Meriah Nichols Talks About Disability

Updated: The Disability Pride Flag

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 23:30:00 -0400

the disability pride flag: what it represents, who it's for

Navigating the Down Syndrome Transition Plan: An Interview with the Authors

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 04:14:21 -0500

In this conversation, Jo Ann and Stephanie Meredith talk about their newly updated handbook that helps families in the Down syndrome community navigate the transition to adulthood. Originally written by Jo Ann and now refreshed with Stephanie’s insight, the book offers guidance for families moving from school-age supports into adult life, a stage that can feel overwhelming at times.

They share what inspired the handbook, offer practical advice for planning the transition, and discuss topics like building self-determination, finding inclusive work and housing, staying involved in the community, understanding guardianship, and managing long-term health. The handbook highlights that every family’s path is unique, filled with its own possibilities and choices. Best of all, it’s available for free as a “living document,” updated regularly based on feedback from the community it serves.

Jose Rosario, Cool Cat; Voice from the Disability Community

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 09 Aug 2025 15:06:10 -0400

This is an interview with Jose Rosario, a bad ass activist, mental health therapist, super smart and fun guy who has somehow never watched Star Trek. It is a part of the Cool Cats: Voices from the Disability Community series, in which Meriah interviews cool people from the disability community so you can get to know them. Jose's "Short" Bio Born to young Puerto Rican parents, José Rosario developed Cerebral Palsy as a premature baby. His family's journey towards equity deeply impacted his mental health. Currently nearing his PhD in Clinical Psychology, his research focuses on cultural trauma in intersectional communities. He is an Interdisciplinary Minority Fellow for the American Psychological Association, member of the Congressional Diversity and Equality Advisory Board for Congressman James Langevin, and member of the Rhode Island Attorney General Community Advisory Board. He has been honored with the Chris Martin Humanitarian Award and the Victoria Lederberg Award for Excellence in Psychology. José is a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator helping business, nonprofits, and educational institutions to understand and implement identity-inclusive mental health protocols and culturally aware community healing. https://youtu.be/_ZgoUvAopKg An Interview with Jose Rosario, Cool Cat Meriah: [00:00:00] Okay. Welcome Jose. Thank you so much for joining me here on Unpacking Disability and, the Cool Cat Voices from the Disability Community Series where we try to. bring disability community together and introduce cool people from the cross-disability community of which you are definitely one. And thank you so much for being here. Jose: Thank you for having me. I'm so glad that we have a space to also show people with disabilities is not one note characters. We are complex. Meriah: Oh, absolutely. I'm wondering if you can take a minute to introduce yourself. Jose: Sure. Who am I? That's a great question. I am a speaker. I'm an activist. I'm also a therapist. I'm mental health therapist, and I'm a researcher. All of my work is about intersectional violence and how intersectional communities, queer bipoc folks, [00:01:00] queer, disabled folks react to violence and engage in healing. And so, I'm often thinking. About how folks are experiencing harm from various directions. And we don't just cower in fear. There are ways in which we pick ourselves up as a community and move forward. And so, wanting to bring that to light and support and affirm that as much as I can. Meriah: Wow. Thank you. There's so much I want to talk to you about. Yeah. So much. One of the things about the Cool Cat series is as I started this a long time ago,and I ask the same set of questions to everybody. And the point of that is really to emphasize the difference in our answers and how we are so very different. Like we're all coming to this with a lived experience and disability and we're so diverse. I think that's part of the beauty of everyone answering the same set of questions. Diving into those questions, [00:02:00] I am wondering what is your connection with disability? Jose: Oh, such an intimate connection, right? I have been disabled my entire life, and I recognize that disability is the one identity where it can happen anytime in your lifespan. So, all I know is my experience as a disabled person. I was born premature. A couple of months into birth, I stopped breathing and, acquired some brain damage, which led to my CP diagnosis. And so being in a wheelchair using canes like this has been a huge part of me. And I think for a long time there was this. Tension, right? The sort of like, why me aspect to this? Why am I different? What did I do? Why did I have to be this way? And I have very fortunately swung on the other side of the pendulum and been like, you know what? The way that I have to access the world, the way that I have to go into a space and be like,

This is YOUR DISABILITY STORY: What Do You Want it To Say?

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 14:20:00 -0400

Choice is the most powerful tool a human being has. This is an essay about the stories we tell, the choices we make, and the experience of disability

Why Do We Need to Feel Disability Pride?

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 08:01:00 -0400

This is an answer to a question posed, "why do I need to feel pride in my disability? Isn't it enough that I accept my disability?" It will talk about disability pride, models of disability, sparkle sauce and glitter juice. You can watch me read the essay below, or listen on the podcast (it has been edited, but was originally published in July of 2022) Watch the Podcast Video of "Why Do We Need to Feel Pride in Our Disability" here: https://youtu.be/2Rlmm4FSCZc square pegs in a round hole world Listen to me read this by clicking the player below. Why Do We Need to Feel Disability Pride? Why do we need to feel disability pride at all? Doesn’t that feel slightly masochistic, feeling pride in something that has given us grief in our life? Feel pride over something that essentially “isn’t working” from a mainstream cultural perspective. As a friend said on Facebook, “isn’t it enough that I accept it? Why do I need to feel pride over it?” “Isn’t it enough that I accept it? Why do I need to feel pride over it?” Brene Brown wrote in Atlas of The Heart that pride is a feeling of pleasure or celebration related to our accomplishments or efforts. This is authentic pride, it’s positive and can be felt for ourselves and/or others. “I can feel proud of myself, proud of you, proud of us.” Pride is an emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value. Oxford defines it as "the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's own importance." Wikipedia Hubris, on the other hand, is “an inflated sense of one’s own innate abilities that is tied more to the need for dominance than to actual accomplishments.” It’s the negative piece that usually flavors the word, “pride,” and is not actually part of pride at all. To me, there are two things going on with using “pride” in connection with disability: there is the definition of pride itself and the negative taste it can leave in our mouths. And there is the confusion over feeling like we must feel pride over something that may have simply been something difficult for us in our lives. The Feelings Associated with Disability The feelings that we tend to feel growing up with disabilities are shame (feeling flawed, unworthy of love, belonging, connection), guilt (feelings of what we’ve done or failed to do, putting others out, been an inconvenience), humiliation (feeling belittled and put down), and embarrassment (feeling that we’ve done something that has made us uncomfortable, but is a fleeting and relatable experience). These feelings plug in to the medical model of disability (that disability needs to be fixed), and they make perfect sense when viewed through that lens. We feel guilt our families have to go out of their ways to accommodate us, guilt that everyone in our class must wait, bored, while the teacher tries to figure out how to enable the closed captions in our Zoom session. We feel shame in who we are when we see ourselves through the lens of the medical model, that we need to be fixed, made “well”, that our edges of our square pegs need to be shaved off to fit in the round holes of the world. Read: Square Pegs in a Round Peg WorldThe power of the neurodivergent The Social Model of Disability The social model of disability, however, sees disability as a natural and normal part of the human experience. From the social model of disability, it’s the culture that we live in that’s the problem, and culture can be changed. Culture is a living expression, it’s fluid, it can transform. Shaving off our square pegs to fit in the round holes of the world, a’la Medical Model of Disability, is a travesty from the viewpoint of the Social Model of Disability, as it removes all juju, the mojo, the good sauce that disability brings with it. It’s like a giant vacuum cleaner hose, sucking up the glitter that also makes up disability.

