Do The Best You Can With What You’re Given: Wisdom From A Challenging Year
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
1y ago
[Image is a quote on various shades of orange written in black text. The quote is attributed to M. Karin Hitselberger, MSSW, and is from the essay, “Do the Best You Can With What You're Given: Wisdom from a Challenging Year, ”and reads, “Most of all, though, I can tell you honestly beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m grateful for the opportunity every day to continue to do the best I can with what I’ve been given because I think my grandmom was right; at the end of the day, that's all any of us can promise and the best any of us can do.”] I always joke that the last time I was early was Octob ..read more
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An Update From Karin
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
2y ago
ID: a pink image with a butterfly, bow, and hearts and a coral blob insert with text reading “Life Update CW: Traumatic Injury” Hey y’all, Karin here with a little bit of a life update. Last Saturday, March 26th, I was going out to dinner with my family. On the way there, we got into a significant accident. Luckily, there were a number of good Samaritans on the nearby beach. They helped remove me from my chair and stabilize my mother and grandmother. Currently, I am in the medical progressive care unit with a head injury, broken clavicle, and fused neck. My mother is in a coma a the same hosp ..read more
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What You’re Missing When You Tell Me Not to Let My Identities “Define Me”
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
2y ago
I know that I’ve been quiet on here for quite a while, and the truth is, these wild times have been keeping me busier than I would like, at times. Don’t worry though, I’m still here challenging and changing the narrative around what it means to live life in a plus-sized, visibly disabled body.  Whether through selfies and other visual content on Instagram, or through sharing my perspective and experiences in a range of personal essays on this blog and on other platforms, it is my mission to live openly, unapologetically, and without shame in the body I was given, despite the prevailing na ..read more
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Everything I Wish You Knew: A Letter to My Teenage Self
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
Dear 15-year-old Karin, I’m writing to you again, this time with over five more years of experiences that have helped me learn, change, and grow in every way imaginable. The first time I wrote you a letter, I was not quite 25, and just at the beginning of the chapter of life we call adulthood.  I told you not to give up hope because everything you hated about who you were, would become important aspects of your identity and existence. I promised you that you would find acceptance, friendship, and even love, not in spite of any of who you are, but precisely because of it. I told you all th ..read more
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Learning to Grow
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
Trigger Warning and Author's Note: The following essay discusses my personal experiences with eating disorders and self-harm. It includes themes of medical gaslighting, ableism, and fatphobia. I'm sharing this story because I think it's important, but I also recognize that parts of this essay may be triggering to some people. If you are struggling, please reach out for help and support. There are a number of resources included at the end of this essay, and I am always available if you need to talk. The silence in the room was palpable as I processed what had just been said. My fingers unconsci ..read more
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Joy, Light, Sadness, Pain, and Connection: Reflecting on an Unexpected Year
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
2020 has been, well, A LOT, to say the least.  Pandemics, politics, and more have filled this year with twists and turns that I don't think anyone expected, but amidst all the drama and dark days, I have learned a lot and realized how important it is to hold onto the things that bring you light and bring you joy whenever possible. I know I've written about the pandemic and the importance of light and joy before, but in reflecting on 2020, I realized that this unexpected year taught me many things that I want to share. Let me start by saying that I know finding light and joy isn't always p ..read more
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Why Fashion and Beauty are Such Important Parts of my Life
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
If you know anything about me, you know that I absolutely love fashion and beauty. Even in quarantine, I get dressed up and do my makeup almost every day. For me, fashion is a near-essential part of living my best life, and expressing myself through my clothing and makeup has fundamentally revolutionized my relationship with my body, and myself. When first reading those words, it's possible that you think I sound a bit shallow or vapid, but for me, fashion is not about impressing other people, but crafting an image that reflects to the world how I see myself, and how I want to be seen and unde ..read more
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When Self-Acceptance is Political: Some Thoughts on Identity and Body Politics
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
In another essay, I wrote the words, "I am not pieces of my identities, but layers upon layers of complicated, beautiful, and complex existences that meld together to make me the person that I am." Recently, I've been thinking about why that is such an important statement for me as a disabled, fat woman living in our society. I've been thinking about the way I show up, and the way my identities shape my experience in the world, particularly in regards to being disabled. My identities are not pieces of me. I'm not a puzzle that can be broken down and separated into its various parts. My identit ..read more
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Why I Write
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
I read an essay by Toni Morrison that got me thinking about why I write, even in the darkest, and most difficult times in my life.  In the essay from 2015, she said: "This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal." I know Toni Morrison wrote these words in a world that looked quite different from the one we’re living in now, but even now in this world full of pandemic, and general uncertainty, her words resonate and hold trut ..read more
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I Am Fat, and There's Nothing Wrong With That
Claiming Crip
by Karin Hitselberger
3y ago
I write and speak a lot about the importance of language and the ability to own your identities and everything that you are. My blog even got its name from the idea that disability was something to be claimed, not denied or ignored. I've talked extensively about why I prefer identity first language over person first language when it comes to talking about me and my experience as a disabled woman, and explained exactly why it is that I call myself disabled. Typically, when I talk about claiming my identities I'm talking about my experience of being disabled, but today I'm here to talk about som ..read more
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