Disability Digest Overview

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 Church[...]

Still Life with jug and bottles. Painting by Christy Brown. Dear ReaderThe 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 so[...]

Rusidah Badawi, Indonesian professional photographer. Picture courtesy of #womensart Dear ReaderThe photograph that graces this issue of the Digest is by Indonesian freelance photographer, Rusidah Badawi. Badawi was born without forearms a[...]

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 which includes rappelling down high rise[...]

Artist SD Holman’s Empty Chair captures disability-arts pioneer Geoff McMurchy’s wheelchair in his home after he passed away in 2015. Dear ReaderThis issue of the Disability Digest highlights renowned educator Maria Montessori, athlete and[...]

"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 is to erase all t[...]

Poem and art by Kirsteen Main. From her book "Dear Butterfly" Dear ReaderThis Digest is written to recognize people with disabilities for who they really are: authoritative sources on creativity, resilience, love, resistance, science, advers[...]

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 to the April 11-17th edition of[...]

"A Happy Sea" by New Zealand artist Yaniv Janson. www.YanivJanson.com Dear ReaderWelcome 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 wit[...]

Vincent Van Gogh born March 30, 1853. ‘Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear' Dear ReaderThis issue of the Disability Digest highlights blues guitarist Jeff Healey, lawyer Harriet McBryde Johnson, writer and political activist Alice Wong, and Bla[...]

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room, Nov 2019 in NYC Dear ReaderThis issue of the Disability Digest highlights Valerie Rose the daughter of singer Phoebe Snow, actor and playwright James Sanders, Chinese poet sensation Yu Xiuhua, and the mo[...]

Judith Scott, Untitled, 1993 Courtesy Brooklyn Museum Dear Reader In researching my book, The Power of Disability, I discovered that people with disabilities have been major players throughout history. Sadly the history books have missed most of their achievements, or given credit to some[...]

Yellow Birds by Maud Lewis Dear Reader In researching my book, The Power of Disability, I discovered that people with disabilities have been major players throughout history. Much more than I realized. If you were to take away their contributions, you wouldn’t recognize the world. The wor[...]

Linen jacket by Agnes Emma Richter, a seamstress who embroidered her story onto a jacket while incarcerated in an asylum in the late 1800's. Thanks #womensart Dear ReaderPeople with disabilities have been major players throughout histo[...]

"Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are a bourbon biscuit" - Frida Kahlo. Thanks #womensart (Images are © to respective owners) Dear ReaderDisability is written out of history either by ignoring the contributions of persons with di[...]

"Winter Mourning" by artist, philosopher and activist Judith Snow. Image courtesy Jack Pearpoint and Inclusion Press. Dear Reader Disability is written out of history either by ignoring the contributions of persons with disability or by separating their disability from their contributions[...]

Cartoon copyright John Callahan Dear Reader Disability is written out of history either by ignoring the contributions of persons with disability or by separating their disability from their contributions. This issue of the Disability Digest is still in beta mode as we strive for improveme[...]

Andrew Wyeth. Christina’s World. 1948. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Andrew Wyeth Dear Reader Thanks for your feedback on the first two issues of this Digest. I confess I’m having trouble limiting the number of profiles as well as their length. Bear with me, there is so much to sh[...]

Sophie de Oliveira Barata, founder of the Alternative Limb Project, works closely with amputees to create surreal and glamorous prosthetic limbs that “can help to break down social barriers, and delight the eye.” Courtesy #womensart Dear Reader Thanks for the feedback on the first issue o[...]

UK artist Susan Austin, underwater performance in wheelchair, 2013 aimed to challenge perceptions of disability #womensart. Credit: https://twitter.com/womensart1 Dear ReaderThis is  a beta version of something I've been wan[...]