This is the story of Kitty Lunn, who had an accident that left her a paraplegic. She went on to open her own dance company, and dance in the 1996 Olympics.
In this personal narrative, Clare explores multiple facets of the self and questions why gender is still discussed as a binary. She acknowledges the tortured lives that many have lived as a result of their gender ambiguity and declares that all those who "gawk," "gape," and "stare" at those who are different never get it right.
Following a presidential debate in 2012, Ann Coulter referred to President Barack Obama as a "retard" in one of her tweets. Stephens, a 30-year-old man with Down syndrome wrote this open letter to Coulter in response to her hurtful and uninformed comments.
To cover is to downplay aspects of our identity that make us different from mainstream society. Kenji Yoshino argues that, although we live in an age where the law prohibits many forms of discrimination, people still face pressure to hide who they are.
Felipe Morales' telling account of an encounter with a blind woman on the streets of Washington, D.C. was recorded for This I Believe. The NPR project features brief personal essays in which people from diverse backgrounds discuss how their values affect their daily lives.