2016 Election

Breaking the taboo surrounding depression, anxiety, and suicide is now more important than ever. During the days following the 2016 election, suicide hotlines received a record influx of phone calls from people all across the nation vocalizing their anxiety regarding what the future holds. Although it is unclear how the next few years will unfold, what [...]

Dear Mr. Trump, I hope this letter finds you doing well. You might remember me from the letter I wrote to you asking for an apology for mocking New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski’s disability. I don’t know if you read it or not, but it’d still be nice to get an apology. First, I [...]

Dear Newly Elected and Appointed Officials: My name is Maria Zuccarello. I am a fully credentialed Special Education teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. I also have a Master’s degree in Special Education. I am writing to urge you to take a vital and necessary role in maintaining and further developing healthcare reform [...]

This election has been a cause of distress for many, Crohnies and ostomates included. No matter what your individual views are on each candidate, there is a degree of uncertainty involved with any transition of leadership, let alone a change as drastic as the one we are now facing with our newly elected president. Knowing [...]

Many of us want to make the world a better place for our children. Many of us want our children to grow into happy, healthy and successful adults. Many of us have different opinions on how to achieve that. As parents, I think we should teach our children there is more to diversity than the [...]

Dear President-Elect Trump, Hi, we’ve not been properly introduced. I’m Darcy Daniels from Massachusetts. Full disclosure, I didn’t vote for you, but I still want you to succeed because you’re my president, and it will be your face that represents me around the world. That’s the way American democracy works, and I’m a big believer [...]

My name is Sara, and I have a disability. I recently said this (or something like it) out loud for the first time. It’s an odd shift in identity, to go from studying disability in an academic sense and understanding how to advocate for people with disabilities as a professional – to becoming disabled. I [...]

I’m angry. Infuriated, really. I’m sad to the depths of my soul. I’m confused. So lost that I don’t even know how to begin or where to start. Except here. Silence and apathy in the face of hate makes us just as guilty. I’m writing this for many reasons. Obviously it’s in the wake of [...]

I’ve seen article after article and social media posts galore telling people who voted for Hillary Clinton to get over ourselves and stop crying. I get it, it’s an election result. There’s nothing I can do but accept it and move on. Believe me, I’m working on it. I’ve remained connected with all my friends [...]

No matter what side you were on, it’s been an extremely intense, stressful election season. Tensions in the U.S. rose to a boiling point last night, which culminated in Donald Trump being elected our next president. This meant you were either devastated or ecstatic. I’m not seeing too much middle ground here. I’m not writing this [...]