Quotes from Alice Wong

I know I should be grateful, and I am. Parents are good. Sisters are good. I'm still alive. But that's not really enough, is it? That's low-bar shit. Living is more than surviving and scraping by, as if one should be grateful to have a pulse.

Gather your intentions and share your wisdom everywhere. The future is behind you, in the seeds you planted.

The concept of entitlement is familiar jargon in discussions of race and class, and it is just as widespread in the realm of disability. It's the idea that we are acting as if someone owes us something rather than merely asking to be treated with the respect and human dignity we deserve. It is the belief that people of a certain status or apparent condition have no right to demand better because we should just be happy with whatever we get. We should be happy we have anything at all.

Art isn't necessarily about beauty. Art is supposed to make you feel something. And I began to realize that my appearance is my art. My body, my face, my scars told a story. My story. - Ariel Henly

Access is something that we all have capacity, in some way or another, to give one another. So whether it's...hey, you know, if I say, Oh, hey, Rochelle, can we talk later tonight instead of tomorrow morning? I had a bad day, or I'm just tired, you could say, Hey, yeah. No problem. That's a form of access, right?

We still cling as a culture to the myth of the single writer succeeding on their own as fiercely as we cling to the myth of the self-made billionaire. But that isn't what a disabled poetics and practice has to be.

All responses to the world take place within our bodies. - Gloria Anzaldua

Many people do not even know the difference between Medicaid and Medicare and simply consider them entitlement program, as if tax breaks and corporate subsidies aren't entitlements by another name.

Adaptation is care work. Adaptation is survival. Adaptation is a negotiation between the past and the present. Adaptation is a science and art. Adaptation pushes boundaries and creates new futures..

Living is more than surviving and scraping by as if one should be grateful to have a pulse.

When something can't be fixed then the question is what can we build instead?

Sometimes a peach is just a peach. Sometimes a peach is a cosmic portal to relationships that sustain and tie us to one another.

Privilege is being able to keep a prescribed timetable without fear of paying the rent, being in pain or becoming sick, losing health care, and taking care of your family and yourself.

The many identities you hold and your lived experiences are not in conflict with each other; they make you sharp, whole, and extraordinary.

We are a symphony with one instrument playing all the parts. To make the symphony as dynamic as can be instruments must be given to other players.

One of the biggest things that's so toxic about ableism and capitalism is this idea that our worth is based on our productivity. We are interdependent. We know there's more to our worth than just whether we're taxpayers or whether we can work fort or more hours a week

The real gift any person can give is a web of connective tissue. IF we love fiercely, our ancestors live among and speak to us through these incandescent filaments glowing from the warmth of memories. Loving fiercely is real-time legacy building. Maybe that's the best way to honor people.

There is so much that able-bodied people could learn from the wisdom that often comes with disability. But space needs to be made. Hands need to be reached out. People need to be lifted up.

God didn't put me on this street to provide disability awareness training to the likes of them. In fact, no god put anyone anywhere for any reason, if you want to know.

What is your story, and how do you want to share it with the world? If you aren't ready to share, tell your stories to yourself and let it nourish and guide you.