Spotlight On: Elevatus and Sexual Education Trainings

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 17:39:04 -0400

This is about Elevatus Training, which is a Sexual Education program for people with Intellectual and Developmental disabilities. This was originally published in 2021 The full interview is in video below. If you prefer the podcast version, just click the link above. The full interview transcript is at the end of this post, with the highlights proceeding it. Sex Ed and Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities: Why We Need to Talk About It Sex education and intellectual or developmental disability (ID/DD) is one of those topics that many parents instinctively shy away from—but it’s absolutely essential. This is not an optional conversation. It's one of those "musts" that sits high on the list, right alongside safety, communication, and autonomy. While exploring what’s out there in the way of sexuality education for people with ID/DD, I came across the work of Katherine McLaughlin. Her website immediately stood out—not just for the depth of the content, but for the tone. It was clear: she gets it. Her approach is grounded in respect, empowerment, and genuine connection with the disability community. She isn’t approaching this work from a top-down, clinical perspective—she’s meeting people where they are and honoring their lived experiences. Her trainings speak directly to self advocates, parents, educators, and support staff. They're practical, affirming, and designed to build real understanding around sexuality, safety, and healthy relationships. It's the kind of education that doesn’t empowers as it informs. I reached out to Katherine to see if she'd be willing to meet, and she graciously agreed. We spoke over Zoom, and I recorded our conversation so I could share it with you. You’ll find the video of our interview below. It's full of insight, warmth, and wisdom I think all of us can benefit from. https://youtu.be/C4xlPk39fvc An Interview with Elevatus Training's Katherine McLauglin on Sexuality Education and ID/DD Key Takeaways from Elevatus Training and Sex Education with ID/DD Katherine McLaughlin is a veteran sexuality educator and trainer with over 25 years of experience, specializing in sexuality and developmental and intellectual disabilities. Her journey began at Planned Parenthood, where she noticed a lack of support for individuals with disabilities in sexual education. Her passion deepened after acquiring a spinal cord injury and becoming a wheelchair user, which offered personal insight into how disability can shift societal perceptions and reinforce the need for inclusive, empowering education. Katherine developed her curriculum in collaboration with self-advocates from Green Mountain Self-Advocates, embedding a core principle of “nothing about us without us.” The result was a team-taught model where people with disabilities co-lead sexuality education classes alongside professionals. Her work now includes a wide array of training: from 3-day professional intensives to online classes and in-service trainings for self-advocates, parents, and staff. Notably, she recently completed a 3-year project in Michigan training 25 professional/self-advocate teams to teach throughout the state. She emphasizes that barriers to sexual education for disabled individuals often come not from the individuals themselves—but from parents and staff who fear or misunderstand sexuality and disability. Common myths include beliefs that disabled people are asexual or childlike, or that talking about sex will encourage sexual behavior. Katherine counters these misconceptions with evidence: education delays sexual activity and increases safe practices. Body autonomy is central to her teachings. Many people with disabilities are conditioned to comply and lack agency over their own bodies and lives. Through empowering practices—like small games that reinforce personal choice—Katherine helps students internalize the right to say no and own their decisions.

You Ask, I Answer: What is Disability Justice?

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:13:40 -0400

This is from my ongoing question-and-answer series, "You Ask, I Answer" in which I take questions that you send me and attempt to answer them. Do you have a question? A Reader asks, What is "disability justice"? Isn't it the same thing as "disability rights"? Dear Reader, I love your question and I'm glad you asked. Disability justice is a sweet, sweet subject and I'd love for our community to be talking about it more. And no, dear reader, disability justice and disability rights are not the same thing. Disability rights are about laws—protections meant to create access and inclusion. Ramps, interpreters, Braille, IDEA, the ADA. All important. All necessary for access. Disability justice goes deeper. It’s about culture. It’s about liberation, intersectionality, community. It’s about building a world where disabled people—all of us—can thrive, not just survive. The term "disability justice" was coined by Patty Berne of Sins Invalid. Disability justice asks us to look beyond ramps and legal wins to the intersectional elements within ourselves and our communities. Disability justice recognizes that we’re not just disabled. We are also made up of all the other intersections that make us who we are: black, brown, queer, trans, fat, poor, undocumented, incarcerated. It recognizes that all of our intersecting pieces matter. Disability justice is grounded in principles like: Intersectionality – Our identities don’t live in separate boxes. They overlap and shape how we move through the world. Leadership of those most impacted – Disabled people of color, queer and trans folks, and others at the margins are at the center. Collective access – Access isn’t a checklist. It’s a practice of care we build together, in community. Collective liberation – We don’t get free alone. We get free together. Sustainability – We honor the pace of our bodies, our minds, and our lives. Now let’s talk about disability pride and disability identity for a minute. Disability pride isn’t just about waving a flag (though the Disability Pride flag is pretty great). It’s about unlearning shame. It’s about knowing that disability isn’t a flaw or a tragedy, that disability is a part of us, that disability is a source of connection, creativity, culture, and wisdom. Disability identity can probably get a little gnarly as so many of us grew up without the words, grew up taught that the goal was to be non-disabled and so we grew up trying to pass as non-disabled. We were taught that we shouldn't want to be disabled, or to appreciate our respective disabilities. Finding our way back to who we really are - which includes our disability - and claiming it, can feel like coming home. Even if it’s a home that still needs unpacking and a bit of patchwork. That’s okay. We still belong. Back to disability justice. Disability justice invites us to imagine more. To go beyond inclusion. To build belonging. To embrace interdependence. To celebrate the full, brilliant complexity of who we are. The 10 Principles of Disability Justice, Sins Invalid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTE42livhQg&t=2s If you'd like to watch me reading this, here's the video! https://youtu.be/kURo35Co6jY

This Disability Activist Has a Message You Need to Hear

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:55:31 -0400

Corbett O'Toole was a keynote speaker at the 2025 PacRim International Conference on Disability. It was awesome; you should have been there. I love her so much, and I loved her keynote so much that I wanted to share it here, and got lucky because everyone said I could. :) Please scroll to the end to watch the video of her speaking. These are words we need to hear right now. Aloha. I'm really happy to be here and I'm really sorry I can't be there in person. In addition to my other disabilities, I got long COVID, so I no longer am able to travel. I'm currently sitting out in the Arizona desert and wishing I was there with you in beautiful Hawaii. Today I've been asked to share my experiences on the disability rights movement. I just want to point out that I'm talking about the Disability Rights Movement, which is a movement that focused primarily on access, physical access, ramps and braille, et cetera, and was mostly run by white people with physical disabilities. And I'm not talking about the Disability Justice Movement, which is a movement that focuses on intersections of oppression and is led by disabled people of color. For more information about the disability justice movement, a good place to start is the Sins invalid website. When I was growing up in the 1950s, and yes, I am that old, I didn't know hardly any other disabled people, and the world was not accessible in any way to me or anybody else with a disability. So imagine my surprise when I was 22 years old and I moved to Berkeley, California, and suddenly I was surrounded by all these people with disabilities and the single most important shift that happened was inside me. I mean, my body didn't change, the environment didn't change, but suddenly I was with people who said, we deserve to be treated with respect. We deserve to not be discriminated against. A good example of this is when we went into a coffee shop. When I would go into a coffee shop by myself before I'd be worried about people staring, and if they said something inappropriate, I'd be all like, oh, it's all my fault. When I would go in with a group of disabled people who all loved who we are, loved being with each other, if something happened, we would just look at them and look at us and go. It's too bad they don't see how fabulous we are. 'cause we know we're fabulous. I see. You are fabulous. You see my fabulousness. We're good. That was a huge shift. We taught each other that we deserve to be treated well. We deserve to have access to healthcare, asks us to education, to employment, to our choice of families. We wanted all of that. But we knew that in order to have that, we didn't just have to change attitudes. We had to fight for our rights. Prior to 1973, I might have rights in one town or one state and not in another. But in 1973, section 504, just one sentence, in the Rehabilitation Act got passed by law. Unfortunately, in 19 77, 4 years later, it still hadn't been enforced. So I had rights, but I couldn't use them. What was I gonna do? So disabled people across the United States decided that they were going to protest in April if the regulations to enforce 504 were not signed. I was part of a group in San Francisco of over 100 disabled people, our families, friends, and support workers who moved into the federal building and stayed there for 26 days until those regulations to enforce 504 were signed. I learned a couple of valuable lessons from that time. One, nobody's gonna give us our rights. We have to know we deserve them. We have to fight for them. And sometimes that means protesting. And two, that to be successful, people with disabilities from a variety of disability communities and racial and ethnic communities and language communities have to come together for a common goal. We got the 504 regulations because we worked across differences towards the goal of getting the regulations, and that was a very important lesson for all of us.

