Sharing solidarity with Disability History Month (UK)
Enduring Voices Literary Magazine is a personal and vulnerable magazine dedicated to uplifting underrepresented voices and stories. It grows awareness and empathy for people living with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergence. And people are talking about it.
The authors & artists in Enduring Voices re-affirm autonomy over invisible illnesses or hidden personal struggles and their stories emphasize the resilience required to live through each day. Featuring personal essays, poems, and original visual artworks, this collection of voices encompasses how varied our everyday lives are from each other’s.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Lily Adame tells us,
“From the first page, I knew this literary magazine was unlike any other I’ve read before. The personality of each author and creative lifted off the page, I felt as though they were on my couch speaking to me directly. We laughed together, cried, held hands and space for the experiences many individuals with invisible illnesses feel inhibited from sharing with neurotypicals for fear of being misunderstood and shamed— which they often are in this society. With raw and lyrical prose, each work expresses the painfully beautiful music produced from a life of being your greatest advocate against an endless room of critics. My favorite quote from an author with sickle cell in Ghana, “The Weight of Inheritance” embodies the juxtaposing identities of many people with neurodivergence or individuals with a misunderstood illness.”
The Weight of Inheritance (personal essay)
I am the silence of my community and the shout of a movement. And in that duality lies my strength: the knowledge that my story is not just mine: it is the thread in the global fabric of resistance, endurance, and hope, 54. A common theme throughout this magazine is the perseverance to continue each person's battle with their mind and their body– not to prove to those who cannot comprehend their journey, but to prove to themselves of their strength.
Marianna, book blogger, says,
“There are some incredibly vulnerable and powerful moments displayed here. Whether losing and finding yourself through illness, raising neurodiverse children, growing up as the child of a differently abled adult yourself, or otherwise living in the liminal space of not-quite-perfect health; there are a multitude of ways of existing presented here in raw and open ways.
“Each piece is accompanied by a summary or reflection from the contributor, allowing for additional context to truly appreciate the work. As diverse as every individual story appears to be, what clearly runs through the entire collection of works is a strong desire to be heard, seen, and accepted without the need to change within non-binary, societal, and cultural norms.
“There is a profound solidarity of shared, but simultaneously incredibly unique experiences which remind us about the core fundamental need to be able to exist without being forced to painfully alter the self. I can't really express what it felt to read this, at this particular time. “
“It is essential reading for anyone who has ever felt ignored in a doctor’s waiting room, or knows someone who was.”
— Marianna
Interested in reading more?
Check out these snippets from inside or buy in print today.
Follow our publishing journey
Learn more about Lily @lily.adame and Marianna @just_the_books on Instagram
