runningsteps

When people ask when I became disabled, I usually say I was 22 years old. That’s when I had brain surgery and the stroke that happened afterward, the effects of which I’m still living with today. But lately I’ve realized that answer isn’t entirely true. Looking back, I think I’ve been living with disability for much longer. Learning more about what depression can look like in children makes me suspect it may have started even earlier. But I know for certain that by the time I was 14—when I...

Part of a series exploring disability, dignity, and the stories society tells about disabled lives Many people want to support disabled people, but worry about doing the wrong thing. The truth is that some of the most common forms of ableism come from people who genuinely mean well. Ableism isn’t always obvious. Sometimes it is — mocking a disabled person, using a slur, or hearing someone say they’d rather die than have to use a wheelchair. But more often it’s subtle. It can come from people...

Part of a series exploring disability, dignity, and the stories society tells about disabled lives Disabled people don’t need to be treated like children—we need to be treated like adults. Support for disabled individuals has greatly improved during my lifetime, and it’s been inspiring to see. In Canada and the United States, many intellectually disabled people were once placed in institutions from a young age. These places were often little more than warehouses, where abuse and neglect went...