On the Edge of High School: Moxie’s Next Big Step

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 22:56:45 -0400

This is a personal post about where Moxie is in her educational journey and all the feeings that come along with this Moxie starts high school in August. She’s had a solid run at her intermediate school. Her sixth-grade elementary teachers really saw her—they believed in her and recognized her strengths. Thanks to their advocacy, Moxie was placed in what’s called “General Special Ed.” I’m not sure how things work where you are, but here in Hawaiʻi, our district uses four tracks: Honors, General Ed, General Special Ed, and Segregated (or “Fully Self-Contained”). General Special Ed tends to be a mix—students with various disabilities or behavioral differences. Segregated classrooms are typically where students with more significant intellectual or developmental disabilities are placed. In my experience, students with Down syndrome are almost always placed in the Segregated track. I’ve never seen anyone with Down syndrome placed in General Special Ed. But Moxie’s teachers advocated for her, and she landed in General Special Ed—with the best Special Ed Coordinator I’ve ever encountered. He was phenomenal—genuinely committed to understanding and supporting her. He made a massive difference. He and the school administration even allowed me to quietly observe her classes. That may not sound like much, but it was huge—especially in contrast to her elementary school, where parents weren’t even allowed on campus, much less in classrooms. Through those observations, I got to witness her agency. Moxie knows what she wants. She had her priorities: time with her favorite teacher and lunch. She was consistently late to the class she didn’t care about—because it just wasn’t important to her. I also saw that, while students were friendly on the surface, she didn’t have any actual friends. She was almost always alone. I cried over that. But Moxie didn’t. There were some truly outstanding teachers in her intermediate school. That said, the school counselor missed a lot of opportunities to create meaningful peer connections. As someone who’s both a counselor and an educator, that was hard for me to stomach. Still, the support she did have, and the general vibe of acceptance, seemed to land well with her. And now: high school. I’ve been scared silly about it—honestly, I think with good reason. Her assigned high school consistently scores poorly. There are limited academic or extracurricular options for students in general, and even fewer for students with intellectual disabilities. Most students like Moxie are automatically placed in a segregated, Fully Self-Contained class. What I’ve seen from those settings is disheartening. The focus is often on “life skills,” which seems to mean things like picking up trash on campus or coloring worksheets. Many students are visibly bored, disengaged, and, frankly, not treated with respect. It feels more like a care facility than a place for learning or growth. Moxie will be in General Special Ed again—but there’s still so much we don’t know. Her path forward feels hazy. One hopeful note: she started a summer bridge program today—something designed to help incoming students get familiar with the high school environment. We’ll see how that goes. This morning, as I sat at my desk, I was taken back to when I was pregnant with Moxie. I remember the worries, the grief, the not knowing. I remember being afraid she would experience the same pain, isolation and abuse I did, growing up with disabilities. I questioned whether it was right to bring a child with Down syndrome into a world that can be so ableist. And in that uncertainty while pregnant with her, I found deep comfort in Khalil Gibran’s poem “On Children”: And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.And he said:Your children are not your children.They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.They come through you but not from you,

iPhone Speech to Text: You Talk, It Types

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 14:05:01 -0400

Toolbox Tuesday: a tip on using the iPhone built-in transcription app (speech-to-text) I’m profoundly deaf. I also have ADHD—the kind that makes my brain feel like it’s got tabs open in every room of a house I can’t find my way through. This combination means I need speech-to-text apps to navigate the world—but also that I often forget to download or open them until I’m already in the thick of needing them. Cue the awkward scramble in a meeting, a restaurant, or a doctor’s office while I fumble through apps that are still stored in the cloud, or try to remember passwords. So I’m really grateful for one particular thing: native speech-to-text apps. Built right into the phone. No downloads, no digging. Just there, waiting quietly on the sidelines until I need them. Why Built-In Tools Matter Accessibility is often treated like an afterthought—something to install, toggle on, or request. But when you’re deaf, and especially when you’re neurodivergent too, the steps between knowing what you need and getting what you need can feel like climbing a mountain in roller skates. That’s why having speech-to-text tools built into both iPhones and Android phones is a total game-changer. No extra effort, no forgetting. It's just a tool that's ready when I am. Let’s Talk iPhone: Live Captions The native - built in - app on the iPhone is called Live Captions. Here’s what I love: It’s clean—doesn’t cover the whole screen or distract. You can toggle it up to make the captions bigger (great for those of us who wear readers). It lives on your phone screen—once enabled, you can slide it out like a drawer anytime. Here’s how it works: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions. Turn it on. Customize how it looks (text size, position, background color). Once enabled, just swipe to access it. Boom. It’s there. Always. You can press it, resize it, move it to the side—whatever makes it easiest for you. It’s not in your face, but it’s not buried either. Android Users: Google Live Transcribe If you're on Android, Google Live Transcribe is your go-to. It’s been around for a while, and for good reason. It works in real time, supports over 80 languages, and you can even use it offline in newer versions. Here’s why people love it: It’s free and easy to use. Accuracy is pretty good—about on par with Apple. It’s perfect in those moments when you need to hear what someone’s saying right now. Now, yes, it’s still machine-generated. So sometimes the captions are craptions. But for something that lives in your phone and is free? I'm okay with that. Accessibility isn’t just about having tools. It’s about having them available. Built-in transcription apps have made my everyday life easier, less stressful, and more connected—and for someone who is both deaf and brain-scattered, that’s no small thing. If you’re like me—navigating the world with ears and/or brain that don't fit the mold—these little setups can make a big difference. They're not perfect, but they're powerful. And they're already in your pocket. https://youtube.com/shorts/pP7XB_9asKI PS. This sounds like an ad, but I swear it wasn't!

Breathing Back from Ableism

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 23:06:56 -0400

Ableism is not just a word; it's an everyday reality. It's the pervasive discrimination, prejudice, and bias against us disabled individuals. It's the belief - often unspoken - that being non-disabled is better, more normal, or more valuable. Ableism shows up in attitudes, actions, systems, and environments that exclude, dismiss, or devalue our disabled lives. We’ve been told in a thousand ways that our existence is inconvenient, unworthy, or too much, and it’s easy to turn those messages inward, especially when we've been brought up with them. Internalized ableism can show up as: Shame Self-silencing Avoiding/denying support because we feel like a burden Low self esteem Imposter syndrome Hypervigilence Depression and anxiety Internalized Ableism It takes time to unlearn internalized ableism, for sure. I’m still trying. A couple of things that help ground me when I am lying awake at night cringing over replays of stuff from the day in my head or feeling shame over responding incorrectly or hearing something wrong are these: my beads and my fingers. Simple Tools for Grounding I carry beads with me and choose a simple phrase to repeat. It might be "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," or "It's all right, it's all right." The key is simplicity and repetition. When beads aren't available, I use my fingers, pressing into each joint and repeating the mantra. Breathing for Calm Another powerful grounding technique I use is breath/finger tracing. I breathe in, pause, and then breathe out, while tracing up and down my fingers and repeat through each finger. These grounding tools are not cures, but they are small steps towards calm and emotional regulation. I find that when I can be grounded and calm, it's easier for me to resist the cycle of devaluation, easier for me to objectively see the ableism and reach instead towards loving and valuing myself. Exactly as I am. https://youtube.com/shorts/NfFcotXtX30?si=pUbz5YXNROF1DjXX

