SelfLoveRainbow/Dominee Calderon

LURNN • 4 February 2026

Trying to Lean Into Disabled Joy, Alongside Grief Galore

On March 21, 2018, while still in a Wellness Counselor/Coordinator role at Canada's largest university, I first met the woman whose hands I have most entrusted my fat brown queer disabled immigrant woman's body, but I said a tearful goodbye to her on Friday, January 30, 2026, at our final chiropractic treatment appointment prior to her practice closure.

Centre for Community Organizations

LURNN • 28 January 2026

Please Never Assume I Can Access Care Like Skinny White Straight Abled Canadian Women

For as long as I have lived on this side of the Turtle Island border, Americans have waxed poetic about universal healthcare in Canada, but I moved from Trinidad in 1999, and have yet to experience such access to care.

LURNN • 21 January 2026

Disability Justice Work Must Include Holding Space for Grief

As I watched a beloved Black sitcom last week, I found myself percolating on that discussion about how we do a disservice to younger generations when we fail to be transparent about the grief that often accompanies disabilities, especially as we age, and likely face complications that multiply our losses.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels

LURNN • 14 January 2026

Remembering Poet, Renée Nicole Good

At the time of her passing, I had never heard of Renée Nicole Good.

Unfortunately, thanks to state-sanctioned violence under Trump 2.0, I have spent much of the last week learning about this poet, reflecting on both her life and death, as I imagine the incalculable loss felt by Good's loved ones.

Photo © 2026 Greg Pak. All rights reserved.

LURNN • 7 January 2026

Disability Justice Reflections on Zohran Mamdani's Inauguration

Since 1st learning of Zohran Kwame Mamdani in the summer, I have followed his NYC mayoral journey with awe, especially given how demoralizing Turtle Island's otherwise white supremacist settler-colonialist political landscape is.

LURNN • 29 December 2025

Alt Text as Cross-Disability Solidarity

Over the course of my requests to please consider adding alt text for image posts on Bluesky, there has been a multitude of impacts, including being placed on lists like Alt text nags, Chronically irritating accounts, and Self Righteous Scolds, but I want to highlight a particularly uninsightful reply, and share my thoughts about how our past behaviour is a much better indication of our commitment to a cause, rather than what may be stated in any policy, based on my lived experience as a disabled sociologist trauma survivor:

LURNN • 24 December 2025

The Disability Justice Revolution We All Need Will Never Include Access Intimacy Abuse

I share all this because the Disability Justice revolution we need will not come without a frank discussion about how many disabled folx have been harmed by other disabled folx who preyed on us, based on our perception of shared Disability Justice values.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels

LURNN • 21 May 2024

This Past Therapist is Retiring All-Or-Nothing Thinking

For a long time, my all-or-nothing mindset drove me to accomplish a great deal despite adversity, but the more disabled I have gotten, that cognitive approach has become a liability, so I am finally retiring that practice!

Verywell Mind • 23 March 2024

What Is White Guilt?

White guilt describes the guilt brought upon by "the recognition of unearned and unfair racial privileges, the acknowledgment of personal racist attitudes or behavior, and/or the sense of responsibility for others’ racist attitudes or behavior."

On one hand, this guilt can lead people to unlearn racist attitudes and fight against White supremacy. On the other hand, a person may disengage from the feelings of guilt and shame and become defensive.

The term white guilt is frequently used in the...

Verywell Mind • 16 March 2024

What Is Inclusion?

Inclusion is the practice of including and accommodating people who often face discrimination and exclusion due to race, gender, ability, sexuality, or identity. In light of the current racial climate, many settings are becoming increasingly aware of their lack of diversity and representation. Such organizations have failed to represent people of all backgrounds, genders, etc. This has left the most oppressed folx feeling undervalued, ignored, erased, etc.


Inclusion refers to "the act or prac

Verywell Mind • 10 March 2024

Being Friendly and Trustworthy is Most Important When it Comes to Choosing Teammates

For many individuals, working in teams is associated with experiences of othering. It may explain why a recently published study in the Journal of Management found that being friendly and trustworthy may be more valuable than skill competency when working on teams.

Through two studies with full-time first-year MBA students at a large American university, researchers found that individuals had been more likely to rely on social capital than human capital when forming teams.

Especially when many

Prism • 13 September 2023

BIPOC LGBTQIA+ communities deserve care for eating disorders

Thanks to Project HEAL, an organization that addresses systemic health care and financial barriers to eating disorder treatment, Da’Shaun Harrison was finally diagnosed with an eating disorder last year. But they have long struggled with disordered eating. As a Black trans person, Harrison lives with the impacts of oppression.

“Growing up as someone who was socialized as a Black boy, who was always fat, doctors never even considered [an eating disorder],” said Harrison, a theorist and author of

Medicinal Media • 15 August 2023

Staging medicine as a neurologist and playwright — Medicinal Media

Ariel Landrum, MA, LMFT, a certified art therapist and the clinical director of Guidance Teletherapy, says, “Doctors are healthcare professionals that we rely on to keep us well. Performance art that humanizes doctors allows us to connect with them as individuals. When a doctor writes the narrative themselves, we can get a more accurate look at their struggles in their personal and professional lives. When we experience the narrative from a woman of color, we are immersed in the richness of the

Issuu • 11 July 2023

TEACH Magazine - July/August 2023

The next generation is often thought of as the trailblazers of the future, but what does that mean when the future of our planet looks uncertain in terms of the vast impacts of climate change?

