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Disabled Writers

This project is maintained as an archive and is no longer accepting submissions.

Nothing about us without us

Disabled Writers, founded in 2017 as a co-partnership between s.e. smith, Vilissa Thompson, and Alice Wong, was a resource to help editors connect with disabled writers and journalists, and journalists connect with disabled sources. Anna Hamilton acted as the database editor and social media manager for the project. Their goal was 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 was specifically designed to help editors connect with disabled people working in journalism and other writing/media professions, or trying to break in. It also included disabled experts who were 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.

We were sometimes asked “why Disabled Writers, not Disabled Journalists”? This organization supported writers of all kinds and skill levels, not just journalists, and we also knew that imposter syndrome can make it hard for people to identify themselves as “journalists.” Membership in the database was open to anyone who identified as disabled, regardless of legal status or nature of disability; if people weren’t sure if they belonged, they probably did!

Don’t stop here: Editors of Color maintains a listing of other databases advancing diversity and inclusion in media, arts, and culture.

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.
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).

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