ABILITY3 amazon.com/pwdhourlyjobsC O N T E N T S 8 page page page page page page page page page page page 10 16 22 30 42 47 48 62 70 76 HUMOR — The Squeaky Wheel: Phrases Ableds Avoid LONG HAUL PAUL — A Quick Demo Ride JUNOT DIAZ — Finding Voice in the Immigrant Story TARRIS MARIE — on Fashion, Fiction, and Finding the Light DR.FLYNN — The Healer Becomes the Patient (Part 2) TAL ANDERSON — The Pitt and Disability Representation DARCYS — The Next Evolution of Media Access Awards ALIYA RAHMAN — Crash at the Intersection of Disability and Authority FABIAN CARRERA — Composing a Life Without Limits NEURODIVERGENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION CROSSWORD PUZZLE — ABILITY’s Custom Challenge ADVERTISING For advertising information e-mail advertising@abilitymagazine.com 949.854.8700 DISTRIBUTION Faxon-RoweCom Library Services Ebsco - Library Services Swets Blackwell ABILITY Magazineis published bimonthly 8941 Atlanta Ave. HB, CA 92646 (ISSN 1062-5321) All Rights Reserved Send address changes toABILITY Magazine, Attention: Subscriptions Manager PO Box 10878, Costa Mesa, CA 92627; Tal Anderson Issue Oct/Nov 2026 M ANAGING E DITOR Gillian Friedman, MD M ANAGING H EALTH E DITOR E. Thomas Chappell, MD H UMOR W RITERS The Squeaky Wheel Steven Verdile E DITORS Olivia Austin Gina Healy Pamela K. Johnson Lia Martirosyan Josh Pate, PhD Maya Sabatello, PhD, JD Karina Ulrike Sturm Isabella Wisinger Jennifer Woodall H EALTH E DITOR Larry Goldstein, MD C ONTRIBUTING W RITERS Ashley Fiolek Eileen Grubba Geri Jewell Regina Hall Myles Mellor (Crossword Puzzle) Itto Outini Paul Pelland (Long Haul Paul) Edward Timke, PhD W EB E DITORS Marge Plasmier Tanya Thomas Bob Williams (Interactive Puzzle) M ULTI -M EDIA Jenny Woodall G RAPHIC A RT / I LLUSTRATION Dorothy Panagiotopoulou Scott Johnson P HOTOGRAPHY Paul Pelland Nancy Villere Aly Whitman T RANSCRIPTIONIST Sandy Grabowski T RANSLATOR Jing Hu Emily Deng M ARKETING/ P ROMOTIONS S OCIAL M EDIA Lia Martirosyan Tamay Shannon ABILITY JOBS .COM Lori Daly Vicky Dupree Marge Plasmier Megan A. Granata Casey Mims Jenny Woodall E DITORIAL editorial@abilitymagazine.com P UBLISHER / E DITOR-IN- C HIEF Chet Cooper The views expressed in this issue may not be those ofABILITY Magazine Library of Congress Washington D.C. ISSN 1062-5321 © Copyright 1990-2026 ABILITY Magazine table of contentsTal Anderson Tarris Marie Junot DiazAliya RahmanABILITY5 HTTP://TEXTAID.READSPEAKER.COM6ABILITY SaveUpto40%ofTestingTimewithA11yInspect AvailableonChrome•Edge•Firefox StopSwitching BetweenToolsto TestAccessibility 600+ Accessibility Checks 30WCAG Success Criteria CodeLevel Visibility Automation& Human Validation TheEdgeYouNeed LessThan 1%False Positives KeyCapabilities 14+Bookmarklets forGuidedTesting DownloadReport (Excel/HTML/JSON/PDF) In-builtColor ContrastChecker sales@barrierbreak.com+1(360)7643947 Detect.Investigate.Remediate. MeetA11yInspect.Abrowser-based smarteraccessibilitytestingtool. www.barrierbreak.comABILITY78ABILITY 7 New Phrases Ableds are Using to Avoid Ever Saying ‘Disabled’ HUMOR THERAPY the squeaky wheelABILITY9 We all love it when able-bodied people refuse to say the word “disabled” out loud. Just like them, we feel squirmy and uncomfortable when we think about our weird bodies and brains. So here are seven of our favorite new things they’re calling us to make sure our experience is never acknowledged — just like we want! • “Our resident ADA expert” When someone addresses you this way during a work meeting with a knowing little grin, thank them for being someone who recognizes your expertise, instead of say- ing that “other” thing out loud. • “Person with Alternative Movement Patterns” Person-first language is so important, but sometimes it still lets people think about our terrible problems. So vaguely referring to a consequence of, ahem, —all that — is a great way to say it without saying it. Popular alternatives: “Person experiencing differing capacities,” “Person paying high insurance premiums,” “Person with closer parking.” • Cain (because you’re not Able) It’s the best when someone is so unwilling to think about “you know what” that they immediately start making jokes about us and, on top of that, bring in religion! • “[Name of your service dog]” Our furry lil guys are the cutest stand-ins for our unmen- tionable troubles! • “Funcoordinated” A positive spin and wordplay? Yes, please! Popular alternatives: “Chairiffic,” “Autastic,” “Chron- ically sick as Hell.” • “Short Bus Kings” It’s great how you can say “short king” and never say openly that a guy is too small to be a real man. That resonates with us, and we’re stoked you can now hide the reason guys who take the short bus are also not men. • “Friend of Helen” We are complete fangirls of Helen Keller, and we totally want to be her friend! Plus her various disabilities and symptoms mean the label can apply to people with a wide range of unspeakable abnormalities. Popular alternative (until recently): “Homies with Hawk- ing” Whichever one of these phrases you encourage your non-disabled friends to use, the important thing is we all get to keep feeling that festering body shame deep in our medically interesting bones. by Sy Hoekstra Founder Steven Verdile the-squeaky-wheel.com mobiusmobility.comNext >