Disability and the Pandemic is a collaboration with community media and disability advocates in the Greater Philadelphia Area to collect and publish local stories of living with disability during a pandemic.
Between January and June 2021, we collected 16 interviews from people who shared their experiences living with disability during a pandemic. Some lost friends or loved ones. Others experienced illness, homelessness, unemployment, and the loss of vital services. All experienced significant disruption to their everyday lives. All described rich stories of coping, community, family, and finding meaning. Our community media partners worked with these interviews to publish 9 articles for the project, most by writers who self-identify as disabled. Altogether, more than 50 individuals collaborated on the project: as interviewees, interviewers, writers, editors, advocates, or connectors.