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I had the great privilege of being able to fly to a conference recently to talk about the perils of non-disabled people interpreting disability through their own lens. Imagine my delight when I happened across the page in Delta’s magazine where a different celebrity in each issue lists out their travel essentials. The celebrity was Keah Brown, author of “The Pretty One.” This is superb to see a Black disabled author and culture maker talking about iced Starbucks drinks and flowery blouses. Why am I so excited to read about such mundane stuff?

Because disabled people do mundane, everyday stuff every day. If your main exposure to disability community is popular media, you might not know that. Seems we have to be extraordinary, heroes overcoming adversity, pitiful, or a prop to make non-disabled people like themselves more to make it into mainstream stories.

While yes, expensive fruity drinks and trips to Paris are luxuries that many people in disability community won’t partake in (or say, can’t because of expense and because airlines keep breaking wheelchairs and such), this everydayness is so very rare to see in a non-disability-centered publication that I’m so tickled.

You’ve got this great, smiling portrait of Keah, who is Black and has shoulder-length hair and glasses. Then pictures of her essentials of Airborne, a beret (symbolizing a hope for a trip to France), a still from the film “Little” showing two Black women talking, the book “Royal Holiday,” Niagara Falls, a Starbucks drink, bright pink neck pillow, flowery blouse, and Beyoncé (one of her in-flight music picks).

Here’s the text from the page, written by Matt McCue. “In her new essay collection, The Pretty One, author Keah Brown writes about her life, pop culture, having cerebral palsy, and “other reasons to fall in love with [me].” She explores everything from navigating dating to the need to shift the current conversation about disability. “I hope that in sharing my own stories, I can help make policy changes and physical changes,” says the Western New York native. “I also hope we can shift the way we talk about disability in mainstream media, especially when it comes to entertainment. Stop showing disability under the guise of being depressed and angry all the time. We don’t need pity. We need respect.”

Now, that wasn’t so hard. It’s gorgeous! Cerebral palsy as one of many reasons to fall in love with her. (Extra points for not burdening readers with stats on incidence and prevalence or what cerebral palsy means!) Check out Keah’s statement of wanting to change policy, not “change hearts and minds.” Too often, non-disabled people are satisfied to feel heart-warmed for the length of time it took to read an article. Or they want their suspicions confirmed by the Hollywood films where people acquire a disability and kill themselves because of it. Keah is a fantastic person to follow to get an idea of some of the nuance and depth of proud disabled lives. And the use of personal narrative to motivate and inspire toward a more just society. Check out her book, follow her on social media and the hashtag she started, #DisabledAndCute, and check out the audio and text interview on the Disability Visibility Podcast.