Lara FreidenfeldsJul 30, 2020Accessibility in America Past and PresentBess Williamson’s Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design is a thought-provoking and edifying look at the shifting culture...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Oct 7, 2019Is a Historian’s Library an Archive or a Living Thing?This week I purged my bookshelves. As a Ph.D. historian, it initially felt like a risky move — somewhere in between disowning my former...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Aug 23, 2018Are Our Smart Devices Turning Us into Dumb Humans?Are all of our “smart” devices training us to be “dumb” humans, too-often indistinguishable from mere machines? As click-through...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Sep 22, 2017Face to Face with Sharrona PearlI recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sharrona Pearl about her new book, Face/On: Transplants and the Ethics of the Other. Below...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Jun 10, 2017I May Not Heal, But I Will Live Better Thanks to Occupational TherapyLast year I learned how to chop a carrot with my eyes closed. While being filmed. Sounds like one of those crazy reality cooking shows,...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Oct 11, 2016Diversity Works, but Only if We Can Forgive One Another“We are a divided nation,” Donald Trump repeats again and again. And then he makes plans to divide us still further: registration of...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Aug 25, 2016Playwright Alice Eve Cohen Asks Us to Reconsider What We Think We Know about Pregnancy and Motherhoo“What makes a mother real?” asks writer and performer Alice Eve Cohen in her newly-published play, What I Thought I Knew. In 1999, Cohen...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)May 26, 2016I Could Wrestle with my Disability, but I Think I’ll Dance InsteadA year and a half ago, I gained a permanent dance partner. That’s what I’ve decided. That’s how I need to think about the damage to my...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)May 3, 2016Sorry, I’m Disabled. Oh, Wait, I’m Not Sorry, Just Disabled.“Sorry,” I say, “Sorry, but would you mind giving me the directions again a little slower? I have a visual impairment and I didn’t see...
Lara Freidenfelds (Admin)Sep 3, 2015If You’re Not a Jerk, Then I’m Not DisabledThis is my fantasy: I’m standing at the Main Street corner in my little New Jersey suburban downtown, waiting to cross the street. As...