Wendy Lu

All 10 women who spoke to Bustle about their publishing careers described a “very white, very privileged industry,” as one assistant editor put it, with most positions held by people who can actually afford the low salaries.

For states in the Deep South, Drag Queen Story Hour events has been part of a larger sociocultural push to normalize LGBTQ+ identities and provide safe spaces, particularly for youth within deeply conservative states like Georgia, Louisiana, and Alabama, where bans on LGBTQ+ sex education and a lack of protections from employment discrimination make them some of the worst states in the country in terms of LGBTQ+ rights.

Women with disabilities often begin to date much later in life, and they struggle in a dating culture that places a premium on physical appearance.

When the #MeToo movement exploded on social media in October, the reaction among Maddy Eichenberg’s female-identifying friends at school was, “Yeah, this is pretty much our reality.”

Applying for jobs is a formidable task, but it’s even more challenging for people with disabilities — the largest and one of the most underemployed minority groups in the world.

“If I don’t see it out there and I know in my heart and my soul that I belong here ... I have to be that change,” said the model, who has collaborated with Nordstrom and Beyoncé.

Disability is an identity just like race, gender and sexuality. Just as whitewashing is wrong, erasing disabled people from stories about their own communities is equally unacceptable.

We’ve all read headlines like this before: “This Student With Cerebral Palsy Went To Prom With Her Best Friend And It Was Magical.” For decades, the media has tended to portray people with disabilities (or those around them) as inspirations or heroes—a genre of reporting known as “inspiration porn.

I’ve had “first days” with more than 50 nurses. But none was as memorable as my first day with Jean.

Step therapy, also known as a “fail-first” protocol, forces people to try and “fail” cheaper drug alternatives as an attempt to cut costs for insurers. But experts say it’s a physically, mentally, and financially exhausting process for patients, who essentially must prove that they actually need the medicine that works best for them.

I’m 26 years old, and I’m proud to call myself a disabled woman because I consider my disability to be a core part of who I am.

While there is no singular narrative to being American, the pressure to conform to Western values, lifestyles and standards of success is especially hard on disabled Asian American families.

As a Chinese American woman, I grew up believing that crying made me fragile, and that expressing sadness on a bad day meant I was an attention-seeker. Reading books like Memoirs of a Geisha that perpetuated tired tropes about strong, silent Asian women who endure emotional pain taught me that being quiet and obedient was a sign of resilience.

It’s been a year since the #MeToo movement took the internet by storm. As cases of sexual violence have continued to surface, not enough attention is being paid to the disproportionate impact of sexual harassment, assault, and relationship abuse on LGBTQ youth, who may not feel safe coming forward to say #MeToo because of social stigma and discrimination.

Last week, the Ohio Senate passed a Down syndrome abortion ban that would make it illegal for health care providers to perform abortions on patients they know have a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome.