We need to talk about the online response to two new high-profile disabled parents. Within the last couple of months, two disabled digital creators, Alex Dacy (@wheelchair_rapunzel) and Chelsie Hill (@ChelsieHill), with more than 220K followers each have given birth. The reach and visibility of these women, their pregnancies, and the recent births of their […]
About Kara Ayers
On your marks: Planning for summer camps as a disabled parent starts NOW
Many of the realities of parenting have surprised me. I don’t recall anyone warning me about the need to plan our family’s summer no later than about mid-February. In the depths of winter, it’s tough to imagine hot days out of school, but I need to! In our area, the hustle starts before the holidays. […]
ChatGPT for Parents with Disabilities
Have you heard the buzz around ChatGPT? It’s an open access, or free for now, chatbot that learns by taking in information and responding in a conversational way. Some people have greeted the rise of this artificial intelligence with panic. As a professor, I’m in a number of online spaces with educators. Some reacted as […]
Freedom with the Firefly: Off-Road Parenting with a Disability
The Firefly, made by Rio Mobility, lifts up the front wheels of a manual wheelchair to transform it to a three-wheeled chair pulled by an electric motor. I’ve had the Firefly for a little over a month. It was a significant investment for our family. I wish insurance would cover products like this. Our decision […]
Trunk-or-Treat as an Accessible Option for Families with Disabilities
Our family loves Halloween-the decorations, the spooky factor, the costumes, and for the kids-the candy! The ultimate culmination of Halloween is trick or treating. My husband and I are both wheelchair users and we don’t live in a neighborhood with sidewalks. Even if we did though, most porches would make it impossible for us to […]
When My Toddler Daughter Wasn’t Invited To A Party Because Of Me
It had taken some courage to sign our daughter up for a toddler gymnastics class in our community. The class required parent participation and with the bouncy floor and various obstacles, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. My husband and I had seen the room, considered where and how we could move about in our […]