USA
Pronouns: she/her
Location: Cotati, California, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability movement, specific disability issues
Skills: Writing, hosting, producing, audio & text editing
Formats: Audio/Podcasting/Radio
About: Adrienne has hosted and produced for “Pushing Limits”, a disability radio program on KPFA fm. for over 22 years.
Pronouns: she/they
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Institutionalisation, accessible media, solitary confinement, integrated dance, legal analysis
Skills: Filmmaking, interviewing, editing, writing, reporting
Formats: Online, Multimedia, Photojournalism/Photography, Social media, Documentary
About:
Allexa Laycock (she/they) is the director of Rooted in Rights. Allexa has a background in documentary filmmaking and dance-for-the-camera creative work. Her current focus is creating a long form documentary on the remaining institutions in Washington State in the United States, the efforts to close them, and the rise in rhetoric around a return to large scale institutionalization in the United States.
Pronouns: N/A
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, education, literature, music
Skills: Reporting, editing, essay writing, creative writing, teaching, proofreading
Formats: Audio//Podcasting/Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Online
About: Carmen Triola is a poet, educator, essayist, and musician who writes about life with chronic illness under capitalism. They run a Substack called “No Spoons, Only Knives,” under the name Themma Goldman. Check them out if you like anti-ableist critique and long informational rants.
Pronouns: She/Her
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA)
Language: English, Korean, Hindi
Areas of focus: Disability Research, Advocacy, Healthcare, Education, Refugee/Immigration, Arts and Culture
Skills: Writing, Language, Photo-Journalism, Blogging, Creative Media
Formats: Online, Photojournalism/Photography, Research
About: Cheyenne Hennen is a service-driven artist and community advocate from Pittsburgh, PA, who is passionate about cultivating spaces that are affirming for all cultures and identities. She has experience advocating for underserved communities through English literacy (ESL) instruction, disability research and creative expression. Her mission is to continue challenging global stigmas centered around intersectionality, mental health, and accessibility in both education and the workplace. In her free time, she enjoys sewing, music, nature, and collecting physical media.
Pronouns: she/her
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Health, LGBT, Black communities
Skills: Reporting, writing
Formats: Newspapers, Magazines, Online, Multimedia, Photojournalism/Photography
About: Destiniee Jaram supports local journalism and values high-quality, accurate reporting in communities.
Pronouns: N/A
Location: USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Autism and Disability
Skills: Reporting, editing, writing, science communication
Formats: Newspapers, Magazines, Online, Social media
About: Hari Srinivasan is a neuroscience PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University whose work sits at the intersection of brain science, disability, and public policy. A graduate of UC Berkeley, he studies sensorimotor systems in autism, building on earlier research exploring awe and empathy in autistics. A recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship and the Berkeley Haas Fellowship, Srinivasan is equally engaged beyond the lab. His work examines how research methods and institutional assumptions shape whose voices are included — and excluded — in science. He has served on NIH’s Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, is on nonprofit boards and other advisory bodies, helping bridge lived experience with science and policy conversations. An autistic and ADHD thought leader who navigates spoken communication and other significant autism challenges, Srinivasan brings personal insight to his scholarship and writing. His public commentary has appeared in outlets such as Time, Newsweek and Fortune. Across research, journalism, and advocacy, he focuses on expanding who gets heard, who gets represented in evidence, and how systems can be redesigned to better serve people with disabilities.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, education, employment rights
Skills: Reporting; policy and investigative analysis; long-form writing; interviewing; research and fact-checking; editing; digital and social media storytelling
Formats: Online, Multimedia, Data, Social media
About: Jessica Lopez is a disabled author and digital content strategist whose work explores systemic barriers impacting disabled people. She has published investigative and explanatory work on accessible travel and anti-ableism in higher education, with a separate body of reporting on the history of disabled people. Her work has received national recognition from the Obama Foundation and Robert and Ethel Kennedy Center for Human Rights. Her work has garnered invitations to present her reporting at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: Bozeman, Montana, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, health/science, arts and culture, criminal justice, agriculture, books
Skills: Reporting, editing, photojournalism, some video and audio
Formats: Audio/Podcasting/Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Online, Multimedia, Photojournalism/Photography
About: Jodi Hausen is an award-winning journalist with decades of writing and media experience and an awesomely ADDled brain. She’s produced thousands of stories and hundreds of photographs for regional and national publications and online. She also publishes a newsletter, More Than Normal: Breaking Down Barriers of Disability at jodihausen.substack.com.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, politics, and health
Skills: Reporting, writing
Formats: Magazines, Online, Social media
About: Julia Métraux is Mother Jones’ disability reporter.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability research, disability ethics, disability culture, disabled parenting and pregnancy, health equity
Skills: Research, qualitative data analysis, investigative journalism, framing, bias detection, community engagement, and writing
Formats: Newspapers, Magazines, Online, Multimedia, Data
About: Dr. Kara Ayers is an Associate Professor and Associate Director at the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, where she champions disability justice and health equity. She focuses her research on disability representation in media, disabled parenting rights, and disability ethics. Dr. Ayers transforms research into actionable change, advancing policy reforms and fostering inclusive healthcare through an anti-ableist framework. Her work bridges the gap between academic research and real-world advocacy, creating pathways for equitable treatment and the celebration of human diversity.