Lance Kamaka, Cool Cat; Voice from the Disability Community

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 30 May 2025 17:54:58 -0400

This is an interview with Lance Kamaka, a Hawaiian deafblind musician. It is a part of the Cool Cats: Voices from the Disability Community series, in which Meriah interviews cool people from the disability community so you can get to know them. Lance Kamaka https://youtu.be/4uDFhlTJ1MA?si=gF-5mXWAz0ibPAEK The clip that Lance mentioned at the end of his interview, in which he plays Queen Liliuokalani's piano at the Iolani Palace https://youtube.com/shorts/UHTvoS69cgc?si=n5edgFk-sCwwTwN0 Here is Lance singing in a praise worship with a friend of his: https://youtu.be/ekSVx4PRNjE?si=uYd86onEb2Z6Syxr Transcript of Interview: Lance Cool Cat Meriah: [00:00:00] I wanted to thank you for meeting with me and for agreeing to be the very first cool cat in the Cool Cat video series, which. Really seeks to introduce interesting people across the disability spectrum, and I ask the same set of questions to everyone and the differences in the responses really emphasize how different we all are and how we. Meriah: Our perspectives on things and what we enjoy and and all the rest of it is that's all. Okay. Lance: Sounds good to me. Meriah: Okay. Thank you. So first of all can you start by introducing yourself? Lance: Sure. My name is Lance Kamaka. Actually, my whole name is [00:01:00] Lance. Like the night of the round table and Lance Kamaka, my mom named me at that. Lance: So blame it on my mom. But I prefer people to call me Lance 'cause it sounds more ordinary Hey Lance, some people will call me Lance a lot like my stepdad. Like he's addressing the king or something. I like, one time I told him, bow the knee, and he says, no, I don't bow to anybody. Lance: Yeah. I have been born blind and as I, when I graduated, I started to lose some hearing. But at that time, only my doctor and my mom knew, and at that time they told me that there was no [00:02:00] cure for my hearing loss. It's sensory neuro. At that time I was in denial, but it was so gradual that. Lance: Hardly anybody knew. Only, like I said, only my mom and my doctor knew about it. I kept it on the wraps for I say eight to 10 years. Until it became noticeable. And then people started saying, I would try to block my way through by thinking I could hear when I. Here, and people would tell me things like, aren't you paying attention, Uhhuh? Lance: And I would rather, I was thinking, man, I would rather have a hearing loss than, having a brain loss, not paying attention. So that, and [00:03:00] certain people who persistent. That I try wearing hearing aids. I decided I'm gonna do that. And I was with a a vocational rehab counselor at that time, and she said that I would they would get me one hearing aid. Lance: Which is not really looking at hindsight. Wasn't a good thing because after all we hear we are two ears. And being blind, I rely so much of my ears not only to hear, but to perceive where I am in relation to where other things are. There's that spatial awareness of direction. So when I got one hearing aid, I only wore once. I put it in the drawer and that was it. Then my counselor, why did she only Meriah: give you one? I'm [00:04:00] sorry? Was there a reason she only gave you one? Why did she only give you one? Lance: I don't know. I'm not sure if it was just like try out kind of thing. Lance: I don't know. But then she kept asking me, have you been using your hearing aid? I said, I can't. I can't because when I wear one hearing aid, it throws me off. I get disoriented. And so she said would it do better if we get two, another one? I say, yes. Try that. So I got another hearing aid. Lance: And then I decided I'm gonna get used to the hearing aids because after all, our brain adapts to what we hear. So I decided, okay, I'm gonna wear these two hearing aids as long as I can all day. Every day. Except when I take a shower or [00:05:00] go to sleep.

This Ache Has a Name

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 26 May 2025 15:52:41 -0400

This is a personal post about the current political situation, with the House passing of the ʻOne Big Beautiful Billʻ as well as the events of the past 5 months. If you click the player above, you can listen to me read this. Alternatively, the video of me reading this is below. https://youtu.be/3_9hvJZPh2g I feel so scared. No, that's not right. I feel frozen and paralyzed, like that buildup of tension in the back of my throat behind my eyes, my nose. It all feels very sharp and tense and simultaneously, a dull ache, like the ache in my chest. I don't know what all this means, yet I feel like I need to write down everything that's shifting, changing, that's being taken, disappearing. We didn't have enough to begin with, and now we have even less, and less makes a difference between barely surviving and being crushed. I feel angry that the capitalistic myths have been perpetuated for so long, and that the myths affect what it feels to be every aspect of our communal life. They shape our education, health care systems. They affect the way we transport ourselves. They affect the way we interact with one another. They go right to the marrow of how we value one another. Our worth is reduced to our productivity, and anyone who can’t keep pace is expendable. We don't need them, they can die, it's okay, they have no value, they don't make us money. And all for what? Money? Material stuff? This is just one endless quest of getting more stuff and stuff that we're drowning in, stuff that is polluting our planet, stuff that is killing us and it makes me angry that we've all bought into this bullshit - including myself - for so long. That myth that our value is measured in our productivity. There is such a difference between contributing and feeling that you are a part of something and you are developing and growing, your skills and talents are being tuned in, turned on, and that of simply being a cog in the mill. Just wiping counters at Jack in the Box. You’re not doing something that's really worth your spirit, your time, your heart, your energy, your care - none of that is true work at all, and the Jack in the Boxes shouldn't even exist. They feed a system that thrives on exploitation. It's all simply about making money for somebody else, and we keep on buying into it because the shame that we've been brought up to feel and believe is true, even though nothing could be further from the actual truth. Thinking that we need to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps is this myth that the poor are just lazy people who don't do anything, don't try to better themselves, and don't try to contribute, which is bullshit. The enemy in a capitalistic country is always the person at the lowest point in the totem, never the person at the top because in this capitalist system, we’re all looking at the people on the top thinking that that’s the goal. That’s where we should be and that somehow, they deserve to be there more than anyone else does. And it’s wrong and it makes me angry and it’s not just and it’s not fair and nothing about this is just or fair and the injustice makes me feel ill, and it makes me want to scream, and it makes me want to cry and then the end it kind of makes me paralyzed. When I feel like I’ve been feeling this feeling for so long now and it simply gets worse - it gets so overwhelming and consuming and the feeling of being choked. The injustice chokes me when I think about what could’ve been done to prevent all of this from happening. It’s so hard to put my finger on an answer. Part of what caused where we are now is for many being raised to not think critically, or to really analyze and see systems, to understand what’s beneficial to – and possible for - people. But it’s even deeper than that because with the system being the way that it is, and with our healthcare so very inadequate, mothers and fathers need to leave their babies too soon.

Resources to Explain Death and Grief to Person with Down Syndrome or Intellectual Disability

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 03:49:50 -0500

This is an article with resources to explain grief and loss to anyone with an intellectual or developmental disability, but focuses on explaining grief to people with Down syndrome. It has been updated from the original, published in June 2020. In 2016, my children were with me when my Grandpa Jack died. One month later, they were in the room as I held one of my Grandma Jean's hands and my brother Dana held my Grandma's other hand as she took her last breath and died. 6 months later, they were with me as my brother Dana died. One year later, we had to deal with the loss of our family, their Dad leaving and the disruption of their world, moving from California to Hawai'i. Through both physical death and real life transitions that birthed a grieving process, my children have had experience in the ways of grief and loss. That includes my daughter with Down syndrome. Assumptions About People with Down syndrome, Grief and Loss I think there is an assumption that people with intellectual disabilities do not understand death. I know that when I had to explain death and loss to my daughter with Down syndrome, I wondered if she understood what I was saying. Death seems like such an abstract concept, after all, and abstract concepts are not usually favored by people with Down syndrome. But she did understand. Death was much easier for her to grasp than it was or has been to process grief. I'll talk a little more about that in that the next section, but first, just sticking with death and explaining death. Books to Help Explain Death to a Person with an Intellectual Disability We read books to help explain and process the passing of my brother and grandparents. Especially for the passing of my brother, because while my kids were able to be there with the passing of my grandparents, they did not see my brother while he was in the ICU. It was like he was there one day, vital, laughing, tossing them up in the air, and the next, nowhere. Just gone. The Mountains of Tibet The Little Soul and the Sun: A Children's Parable A Hug from Heaven Primary Rating: 3.5 Primary Rating: 3.5 Primary Rating: 3.5 $7.32 $20.00$14.33 $12.99 Buy Now

Pride is a Protest: The Radical Act of Cultivating Disability Pride

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:02:35 -0400

This is about developing disability pride and disability pride being a protest. This was originally published in July, 2022, updated in July 2024. You can listen to me read it by clicking the player below, or subscribing to my podcast on Spotify or iTunes. Patrons can download the pdf for this. Become a Patron! Disability Pride is a Protest When you are continuously told by your culture, language, history, school, work and/or family that you need to fit your square pegged self into a round pegged world, need to conform, change, therapize essential aspects of who you are – shame is the consequence. You feel shame in all that you need to change, all that you seem to embody. You are representing the broken, the inept, the weak, the ugly, the mocked. To even hint of feeling pride over all the things you have been taught to feel shame over is a radical act. To feel proud that you can’t hear? Of your deafness? Proud of what, Down syndrome? Proud of being neurodivergent? Proud of whatever condition you have that sent you in for therapy or an IEP or IPE or funky medical gadgets that made you feel like a freak in the cafeteria? To feel pride in any of that can see delusional or masochistic. And pride can also be a profound statement of protest. To claim, say or feel pride in all that we’ve felt shame over is a daring protest to the culture, language, history, school, work and/or family that told us we should feel that way about ourselves. It’s a fundamental refusal to buy-in to the shame anymore. It’s a call out to dig in even deeper: this is me; I am valid. I am worthy. Whether or not my culture, language, history, school, work, and/or family believe it, I have a right to be here. Pride is radical. Pride is powerful. Pride is a protest. And like Laura Hershey said, we get proud by practicing. Some of us have spent a lifetime, decades, of trying to cover up our hearing aids, walk without a limp, mask our neurodivergence. Some of us have spent years in cubicles, offices, with people giving us treats to change the way we talk, move, express, or feel so that we can better conform within our culture. Some of us have already given in to all that we could to self-soothe, self-medicate, ease the raging internal pain – because nothing hurts so much as feeling so unwanted, broken, inept, ugly, mocked. Feeling pride in those circumstances is monumental, an enormous reach, a leap of Everest-worthy proportions. How do you do it? How can it even be done? We get proud by practicing- Laura Hershey We get proud by trying. One step at a time. One piece at a time. Bit by bit. Little by little. Inch by inch. It’s a massive unlearning, a fundamental shift in our understanding of the world and our claim to space within it. Those of us with the decades of shame internalized within us, it’ll probably take a little more consciousness and practice. Which doesn’t mean that for those of you who are still coming up in the world it will be much easier – it may not, it may still require a great deal of conscious thought and practice to shift your internal compass and feelings about yourself. But the first thing to do is to start with the awareness. Learning to Run "Why Bother?" She Asked The Impact of Disability on Siblings: The Story of Dana & Meriah Let Down syndrome Define You: A Letter to My Daughter Tell Me Why Why Frida Kahlo Remains Relevant Choosing Moxie The Influence of Disability Within My World I Never Knew I Wanted a Child with Down syndrome Until I Had One

