Writing with disabilities

It's complicated, but there may be ways to make it work.

Good morning wordicorns and scribblers,

Writing while you have disabilities is complicated. Sitting down, just making it happen… well, that’s not always in our cards. We may lack energy or ability to use a part of our bodies, pain may overwhelm, brains may overwhelm, and that is just scratching the surface.

So today, I’m sharing a few ways I am able to get things done despite not being able to sit up some days, touch a key without fingertip nerves burning, crying spontaneously, brain fog, and the slew of other symptoms that can affect life, love, and the pursuit of the written word.

I can’t tell you how you should proceed with your current medical journey if you plan on writing often or if you should at all, whether or not you should discuss this with your doctor or if you can handle this alone. I can simply tell you what’s helped me. Even if it’s not your jam, even if you’re able-bodied, some of these tips may be able to spark something to make your writing experience a little more comfortable, easy, or just prolong your sprints.

• Find tools that work for you. You and I don’t have the same needs, whether that’s because of physical abilities or region or age or whatever. So focus only on what matters, leave the you have to have this mentality at the door, and start narrowing in on what would make your life better. If something is hurting or not working for you, it’s time to discover what and why so you can make writing work for you the way you are. After all, you can only change so much about your body. So here are some examples:

  • Programs: Dictation via your computer or Dragon and transcription programs, available for free online and as paid services, each have their advantages and disadvantages. It truly depends on what you need out of the deal. The ability to speak your thoughts when your hands and fingers don’t work is invaluable. Likewise, the ability to type without pain when your vocal cords just don’t match up with your brain is also important. (more on those tools in further bullet points)

  • Mic: A decent mic with a dictation software or recording yourself and using a transcription software can really save your hands and energy. You can do it from your bed or desk or while having cereal outside. As long as you have a computer nearby.

  • Headphones: Alternatively, have a good mic on your headphones so you can record yourself while you go for a brisk walk to stretch those hips or a roll around your neighborhood to see the flowers in bloom. It’ll keep you in the creative mindset without the confines of worrying about your body. Headphones are also good to consider for those who need to cancel noise or want to surround themselves in soothing sounds. Blocking out the world may be the only way to get away from thoughts of dishes, and this can be a good way to do it without having to rely on leaving the house or having the perfect storm of cleanliness and quiet roommates or partners or family members.

  • Medical aids: Bracing your wrist or elbow may keep you from hurting yourself during long sprints. Those can be gotten through insurance, at box stores, or even on Etsy. Silver Ring Splints can make all the difference in keeping your parts where they belong as you get on a roll. The name brand can only be procured through insurance, but the great creators on Etsy have made tons of alternatives for a good deal of finger issues.

  • Specialty pens: Gravity pens are great if you need to write while lying down. There are also pens that come with grips of all kinds to make writing by hand less painful for joints or change the way to hold the pen entirely for those with hypermobility.

  • Temperature control: Rice packs come in all sizes on Amazon or Etsy. They can also be made with just simple fabric and rice (most people use cotton or flannel; do NOT use fleece or synthetic fabrics). These are great for a quick top up of warmth when your fingers start to freeze. Or do yours get too hot? How about getting a cold pack? Blue ice anyone? Those can be made with water, alcohol, ice, and dish soap.

  • Caddies: They’re great if you move around the house a lot. You can keep anything from pens to medication bottles in them, making it simple for you to hop up and rush to your desktop (if you have one) or another room (if you have one) and get started without pausing to think of what you need to get through the next few minutes or hours.

  • Keyboards: Did you know there are multiple kinds of keyboards? There are keyboards that are split in half, ones that look like Star Trek bee-boop machines, mechanical keyboards (tall keys), butterfly keyboards (flat keys), and so many others. They aren’t cheap, I won’t lie. They are investments, though. They are worth saving up for, if you can. Each is so particular and can be customized to the nth.

    • Check the link for a more in-depth guide/more information.

