history and activism’s debts
I wouldn’t be a historian if it weren’t for my disability.
At the age of 12 I was diagnosed with a degenerative condition known as retinitis pigmentosa. Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited disorder caused by a gene mutation that makes the pigmented layer of cells in the retina malfunction so that dead rods and cones build up in the retina and keep new ones from taking their place. The result is gradual and largely unimpeded retinal cell death over the course of a person’s life. I may, at some unknown date in the future, be totally blind. But, retinitis pigmentosa is a highly individualized disorder that impacts everyone differently and proceeds at different paces depending on a nearly limitless variety of factors. In general terms, however, it always leads to the death of rod cells first. Because rod cells are largely responsible for peripheral and night vision, those abilities are…
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Digital learning PD Dr Ann Lawless 