Finding Pride in My Disability

July is Disability Pride Month. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed on July 26, 1990, to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. Following this legislation, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day event in July 1990 and Disability Pride Month was born. “To change the way people think about and define “disability,” to […]

Unpacking Dr. Oz Attacking John Fetterman for Surviving a Stroke

Dr. Oz is trying to erode our trust in John Fetterman, vy strongly implying he’s hiding something about his health or unable to make an informed decisions about his own capabilities. Frankly, this again takes us back to abortion. There’s a shaming factor around *why* someone wants to access an abortion while also a patronizing […]

COVID – Lingering

So my active symptoms began on Tuesday, August 16, but I was exposed the previous Friday. It has been over two weeks. I feel better, for sure. But I also feel different and not better or at least not myself better if that makes sense. Mostly, I am exhausted physically and mentally. I wake up […]

Et tu, Hannah Gadsby? “Phone Free Experiences” and ADA Accommodations #MentalHealthAwareness

Mental health Awareness Month Anxiety

This won’t be the post you expect. Noted lesbian and creator Hannah Gadsby is coming to Pittsburgh this Thursday as part of her Body of Work tour. She’s performing at the noted Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland, part of the Carnegie Museums. A lovely venue. My first visit there was in the 1990s when I […]

Autistic Asian-American Teen Trans Woman Kathryn Newhouse Murdered by Her Father in Georgia

On Saturday March 19, 2022, a 19-year-old Asian-American autistic trans woman living with mental illness issues was murdered by her father in their family home. Her father then died by suicide using the same gun. Her name was Kathryn (Katie) Newhouse. A native of Illinois, Kathryn was most recently living with her family in Canton, Georgia. […]

The Time a Lesbian Democrat Shamed Me for Being a Disabled Person With Cats

Kittens Instagram

A few days ago, a person whom I know only through social media and a few mutual friends decided to leave a comment on an Instagram post I had shared – a photo of some of our resident cats and foster kittens eating dinner together. Her comment was a disproportionate reaction to  few cat hashtags. […]

That Time When the Social Security Administration Took Away My Disability Benefits Without Telling Me Why: Part One

SSDI Benefits Stopped

A week ago Friday, I put the final touches on an essay for PublicSource and gave it my blessing to be published the following Monday. The topic was social security and I had a teeny twinge about triggering an unwarranted review by someone who sees all the words I create, but doesn’t read them enough […]

Four Reasons We Use a Q&A Format to Interview Artists & The Exception We Made for Emily Saliers

  We like Q&A’s. Read our archive here (and the AMPLIFY archive here.) Recently, more than a few of our potential interviewees just didn’t return their Q&A so we were not able to promote their event/performance/activity. They also didn’t benefit from the SEO and outgoing links and all that lovely Interwebs magic. And there’s a […]

Meg, 30, is a Genderqueer Femme in Washington County #AmplifyUpdates

At the request of our contributors, we are creating space for people to submit updates. We know that for some folks, life has changed so we are offering an opportunity to post an update to earlier responses. We will NOT be modifying that content, but we will create a link to this new post. This will […]

Selene, 60, is genderfluid, pansexual, femme-presenting, neuroqueer and more #AMPLIFY

How do you describe your identity? genderfluid, pansexual, femme-presenting, dom
white as f*ing bleached flour
autistic, neurodivergent, neuroqueer
multiply disabled, invisibly disabled, visibly disabled, auditory processing disorder, executive function disorder, ehlers danlos syndrome, partially ambulatory

Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? Have been more or less out as weird-queer all my life. Had some excellent friends, also some friends of my mother’s were supportive. Several teachers.

Got beat up, excluded, gamed. Autism (undiagnosed) was not helpful in knowing whom to trust.