Uplifting Black Voices: An Interview With Mugabi Byenkya

You might remember Mugabi Byenkya from the guest post he wrote for Yopp back in 2022. He and and Denny Upkins, our resident interviewer extraordinaire, hatched a plan to add an Interview with Mugabi Byenkya to to Denny’s ongoing series, Uplifting Black Voices.

Resources Created by a Disabled Writer & Artist

It’s July, which is disability pride month, and as such I wanted to share with you a compilation of the resources and work I’ve spent the last seven years assembling. If you’d like to learn more about the experience of disability and chronic illness, or you’d like a list of resources to point family and friends to, this is the list for you. 

Disclosing Disability: Why It’s Hard to Reveal My Disability to Strangers

I originally wrote this piece about disclosing disability in the early days of my grappling with the loss of dance as a result of my disability. Since then, my baseline ability has fluctuated many times but even five years later, this piece still resonates strongly with the complex evaluation process necessary to safely disclose a disability, and the grief that comes when the onset of disability is later in life.

Accessibility, Social Justice, and Self Growth: How to be an Accessible Person

When I joined the disability activism community, I learned a new frame of reference that changed how I engaged with the world at large: Accessibility. I had no idea that this concept would expand for me from a branch of activism to a life philosophy and identity: How to be an accessible person.  

How to Celebrate Disability Pride Month

It’s July, which means it’s the month the disabled community has chosen to celebrate disability pride month! Celebrating pride is all about increasing visibility, awareness, and care for a marginalized community. If you are looking for a way to do that this July, read on!

Say Goodbye to the Version of Me You Knew: A Letter to Friends & Family of Chronically Ill People

For years I’ve heard stories from my chronically ill friends of loved ones who abandoned them or who refused to believe that their illness was real. So, I wanted to write a letter to the friends & family of chronically ill people. 

10 Harmful Beliefs About Dissociative Identity Disorder

One of the reasons we wanted to start writing about Dissociative Identity Disorder after we received our diagnosis is the massive amount of misinformation out there. Having this diagnosis is highly stigmatized and many doctors and even mental health professionals still perpetuate these harmful beliefs about dissociative identity disorder.