It’s stories that enable us to connect; stories that allow us to see and know each other without anger, fear, defensiveness and resistance. And thus, it’s stories that I’ll be telling in my upcoming book entitled, See Us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability (formerly Living Our Disabled Lives.)
This book will profile 30 diverse individuals with disabilities. Each profile consists of a portrait, taken by Natalie Brescia, a short biography, and an original poem that speaks to each person’s unique experience with disability.
After working as an Educational Consultant and Disability Educator for ten years, I felt that the resistance to learning about equity and inclusion was growing. In spite of my best efforts to design experiences that focused on growth, learning, and connection, participants in the training sessions that I led felt upset, embarrassed, ashamed, and sometimes blamed for the inequities and stratification of our society and communities.
While it’s not necessarily bad for people to experience these feelings, I found that most want to avoid them and that this desire for avoidance was evident in growing resistance to being vulnerable and open to growth in these settings.
There was one exception. When an individual in the session told a personal story about their experience as a member of a marginalized group, people listened more openly. Those hearing others stories were not defensive, they didn’t feel the need to push back, challenge, or discredit the speaker. Instead, they were able to listen, gaining new understandings of the lives lived by those who were different than they were. Often the people that they were listening to were friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and it was easier for them to accept and reflect on the experiences of these people because they knew and cared about them.
Stories allow us to understand and connect with each other. While we may see differences between ourselves and others, when we hear and tell stories, not only do we come to better comprehend each other’s lives, we also develop empathy. We can be different and still care about each other. When listening, we look for connection, and this enables us to find these similarities and connections in spite of differences.
I thought a lot about this as I considered how to continue to advocate and educate. This power of storytelling was true for me as well. When I shared my story, others would listen and ask questions, interested to learn. I too learned so much from the stories of those in my training sessions and those with whom I collaborated. Their stories helped me to be a better person, a better member of every community of which I am a part, and a better educator and advocate.
I believe that stories can be transformative; building deep understanding of and compassion for one another. The purpose of telling stories of people with disabilities is not to have others pity us, not to have others be inspired by us, but rather to recognize the complexities of our lives and to see similarity and difference in the lives that we all live.
I do also hope, in reading the stories and the poems that I’ve written, that people will gain a better understanding of why and how our world, the physical and philosophical, needs to change to be more equitable and inclusive, so as to support the participation and contributions of us all. In this way, this book and these stories are ways to continue to do disability advocacy. Please join me in telling our stories.
Look for, See us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability available in 2026.
Jenn Chassman Browne
https://newground.us/