Columns

For as long as I can remember, I have participated in the SMA community in some way. Whether it was opening a lemonade stand as a little girl, participating in a research study, or running a nonprofit organization as an adult, I have always been committed to making…

The Olympic Games in Tokyo are happening right now, which makes me think about how those of us with SMA are athletes in our own special way. How do we win against the opposing team of our symptoms? We must have high amounts of endurance, the will to overcome…

I had Mrs. Ruby Miner for spelling in the seventh grade. Besides spelling words, we defined, pronounced, and wrote them neatly. Stepping into Room 217 usually brought on a slight spell of jitters, even for this decent speller. I can only imagine the palpitations had I not been an attentive…

The problem with disability pride is that it’s a little bit mythical. It’s not something you can describe or explain. It’s an enigma. A paradox. It shouldn’t exist, but it does, and the illogic of it — valuing something the world abhors — makes the concept seem impossible. You…

I can still see the golden afternoon of my first tea party like it was only yesterday. I swung open the wooden cottage gate. In the center of a secret garden surrounded by dense evergreen hedgerows, a buffet table sat beneath the spotlight of the sun, awaiting guests. An elegant…

I never planned on writing about video games for my column. But after three columns about four games by two different studios and counting, I thought it’d be fun to tell the origin story of how gaming became a big part of my life and disability advocacy. So, hit pause…

It’s no surprise that I love seeing myself in my favorite stories. Take “Mass Effect,” for example, a science fiction media franchise by video game developer BioWare. One of my best friends, Sherry, has written several columns about the franchise, which she recently played from beginning to end. Every…

Society often defines successful people as those who have achieved several traditional milestones. Those milestones tend to include obtaining a college degree, becoming financially independent, buying a home, getting married, and raising children. If you’ve achieved anything on that list, congratulations! Please know that these are all praiseworthy accomplishments. My…

Even though I’ve been disabled all my life, I had never heard of Disability Pride Month until I scrolled past someone’s Instagram post last July. I guess that’s the beauty of social media: For every detrimental effect it has on our well-being, it can also serve as a…

So you’ve badly hurt another person’s feelings, and the guilt they’re making you feel is burning hot. You know how that goes, right? Once, a friend was so steaming mad about a mistake I made that you could cut the atmosphere’s tension with a knife. I…