Getting Down to Celebrating Our Earliest Cheerleaders
Qudsiya's thoughts on the influences that shape us
Hello dear readers,
A very warm welcome to our newest followers and subscribers! It’s great to have you here, and huge thanks to DTTS alum, Andrew Leland for recommending our humble newsletter on Substack!
If you haven’t already, please check out our rebroadcast series, where we are recasting listener favorites from every season in the lead-up to season 10. Also, you can share your audio or written testimonials about what Down to the Struts means to you by simply sending an email with a couple of written sentences or an attached voice note to downtothestruts@gmail.com. It’s been a joy to hear from you about the impact the podcast has had in your life.
Remembering our earliest champions
Women’s History Month is winding down, and it got me thinking about the women in my life who have been my cheerleaders from my earliest days. Our relationships with family and community are as multifaceted and complex as we are. For some people, parents are key influences in shaping who we become. For others, its teachers, aunts, uncles, neighbors, or any number of role models we may meet as we journey through life.
My mom was one of my earliest influences. This month, she closed a long and important chapter in her life—she retired after being a pediatrician for nearly 52 years. She was the essence of a community-based physician, a brand of doctor that the medical-industrial complex is slowly destroying. By the time she retired, her patients included the grandchildren of patients she started her practice with in the early 1980s.
She immigrated to the U.S. after medical school and a stint practicing community medicine in a rural town nestled in the mountains of pre-revolutionary Iran. She is a fiercely independent, adventurous person who left home at 17 to strike out on her own, which was very unusual for a woman living in India in the 1970s.
My mom was the first person who realized that I may have an eye condition, and she fought hard against a medical system that refused to acknowledge what she knew to be true until she obtained a diagnosis when I was two years old. From then on, my mom and I grappled together, sometimes in opposition, with what my vision loss meant for me and my future.
But even when her sense of protectiveness and parental care clashed with my stubborn, relentless (possibly inherited) drive for independence, I never once doubted that she was on my side.
When I felt most discouraged by the ableism I faced in so many aspects of my life—from school, to work, to social relationships—she had a constant refrain: “When there is a will, there is a way.” To this day, I recall that simple phrase when I feel like giving up, or the barriers seem too high to surmount.
I wish for each of you the memory of an early champion to remind you, even in the darkest of moments, that when there is a will, there is a way, even when you’re not sure where it will take you. I am very fortunate that my mom was, and still is, my champion.
Community shout-outs
Here’s a list of resources, news, and events so you can keep up with our DTTS alums and other disability community luminaries.
It’s here! The Pod Access podcast dropped its first episode on February 26. Check it out for everything you need to know about starting a podcast, tailor-made for d/Deaf and disabled podcasters, courtesy of Cheryl Green and Thomas Reid. You may hear a familiar voice 😊. And be sure to visit the Pod Access website for some amazing resources to help you get started on your audio storytelling journey.
In last month’s newsletter, I wrote about my struggles to find my voice as a disabled media-maker. As if in direct answer to my dilemma, journalist Rachel Kolb published the book Articulate: A Deaf Memoir of Voice. I can’t wait to dive in, and I also recommend Rachel’s excellent newsletter, Switchbacks for more reflections about how we express ourselves.
Kean University in my home state of New Jersey will host the hybrid Real Abilities film festival from April 3-5, both in person and virtually. The festival features award-winning documentary and narrative films that authentically portray disability experiences on screen and behind the camera. Check out the Kean Stage website for more information about the screening schedule and tickets.
News in the U.S. and around the world has been relentless and overwhelming. But there’s a solution for our collective news fatigue. DTTS alum, Sean Collins, edits Vox’s daily newsletter, Today, Explained, serving up the most important stories of the day in a digestible and engaging format. And as you can expect from Sean, the alt text is fabulous.
Thanks for reading, we’ll be back next month with more.
In solidarity,
Qudsiya