Episode 6: Rachel Cronin and Melissa Cronin
Channel: UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion
Date: 2022-05-18

“I think the biggest thing is for people who don’t understand disability, especially invisible disabilities, to try to listen to those who are struggling, and take it upon yourself to learn, rather than saying ‘Oh yeah I have that too’." 

On this episode of the podcast, CDCI business manager Rachel Cronin sits down with her stepmother, Melissa Cronin, as they talk disability. Melissa Cronin is an author and journalist based in Vermont. Before she sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2003, she was also a neonatal intensive care nurse.

The two talk about struggling with the idea of who qualifies as "disabled", especially when it comes to your own identity, along with Melissa's experiences of having an invisible disability, and how that's shaped her post-accident identity. 

Find Melissa on twitter at @melissacronin, and find out more about her journey and her work at melissacronin.com.

Welcome to Green Mountain Disability Stories, a series of conversations by, with, and for Vermonters with disabilities. We’re talking about disability in Vermont, the Green Mountain State. 


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Track: Waves are beautiful only when they break — Seoul June [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
Watch: https://youtu.be/cka7swyWQ_k
Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/waves

This project is supported in part by grant number 90DDUC0062, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201.​​ Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.​