Pronouns: They/them
Location: New York, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability arts and culture
Skills: Reporting, editing, criticism, analysis, research
Formats: Substack
About: Kevin Gotkin is the founding editor of the weekly newsletter Crip News.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Entertainment, media, disability representation in entertainment
Skills: Reporting, editing, interviewing, analysis, film criticism
Formats: Audio/Podcasting/Radio, Magazines, Online
About: Kristen Lopez is a freelance entertainment journalist with bylines at the Golden Globes, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. She is a two time winner of the National Arts and Entertainment Award from the LA Press Club. She is the former Film Editor for TheWrap and the former TV Editor for IndieWire.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Deafness, health, technology, disabilities, health, parenting
Skills: Reporting, writing, editing
Formats: Newspapers, Magazines, Online, Social media
About: Lisa A. Goldstein has been a freelance journalist for over 27 years. She is known for churning out quick, quality content. Just don’t ask her to do math!
Pronouns: She/her
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, U.S. law and policy, migration, inclusive design
Skills: Podcast production, writing, impact producing
Formats: Audio/Podcasting/Radio, Online, Social media
About: Qudsiya Naqui is a legal scholar and disability media-maker. She is Assistant Professor at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clark School of Law. Her legal scholarship examines how the law and legal systems produce marginality, particularly for those living at the intersections of immigration and disability. Qudsiya is also creator and host of the acclaimed podcast, Down to the Struts—a collection of conversations about disability, design, and intersectionality aimed at uncovering the building blocks for a more just, inclusive and accessible world. She was selected as a 2025-2026 USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellow for her disability media work. Her work has appeared in the UCLA Law Review, Vox, Oxford University Press, and the Disability Visibility Project. Qudsiya earned her J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law and a B.A. in political science and human rights magna cum laude from Barnard College.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: Boxborough, Massachusetts, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, wellness , somatic work and lymphatic drainage
Skills: Reporting, interviewing
Formats: Audio/Podcasting/Radio, TV, Magazines, Online, Multimedia, Social media
About: Roxy B Rocker is a 52-year-old woman who was born with cognitive disabilities and leg discrepancy. She has written poetry and is an award-winning author in a book called Blessed. She has self-published a confidence journal. She launched a TV-show called Embracing What’s Possible with Roxy last summer. In 2021, when she had a car accident that caused her to have a Traumatic Brain Injury, she realized that standing up to the world of non access and lack of support for disability plus representation is deeply important in this world. In 2022, the idea to start a magazine was born. She became an editor-in-chief in 2023 and Inspiring Disability was born in 2024 due to the realization that inspiration and disability don’t go hand in hand. It was then changed to Embracing Disability where stories, lived experiences matter. Reporting and sharing lived experiences on an interview or an article is overwhelming and thrilling for a woman diagnosed with dysgraphia and dyslexia, now with a TBI. Writing is a giant leap forward for Ms Rocker where it’s a challenge for her. Interviewing others is very easy and not as impossible. Both are very important and extremely important part of her life now. It’s a dream come true and unexpected path that is bringing a new found energy to her life. Reporting and writing articles was never in the plan to become a reporter or a TV host interviewing stories of remarkable people. It became clear that this is a joy for her to make this impact on the lives of others. The lack of representation in media is very disturbing. Now that Ms Rocker is involved in the media, part of her mission is to ensure that people with disabilities are more represented. Ms Rocker enjoys talking about fashion, stories of remarkable people, education on disability issues and lived experiences. She has a real interest in events being more inclusive and businesses run by people with disabilities. Inclusive values are very important to Ms Rocker.
She lives in MA, where she works on her media projects from home.
Pronouns: She/her or they/them
Location: Washington DC, USA
Language: English
Areas of focus: Disability, aging, gender
Skills: Reporting, editing
Formats: Online
About: Sara Luterman is The 19th’s disability and aging reporter. The 19th is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on women and gender.
Sara is proud to help put “nothing about us without us,” a saying from the disability rights movement, into practice in her journalism. She has been at The 19th since 2021 and was formerly their caregiving reporter.
Her work is award winning and has been nationally recognized. Her reporting for The Nation was shortlisted for the Deadline Club Mosaic Award. In 2023, she was a National Press Foundation Long Term Care Crisis Fellow.
Prior to her time at the 19th, she freelanced for outlets including The American Prospect, The Washington Post and Vox. She was also a contributing editor for the WNYC podcast Radiolab.
Pronouns: she/they
Location: Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, USA
Languages: English, Spanish, French
Areas of focus: Autism, communication skills, intersectionality, movement disorder
Skills: Editing, writing, thought leadership, video journalism, photojournalism
Formats: Audio/Podcasting/Radio, Online, Multimedia, Social media
About: Tiffany Joseph is from the DC area on the East Coast of the United States. She works in public education, and writes for the social media handle, @nigh.functioning.autism, on all platforms. She is a parent of Neurodivergent kids as well as Autistic with ADHD, OCD, and epilepsy herself.
She writes about Black, Hispanic, and intersectional issues in the Disability Community, and is passionate about ensuring equity in education, literacy, and communication skills for all Disabled people.
Pronouns: She/her
Location: DC/Maryland and NYC/CT, USA
Language: ASL and English
Areas of focus: Disability, carceral systems, and health
Skills: Editing, content creation, digital auditing, data analysis, strategic communications
Formats: Data, Social media
About: Trinity is a Black deafdisabled digital organizer, disability justice advocate, with a passion for learning and community building. As a MPH candidate at Brown University, her goal is to bring a intersectional lens of the prison-industrial complex, environmental justice, and public health, through digital media.