What’s in a label? Does it matter how we identify? For me, and for many others, the answer is a resounding “Hell yes!” For much of the disability community, words and language matter. How we define things, how we self-identify — it all matters.

But my recent conversation with 13-year-old influencer, Tilly Lockey, and Sarah, her mam (mother), was an opportunity to consider an entirely new perspective on the concept of how we identify as people with either neurological or physical differences.

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The UN secretary-general divined that there must be racism at the UN, because there is racism everywhere. But then he proceeded to tell his staff not to join protests. And then he backtracked. It’s a lot...

His original logic was sound. Honestly, I’m glad to hear the UN acknowledge it. But owning up to racism while simultaneously denying your staff of colour the right to openly protest felt particularly cruel. It also feels incredibly familiar from my time in the humanitarian world.

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It’s #WorldMentalHealth Day and I recently shared my story on Made Visible Podcast – which highlights life with invisible illnesses. I was asked what language I use to describe depression so that those around me can understand. Here’s what I came up with.

Depression feels like you’re drowning in an ocean, and everyone is chilling on the sand while yelling at you to “Just swim!”

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My ‘dad’ died just before Christmas last year. The quotes are intentional because he really wasn’t in any shape or form a ‘dad’. In fact, when I’m feeling most bitter, I call him the ‘sperm donor with benefits’. He abandoned my mother, sister, and me when I was about 3 and pretty much never looked back after migrating to the U.S. from our native home of Trinidad and Tobago. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen him. On two hands I can count the number of actual conversations we’ve ever had.

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I typically dread phone calls (hello Social Anxiety Disorder). But in the two weeks leading up to my scheduled Skype interview with Stephanie Thomas, I was oddly excited. To me, she’s a true innovator, and being the innovation junkie that I am, I spent two weeks inside my head trying to whittle down the thousands of things I wanted to talk to her about. Stephanie is a Disability Fashion Styling expert, thought leader, and tastemaker. She invented what’s known as the Disability Fashion Styling System© (DFSS) in 2004. It’s an inclusive and empowering styling guide for Disabled people and their dressers that helps them dress with confidence, dignity, and self-reliance.

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The first year of marriage brings with it many revelations. There’s the moment when you look at the love of your life and wonder how come you hadn’t realised until now that they were this annoying. When you discover they don’t know what ‘clean’ means. And that, surprisingly, there are no limits to just how petty and passive aggressive you can be when the moment truly calls for it. Now, throw cancer into the mix and welcome to our life.

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