Author Archives: Kevin Schaefer

Why we should embrace questions about disability

In the documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” the famed actor recounts how he hid his Parkinson’s disease for several years after his diagnosis. Even as his symptoms became noticeable, Fox wanted nothing more than to suppress that part of him and retain…

The frustrating reality of living with chronic fatigue

In the 1987 science fiction spoof movie “Spaceballs,” Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is betrothed to Prince Valium (Jim J. Bullock), who dozes off constantly. He has chronic drowsiness, so much so that he yawns when Vespa flees their wedding ceremony in a runaway spaceship. When I first…