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Excited to finally share a project I’ve been working on for nearly a year!
@gijn invited me to write a guide for investigative journalists on covering disability! I hope you’ll check it out! 🧵#DisabilityTwitter #NEISvoid #journalism
Emyle Watkins ♿️
9,647 posts
Emyle Watkins ♿️
@EmyleWatkins
Award-winning investigative journalist for @BTPMNPR Disabilities Beat. 🖊️’d: Investigating Disability Issues @GIJN. Member: @IRE_NICAR @AHCJ #CripTheNews♿️
- put in my dating app bio that being vaccinated is non-negotiable for me (because I’m immunocompromised, so doctors orders, also I don’t want to get sick) and a man literally just messaged me and said he’d be willing to get his booster to go on a date because he’s behind a shot
- Replying to @EmyleWatkinslike honestly wasn’t excepting ppl to be willing to get caught up on their shots but like go off king thank you for caring
- The thing that you don’t really think about until you’re in my shoes (disabled) or have a disabled family member is how there is usually absolutely no place to sit at street festivals. Only stairs and curbs. No where to eat. Take a break. Take medication. Feed your kid.
- I’m immunocompromised and you can’t tell by looking at me. Last year, my sister’s unmasked sniffle turned out to be a cold that I caught, which turned into pleurisy for me. Your little cold or cough can be someone else’s worst nightmare, even if not a COVID cough.People still wearing masks in crowded spaces (as we all should), what are reasons other than COVID that people should still mask up?
- As an immunocompromised journalist the framing of “prepare to get sick” blows my mind. Why can’t we frame these stories as “here’s how to lessen the risk of getting sick AND be ready for if/when it does happen?” Both are important!It’s time to stock up on tissues, bingeable TV options and Covid-19 tests. Yes, many signs are pointing to a Covid-19 summer surge – although one that’s far less intense than what emerged the past few summers. cnn.it/3rUHrnp
- some people think that when you get diagnosed with a disability or illness there’s just a doctor waiting there like “ah yes, the disability, let me help” like ER shows when in reality you go to 6 doctors that are all like “idk about this you should find someone who does”
- We need to stop depicting mobility aids as a sign/symbol of inability to be or do something. My mobility aids aren't a sign I'm incapable of doing a job or living a full life. They give me the opportunity to do my job, to live a full life.The New Yorker cover (And the cover story) newyorker.com/culture/cover-…
- today when a stranger found out I’m immunocompromised they asked a question I don’t get asked a lot, but I appreciated: (paraphrasing) how have you survived COVID, not physically, but mentally?
- Replying to @EmyleWatkinsMobility devices are 100% important and a means of freedom. I understand expecting people to have their own. What I don’t understand is having absolutely no seating at events with so many people. It’s not a big ask. It’s a huge accessibility thing though.
- All journalists covering Mayor Eric Adam’s decision and Kendra’s law should familiarize themselves with the history of institutionalization and deinstitutionalization in NYS. Talk to disabled people & disability orgs for stories about this. This is a disability story.
- Replying to @EmyleWatkinsThere are a lot of people (myself included) who use a range of mobility devices, medicine, aides, etc and sometimes can use them less/differently if our built environment just provides for our needs a little better (like having bathrooms or a place to rest).
- Replying to @EmyleWatkinsThis weekend my sister really wanted me to go to a street festival with her. Yesterday I was flaring too bad to walk far. She asked if we could borrow a wheelchair there like you can at amusement parks (I don’t own one). I was like of like, I doubt they thought that far.
