Culture

‘I am both cared for and care-giver.’

I’ve spent a little over four years learning to navigate the world in a new body.

By jitendermittal

Published 10 July, 2025

Culture

‘I am both cared for and care-giver.’

I’ve spent a little over four years learning to navigate the world in a new body.

By jitendermittal

Published 10 July, 2025

I’ve spent a little over four years learning to navigate the world in a new body. In that time, I’ve survived two brain surgeries, thirty-six days of radiation treatment, four life-threatening hospitalisations, and they’re just the headlines. Life, however, happens in between the big, bold writing. It’s smaller. Quieter. But no less complex.

This new body is not like my old one. The expectations of friends and the pressures of work are in a constant state of conflict with this body that behaves differently. This body that does not conform.

We’ve Got This: Stories by Disabled Parents, the first major anthology by parents with disabilities, is edited by Eliza Hull and published by Black Inc. Out now at all good bookstores.