The Best Speech to Text Apps for Live Captions & Recording

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 11:36:51 -0400

This post is about the best speech to text apps and is updated from a 2020 post. Affiliate links may be present - doesn't cost you more, helps keep this blog going and does not affect my rating of the product (- I use captions too; I'm not going to recommend junk for the sake of making a few pennies). This post is meant to serve as a resource for deaf or Deaf people (hearing impaired, hard of hearing) who need to understand what is being said. Some the side benefit of being helpful to hearing people who want to record information. This is available in a downloadable PDF for my patrons, linked here. It's also at the end of this post for people who benefit from access to PDF's. Speech to Text Apps Speech to text apps - or live captions, auto captions - are useful for pretty much everyone in some capacity. If you are hearing, they can record your notes, translate content, help with communication. For us hearing impaired in any capacity - deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing - they serve as a vital communication tool to help us understand what people are saying. They take the speech (that others are saying) and put it into written form. Some Pointers on the Apps Listed: When possible, these apps are linked to the iOS (Apple) store. It is indicated in each app if it is available through Android. All of the speech to text apps are FREE, but some of them require a subscription after a certain amount of trial has passed. The apps that were created specifically to help us deaf in speech to text are listed first; the apps that were created by and for hearing and just incidentally help us deaf, are listed after. All of the apps were installed on my phone and I tried then out before listing. Speech to Text Apps Created for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Product Image Product Name / Description Price / Primary Button Ava: Transcribe Voice to Text Ava is an app designed to empower people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing by allowing to follow conversations in real time. The app provides 24/7 real-time captioning (with up to 95% accuracy, based on artificial intelligence), on your smartphone. Free, with In-App Purchases Check it Out Sorenson BuzzCards Type it. Show it. BuzzCards is an app designed to help deaf people communicate easily with people who don’t know sign language. The app works like a deck of flashcards. You type the message and show it to the person with whom you are communicating. You can write and save cards with the message. Free Check it Out

Love Grows Courage

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 14:59:00 -0500

This was originally published on September 7, 2012. It's a personal post on strength, love and courage. You can listen to me read this post by clicking the player below, or on my podcast on Spotify or iTunes. Maya Angelou once said that courage is the most important virtue, because without it, we wouldn't be able to consistently practice the others. I've always agreed with that, because it can be hard to be kind. It can be hard to be forgiving, hard to summon the love sometimes. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown reminded us that the root of the word courage is cor - the Latin word for heart. I've thought about that a lot, about how courage is really something that goes deeper and beyond bravery, waving a sword around on a battlefield or something like that. Courage is heart-based. And heart based means it's central to who we fundamentally are, central to our physical and spiritual lives. You can live without your brain. You can't live without your heart. Love, to me, seems like blood. It's the blood that keeps the system working. It's the energy behind movement, the Force from Star Wars, it's the link between the brain and heart, the connection between us all on the deepest level possible. I've thought about this a lot, as choosing to keep my daughter after an amniocentesis revealed she would be coming with Down syndrome, was difficult. I am pro-choice, and I have disabilities: I know how hard it can be to navigate a world that wasn't built for you. I didn't know if choosing to bring her into the world was the right thing to do. And I was scared. I've been scared, so scared. Scared to have her. Scared to mess up. Scared to make the wrong choices and alter someone else's life in radical, negative ways. Scared of not being able to hear, of my neurodivergence and how my disabilities might make parenting even more difficult. Scared of being unable to provide for my family. Scared of poverty. Scared of bad things happening to my child, to my children. Lao Tzu said that being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. The love that my kids have blessed me with has been the mojo - the moxie! - that I've sustained myself when I'm too tired, too weak, when my brain feels paralyzed or whatever I am going through. Their love quite literally, as Lao Tzu says, gives me strength. My love for them comes from my heart, the source of courage. It's an interesting thing to feel this subtle difference between the strength received from being loved by them, and the courage I am able to pull up through dint of my love for them. Read more in my book, the first 4 Years with Moxie - 4 Years: Essays With a Little Moxie $5 Meriah's essays from the first 4 years of living with Moxie: Down syndrome, disability, ableism and more. 142 pages of essays, original artwork and photographs. Buy Now

Choosing Moxie

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 18:22:33 -0500

This was originally published on March 6, 2013 It is an account of the time that I was pregnant with Moxie. Please be aware this post discusses violence, sexual abuse and abortion. You can listen to me read this post by clicking the player below, or on my podcast on Spotify or iTunes. I. The beginning of my pregnancy with Moxie feels jumbled, as I recollect it now, some 3 years later. It’s a blur of happenings, events moving swiftly upon each other like quick waves that peak in a tsunami. The blur may be due to the events themselves or may be to the way my mind works – I am neurodivergent. I also rammed my head into the windshield of a car when I was 4 years old. Memories for me often shape themselves in unusual ways. Like the day that we went to see our daughter for the first time. I remember being in a black short dress with pirate sleeves that was from H&M, with black flared yoga pants. I liked that dress. I remember wanting to wear cherry red lipstick and not having any. I remember I wore my Earth moonboots and that Mikey didn’t like them. I remember that we passed a moss green Nissan Cube on the way there. I remember the weather was crisp, dry and clear. I think I was about 10 weeks pregnant. I know I was 36 years old (I just did the math). I also know that I was pregnant after just having had a second trimester miscarriage. We were on our way to the special clinic, the one where they send “higher risk” pregnancies to be examined. Once there, in the dim room with the brightness of the ultrasound machine in front of us, my belly exposed with glistening gel slathered on, we saw the blinking of our baby’s heart, knew she was alive and for that, were happy. But we knew that the long pause and the lack of chatter from the technician signaled a problem. She left, and returned with the very same perinatologist who had told me that my last child had died. My heart sank as I saw him and I blurted out something along the lines of, “but the baby is alive! I know it! I can see the heart beating!” He nodded. Yes, our baby was alive but there were problems. He showed us the line of her skin and the line of her body: they were clearly separated. She had a condition called diffuse fetal hydrops, in which her skin was completely separated from her body, with fluid lying between the two. She had heart holes. She was unlikely to make it to term. “0%” chance of survival, he gave her. He suggested that we have an amniocentesis before she died to find out the cause of the hydrops – not necessarily for her as she was clearly beyond saving, he said – but for future pregnancies. Numb, and with aching hearts, we consented and returned a few weeks later for the test. II. The amniocentesis revealed the presence of an extra chromosome. It also revealed that the baby was a girl. And miraculously – her diffuse fetal hydrops had completely resolved itself. Despite being strongly encouraged to terminate her life on account of the Down syndrome, we chose to keep her. Perhaps I should be more honest here: my husband chose to keep her. My husband was adamant about keeping her, saying that we needed to “play with the cards we are given.” Continuing in this vein of honesty, I am not sure I would have kept her, had I not been with him. Having grown up deaf, with brain injury and with my auditory processing disorder – not to mention with scars all over my face, I know what it’s like to grow up with a disability. I know what it’s like to be excluded, mocked, and outcast. I know what it’s like to literally have stones thrown at you, because you are different, an “other”. I have a chip in my front tooth from a time that I fought back, but the (much larger) boy was wearing a ring when he punched me in the mouth. I have been abused. I have been raped. And I am the norm in this: statistics clearly show that up to 90% of people with disabilities have been sexually abused,

