News briefs, media analysis, personal essays and breaking news on disability from me, Shruti Rajkumar, a journalist who covers disability, breaking news, politics and social justice. I’m very excited to continue sharing my work and thoughts with you all! As my community knows well, burnout and chronic pain is real, so this Substack will be operating on crip time. I likely won’t be posting a set amount of content over a specific period, but you’ll definitely hear from me at least once a month whenever the creative flow hits and disability news is popping.
“It’s long past time for this cultural invisibility of disabled people to end. News outlets, Hollywood, and leading social media platforms must all work toward authentic inclusion." — Judy Heumann
Who am I?
I’m a freelance and disability reporter for hire, primarily covering news stories on disability and its presence in society, from politics to cultural happenings.
For two and a half years, I was a breaking news reporter at HuffPost with a beat in disability, which included monitoring the daily news cycle during late nights and weekends, producing quick-turnaround stories and contributing to our fast-paced liveblogs during election seasons and high profile current events.
Prior to that, I was an intern at NPR covering disability and its intersection with race and gender.
Eager to escape the rural Connecticut landscape that I grew up in, I attended Emerson College — a small liberal arts college in the heart of Boston — where I earned a B.S. in Journalism. Through professional internships and freelancing opportunities at Modern Luxury Media, AsAmNews, Overachiever Magazine and The Boston Globe Magazine, I expanded my skillsets in digital and narrative storytelling.
Truthful storytelling and immense love for my communities is at the core of my work. I hold my sources’ voices and stories with respect and care as though they were my own. Every article I write aims to amplify nuanced stories and perspectives through the centering of marginalized voices, and I craft my articles in a way that sheds light on social issues, inequality, and injustice faced by those communities while also speaking truth to power.
What content do you want to see through this Substack? Send me suggestions in the comments!