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I’m Disabled and Proud of It
How the creator of the popular #DisabledAndCute sparked a movement — and memoir — that saved her
In her upcoming memoir, The Pretty One, Keah Brown — the writer and activist behind the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute — explains what it’s like to live at the intersection of her “multiple marginalized” identities as a Black disabled woman. In 12 moving essays, Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy and has written about disability rights and pop culture for a variety of publications, discusses a range of topics, including her longest relationship — the one she has with chairs. She also tackles such subjects as wrestling with internalized ableism, being simultaneously seen and unseen by society, her various pop culture obsessions (Paramore and Hallmark movies), and why it’s important to have a crush on yourself.
“Black disabled women aren’t the ones you see on store bookshelves; we aren’t the ones you catch at literary events and on bestseller lists,” Brown writes in the book. “I want to change that.” In this exclusive ZORA interview, we catch up with the engaging author before her book’s August 2019 debut:
ZORA: You have a non-disabled, identical twin sister who friends of yours called “the pretty one.” That phrase is now the title of your first book. How did you land on that title, and what does it mean to you?
Keah Brown: My former editor, Jhanteigh Kupihea, landed on it. We were talking about the way people often refer to my sister as “the pretty one,” and I was like, “I think I’m ‘the pretty one’ as well.” Both of us are. She was like, “I think The Pretty One would be great,” and I immediately loved it.
