Not your ‘inspiration’: A disabled writer’s practical guide to meaningful conversations

At twenty-three, I had just left my job at Morgan Stanley in New York City, trading spreadsheets and skyscrapers for purpose and possibility. I took a steep pay cut and moved to Kampala, Uganda to work on improving livelihoods for smallholder farmers. Every nerve ending sparked to life, raw and electric, at the thrill of doing something that mattered. I couldn’t have known what lay ahead: a motorcycle taxi accident, a traumatic brain injury, three months in a coma, and the beginning of life with permanent disabilities. I am now a wheelchair user. In a rush to reclaim a version of the life I’d lost, I returned to something I was planning just before the accident took place – I applied to Yale School of Management in the US. I graduated with an MBA in 2020, have held three jobs since, and now, I’ve written a book about this journey.

You can probably guess that I get called “inspiring” a lot. But here’s the funny thing – it’s most often by people I’ve just met. It usually comes wrapped in good intentions. But ‌it makes me uncomfortable. Especially when it’s used as a placeholder for a real interaction. When that word lands,...

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