TagDisabled bodies

A picture of me, an Asian American disabled woman in a wheelchair, a tracheostomy is in my throat connected to a ventilator tube. I am in the emergency room at UCSF Moffitt/Long hospital. I am swaddled in blankets, my eyes are closed, and I am trying to sleep as I am waiting for test results and a bed in the intensive care unit. Behind me is a computer monitor with a bright glow. On a table in front of me is a wheelchair battery charger.

Posted January 25, 2024 DVP Blog Posts and Essays

#N95s4UCSF: Call to Action

#N95s4UCSF: Call to Action I’m alive, bitches! My recent column in Teen Vogue about the surge and its impact on me as a high risk disabled person became … Continue Reading #N95s4UCSF: Call to Action

Background with a light pink background. Selfie of a white woman with dark hair and eyes with an NJ tube on her face, next to a white toy poodle, and with her feed hanging on a frame with a pump attached.

Posted October 28, 2023 Guest Blog Posts

What Are You Looking At? Ableist Abuse in Public Spaces

What Are You Looking At? Ableist Abuse in Public Spaces Harrie Larrington-Spencer TW: Tube feeding, ableist abuse, eating, starvation “What the f*ck is that on her face?” … Continue Reading What Are You Looking At? Ableist Abuse in Public Spaces

Orange background with a color photo showing a selfie of an unsmiling Indian woman, with curly dark brown hair and dark eyes. She has a nose stud on her left nostril.

Posted July 28, 2023 Guest Blog Posts

The Mütter and More: Why We Need to be Critical of Medical Museums as Spaces for Disability Histories

The Mütter and More: Why We Need to be Critical of Medical Museums as Spaces for Disability Histories Dr Aparna Nair For a while now, I’ve been observing various public … Continue Reading The Mütter and More: Why We Need to be Critical of Medical Museums as Spaces for Disability Histories

Graphic with a brown background with a photo of A Andrews, a white non-binary person with brown eyes and short hair. They are sitting in the driver’s seat of a car with dark seats, wearing a tan beanie, and lined denim jacket.

Posted March 16, 2022 Guest Blog Posts

How radical acceptance of my disabled body made a mess (and clarity) of my gender acceptance

How radical acceptance of my disabled body made a mess (and clarity) of my gender acceptance A. Andrews Content notes: gender and body dysphoria I am … Continue Reading How radical acceptance of my disabled body made a mess (and clarity) of my gender acceptance

Graphic with a light blue background featuring a Taiwanese woman with black shoulder length hair and a grey shirt, side-eyeing a teddy-bear looking Pomeranian who dresses in a grey turtleneck sweater.

Posted February 9, 2022 DVP Blog Posts and Essays

Crip Siblings: Interview with Chun-san (Sandie) Yi

Alice: Sandie, I am just so delighted to talk with you today and what I loved immediately is that you titled our Zoom meeting ’Crip Siblings’! Sandie: [laughs] Alice: And … Continue Reading Crip Siblings: Interview with Chun-san (Sandie) Yi

[left] A photo of Jamison Hill, a young white man with an almost clean-shaven head with expressive blue eyes. He is looking away from the camera, slightly to the right and wearing a light blue, long-sleeved button down shirt. He is smiling. [right] Light blue book cover with white text that reads, WHEN FORCE MEETS FATE. In the middle is an image of a hospital ID bracelet with text, “A mission to solve an invisible illness.” At the top, “A riveting true-life story” - AJ Baime, New York Times bestselling author of The Arsenal of Democracy. At the bottom: JAMISON HILL, Foreword by Stephanie Land, New York Times bestselling author of Maid.

Posted January 24, 2021 DVP Blog Posts and Essays

Q&A with Jamison Hill

Jamison Hill is a contributor to my anthology, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century (Vintage Books) and I was delighted to interview him about his new memoir which … Continue Reading Q&A with Jamison Hill

[Left] Book cover primarily in blues and reds, and it’s a detail of a larger piece of a blue self-portrait. In the full piece, you see an x-ray hanging from sort of a clothesline, and it’s an x-ray of my spine. And there are feathers falling around the x-ray. And I’m hidden, my head is hidden behind the x-ray, but you can see my body with my arms crossed in kind of a stoic, I guess, position. And for the book cover, we cropped so that it’s mainly part of that half of the x-ray and part of my body. So, it’s a close-up, but the entire image is inside the book. Below in large letters is the title of the book “Golem Girl: A Memoir,” and “Riva Lehrer.” [Right] Artist Riva Lehrer, an older white Jewish woman with white hair streaked with red. She is standing against a translucent glass window wearing a sleeveless v-neck black tank and pants. She has a silver necklace, dangly earrings, and glasses on. Her hands are collapsed in front of her torso. Photo credit: Nathan Keay

