• My Experience

    Collaborating with CreativeClaire

    Happy Friday! As I mentioned in my previous article, I will be collaborating with CreativeClaire! You may be saying to yourself, “What is that?” Let me explain. CreativeClaire is someone that creates planning, lifestyle tracking, and other printables on Etsy. I’ve found her stuff to be incredibly helpful in my own life and so I wanted to share it with you! I reached out to CreativeClaire because I was interested in doing a collaboration. I wanted something specifically for people with chronic illness/ people with disabilities. As someone who needs to track a wide variety of information, I was looking for a service that would help me do it. I…

  • My Experience

    My Senior Project

    I have officially finished my senior project. It has been an incredible challenge and gift to pursue this endeavor. It has helped me process my experiences. It also challenged me to think critically. I started this project with the question, “What does it mean to have a disability?” This question was as broad as I could get. I didn’t know what I wanted the end product to be. I didn’t know how much of my experience I wanted to share. Now, it’s done. I feel incredibly lucky to share this film with you. I hope you enjoy. I hope that your day is going well. I hope that your day…

  • My Experience

    Why I Chose Critical Disability Studies

    I am applying to a graduate program for critical disability studies. Why did I choose this field? To many, it’s an obscure and odd choice. Personally, I didn’t know that field existed prior to stumbling upon it randomly. When I found it, I knew. It was like a bolt of lightning struck. I got chills. This was exactly what I was looking for. So what is it? The field of critical disability studies is an interdisciplinary field. It involves everything from healthcare, sociology, psychology, and more. It’s looking at all aspects of disability. How those with disabilities are treated within culture and society. How the system often fails those with…

  • My Experience

    Help Me With My Senior Project!

    I’m doing my senior project on what it means to have a disability. Please check out my google form! Submit your answers on what it means to have a disability from your perspective. There are no wrong answers. This is a great opportunity to ask questions in a safe space. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE GOOGLE FORM

  • My Experience

    I'm Not Broken

    I’m not broken. I have a chronic illness. I do things differently. I must accommodate my disability or risk having severe consequences. That doesn’t make me broken, it makes me human.This topic has come up a few different times recently. I’ve addressed in blog articles the narrative that we set for ourselves. Today I’m talking about other’s narratives about me. I want to address this because much like my language matters, your language about me matters. I can’t change my disability. It is a part of me. When you say things like, “cause you’re broken.” It’s often very hurtful. I do a lot to manage my disability. I often try…

  • Helpful Hints

    Dating With a Disability

    Let me start off by saying, talking about dating makes me uncomfortable. It’s not something I share a lot about because it’s such a personal experience. That being said, when I first started dating after having health problems, I was lost. I wish I had an article like this to turn to. I wanted to share what has made my life easier with dating. I’ve fallen into a lot of pitfalls and I want to save you that frustration and heartache. Be Upfront This is a really difficult balance. I want to ensure my safety but also be clear that I have a disability. For me, I find that not…

  • My Experience

    What is a Disability?

    Disability is an interesting word. It’s thrown around in a lot. When someone first used disability to describe what I was going through, I was a bit shocked. I couldn’t believe someone would label me that way. I got angry and frustrated. Then I started to think, do I have a disability? What does it mean to have a disability? When I look at my life, I try to focus on the positive. There are so many things that my body does right. On the flip side, my body tends to struggle on a day to day basis. Just today, while biking my heart went to 200 beats per minute.…