Stories by and for the Disabled Community (Nothing About Us Without Us)

Disability Community

Sharing our stories has the power to help us find and hold each other. They can empower us, change us. They help us feel less alone in a world that was not often made for us.

Cool Cats

365 Days with Disability

The Mom Project

Since I’ve felt very isolated most of my life, I try and create spaces or collect resources to connect. Projects that this blog hosts:

Cool Cats (Voices from the Disability Community): this was started initially to meet cool people. I asked the same set of questions to everyone – the beauty and fun were in the diversity of responses to the same set of questions. Read them here: Cool Cats

365 Days with Disability: an instagram hashtag to highlight everyday disability. Not about the “overcoming” or the “specialness” or whatever our experiences; rather just how doggone normal it all is. This project won Voice of the Year for SheMedia. See the hashtags here: #365DayswithDisability

Disabled Mom Project: Plenty out there about non-disabled moms of kids with disabilities. Yay! But I also wanted more of our voices of moms WITH disabilities. So I started collecting interviews of moms with disabilities. These are more open-ended interviews. Blog posts that I’ve written on being a parent are also found on this page: Disabled Parenting

“I Thought I Was…”: A series by Kari Turner. Through interviews with people across the disability spectrum, she explores internalized ableism, ideas about disability and more. Scroll down this page for the posts!

Posts on Facebook Groups:

“I Thought I Was…”

A series of interviews by Kari Turner across the disability community, exploring our internalized ableism, perspectives on life and disability, and other cool stuff.

I Thought I Was

I Thought It Wasn’t Respectable to Be Blind

ByKari Turner March 19, 2022March 19, 2022 Reading Time: 16 minutes

black and white image of a white man with white hair and black rimmed glasses. he has a friendly smile

I Thought I Was | Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I Thought I Was Invincible

ByKari Turner January 28, 2022January 21, 2023 Reading Time: 12 minutes

Image of a brilliantly smiling young Asian woman with short dark hair. She is looking the side of the camera. She is wearing a black halter shirt and there appears to be a red banner off focus behind her, as well as greenery. Image by Rose Lincoln, published in Harvard Gazette

I Thought I Was

I Thought I Had to Prove Myself

ByKari Turner January 6, 2022January 6, 2022 Reading Time: 14 minutes

Non-binary person with brown skin and purple t shirt and glasses and curly hair looks unsmiling at the camera. They are wearing glasses and has a ring in their nose septum.

I Thought I Was | Opinion

I Thought I Was Just Lazy

ByKari Turner November 14, 2021March 19, 2023 Reading Time: 16 minutes

light skinned woman with brown hair and laughing brown eyes props her chin on her hand, she is laughing with her face alight

I Thought I Was | Opinion

I Thought I Was Invisible

ByKari Turner October 27, 2021June 5, 2023 Reading Time: 11 minutes

I thought I was stupid - background light blue, white man with brown hair and long brown beard is laughing broadly with his eyes closed; he has his plan over half of his face

I Thought I Was | Opinion

I Thought I Was Just Stupid

ByKari Turner October 17, 2021November 14, 2021 Reading Time: 6 minutes

Original Series

Cool Cats: Voices from the Disability Community

One of the first series on this blog, started in 2011. It spans the disability community, asking the same set of questions of everyone. It’s a fun, easy way to get to know some super awesome people, aka, “Cool Cats”