Author: OUR BEAUTIFUL CHALLENGES
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Disability Is Not One Story
Disability Pride Series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie One of the biggest misconceptions about disability is that people think there is only one disability experience. There isn’t. Every disability is different. Every person is different. Some people are born with disabilities. Others become disabled through illness, injury, or aging. Some disabilities are visible. Others are…
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The Author of Me
Disability Pride Series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie Every person has a story. The question is: who is holding the pen? For many years, I allowed fear, doubt, and other people’s opinions to write chapters of my life. Sometimes I believed the limits others placed on me. Sometimes I questioned my own dreams. Sometimes I…
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I Wasn’t Meant to Be Fixed
Disability Pride Series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie For much of my life, I believed my disability was something that needed to be fixed. Not because my parents ever made me feel that way. Not because the people who loved me believed I was broken. But because the world often acted as if I would…
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They See What’s Different-Not What’s Possible
Disability Pride series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie There have been so many moments in my life when people noticed my disability before they noticed me. They saw my walker before they saw my smile. They noticed my cerebral palsy before they noticed my personality. Sometimes they made up their minds about what I could…
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The ADA Changed the Law-Not Every Mind
Disability Pride Month series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990, it changed history for millions of people with disabilities. It opened doors that had never been open before, creating a whole new world for people with disabilities. It brought greater access to schools, businesses, transportation,…
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Accessibility Is Not One Size Fit All
Disability Pride Series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about disability is that accessibility is not one size fits all. For years, people with disabilities have fought for equal access. The ADA changed our country in incredible ways, making schools, businesses, transportation, and housing more accessible than ever before.…
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Seeing Disability Through My Eyes
Disability Pride Series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie When people look at me today, they see someone who is proud to talk about disability. They see an advocate. A writer. Someone who speaks openly about living with cerebral palsy. But it wasn’t always that way. For years, I was afraid of being associated with the…
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The Ugly Laws: The History Many People Never Learned
Disability Pride Month Series Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie One of the reasons I wanted to create a Disability Pride Month series was because I realized that many people—even people within the disability community—don’t know some of the history that shaped our lives today. I know I didn’t. Not long ago, I learned about something…
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What is the Disability Pride Flag Mean to Me
Disability Pride Month Series — Marie W.O.W.C.P. When I look at the Disability Pride Flag, I do not just see colors. I see stories. I see people. I see history. And I see pride. For many years, I struggled with what disability meant in my own life. Not because I hated who I was. But…
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The Generation In Between
Disability Pride Month Series — Marie W.O.W.C.P. Sometimes I feel like I belong to a generation that existed between two worlds. I was born after the disability rights movement had already begun changing lives, but before many of those changes fully reached everyday life. I was born after people had already started fighting for accessibility,…