Almost 50, Part 2

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 12:42:54 -0500

This is a personal post that wraps up the first part, Almost 50 Listen to me read this by clicking the player below: Almost 50, Part 2: Details You know what bothers me about the post I just sent your way, “Almost 50”? It bothers me that I was talking about real things in a vague way. Time passing faster. Be here now. That stuff. I want to add more detail to make those real statements less vague. In 2022 a few things happened: I completed my second master’s degree, this one in counseling psychology, and was headed to the world of full time work (outside the house and for someone else) again. I had also realized that I am on the Autism spectrum myself, with ADHD. In 2022, I was ushering my oldest son in to high school (- can we just sit on that for minute?! HIGH SCHOOL!!!) with his 504 in place and was going through many of the 3am panic-wake-ups at the thought of my daughter entering middle school next year (- MIDDLE SCHOOL!!). In there, I was also trying to figure out what is going on with my youngest son, who is currently in speech therapy for his speech differences. I didn’t know if he’s hearing impaired or has an auditory processing disorder… or what? So there was that. In between these things, my oldest son morphed into a REAL TEENAGER. I won’t get into the details but suffice to say that a month and a half were completely swallowed by all the things that were going on with him. Gulp. Swish. That time: Gone. Meanwhile, I was in a job search, remember? On a large island with very limited opportunities. Ha. While I love the private counseling that I do, and I love this blog and the freelance work, I have missed being a part of a team. I miss working with other people in real life, miss the human connection. I also miss economic stability and the greater financial security. I don’t think that can happen now, though. I don’t think I can work outside the house in something full time. That’s where I was vague in the ‘time passing faster’ and ‘be here now’. I see these kids of mine growing so fast, and needing me right here, right now. I need to drive them to this place or that, check in on this or that, organize something or other, and I have no idea how I would make that happen if I was working a regular full-time job. Added to that, my neurodivergence and my hearing. I’m trying to get a handle on the 4 million projects I take on, all the creative explosions that plop out of me. I’m trying to feel more grounded in this time-space reality that is moving so quickly and use my time here in a way that will help me become the person that I would like to be when I die. My hearing doesn’t help – focusing on what people say to me can be exhausting the listening fatigue is real. I don’t know if I can realistically handle that AND the full-time parenting that I do AND supporting my family. I think turning 50 this year for me is about taking stock of the decisions that I need to make with the time that I have. What are my bottom-line priorities? What is my “prime directive”? Knowing what I’m working with now – my ADHD/Autism –and hearing, it’s actually easier, because I can recognize what I’m doing and pull myself back. I can create systems for myself that are game changers. I LOVE getting older, knowing this. I LOVE knowing that the way my mind functions is perfectly fine, all of this has a reason and there are simple ways forward. This knowledge helps mitigate some of the absolute agony of ADHD and the fatigue I can feel when the hearing gets to be too much. “Time passing faster” and “be here now” also applies to my love life. I think it would be nice to be in a relationship again. But I can’t do that with all the things that have been going on with my kids and my ADHD. I can’t focus on that many things at once, I’ll get derailed and it takes too long to get back on track. I worry about that sometimes, like,

Almost 50

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 15:39:14 -0500

I wanted this to be a personal post like hauʻoli makahiki hou - a year sum up - but in the end, the time to write it was as elusive as mercury. And so. This is mostly about time. Click the player below to listen to me read this. Time speeds up when we get older. Remember that movie, “Groundhog Day”? Remember how he has to re-live the same day, over and over until he gets it completely right, and about three-quarters into the movie, they speed the movie up, cutting in between days to show the days are different from each other? And it feels so fast. But so much of the same. Blink, another day went by. Blink again, and it’s been a week. That’s how time feels to me now – moving so swiftly that even as I reach out to try and contain it a little, slow it a smidge – it’s already gone. One moment, the next. Gone, with only the glimmering trails of the memories made in that twinkling space. I’m 50 this year. It’s a big number for me. The pain of being 50 when my brother Dana left this world at 44 hurts my heart. I can’t believe I’m turning 50 and he didn’t. I can’t believe I’m turning 50 and he isn’t here. I can’t believe I’m turning 50. 50 has so many layers. I’m moving into this space in which time is passing so much faster, and the sum total of it moving forward will likely be less than I have behind me. I have less time here than I have spent. That’s fine with me – in no way am I scared of death. I’m not scared of aging either. But what I don’t understand well yet is my place in the world at this stage. Being 50 means I’m moving into the elder space. What does that even mean now? And what does it mean, when I live in a mainstream culture that values youth so much? What do I DO with any of the wisdom I might have gleaned over the slower years that I have passed through already? I have so many questions, and maybe it’s here that again, I miss my brother so much. He was the one I asked these kinds of questions to, my safe space to talk. And he had those questions as well. Who are we at 50? Who are we as we age? Are we becoming the people we want to be? Am I? I look at myself in the mirror sometimes and I don’t recognize myself. Sometimes it’s because I look so much older – wow! That’s really me?! I look like a middle-aged mom! Oh, but I am a middle-aged mom! Haha – it makes me laugh Sometimes it’s because I look like I’m 12 and it takes me a minute to place that girl with who I now am. Sometimes I love the way I look at this age. I love that I am developing some arm muscles! Sometimes I feel sad and despair of being squashed between my feelings and this youth-driven culture. Am I so desiccated? Will my physical form be desirable at all? Is it all downhill from here? I look around for women to admire, someone famous who looks her age, who is my age or older, who has the sauce, smarts, kindness, and integrity that I admire. Those women are hard to find. I have a short list going – Tracee Ellis Ross, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Obama (does she even count though? She’s more of a demi-goddess, isn’t she?). Viola Davis. Michelle Yeoh. Alanis Morissette. I guess I yearn for some sort of guide as I enter this new decade, this decade which feels more like a portal to a different time-space reality in my life. Almost 50 Now, more than ever, I realize that no one is going to save me. No one is going to discover me. No one will give me permission. If I’m going to go wherever it is that I want to go in this life, I better get going with that path, because it won’t make itself. It’s a sobering, scary thought, but also liberating, isn’t it? I mean, we really don’t need to wait for any of those things. We thought we did though. We waited a long time for them. But we didn’t need to. I’m saying “we” because I really think it’s a bunch of us in this boat. We were brought up to ask permission for all things,

Daisy Woodworm Changes the World: A Book Review

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 20:52:33 -0500

This is Micah Nichols' inaugural blog post, an interview with author Melissa Hart on her book, "Daisy Wormwood Changes the World." You can listen to this interview via the "Unpacking Disability with Meriah Nichols" podcast, below, or on Spotify or Apple iTunes. Melissa Hart wrote a book geared for teens: Daisy Woodworm Changes the World $14.99 Thirteen-year-old Daisy Woodward loves insects, running track, and hanging out with her older brother, Sorrel, who has Down syndrome and adores men’s fashion. When her social studies teacher assigns each student a project to change the world for the better along with an oral report, Daisy fears the class bully—who calls her Woodworm— will make fun of her lisp. Still, she decides to help Sorrel fulfill his dream of becoming a YouTube fashion celebrity despite their parents’ refusal to allow him on social media.With the help of her best friend Poppy, and Miguel—the most popular boy in school and her former enemy—Daisy launches Sorrel’s publicity campaign. But catastrophe strikes when her parents discover him online along with hateful comments from a cyberbully. If Daisy has any hope of changing the world, she’ll have to regain her family’s trust and face her fears of public speaking to find her own unique and powerful voice.Daisy Woodworm Changes the World includes an author's note and additional resources. Buy Now We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. 01/10/2023 05:33 am GMT Because this book was geared for teens and features a girl whose sibling has Down syndrome, Micah took the reins - who better to review the book and interview the author than someone who is also a teen, and whose sibling also has Down syndrome? Daisy Woodworm Changes the World This was Micah's first interview! He really gets rolling with Melissa about mid-point, they get deeper into subjects like youth changing the world, the accomplishments of people with Down syndrome, how Melissa gets into some indirect advocacy in her book...and more. They had a blast talking with each other. And you can enjoy watching, hearing or reading their interview here! https://youtu.be/BGdxJzc8GAY?t=69 Micah and Melissa Interview Transcript Transcript, Micah’s Interview with Melissa Hart, Author of “Daisy Wormwood Changes the World” ___________________________________________ Okay. Okay. Okay. Melissa: Hi, there, how's it going? Micah? Micah: Oh, pretty good. Melissa I love black Cats. Micah: Yeah, Ik(k)i’s great Melissa: I've heard that they're always the last to get adopted at shelters. Because they don't photograph well, in photos, you know, advertising, this could be your cat. All you can see are the eyes right. Micah: Yeah I've actually had a bit of problems with that. I like to take pictures of them, and uh, he had a cousin, and I took a couple of pictures of his cousins, and they - those were really good. I liked it. Melissa: Yeah, I wonder if you've photographed against a white, background. Then the black cat would stand out right Micah: We have, like screens here. So when they were walking by the screen. Melissa: Uh-huh. Micah: Like the screens are weird, like they catch the light when they show up so like when I took the picture looks like. It was sort of like a weird lit background. And also or sort of fluoresces and stuff Melissa: Oh, I love that! That's great huh! Micah: Yeah, really cool. Melissa: Well, feel free to ask me. Anything. I'll answer anything. Micah: Okay, yeah, that might actually be a good way to start, yeah, so, how much of the book is based on your personal...

