Author Archives: aletmanski

sepia toned portrait of Ada Lovelace with long ringlets and a Victorian era gown

Disability Digest #20 featuring Sarah Biffen, Ali Stroker, Brian Wilson, Selma Blair and Helen Keller

Sepia toned portrait of mathematician Ada Lovelace by Victorian artist Sarah Biffen. Lovelace has long curly hair. She is wearing a ballroom gown and is adorned with jewellery. Dear Reader “History will be kind to us,” wrote Winston Churchill, “because … Read More

Painting of a water jug and two bottles. Earth tones are interspersed with red, green and blue colours.

Disability Digest #19 featuring Wendy and Phil Allen, Curtis Mayfield, Susan Sygall and Christy Brown

Still Life with jug and bottles. Painting by Christy Brown. Dear Reader The painting that graces this issue is by Irish painter and writer Christy Brown. Also featured are educators and incurable romantics Wendy and Phil Allen, legendary soul singer, … Read More

Rusidah Badawi, Indonesian photographer and double amputee holding a camera in front of her face

Disability Digest #18 ( May 21- 31) featuring Alexander Pope the most quoted writer in the English language, poet Jane Kenyon and English suffragette May Billinghurst

Rusidah Badawi, Indonesian professional photographer. Picture courtesy of #womensart Dear Reader The photograph that graces this issue of the Digest is by Indonesian freelance photographer, Rusidah Badawi. Badawi was born without forearms and works with film, not digital. She uses … Read More

purple irises against a red-orange and green background

Disability Digest #17( May 12- 19) featuring Stevie Wonder, David Smith, Michelle Dawson, Stacey Milbern and Michelle Amiere.

Irises hand painted on silk by fabric artist Michelle Amerie Dear Reader Painter, photographer, sculpturer  Michelle Amerie created the Irises that open this issue of the Disability Digest. In her spare time she is a spokesperson for the MS Society … Read More

empty electric wheelcahir in an artist's studio

Disability Digest #16 (May 6-11) featuring Maria Montessori, Anne Strike, Lauren Potter and Tom Shakespeare

Artist SD Holman’s Empty Chair captures disability-arts pioneer Geoff McMurchy’s wheelchair in his home after he passed away in 2015. Dear Reader This issue of the Disability Digest highlights renowned educator Maria Montessori, athlete and diversity campaigner Anne Strike, Glee … Read More

sculpture of two hands intertwined, one white and one gold with missing fingers and thumb

Disability Digest #15 (April 27-30) featuring Merissa Hylton, Antonio Gramsci, Jillian Mercado and Lynn Manning.

“I Am Here – Acceptance,” sculpture by multidisciplinary artist @merissahyltonart⁣ ©2019 Merissa Hylton. Dear Reader There are two ways disability is erased from history. One is to completely ignore the person with a disability, their presence and contribution. The other … Read More

splashes of purple, rose and yellow on the rights side. The poem Opinions on the left side

Disability Digest #14 (April 22- 25) featuring Lucy Maud Montgomery author of Anne of Green Gables

Poem and art by Kirsteen Main. From her book “Dear Butterfly” Dear Reader This Digest is written to recognize people with disabilities for who they really are: authoritative sources on creativity, resilience, love, resistance, science, adversity, a good life and … Read More

picture of your girl with Down syndrome wearing purple dress sitting in a chair

Disability Digest Issue #13 (April 12-17) Featuring Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller’s teacher and friend

Icelandic photographer Sigga Ella’s series of portraits of people with Down syndrome called ‘First and foremost I am.’ It features 21 images because people with Down syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21. Image courtesy #womensart Dear Reader Welcome … Read More

Disability Digest #12 (April 1-7) – featuring Virginia Hall, the spy who terrified the Nazis

“A Happy Sea” by New Zealand artist Yaniv Janson. www.YanivJanson.com Dear Reader Welcome to the Disability Digest. If you are a first time reader, this Digest was created to correct what history has overlooked, the contributions of people with disability. … Read More

picture of man wearing a dark fur lined hat, green coat and smoking a pipe. Top background is orange, bottom is red

Disability Digest # 11 (March 25-31)

Vincent Van Gogh born March 30, 1853. ‘Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear’ Dear Reader This issue of the Disability Digest highlights blues guitarist Jeff Healey, lawyer Harriet McBryde Johnson, writer and political activist Alice Wong, and Black Beauty author Anna Sewell. … Read More