Posted December 9, 2020 DVP Blog Posts and Essays

Q&A with Riva Lehrer

This pandemic has been difficult and frustrating for everyone and one bright spot of my year was sitting for a portrait by Riva Lehrer, a disabled artist I followed for … Continue Reading Q&A with Riva Lehrer

Posted October 6, 2020 Guest Blog Posts

A Very Kind Conversation Between a Cyborg and Some Biohackers

A Very Kind Conversation Between a Cyborg and Some Biohackers The Cyborg Jillian Weise in conversation with Berkelly Gonzalez, Cobalt Barnett, Hylyx Hyx, Jacob Boss and Ryan O’Shea & with … Continue Reading A Very Kind Conversation Between a Cyborg and Some Biohackers

Left: Caleb, a fat brown disabled femme, places their hands on their hips and looks at the camera defiantly. They are wearing blue plants, a blue bomber jacket with pink florals, and a black t-shirt that reads GORDA in a cursive script. Right: Max Airborne, a fat white person wearing blue jeans, an aqua t-shirt, a red knit beanie and round glasses, sits on a scooter in front of San Francisco ICE headquarters, speaking through a bullhorn. Resting on the front of their scooter is a large cardboard sign hand-painted with the words "No Body Is Disposable." On their left someone is interpreting in ASL, and on their right someone is recording audio using a handheld device.

Posted September 7, 2020 Podcast

Ep 85: Fat Liberation

https://media.blubrry.com/disability_visibility/content.blubrry.com/disability_visibility/EP85_Final.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS Today’s episode is all about fat liberation with Max Airborne and Caleb Luna. Max is … Continue Reading Ep 85: Fat Liberation

A clear plastic cup filled with tissues soaked with saliva with streaks of brown from something chocolatey.

Posted August 23, 2020 DVP Blog Posts and Essays

Ode to A Spit Cup

Below is a short excerpt of an essay I wrote that is part of an anthology edited by Kelly Jensen available now by Workman Publishing, Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore … Continue Reading Ode to A Spit Cup

IMAGE OF MIXED ABILITIES DANCE TEACHER INDIA HARVILLE. SHE IS AFRICAN-AMERICAN WITH HAIR IN LOCKS, WEARING ALL BLACK, SITTING ON THE FLOOR WITH HER HANDS CLASPED, SMILING AT THE CAMERA.

Posted August 8, 2020 Podcast

Ep 83: Disabled Dancers

https://media.blubrry.com/disability_visibility/content.blubrry.com/disability_visibility/FINAL_Ep_83.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS Today’s episode is all about disabled dancers with India Harville, an African American queer disabled … Continue Reading Ep 83: Disabled Dancers

Sara Hendren, a white middle aged woman with brown hair and brown eyes, sits in front of a weathered wood fence, wearing an olive linen jacket.

Posted August 3, 2020 DVP Blog Posts and Essays

How Colonial Visual Cultures Have Worsened This Pandemic and What Needs To Change Khairani Barokka The people holding parties instead of social distancing. The girl in my apartment building, … Continue Reading How Colonial Visual Cultures Have Worsened This Pandemic and What Needs To Change

Posted March 30, 2020 Guest Blog Posts

Fatphobia, Ableism, and the COVID-19 Pandemic

An Unacceptable Sacrifice: Fatphobia, Ableism, and the COVID-19 Pandemic Finn Gardiner Over the past several weeks, I have encountered online discussions about the coronavirus pandemic that attack fat … Continue Reading Fatphobia, Ableism, and the COVID-19 Pandemic

[Left] White woman wearing high-collared shirt looks at camera. No smile. [Right] A white woman with long, straight blondish-reddish hair. She smiles at the camera, eyes slightly squinted in the sunlight, with one arm wrapped around a narrow pillar on a brick building. Her shirt is gray with a flower pattern. There are benches on the porch behind her.

Posted December 18, 2019 Podcast

Ep 66: Cyborgs

https://media.blubrry.com/disability_visibility/content.blubrry.com/disability_visibility/66_Ep_66_FINAL.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS Today’s episode is about cyborgs with Ashley Shew and Jillian Weise. Ashley is an assistant … Continue Reading Ep 66: Cyborgs