iNFORM

04/28/2026

For a long time, I lived under the weight of society's unwritten rule that if you are disabled, you must be the polite, quiet, invisible person who doesn't make anyone else feel uncomfortable by simply existing.

I spent years apologizing for my disability. I apologized for the way my wheelchair moved through a crowded aisle. I apologized for my low energy levels. I even apologized for needing accessibility, even though that is a legally entitled right. I was trying to minimize the inconvenience of my existence to make everyone else more comfortable.

Over time, I've realized that my existence is not an inconvenience.

When we apologize for our needs, we inadvertently teach the world that our rights are negotiable. We teach people that accessibility is a "favor" rather than a fundamental requirement for equality.

I am done with that.

I am done apologizing for things I have no control over. I am done minimizing my needs to fit into a world that wasn't designed for me.

My disability is a part of my identity. It is a story of resilience, adaptation, and finding joy in the middle of hard times. I am not asking for too much. I am asking for the same dignity and access that non-disabled people take for granted.

Society needs to stop seeing disabled people as problems to be solved and start seeing us as neighbors, parents, friends, and citizens who belong.

I'm no longer apologizing for my disabled body or my needs.

I'm simply living my life like everyone else. 💙

Image Description: "My existence is not an inconvenience," written in a stylized, cursive font on a light lavender background. The overall design has a watercolor effect, with purple flowers both hanging from the top and growing from the bottom edge of the frame. Delicate vines and floral accents frame the text on the sides.

04/23/2026

Listening to disabled voices is the best way to learn.

Image decryption: Pink background with yellow text that says ‘Give a shoutout to your favorite disabled creators’ and has the picture of a down arrow.

✨✨✨

04/23/2026

I have shared this one before but it’s always a good reminder. ❤️❤️❤️

Image description: A background with wavy, paint streaks in stripes of different bright colors stacked on top of each other with black text that says ‘Encouraging someone to be entirely themselves is the loudest way to love them.’ -Kaleb Dion. On the bottom left of the text is the word ‘Leo.’

04/21/2026

Twin Cities friends: If you are closer to Savage and/or can’t make it to our event on May 6th, you can still get a chance to experience the glory and wonder of Tiffany and her crew the evening before, on May 5th! Whichever event you decide to attend, you’ll be in for a treat!

✨ We’re bringing a BIG voice to our community ✨

You may already know her from Fidgets and Fries 💛
Now you can meet her in person!

We are beyond excited to welcome Tiffany Hammond — bestselling author, speaker, and the powerful voice behind the widely-loved Fidgets and Fries platform.

Through her storytelling and advocacy, Tiffany has built a massive, engaged community by sharing real, honest experiences as an autistic mom raising autistic kids. Her NY Times Best Selling book, A Day With No Words, is changing the way families, educators, and kids understand communication. And this is your chance to hear directly from her.

Join us for this FREE event:
📚 Author talk
✍️ Book signing
💬 Meaningful conversations
💛 A welcoming space for ALL

Come be part of something meaningful.
Tuesday, May 5, 7pm
Savage Library: 3090 Alabama Ave, Savage, MN

👉 Details + RSVP at A Day with No Words: An Author Event with Tiffany Hammond

04/21/2026

I have done a lot of things in my 22 years as a SLP and 14 1/2 years as being a mom, but this is the first Friendship Menu I have ever been a part of creating.
Younger and a friend have had some challenges navigating friendship lately and those challenges came to a head this afternoon in a big kerfuffle. Younger’s therapist, younger and I were trying to work through some possible solutions and we came up with the idea of a Friendship Menu. Younger and his friend can both contribute ideas of what friendship *can* look like and then can decide together which ones they BOTH want. Having a concrete understanding of what is expected and accepted in a friendship can offer reassurance and clarity. The ideas on the paper are the ones younger came up with, and his friend is coming up with some as well. Hoping it helps younger and his friend. 🤞

Image is yellow piece of construction paper with ‘Friendship Menu’ written at the top. In black, the following options are listed: Hangout, Texting/Calling, Chatting on bus/in school, share care/concern and share space peacefully. Below the print is a section that is brailled on transparent plastic sticky paper.

04/20/2026

❤️

Had we listened to the doctor who identified our daughter as autistic at age three, we would have believed her when she told us that Brooke "showed no interest in engaging with those around her."

Had we listened when that same doctor said that she'd undoubtedly "prefer to live a solitary life," we never would have tried with everything we had to help our girl find the peers who mean so much to her.

Had we listened to the therapist who told us when Brooke was four that we should avoid playdates with other autistic children because they'd prevent her from practicing more typical social interaction and "entrench bad habits," we'd never have pushed to find autistic spaces for her to make connections with her neuro-kin, the ones she so deeply cherishes.

Had we listened to the so-called experts, we never would have sought out the voices of the real ones. We never would have "listened" to Brooke - beyond the words that she didn't yet have to the myriad cues that, though somewhat more complicated to decipher, ultimately told us precisely what we needed to know.

We never would have heard so many of our autistic friends, the ones who appeared the most disabled, the most inward-turned, the least "social" in the neurotypical sense of the word, when they told us that they yearn for connection, for friendship, for kinship and understanding. We never would have come to see that there are infinite ways to connect, to interact, to feel included -- to love and be loved in return.

And we never would have been bounding down the sidewalk one morning on our way to Brooke's adaptive dance class, her very favorite part of which she had told me just moments before was "being with her friends." Her speaking, non-speaking, happy, flappy, spinning, stimming, beautifully connected, autistic friends.

Parents, there are a lot of voices coming at you when you start this journey. Please, please choose carefully which ones will guide you.



{image is a photo of Brooke running down the sidewalk in Boston toward her dance studio back in 2015. She is wearing a hot pink tutu over her black uniform, her jacket is on backwards, as always, and neither of her feet is touching the ground.}

04/19/2026

We don’t go downtown very often but needed to today for a piano rehearsal for younger. I didn’t see any accessible parking spots near the music school and so the bike lane on an adjacent street saved us. Every other spot had us in traffic to get younger in and out.

Finding parking in the city is something that has always given me anxiety, but before we needed accessible parking, any open spot would do. I now realize how inaccessibility adds a layer of complexity to every experience that we have.

Picture shows part of my silver Mazda subcompact SUV from behind. The driver’s side rear door is open and a 13yo child can be seen half into the vehicle. A wheelchair sits next to him, in the bike lane.

04/19/2026

Speaking of isolation and belonging…

‘And I was right;
this world cannot hold us,
and it doesn’t know what to do with us.
But those are choices it makes. It chooses not to.’

Incredible, powerful and vitally important words.

I’m so excited for May 6th. 💥

04/18/2026

Completely unacceptable.