Year of the Tiger, by Alice Wong: A Review

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 16:51:23 -0500

This is a review of the book, "Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life," by Alice Wong. You can listen to me read this post by clicking the player below this, or on my podcast on Spotify or iTunes. Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life Sometimes I feel like any memoir written even a little decently and capturing a piece of the disability experience is poised to become a bestseller. Not necessarily because it deserves to be – not because it really brings us to a new place or takes us where our mind explodes in an element of new awesomeness. They just become bestsellers because of woke box-checking. Alice Wong’s “Year of the Tiger” is a whole different cat. It BELONGS on the bestseller list. Oprah needs to pick this book up it needs to be required reading for all those diversity and disability college courses. Why? Glad you asked. First, here’s the trajectory of Instagram updates that I posted as I was reading it: https://youtu.be/GOTItJT-Fek You’ll probably noticed that my tone changed after I started really reading Year of the Tiger, right? I got pretty serious, pretty fast. I went from masking/smiley/happy, “oh cool, my friend wrote a book and this is awesome!” to, not smiley or masking at all – not even caring that my selfie angles were completely unflattering because I just wanted to get that message out that “this book is phenomenal and you better pay attention.” That is how good this book is. So, again, why? Why is Year of the Tiger so good? Out of all the books available in the world right now, why should you reach for this one? Here’s why: Alice is a really good writer who knows her shit In a world that doesn’t take disability seriously when it should, and way too seriously when it doesn’t need to, Alice consistently hits the right notes and explains the pieces that matter. She’s your buddy who always says the perfect thing, who knows how to twirl a sentence out so it can cast the messages, sinking them deep while you laugh, cry, or get pissed off. But she’s also a storyteller. Year of the Tiger isn’t all disability stuff; it’s also about being a Chinese immigrant in Indiana, it’s about culture, family, connections, community. It’s about choices and chances in life. These intersections speak to Alice’s life, but they echo through all of us, they are relatable because we all have our intersections and if we are lucky, they can help ground and support us. Alice seems to be lucky in hers, and it’s a beautiful story. Alice is playful, snarky, and fun On the heels of good writing comes a good time, and Alice definitely enjoys a good time. She has games, puzzles, drawings, and photos woven into her stories. Her descriptions of all that good food left me drooling. Because disability justice and advocacy can be so painful, I appreciate her playful approach to handling some Big Subjects – playful, but she still handles them. She doesn’t shirk the hard stuff that we really need to talk about. And of course, I love her use of curse words :) Alice has vision and leads by example Her strength of vision comes through clear and strong in this, her first memoir. She is a powerful visualizer, seeing the world as it is – with rampant ableism, oppression, and inequities. She sees the world as it should be, in the Star Trek model (and even beyond!) but in her striving to bridge the present with the future, she somehow remarkably and miraculously manages to refrain from falling into vats of bitterness, despair or anger. She remains playful, spirited, a calm force of connection. I want to talk about that calm because it inspires me (in the best sense of that loaded word). My brain is in a perpetual rush, trying to Do All The Things and getting super excited about each new project or whatever. Alice shows me through her writing how possible it is – how necessary even – to take time to get things done right. How important access is,

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Medicare

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 01:21:27 -0500

This is a comprehensive post about Medicare. It covers: What is Medicare? What Are the Parts of Medicare? Detailed Explanations on the Parts of Medicare? Who Can Get Medicare and way more - please refer to the table below with links to jump directly to the part you are looking for guidance on. Kathleen Downes wrote this post. She knows a whole lot about Medicare but she does not work for Medicare. Take what's offered here as friendly advice and do your own investigation too! You can listen to Kathleen read this by clicking below, or subscribing to the podcast at the end of this post. What is Medicare? Medicare is a U.S. government-run health insurance program for qualified workers age 65+ and some people with disabilities. It is run by the federal government or the government for our whole country. The money that pays for Medicare comes from 2 trust funds held by the U.S. government (Medicare 2021). The first fund, the Hospital Insurance fund, pays for Part A costs such as inpatient hospital stays, limited home health services, and limited stays in skilled nursing facilities. I will talk more about the parts of Medicaid later (Medicare 2021). The money from the hospital insurance fund comes from: Payroll taxes Income taxes on Social Security retirement benefits Interest on trust fund investments Premiums, or monthly payments, from people who don’t get Part A for free (2021). The second trust fund is called the Supplementary Medical Insurance fund. It pays for Part B costs such as outpatient care (services that are not overnight hospital care). It also pays for Part D care (prescription medicine). The money for this fund comes from: monthly premiums interest earned on trust fund investments. Typically, everyone enrolled in Part B and/or D pays a premium (Medicare 2021). What are the Parts of Medicare? Medicare has 4 parts, each represented by letters. Part A: Inpatient hospital care and some limited home health care, limited nursing home care Part B: Outpatient care such as doctor’s visits and some limited home health care Part C: Is also called an advantage plan (MA plan), which allows the government to contract with a private company to deliver Medicare benefits. Part D: Prescription drug coverage (Bunis 2021). You can receive Part D benefits in two ways: A separate drug plan An MA “Part C” plan that includes drug coverage You have to have Parts A & B to join an MA plan or a separate drug plan. Not all MA plans cover prescription medications (Medicare 2021b). What is Meant by Part C vs. Original Medicare? Original Medicare is the traditional way to receive benefits. The government pays a provider directly for services in Parts A and B (Center for Medicare Rights 2021). Most Americans use Original Medicare and most providers accept it. The other choice is to package benefits together with a Medicare Advantage Plan (MA) which is also called Part C. You can think of an MA plan (Part C) as a way to combine the parts of Medicare into one plan (Bunis 2020). Those in an advantage plan still receive the services in Part A & Part B, but may be offered additional services not covered by regular Medicare such as dental benefits (Center for Medicare Rights 2021). You can also get Part D, drug coverage, through an MA plan, or as a separate benefit (Center for Medicare Rights 2021). Not all Medicare Advantage plans cover drugs. Most Medicare Advantage plans do have drug coverage, but you might be allowed to join a standalone drug plan if your MA plan does not cover drugs. You cannot join a standalone drug plan if your MA plan already offers prescription coverage (EHealth 2021). If you have an MA plan, you still pay a premium for Part B (and Part A if you don’t get it for free). The MA plans have to place a limit on out-of-pocket costs for A & B (Center for Medicare Rights 2021). Every MA plan is different.

“I Hate Down syndrome”

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 12:57:35 -0400

When Moxie said, "I hate Down syndrome." Talking about disability, hurt, pride, and why pride is so important.

"10 Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation"

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 29 May 2022 07:06:13 -0400

Get past the first couple of chapters and you'll probably fall in love with it

The post “10 Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation” appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

Burning My Eyes and 2022 Goals

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 14:41:20 -0500

The post Burning My Eyes and 2022 Goals appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

The Cultural Value of Disability

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 23:01:44 -0400

The post The Cultural Value of Disability appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

September 4th: Labor Day

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 21:41:21 -0400

September 4th, 2016 My mom reached out to me while I was sitting in the hot tub on the morning of September 4th, staring at the rust-red wall in front of me without seeing anything. My mom said that the doctors had done another test on Dana and they declared him brain dead. I was …

September 3rd: The Family Meeting

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 03:08:00 -0400

September 3rd, 2016 With everyone arriving in Redding and needing to be with Dana, I stayed at the hotel, mostly in the jacuzzi. My husband was there, so for the first time, I had the chance to simply breathe and be in the moment and not feel the constant hum in the back of my …

September 2nd: Silence

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 21:25:14 -0400

September 2nd, 2016 I went through the windshield of a car when I was 4 years old. An event of great magnitude, it shaped my life and yet it was one of silence. It was peaceful. I am sure that in the moment, at the time, it was a tornado of twists and energy, but …

August 26th: The Gun Sticker

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 18:08:53 -0400

August 26, 2016 This was apparently the only photo that I took on this day. I can’t explain the depths of revulsion that I felt when I saw that. People who love guns? I don’t think they have ever seen someone they love blown up by one.

