Spotlight on Disability-Focused Magazines and Journals

By Caroline Dowse, Ana Cecilia Matute and Zalak Shah

Discovering the world after being diagnosed with, or growing up with, a disability can be a difficult experience, filled with doubts and confusion, that may feel isolating, stressful and overwhelming, sometimes all at the same time. Similarly, supporting someone through this process can be confusing. In this process of learning and growing, it becomes even more important to find platforms and communities that can help navigate the difficult times and celebrate the good times. 

This month, we commemorate Disability History Month in the UK, and we want to highlight some publications that focus on amplifying this community and their voices.

Breath & Shadow Literary Journal

Breath & Shadow is a literary journal featuring stories and poetry written and edited by people living with disabilities. It is part of Ability Maine, an organization founded in 2000 by Norman Meldrum and Russ Anderson of Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), to provide resources that will help improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.

In the latest issue, published in Summer 2024, the stories range from horror to heartrending. In ‘Mute’, a young boy refuses to speak after believing that he has been cursed by something in the woods, to his father's exasperation. In ‘Prima Ballerina’, a woman working in a nursing home starts to see the residents for who they used to be instead of their current personalities as they live with dementia. The poetry is just as compelling. ‘The Man of the Ice’ imagines the grace and peril of an ice skater’s routine. At the same time, ‘The Vaporization of an Insane Working-Class Man’ is a rant about life in capitalist America as a working-class person. There are stories based around living with a disability, too. In ‘Alice “Crazy Lady”’, the narrator describes the prejudice that she has faced after being diagnosed with a mental illness and how she has been able to make peace with her condition. 

Breath & Shadow is a great showcase for undiscovered writers. While it is based in Maine, USA, it accepts submissions from all around the world. This diversity shows in the writing, and the edgy themes and perspectives on disability make this literary gem well worth a read.

SICK Magazine

SICK Magazine is an independent magazine with a unique design that explores disability and chronic illness through art, literature, visual pieces, interviews and more. Having published six issues since 2019, they continue to generate visibility for the complex experiences of everyday life for people within this community, showing what sometimes seems invisible to others.

Throughout the past years, their issues have covered the challenges and realities of being sick while also celebrating and highlighting the importance of their voices through the editions and illustrations of every number.

They publish diverse voices of people who have faced or currently face chronic illness or disabilities. They also offer flexible deadlines, accept submissions from all around the world and provide a submission guide focused on supporting artists and their working processes, which tend to vary. SICK Magazine also considers previously published work on a case-by-case basis, with the necessary permissions.

All issues are available, some in digital format but mostly as print copies. Additionally, the publication offers a newsletter you can subscribe to through Patreon.

Wordgathering

Wordgathering is a digital, open-access magazine that aims to publish disability poetry, literature and arts. Their biannual schedule accepts diverse submissions for poetry, fiction, non-fiction, art, short videos, audio content, book reviews and interviews. 

Wordgathering is dedicated to achieving its twofold goals – providing access to creators with disabilities and making art and literature easily available to interested readers. Their current issue contains a photo essay titled ‘We Fight On Because We Have To’. The artist dressed as her college mascot and documented the inaccessible areas of her college campus. Additionally, an insightful interview with author and poet Kara Davis explores how disability is represented in society today and how we don’t spend enough time questioning this representation. 

Since 2019, Syracuse University Libraries has managed the magazine publication, but legacy issues can be found on the website. Wordgathering has also adopted the Creative Commons License, which allows readers to share the published work for non-commercial use in its original form as long as the creator is credited. The license allows creators to alter, reuse and adapt their works. The copyright of all published work with Wordgathering stays with the creator, and the magazine does not own it.