Home > Author > Keah Brown
1 " Beyoncé said it best in "Haunted": "Perfection is so...mmm," and what she means is that the idea of perfection is so boring, so overdone and outdated. "
― Keah Brown , The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me
2 " I know that I'm not the first person in the world to say "I love music; it saved me." But that doesn't make it less true. "
3 " I, too, feed into the idealization of youth and the ability to do things ‘young people should be able to do’ despite the fact that I know that’s ableist bullshit. "
4 " Chairs are a functioning reprieve from the harsh realities of the world, and they often give us tickets to see it in all its beauty and problems, because no one place is perfect - but it is nice to be in places that come close. "
5 " I promise you, I don't need your cures or poorly thought-out pieces of advice, but I'll take free designer clothes, cheesecake, and a first-class plane ticket. "
6 " When we are vulnerable, I believe we are our truest selves. Emotion is all about vulnerability, and that is why, in the cheesiest sense, it is so beautiful. "
7 " There is power and excitement in reclaiming things that were once used to hurt or demean you. "
8 " It is my belief that sometimes we keep secrets and our deepest insecurities because we believe that if other people found them out they would agree and believe them to be true, too. "
9 " As a disabled person, I resent the idea that we, in all forms and severities, should be punished for what is out of our control. "
― Keah Brown
10 " Disabled, in the eyes of many is a dirty word because it shines a light on the differences of our world, and when we acknowledge difference, we must acknowledge privilege - and that opens a whole other can of worms. "
11 " When I think about all the loss surrounding us in the world and in my own--the loss of high school classmates before our ten-year high school reunion, those with so much ahead of them--my chest tightens at the thought of who these people never got the chance to be. "
12 " At the risk of sounding like an after-school special, I can say that crying, for a variety of reasons, has made me a better person, a happier and more fully realized person, in ways that nothing else has. "
13 " There is an extra bit of sting when you remember how people you love and who love you can hurt you in ways neither of you can recognize until after the fact. "
14 " I should learn to sit in my joy longer and not immediately apologize for being proud and happy. "
15 " Trying is an art even when you try and fail every time you get up and keep going. When you stop dreaming and fight for what you want and what is necessary that's when the real change and growth begins. "
16 " Power is tricky to navigate; to understand it you have to lay the groundwork for what makes you powerful in the first place. "
17 " That’s the funny thing about having something you can’t change; you can aim for aloofness, but that lends itself to obsession and frustration that people absolutely pick up on. "
18 " We learn history, in many ways, because we cannot go forward until we acknowledge where we've been. "
19 " The better question is not "How can we cure disability?" but "Why can't we just accept people for who they are? "
20 " I love the idea of laying out all your cards on the table and saying, "Love me for all that I am or I am done, I refuse to keep waiting and trying to be anything but who I am comfortable being. "
