Because the reality is being disabled is hard. It's not easy. And so, I don't want you to find that inspiring because it's just how my life is, but I… - Elsa Sjunneson
" "Because the reality is being disabled is hard. It's not easy. And so, I don't want you to find that inspiring because it's just how my life is, but I want people to get it so that the world can change.
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About Elsa Sjunneson
Elsa Sjunneson is an award-winning Deafblind author, editor, historian, media critic, and speaker living in Seattle. Her work includes the forthcoming Dear Blind Lady: Disability Advice You Didn't Know You Needed (Sasquatch Books, October 6, 2026), the Washington State Book Award-winning memoir Being Seen, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Sword of the White Horse. She has won three Hugo Awards, an Aurora Award, and a British Fantasy Award for editorial work, and her nonfiction has appeared in venues including CNN, Tor.com, and The Boston Globe.
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The English language is perniciously ableist. We speak in metaphor that constantly puts down disabled bodies, with phrases like "turning a blind eye" and "it fell on deaf ears" falling from our lips so easily. People often tell me it's not that big of a deal. But, of course, if you've been listening to your language make you sound stupid, ignorant, and useless for your entire life, when you've made a profession out of the craft of language, you cannot help but find pain in the ways that language cuts you to the quick.
ASL has its own barbs. All languages do. But English is troublingly ableist.
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