“So how do you… do it?” When it comes to sex, people with disabilities are often times viewed as sexless, not worthy of sexual desire, fetishized and often stripped of our bodily agency. So how does this all work? Well, it’s a case-by-case basis. Communication is key here. It’s more than just asking what your partner...
Category: Ableism
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What It Was Like Checking Myself Into a Psych Ward
(Trigger Warning: suicide, institutionalization) Tonight, I found out that I have lost yet another friend to suicide. Yet another person whose hand I could have held, whose phone call I would have taken, whose live, warm body could have been in my arms. Once the initial shock wears off, I am left with the same...
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4 Ways You Can Help a Partner With Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness marked by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships. It’s always weird telling someone that I have borderline personality disorder. People tend to have this particular idea of what someone with borderline personality disorder acts like and I definitely seem to not to fit the description. I’m a...
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7 Ways To Curb Depression During the Holidays
Oooh, the holidays. Everyone full of joy and cheer. Holiday-themed music blasting on radio stations since the day after Black Friday. Television specials about the meaning of Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa, gatherings. And, trauma. Yes, you read right. Trauma. For persons suffering from mental illness, trauma and depression are two of the most common things intersecting with one another...
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How I Learned to Be Okay with Identifying as Disabled When I’m Already in Other Marginalized Groups
When I was a child, I had something called Blount’s Disease. This meant I had perma-bow legs that would get worse if medical intervention wasn’t done. This also meant I had multiple surgeries, metal pins in my leg, some balance issues, and various moments in my young life in which I would have to use...
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Here’s the Problem With Kylie Jenner’s Interview Cover
The internet has been buzzing for the past week over Kylie Jenner’s recent cover photo shoot for Interview Magazine. As a person with disabilities (and a wheelchair user since I was three years old) between this, and the news about the mass shooting in San Bernardino, I’m fuming as I write this! So the cover...
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5 Reasons Why This Viral Photo Exposing the Invisibility of Crohn’s Disease Is So Important
Recently, a 24-year-old British man named Ste Walker took to Facebook to explain that while he may look fine on the outside to the everyday passerby, underneath his clothes he lives with and battles Crohn’s Disease daily – despite its invisible nature (*even writing Crohn’s produces a red squiggly line underneath because it doesn’t exist as...
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What It Means To Be Tired
Driving home from therapy, I blasted Taylor Swift’s latest album and tried to enjoy the pretty weather. In fact, the weather was disturbingly pretty this Monday. My dad quipped that we live in the only US state that pooh-poohs sunshine and begs for stormy skies. Nevada isn’t doing so hot either–rather, it’s also doing too...