  • Mouse: Right-handed, left-handed, flat, titled on the side, finger-indented, mostly a roller ball, extra buttons, joy-sticks, homemade from a banana (#notajoke). Just like keyboards, a mouse is something that can make or break your experience if you use one. And I highly suggest, no matter whether you are a laptop user or a desktop user, that you find an external mouse that works for you in addition to the touchpad.

    • Check the link for a more in-depth guide/more information.

  • Drinking: Think long and hard about what cups you’re using, about the way you hold them, how they open and close, if your hand shakes after a long sprint, if you like straws or not. Drinking constantly helps keep your body healthy, that’s just a fact. But picking up a cup or bottle can make or break a writing session for some of us. Beyond that, if it’s an irritating cup, you might reach for it less often. Needing to pee is good. It’ll make you get up and stretch too.

  • Tea station: Some of us need tea before a word makes it on the page. If that’s the case, consider an electric kettle. That with some cups and tea bags beside you every morning keeps you from having to stand in the kitchen for too long.

  • There are so many other things I can’t think of nor do I have time to list right now. The point is to get you thinking. What’s your routine? What is a roadblock along the way? What makes you say ow or rub a part of you? What is distracting? See what you can do about those things. Even changing one thing can feel like a miracle.

• Get mentally healthy:

  • This is a toughie, but stay with me. Therapy. Therapy is great. You can go to a private therapist, a psychologist at a hospital, a student at a college during the training hours when the therapy is super cheap, or use the state’s mental health services. Trust me when I say that having some mental tools when everything hits the fan helps get us back to our creativity quicker.

  • Find what brings you joy (outside of writing) and do it when you can. Ignore writing once a week or month to do this other thing. Spend spoons/energy painting and let yourself off the hook for not writing for the following week because you’re hurting some. But look, you didn’t just work. You created. You can do more than just one thing.

  • Talk to family and friends. I don’t mean about your illnesses—unless you want to. I mean about anything. Just be a little social. Writing is quiet, it can get lonely. Loneliness is bad for people with chronic illness. We suffer in silence as it is—at doctor’s offices, when people ask us how we are, when we are out in the world and can’t make a scene. Let people in. Have some light in your life.

• Take breaks:

  • Whether this is every ten minutes, every hour, or every two hours is up to you and your body, but do not sprint without body checking every so often. You might end up tensing as you write a suspenseful scene or hunching as you write something sad. If you don’t notice for hours, you’ll pay for it. Don’t let something you love hurt you.

  • Use the opportunity to pee, top up your drink, check in with your hunger level, go outside, then, see if you are really up for going back to the desk at all. Were you just in a super frenzy of good flow? You’ll get it back. But your body may not let that happen for days or weeks if you jump in again right after.

  • Body check, body check, body check. I’ve mentioned it in both bullet points above, but it needs to be its own thing. If you aren’t familiar with the phrase, it’s starting with your head and seeing where every part of you is—tensed? relaxed? crooked? been in one position for too long? Maybe you tighten a muscle to release it. Maybe you stretch or stand or roll around the house to get the blood flowing again. Maybe you change clothes or put on real shoes to remind you to keep your feet on the floor. Are you curled up? Did you get cold and not realize it? Just see where you are and adjust as needed.

I wish I had time to give you everything, dole out links to every type of tool that exists (even down to fancy slicers you can use while making your food in between sprints), but there are so many chronic illnesses I wouldn’t know when to stop, which direction to run.

Instead, I’ll leave you with an interview about this topic. Some of what I mentioned above is touched on, but

Alyssa Graybeal

and I talk about much more than this. The author of Floppy, a memoir about EDS, which is as informative as it is enjoyable to read, Alyssa’s substack (

Slightly Bent Out of Shape

) is a very worthy read!

Also check out

Esmé Weijun Wang

’s article on writing with chronic illness.

Wishing you a happy and healthy-as-you-can-be day, week, month, year, and lifetime. If you have any tips you’d like to add, drop them in the comment section. If I missed something you want to know about, don’t hesitate to ask! I’ll do what I can to answer it.