“I engineer families out of strangers”

I had the pleasure of writing a review of Jen Powley’s memoir, Just Jen, for this month’s Quill & Quire. Memoir lovers and disability activists will appreciate Powley’s politics and her direct and unflinching prose. Personally though, the element of her story I was most struck by was her resourcefulness in creating human networks that…

Read More

Life is like a bowel obstruction

The dietician was the last person I spoke to when I was discharged from the hospital on Monday (yes, Monday, three days ago, Monday). He was being almost-too-respectful so I kind of felt like I had to shake him down for insight and advice. I wanted to know how I ended up in the emergency…

Read More

“Save the ground for something that grows”

"Save the Ground for Something that Grows" Jehangir Saleh www.juliedevaney.com

Jehangir Saleh wrote these words about his life with Cystic Fibrosis in 2005. I read them a few months ago but they still give me chills each time they drift back through my mind: “These lungs – which perhaps I should name as to properly address them as they seem to have a mind of…

Read More