Series

Disability Futures

Five writers on ways that disability is shaping our lives-and our futures

1 min read

Figures in a row, and the Disability Futures logo.

In many ways, all of our futures are tied to the future of disability. Many of us will be disabled, if we are not or haven’t been already; as we age, most of us will become, in some way or another, disabled. We can’t think about the future–of health, of technology, of community–without centering disability, because it cuts across every other kind of experience. Disability is central to all of our lives.

Curated by Kenny Fries, “Disability Futures” is a series of essays by five writers who dig into the ways that disability is shaping our lives–and our futures. From education to the arts to parenting, these writers explore how disability, in the words of Rebecca Sanchez, “invites us to reconsider how we relate to and with other people.”

Figures in a line.

Kenny Fries: How We Think About the Future of Disability

Introducing a series of essays on how disability is central to all of our lives

A teacher in front of a class.

Emily K. Michael: Remaking the Ideal Teacher

My students have shown me that it’s OK to center my nonstandard ways in the classroom

Two people communicating.

Rebecca Sanchez: Creating Shared Spaces With Every Form of Language

The sitcom Speechless explores the ways that disability invites us to reconsider how we relate to and with other people

A figure framed in pictures on a wall three times.

Rae Rose: The Power of Finding a Disabled Community Online

As a bipolar mother, my digital spaces are a touchstone–they offer me support and help me define who I am

Two buildings with German flags, separated by a wall.

Rebecca Maskos: It’s Time to End Germany’s Culture of Benevolent Exclusion

A decade after pledging to protect the rights of disabled people, Germany still struggles to treat us equitably

A line tracing the movement of a wheelchair across the ground.

Alice Sheppard: Choreographing the Physicality of My Bodies

When disabled people dance, it can change how nondisabled people see the relationship between technology and the body

Disability Futures logo with three abstract figures

How We Get To Next was a magazine that explored the future of science, technology, and culture from 2014 to 2019.