Disabled Writers
Image description: A Deaf Black man smiles and looks at something in the distance while signing. The man has glasses, a beard, and septum piercing, and stands outdoors in front of a black wall with sunkissed foliage while wearing a peach shirt, smartwatch, beaded bracelet, and hair tied back with a bandana.
Photo courtesy Disabled and Here, a disabled-led free and inclusive stock photo project celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).
Nothing about us without us
Disabled Writers, founded in 2017 as a co-partnership between s.e. smith, Vilissa Thompson, and Alice Wong, is a resource to help editors connect with disabled writers and journalists, and journalists connect with disabled sources. Currently, Anna Hamilton is the database editor and social media manager for the project. Our goal is to promote paid opportunities for multiply marginalized members of the disability community, and to encourage editors and journalists to think of disabled people as writers and sources for stories that stretch beyond disability issues.
This resource is specifically designed to help editors connect with disabled people working in journalism and other writing/media professions, or trying to break in. It also includes disabled experts who are available to serve as sources, such as attorneys, physicians, social workers, artists, and others with professional/lived experience or education that makes them expert sources in their fields.
Don’t stop with us, though: Editors of Color maintains a listing of other databases advancing diversity and inclusion in media, arts, and culture.
Who do you need?
Quick tip: Use “filter” to quickly view by area(s) of expertise and type of availability, such as “personal essays” or “medicine.” Can’t use the embedded database here? You can view the Disabled Writers database on Airtable.
Join us
Our goal is to promote paid opportunities for multiply marginalized members of the disability community in media, and to encourage editors and journalists to think of disabled people as writers and sources for stories that stretch beyond disability issues. Membership in the database is open to anyone who identifies as disabled, regardless of legal status or nature of disability; if you're not sure if you belong, you probably do!
We sometimes get asked "why Disabled Writers, not Disabled Journalists"? This organization includes writers of all kinds and skill levels, not just journalists, and we also know that imposter syndrome can make it hard for people to identify themselves as "journalists."