Writer’s Café

Sri Lanka Without Barriers: A 10-Day Accessible Journey with Debbie North

Rolling into the Unknown: A Wheelchair Journey Through Sri Lanka My journey started with a drive from the north of England to Heathrow. A night at the Premier Inn at Terminal 3 offered convenience but reminded me how outdated accessible bathrooms with showers over baths can be. Still, helpful staff and kind strangers lifting my … Read more

The Role of Storytelling and Media in Addressing the Mental Health Epidemic

Humans are naturally stimulated and connected through the complex art of storytelling. Since the dawn of humans, history has been passed down by sharing stories and tales. Civilizations would not have formed without stories and communication. A storytelling culture builds community and establishes a wave of interconnected trust among people. Before, stories were primarily verbally … Read more

Insights From Disabled Travelers

Traveling can be thrilling and anxiety-inducing at the same time. From securing your lodging to checking everything off your packing list, conquering a trip can sometimes seem like a triumph. Traveling as a disabled person or with a disabled loved one also requires some additional planning— remembering every necessity, navigating the best routes in each … Read more

Chasing the Mouse

“The Mouse” kept jumping out of my pocket! That’s what I called my insulin pump, attached to a tube from my abdomen. It didn’t care that it was supposed to be my first day at work, my dream job at a community college. There had been SO much stress for its owner – building a … Read more

Journey to End-of-Life

“There is something sacred and beautiful about saying farewell to a loved one before they depart.” A couple years ago, my mentor notified her circle that she was diagnosed with a terminal illness and would begin her hospice journey. She was so at peace with her decision. Throughout her ten-month end of life journy, she … Read more

Ouroboros – An Anxious Person’s Guide

I – Illness and Wellness Years ago, a dear friend told me how, each night, he used to sit with his then-fiancée on the floor of their closet for hours, holding her while she shook and shook with inexpressible fears. Another friend’s currently working full-time to support himself and his wife because her anxiety’s gotten … Read more

Do We Really Have to Go with the Flow? – The Reality behind Remittances

When I was an MA student at the University of Arkansas, I used to get calls every week from my friends in Morocco. “How much do you make a month?” they’d ask. I’d tell them, “1,300 US dollars.” This was the stipend I got from the Fulbright program. “Wow!” they’d exclaim. “$1,300! You’re rich now!”  … Read more

Hateful Bodies: Dissatisfaction and Instagram

The never-ending carousel of changing beauty standards is now more intimate and personal as we live our lives in highly curated digital environments. This can be best illustrated by an unrealistic self-presentation on Instagram: A glass ceiling of perfection that incubates women’s insecurities, fracturing mental and emotional stability. Given this, we need to address how … Read more

Itto Outini — Blindness is the Light

Itto Outini is a multilingual accessibility advocate and human rights activist. Born and raised in the mountains of Morocco, she was deprived of education as a child. At 17, her uncle’s wife blinded her, and her family abandoned her in the hospital. She spent six years homeless before graduating from high school at 23 and, … Read more

STEPPING UP

Sherri was in a nightmare! Unfortunately, not one that she could wake up from. Sherri was desperately trying to lessen her anxiety as she stood outside the side entrance to the bleak building housing the “Ambulatory Men’s Unit” of Lynchburg Training School and Hospital in late October 1974. She did not belong here. She’d signed … Read more

Arushi Sahay — Social media empowers those with disabilities

Social media empowers those with disabilities to find a supportive community and share their stories to combat discrimination and the perpetuated ableist narrative.   Those without disabilities often have the preconceived notion that those with disabilities often struggle to become independent and successful. However, people with disabilities now have a powerful platform to reshape this … Read more

Spencer Staggers-Elmore — The practices within personal digital media

The practices within personal digital media concepts create a digital space that is primarily safe of unsolicited bias for many as long as digital space and media remain accessible to the public.   Within the realm of visual social media, an individual, regardless of the limit in one’s ability, is allowed the right of authentic … Read more

Kasturi Sarkar — Impact of visual social media on the integration of people with disabilities

What is the impact of visual social media on the integration of people with disabilities to our societies?   As a person without a disability, it is often difficult to understand the daily inconveniences faced by people with disabilities. I’m not proud to say that my understanding of accessibility started and ended with ramps in … Read more

Does Artificial Intelligence Impact Hiring People with Disabilities?

People with disabilities face significant disadvantages in the workforce. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), of all the employment discrimination cases filed in 2019, the most common claims involved disability-based discrimination (33.4%), closely followed by race and gender based discrimination. Today, a new form of employment discrimination causes concern: Artificial Intelligence … Read more

A Sign Language Interpreter Walks Into a Comedy Club

My friend wanted to know why she wasn’t seeing me on TV. Seemed like everyone from the president on down had a signer “on hand” (apologies) for televised news conferences, standing six feet away or displayed in a corner bubble like Glinda from on high. “You know I haven’t done that in years,” I reminded … Read more

Emergency Preparedness for the Most Vulnerable Californians. Plan B?

Recently, my family had a scare. We had a fire threaten our property, our home in the mountains of Jamul, an unincorporated town in San Diego County. Contrary to most assumptions, potentially losing our houses on the property was not the actual scare. The scare was that my brother, Joaquin, who experiences severe autism and … Read more

Tweenage Angst

Seated in our sixth-grade classroom in Newton in the Fall of 1962, Jean, a pretty, tom-boyish girl, and my desk-pod mate, whispered that she wanted to dance with me at Mr. Champagne’s initial dance class after school. I was in the stratosphere over Jean’s, invitation, but wary as my dancing had been at best down … Read more

The Vineyard’s Voice

Before it was known for the ferry ride, blue-shell crab and tangerine sunsets, my home, Martha’s Vineyard, was occupied by the Wampanoag Indians. The tribe is still around and has its own trust lands on the southwest part of the Vineyard. The Island is about 20 miles long east to west, not even as long … Read more

New Immigration Policy Discriminates Against Disabled Immigrants Applying for Citizenship

Op-Ed As Ms. Kidny Nicolas strutted across the courtroom to receive her certificate of United States citizenship, I could feel the intense joy radiating from her smile and mahogany skin. Diagnosed in 1999 with a medical condition that caused partial blindness in both eyes, Kidny had required accommodations in every step of her citizenship application … Read more

Murray Dunlap Brings Poetry and Insight Out of Traumatic Brain Injury

An Imperfect Brain I define myself through curved glass With my wife, I feel permitted to smile If my brain allows, I communicate When it does not, meditation I spiral inward upon the reality Recovery does not exist The days are traumatic As time warbles on Stop Even through a curve This love is real … Read more