Turning Disability Discrimination Into Creative Inspiration

3 years ago this week, I graduated from the University of Notre Dame with my BA in English and a minor in Business Economics.

After graduating, I founded The Rolling Explorer, a blog dedicated to sharing my experiences as a disabled, young woman living in the 21st century.

I’ve shared before that Jim Small, a past mentor of mine, gave me the push I needed to start my blog the summer after I graduated. But that’s not the whole story.

My final semester at Notre Dame was tough. I had spent 3+ years on this gorgeous campus learning so much and growing into the person that I am today. But I still didn’t feel welcome.

Many buildings were inaccessible and I was constantly battling the inevitable winter snowstorms of the Midwest. And as difficult as these situations were to deal with on a practical level, the attitudes and behaviors of my peers were much more detrimental to my overall self-esteem.

I was experiencing ableism on a massive scale, I just didn’t have the word to describe it yet. And some of the ableism I was experiencing at the time was completely internalized. Not only were people actively dismissing my needs and treating me like a second-rate human being, but I wholeheartedly believed that I deserved this treatment because I was disabled.

On the verge of a mental breakdown, I sought out the counseling services on campus. From there, I began talking to my friends more openly about the situations I was experiencing. Most importantly, though, I began sharing my stories online.

It was small at first. Short little posts on my Instagram feed that had previously just housed travel pictures with cheesy recycled captions. But I now had a message to share. I now had a purpose. And I was going to use my gift of writing to share it.

So, when Jim suggested I start a blog to uplift my writing career, I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about.

I still experience ableism regularly, including the pesky internalized kind. But, I now have the tools and the community to help me turn my experiences into creative inspiration. I now both feel and KNOW that I belong.