disability – Haddayr Copley-Woods

I am so motherfucking inspirational

Last night, I was in a Fringe play, and my character was a disabled woman who has figured out how to monetize pity and guilt by going on a motivational speaking tour circuit. (It’s fun! You should see it if you’re in town.) This morning, I was at a coffee shop with a very youngContinue reading “I am so motherfucking inspirational”

Dear Bitter Butch: How Do I Thank Someone For an Offensive Gift?

. . . It was a Christian/Inspirational autobiography by a woman with polio, all about how turning her life over to Jesus helped her overcome her depression and the tragedy of her affliction. Not only had I never thought of my cerebral palsy as a tragic affliction, at the time, I was a budding Neo-Pagan witch. Mostly,Continue reading “Dear Bitter Butch: How Do I Thank Someone For an Offensive Gift?”

Strange Hobbies

Do you enjoy stepping directly in the path of a person in a wheelchair and then just sort of standing there vaguely? Or maybe do think there’s nothing better than walking at a smooth pace and then suddenly stopping for no discernible reason, no matter who is behind you? How about walking straightContinue reading “Strange Hobbies”

In Which Other People Really Want to Help Me

Downtown Minneapolis, where the corporations live, is a strange place. If you looked at the streets and skyways at a typical rush hour or lunchtime, you would have no idea that Minneapolis is only 40% white and has a median income of around $50K for a family. Healthy white people from the suburbs wearing veryContinue reading “In Which Other People Really Want to Help Me”

Representation

Sometimes, I don’t realize how much I hunger to see myself represented until suddenly I’m looking at it. This mom who uses forearm crutches was just photographed for Humans of New York with her daughter. I was astounded to feel my eyes fill with tears, to see myself reflected like this.

Come see Listen to Your Mother: Twin Cities!

This Thursday, May 9 at 7 pm, I’ll be joining a terrific cast of women reading essays on mothering our kids and, in some cases, our own mothers — in Listen to Your Mother: Twin Cities at the Riverview. Advance tickets are $15; $18 at the door.

On assuming you know things and being happy and biking

I posted this wonderful article on Facebook last night by The DIY Couturier: 21 Tips to Keep Your Shit Together When You’re Depressed. It was a direct response to one of those interminable articles by happy people on how to be happy just like them (quick sum-up: it’s not luck, stunningly easy access to the upperContinue reading “On assuming you know things and being happy and biking”

On the supposed “death with dignity” movement, and the value of a disabled life

Whenever assisted suicide comes up amongst my friends and family, they are very pro-assisted suicide. I get angry and quiet and don’t have the energy to explain explain explain, which is unusual for me, but this topic is so vast and exhausting and sometimes I think that no one with a disability is in anyContinue reading “On the supposed “death with dignity” movement, and the value of a disabled life”

I made it I made it I passed the audition

And so did one of my besties!!!! So, I am going to be in the show Listen to Your Mother, doing a live version of my last MPR commentary on my youngest son whose name isn’t Bob, who turned the tables on strangers who stare at his mom. I am in quite fine company.

Disabled parenting

I’ve written a rather uncharacteristically personal piece for MPR this time, about parenting a shy kid when you stand out in the crowd: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/28/haddayr