@stacykess.bsky.social
• Editor of @equalaccesspublicmedia.org. • Woman on a mission to make news accessible. • Journalist with 25-plus yrs experience. • Former RN. • View from Boston. • No filter. • Cusses too much. • Makes typos on social media.
I hear Ms. T's third grade class is doing a world government unit. They're ready to go.
(19thnews... 19tnews... it's all the same to my phone.)
Okay, two tries, and I got it. I only typed in your email wrong once, @slooterman.bsky.social
Sending now!
I mean, I just spent a whole lot of time around data journalists and we talked about useful ways to use machine learning — algorithms and machine learning to analyze data or find a needle in haystack, etc. And we emphasize, it's a tool, a blunt instrument.
But we also talk about *this is not it*.
I am so happy that I am not a famous enough journalist or editor to be turned into a Grammarly AI hallucination. Those five years off for recovering from the car crash while nearly destroying my career were apparently worth something after all.
(At least... as far as I know, I'm not in there.)
What do I do now? I work in accessibility in journalism. This is technical work. It's also understanding policy and law. It is also a lot of training others.
Mostly training.
It is not disability reporting. In fact, basically no reporting of any kind.
Hope that clears things up.
4/4
I have not covered disability. This takes a particular reporter. If you want a disability reporter, you should reach out to any of the fantastic people who do the work: @slooterman.bsky.social or @juliametraux.bsky.social or @nprjoeshapiro.bsky.social.
3/4
I used to be a health and science editor. I dealt in a lot of health and science-y things. A lot of data. Some policy. Doing editing. Before that, I was a science and health reporter. I dealt in health and science-y things. A lot of data. Some policy.
2/4
Short thread.
Interesting thing happened over the last two days. People kept sending me a video that definitely should have been sent to a disability reporter, asking me to cover it or "do something."
I am not a disability reporter.
1/4
I just made a bunch of irritated noises and none of them were words. But you would get the drift if you heard them.
Wait...
Did I just read a thread in which I read two respected, well-published journalists discussed people (including their own moms) telling them to write letters to the editor?
From the perspective of an (old) editor, this feels surreal.
If you’re a reader I have a book out now, POPCORN DISABILITIES, a snarky, fun and informative exploration of disability in the movies that came out last thanksgiving and needs more love.
amzn.to/4rUsQm5
(And know that it took everything in me to not write “their little essay project.”)
What you two do is extremely important. You keep people informed on issues that everyone needs to know. And I do mean everyone.
Which brings me back to ignore them. Go be the best disability news reporter you can be and let them have their essay project.
Pfft. Ignore them. They can call themselves whatever they want, but the facts remain the facts and you all have done disability news sections, are doing disability news sections, and will do disability news sections.
(Similar to how I often have to explain to people, no, I do not do what either of you do. I don’t focus on disability. Hell, I barely write or report. I focus on teaching/training/expanding accessibility in journalism/news.)
It’s apparently not what either of you do. It’s personal essay stories by disabled writers, not news about disability policy or issues. So there’s that.
Data journalists are the best journalists. You get hundreds of us packed into one space at one time and we feel perfectly comfortable to be our true weird selves…
On that note, I will miss you all, my fellow #NICAR nerds. Except you Boston #NICAR nerds. We have coffee dates ahead of us.
I’m so tired, but #NICAR is my absolute favorite journalism conference. At no other journalism conference would everyone cheer for a spreadsheet about backyard chickens — or a spreadsheet of any kind. These are my people.
What's it like to navigate a newsletter platform such as Substack when you're blind? Dominick Petrillo, a sports writer who recently started his own newsletter, describes about his experience.
the-word.news/2026/0305/di...
…even better, to donate to the parent org, @equalaccesspublicmedia.org…
Maybe one those people will go on to read something else.
100 reposts drove 700+ reads yesterday of an article in a magazine intended for journalists about accessibility. *shrug*
Most people also didn't read the article which argues for all the things you already do: structure your article to reduce reader fatigue; write using techniques to keep readers engaged; etc.. Not a single word of the opinion argues to shorten long-form or not to write long-form.
Today: Starting a newsletter as a #disabled user: a journalist’s story
the-word.news/2026/0305/di...
And @bethmccowen.bsky.social looked at a place offering help for journalists experiencing trauma from the work they do.
