Battery, Bhook and the Streets of Kyoto, Japan
It’s my battery vs bhook vs the uncertainty of tomorrow vs if only I wasn’t in a wheelchair thoughts vs aisi ki taisi! A wheelchair traveler’s account of a disability rights conference in Kyoto and Osaka, Japan.
Dear Vueling: A Broken Wheelchair Demands Accountability—Not a Look Under My Skirt
I absolutely hate to write this article. Because I hate being ghosted. I hate dead ends and I hate broken wheelchairs and this article ‘sadly’ is all about it. Wheelchairs being broken during travel is the second biggest fear of travelers who use a wheelchair. Being taken for an alien and being stabbed is number […]
Almost a Mascot in Brazil
Nature and Concrete in Harmony It’s 2018. I am a Women of the World Festival speaker, and I have just arrived in Rio after fourteen hours of travel. It’s my first time here. The weather is sunny and breezy. The city has hills among buildings old concrete beside new. There is a beach, and there […]
‘Ola!’ by the Murder Scene – Brazil
It’s January, and a humid evening in Brazil. I have flown in from Sweden, where winter is at its peak, so the welcome in Rio is warm. (Pun intended.) I spent the first day as part of a jury selecting winners for an Impact Award. By the end, we are all exhausted. Exhausted by some […]
Cardboard, Conversations and Code – Can AI fix attitudes?
They tell me I’m not smart for building a board game in the age of AI and digitization, silly for choosing cardboard and conversation over code. I’m told real solutions scale, automate, and optimize. But what they miss is that disability stigma doesn’t live in software; it lives in people. It lives in the way […]
Lahore Museum Lets You Fill in the Blanks — All on Your Own!
When I visited the Lahore Museum, I wasn’t expecting to find Allama Iqbal’s leftover pakoras preserved and framed—but I was hoping to find ´something´ to chew on. Something to spark a deeper connection to this city—beyond what I studied in Pak Studies class. Something to mentally stimulate me and emotionally tie me to Lahore’s cultural […]
One Journey Two travelers—one thinks about wheels and the other about knees.
When I graduated with a Master’s degree from Sweden, I asked Baba for just one gift: a chance to travel with him across Europe. Little did I know that this trip would become the defining standard of friendship for the Baba-Beti Duo! We visited three countries and six cities in 10 days, with rapid speed, […]
Poem: Take a moment to Pose by Tanzila Khan
Take a moment to poseTake a moment to ask for directions, for time or even for a pictureIf you are feeling crazy, ask for names. Then get asked for coffeeTake a moment to pause, to smile, to flauntTake a moment to hear their story, then tell yoursLaugh at jokes you cant relate toThen feel moved […]
Mental or Mentor?
I managed to get two of my favorite words in the title. The word ‘Mental’ opens up my door to the sky and lets me be swing my pen with no rules. I mean my signature workshop is called Let’s Get MAD! what more can you expect? But here is where the word ‘Mentor’ hops […]
The Bluff – Poem
I wrote a poem In this age of wants and wishesI too set on a path to seek riches I wanted to go to schoolTo get myself approvedThey said, ‘No Mam we arent accessible, you gotta get flexible’So I learned from walls and sourcesUntil I got rid of remorses I wanted to go to OfficeTo […]