her hands in her coat pockets.

The Cultural Implications of Being Disabled in India

It’s been eight years since I began experiencing debilitating flare ups of a chronic condition, and despite having a parent who is a doctor, it never crossed my mind that what I was struggling with could be considered a disability. …