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“Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts. We’ll be experiencing some turbulence.” As a traveler, those are words you never want to hear. As a traveler with a disability, what came next changed my perspective on airplanes forever. Prior to that day in 1997, I had flown many times. I traveled often as a…
When I was a little girl growing up with cerebral palsy, I had beautiful long hair down to my waist. But when I was about 7 years old, my mom said I had to cut it, because it would be “easier for me and other people to take care of.” I was furious. I loved…
As people with disabilities become more active in our communities, we move slowly towards equality. We are out in the world living, working, traveling, getting married, raising kids, and doing everything else non-disabled people can do. People view us differently than they once did, and so the words used to speak about us have changed. Words…
On September 16, 2016, I was honored to be invited by the Dunes Learning Center to present their annual Green Apple Award to an outstanding educator and autism advocate, Tracy Chandler. At the banquet, I spoke briefly about how important spending time in nature has been for me as a person with a disability. My…
If you haven’t seen the tragic photo in your social media feed, you will soon. An elderly couple, married for 62 years, are weeping because they’ve been forced to live in separate nursing homes. Their family’s attempts to reunite them in the same facility have been futile. All Wolfram and Anita Gottschalk want is to spend the…
On July 10, 2016, I had the opportunity to attend the second annual Disability Pride Festival in New York City. It was an amazing opportunity to connect with people, and made me think about my disability and the lives of people with disabilities in ways I hadn’t before. As people with disabilities, we are…
Note: This article contains a few spoilers. I recently had a chance to watch the new Netflix original film “The Fundamentals of Caring,” based on the novel by Jonathan Evison. It’s one of those rare films that gets disability right — for the most part. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen something close to my own…
I’m excited to announce that I have a guest post on Her Packing List! I hope my story will open the minds of fellow travelers, and inspire more people with disabilities to travel. Please visit their site to read the post: Ultimate Wheelchair Travel Packing List
When I was about 7 years old, I found a little paperback book on my parents’ bookshelf. It was on its side in front of the other books, spine facing out. The cover showed a little girl with long red pigtails and a big smile. Her name was Karen Killilea, and the book was entitled Karen, by…
I wrote this piece for Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. Please share it with the parents you know! Dear Parents of Kids with Cerebral Palsy, Thirty-something years ago, my parents were where you are now — raising me, their daughter with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. I was blessed with loving parents who fought for me to…
