My 12 Hacks for Attending a Professional Conference While Living with Invisible Disability

1 Aug
I avoid in-person trainings and especially conferences, because my chronic conditions make them quite uncomfortable and even agonizingly painful. I live with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease (with one terrible herniated disc named Larry), and...
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Documinitary: 4-Campus Speaking Tour in New York

12 Apr
I finally made another little movie! This was the first week of February, 2024, when I spoke at Cayuga Community College’s Auburn and Fulton campuses, as well as Onondaga Community College and State University of New York Morrisville. Here you...
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The Dark Side of Adventure

23 Mar
How I Lost My Ability to “Pass” and What Happens When People Make Assumptions Five years ago, when I published my first article on The Mighty (featuring my Splat system for communicating about chronic physical and mental health conditions), a...
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How I Surmounted the Year of Grief

3 Jun
the author on a rocky trail
Wednesday marked one year since my best friend left. That is, my beloved mutt and companion of nearly 14 years, Amica, died. I still miss her every day. Every once in a while, there are still tears. I think it’ll...
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Editing Memories

10 Jun
Last month, after April’s surprisingly successful jaunt together for business and pleasure in New England, I took my beloved nearly-14-year-old mutt on one more adventure, to visit the people I got her from as a puppy (who are also dear...
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Advance Information Checklist for People with Disabilities and Their Allies

24 Apr
One thing I love when I’m doing a presentation on disabilities is experiencing the volume of human kindness. There is always an atmosphere of “how can I help?” and this yields great questions during the Q&A portion at the end...
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10 Travel Tips from the Disabled Duo

12 Nov
We love adventure, my old lady dog and I. This is most likely our last big one. You should see us in the mornings! I’m all sore and stiff with my arthritis and foggy from my fibro. She’s morning-delirious and...
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When an Apostrophe Made Me Cry, and How I Made It OK

14 Aug
This afternoon, an apostrophe made me cry. OK, context. My fibromyalgia is in full flare today. Extreme fatigue, brain fog, body aches, plus the mental health symptoms: anxiety and depression. I have a ton of work to get done in...
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