Verywell Mind • 5 July 2023

How Awareness of Epigenetics and Generational Trauma Can Inform Therapy

The pandemic has become a source of collective trauma for many, leaving some wondering what the long-term impact may be even after it's over. The study of epigenetics may have the answer, as history shows that oppressed groups, for example, may pass down the impact of such trauma in their genes.

Epigenetics—in highly simplified terms—is the study of how genes may be affected by the experiences people have, which can then be passed down to future generations.

While it may be challenging to cons

Asparagus Magazine • 18 June 2023

Bodily Autonomy Is About More Than Abortion Access - Asparagus

For many, the phrase “bodily autonomy” brings abortion access to mind, especially since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade—the 1973 supreme court decision that legalized abortion throughout the US. This latest court decision means that American states can regulate abortion within their borders.

But the concept of bodily autonomy also applies to trans rights, disability justice, mental health, and even what a person can wear on their body. That’s a wide range of topics, so let’s unpack how thes

13 May 2023

How Challenging Internalized Ableism Helps Ground My Freelance Work – Disabled Writers

Coming to understand myself as disabled has been a far from linear journey, much like other realizations that have been particularly meaningful in my life. In some ways, that process occurred alongside the reckoning of my identity as an artist, during the height of the quarantine measures for COVID-19. While I have struggled with back pain for at least a decade, sleep issues following white supremacist workplace harassment in 2016, and migraines since my teens, it took the closure of my chiropra

11 May 2023

The Sexiest Erotica You Can Find on the Internet, For Free

All too often, erotica evokes references to Fifty Shades of Grey. While this may be enough for some, for others, it leaves much to be desired. Fortunately, there is a whole wide world of erotica to appeal to whatever idea, fantasy, or kink you’d like to explore. And if the erotica you want doesn’t yet exist, you can always create it yourself! You can read, write, or listen to erotica. You can even draw it out in a graphic novel. The possibilities go on and on.

What erotica you like, and how you

Asparagus Magazine • 11 May 2023

What Does Anti-Oppressive Therapy Look Like? - Asparagus

Three years ago, Dev Ramsawakh waited months to see a psychiatrist, then was repeatedly misgendered at the appointment by both the doctor and a white social worker. This came after they had already tolerated being told to try yoga by that social worker, without any consideration for how someone of South Asian descent may have cultural and religious ties to those practices.

“Following that incident, I was really deterred from accessing mental health services, I struggled with feeling confident i

Asparagus Magazine • 11 May 2023

Ukrainian Youth "Will Not be the Same" - Asparagus

On February 24, 2022, a social worker who works with youth and resides in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, was drinking a cup of tea and making his way to catch a train to Kyiv. Suddenly, his city was hit with a Russian missile targeting a nearby airfield.

Since then, he has not left his home because of the threat of military violence, but continues to support youth via messaging service Telegram and the video-conference platform Zoom. He worries about how traumatizing this Russian invasion will be for t

11 May 2023

54 Sexting Ideas You Wouldn't Have Thought Of

Sexting, whether you’re sending sensual messages or sending photos of yourself, can be a fun way to get in the mood and create anticipation. Sexting is a creative form of digital play that can aid in promoting sexual satisfaction in relationships — it can be fun, funny, sexy, steamy, and hot all at once, but, as with most sexual activities, it doesn’t always come naturally. If you are new to sexting (or feel awkward about — it happens and it’s totally okay to feel that way!), it can feel like co

Medtruth • 11 May 2023

5 Top Podcast Recommendations for Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

Due to the hard work of author and activist Bebe Moore Campbell, the U.S. House of Representatives first recognized July as National Minority Mental Health Month in 2008. With the lived experience of supporting her daughter’s navigation of mental health services, Campbell witnessed the systemic gaps in mental health access and drew attention to the unique mental health needs of Black folks in the United States, and by extension Black, Indigenous and people of color, too. Especially during a glob

GHLF.org • 13 February 2023

Asthma and the LGBTQ+ Community: How to Ensure You’re Getting the Care You Need

Unfortunately, people who are part of marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ communities, struggle to receive suitable medical attention. Asthma requires regular care by a provider, so finding the right doctor who makes you feel comfortable and safe to discuss what’s bothering you, your individual preferences and needs, and your LGBTQ+ identity is key to managing your condition.

Here, a few patient and expert tips to ensure you’re getting the asthma care you need and deserve.

When it comes to a

ILY • 25 January 2023

Forget Your Love Language, Do You Know Your Route to Safety?

Routes to Safety is a trauma-informed model for building stronger connections within our relationships.

For many, the love languages is what first comes to mind when we think about a lens for understanding our relationships. Are you more words of affirmation or quality time? It’s an extremely common conversation since it outlines different examples of what some may need from their partners in relationships. It’s been easy to grasp when trying to build a better connection.