August 25: In the Lava Lamp

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 16:45:18 -0400

August 25, 2016 Days were blurring, blurring, blurred. I’d wake up, pray, meditate, write on the floor of the hotel room in the dark, with my laptop on a pillow on my lap. When the kids woke up, they came over to me for hugs, I’d set the laptop to the side as soon as …

August 24: Yu Han's Birthday

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 06:51:43 -0400

August 24, 2016 Dana’s first daughter was born on August 24, 1990. She was born in a very small rural rice farming community in Taiwan, and for her birth, my parents flew over from Hawaii. My dad put together a rocking chair for her mom, Jeanie. We assembled cloth diapers and precious tiny baby clothes. …

The Gift of a Moment: Understanding Difficult Times and Choices

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 07:56:33 -0400

The post The Gift of a Moment: Understanding Difficult Times and Choices appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

Billie Eilish In Sharp Focus: The World's A Little Blurry

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 12:10:31 -0500

The post Billie Eilish In Sharp Focus: The World’s A Little Blurry appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

How to Find a Disability Benefits Planner

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 14:00:18 -0500

The post How to Find a Disability Benefits Planner appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

What is a Disability Benefits Planner?

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 15:06:36 -0500

The post What is a Disability Benefits Planner? appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

How to Grow Your Disability Pride

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 12:20:49 -0500

The post How to Grow Your Disability Pride appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

How Do I Get SSI For My Child with a Disability

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 13:00:14 -0500

The post How Do I Get SSI For My Child with a Disability appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

Spotlight On: Crip Camp Curriculum

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 17:58:09 -0500

The post Spotlight On: Crip Camp Curriculum appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

Do People With Down Syndrome Feel Pain Differently?

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 11:56:22 -0500

The post Do People With Down Syndrome Feel Pain Differently? appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

Learning to Run

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 06:15:56 -0500

The post Learning to Run appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

And I Cried Too

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 13:17:04 -0500

The post And I Cried Too appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

It Happened to Me: Reporting Income With SSDI!

Meriah Nichols — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 11:38:27 -0500

The post It Happened to Me: Reporting Income With SSDI! appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

Navigating Beyond The Four F’s of Disability Employment

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 11:02:52 -0500

The post Navigating Beyond The Four F’s of Disability Employment appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

The Gift of Harry Styles and Millennial Neuro-Flexibility

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 11:21:13 -0500

The post The Gift of Harry Styles and Millennial Neuro-Flexibility appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

2020: Through the Muck (Year in Review)

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:17:14 -0500

The post 2020: Through the Muck (Year in Review) appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability and Global Expansion

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 08:32:00 -0400

The post Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability and Global Expansion appeared first on Meriah Nichols: Unpacking Disability.

An Update on Unpacking Disability with Meriah Nichols

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:54:13 -0400

From Finding Ruby's Father to doozeedad to With a Little Moxie to Meriah Nichols and now to Unpacking Disability: an update on this site and to future plans

Black Lives Matter: Beyond the Hashtag

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 21:01:46 -0400

The post Black Lives Matter: Beyond the Hashtag appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Are The CDC Guidelines for Schools Reopening Too Much?

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 25 May 2020 12:59:27 -0400

Parents are eager for schools to reopen, but the new CDC guidelines for schools reopening beg close scrutiny in terms of how feasible they are to implement

It’s Like We Are in Time Out

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 02 May 2020 21:19:17 -0400

The post It’s Like We Are in Time Out appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

The Misfits Who Rock and Rolled: A Review of Crip Camp

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 14:43:53 -0400

The post The Misfits Who Rock and Rolled: A Review of Crip Camp appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Know Your Disability Rights and Disability Resources: DREDF

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:49:56 -0400

The post Know Your Disability Rights and Disability Resources: DREDF appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

How to Communicate With Masks On (Because Lipreaders Are Screwed)

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 03:24:04 -0400

The post How to Communicate With Masks On (Because Lipreaders Are Screwed) appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Single Parents: We Better Hope We Don’t Get Sick

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:03:09 -0400

The post Single Parents: We Better Hope We Don’t Get Sick appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

4 Ways to Keep Calm & Carry On with Coronavirus

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 01:59:38 -0400

The post 4 Ways to Keep Calm & Carry On with Coronavirus appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

15 Fun Things To Do With Kids While Quarantined at Home

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 20:10:37 -0400

Fun things to do with kids while quarantined at home or other - let's make great use of this time together by creating some joy, learning & staying well

Lit League Disability Book & Movie Club: Being Heumann, by Judy Heumann

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:15:59 -0400

The post Lit League Disability Book & Movie Club: Being Heumann, by Judy Heumann appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Patreon Update & Rewards

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 19:28:33 -0500

What is easy for me, sensible rewards and so, so much more!

Cool Cat: RA Stone

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 14:24:39 -0500

The post Cool Cat: RA Stone appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Culture, Disability and a Game Called Barnga

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 02:03:41 -0500

The post Culture, Disability and a Game Called Barnga appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Repeat After Me: “Disability Does Not Mean Inability!”

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:28:42 -0500

Disability does not mean inability: it is a particular way of experiencing this world; it's a platform upon which we build our lives

How to Talk About Disability in Movies with Kids

Meriah Nichols — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:01:26 -0500

The post How to Talk About Disability in Movies with Kids appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Hearing Fatigue is Real & This is What You Can Do About It

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:05:04 -0400

The post Hearing Fatigue is Real & This is What You Can Do About It appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Micah’s Autism Assessment in Hawaii: An Update

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 15:03:12 -0400

The post Micah’s Autism Assessment in Hawaii: An Update appeared first on Unpacking Disability With Meriah Nichols.

Disabled Moms Interview Project: DeafBlind Mom Lisa Ferris

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 01:50:54 -0400

Disabled Moms Interview Project featuring DeafBlind mom, Lisa Ferris

Nyle DiMarco: That Dangerous Activist, Destroying the Deaf Community

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 13:26:50 -0400

A new post is calling Nyle DiMarco's campaign for ASL acquisition for deaf kids, "dangerous"

How to Be an Ally to People with Disabilities

Meriah Nichols — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 06:35:06 -0400

The post How to Be an Ally to People with Disabilities appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

Square Pegs in a Round Peg World: The Power of the Neurodiverse

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 28 May 2019 06:07:23 -0400

The post Square Pegs in a Round Peg World: The Power of the Neurodiverse appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

Disabled Moms Interview Project: Featuring Kari Turner

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 15 May 2019 07:55:23 -0400

Disabled Moms Interview Project, featuring Kari Turner

Mother’s Day Disabled Mama Interview Series: I’ll Go First

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:30:49 -0400

The post Mother’s Day Disabled Mama Interview Series: I’ll Go First appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

Netflix’s “Special” Packs a Punch

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 00:57:15 -0400

The post Netflix’s “Special” Packs a Punch appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

What People First Language Is (& Why and When It’s WRONG)

Meriah Nichols — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 16:41:46 -0400

The post What People First Language Is (& Why and When It’s WRONG) appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

You Ask, I Answer: What’s the Deaf Experience Like?

Meriah Nichols — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 12:36:06 -0400

The post You Ask, I Answer: What’s the Deaf Experience Like? appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

When My Son Told Me He Thinks He is on the Autism Spectrum…

Meriah Nichols — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 16:43:38 -0400

The post When My Son Told Me He Thinks He is on the Autism Spectrum… appeared first on Meriah Nichols.

Disability Hierarchy is Real and It’s Holding Us Back

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 01:30:57 -0400

Disability Hierarchy Is Real and It's Holding Us Back

Soul Juice

Meriah Nichols — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:41:25 -0500

The original title of this post was “If You Don’t Get Depressed, Don’t Read This Post” because I was depressed when I first wrote it and felt like it should be from me – who suffers from depression – to you, who know what it’s about (because you know,