About The Ability Toolbox: Our Mission, Team, & Medical Review Process
Our Mission
The Ability Toolbox is a lifestyle and self-help community for people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and mental health conditions. We support one another by sharing “life hacks” for surviving and thriving despite the barriers society and a broken healthcare system throw in our way. We support artisans and small business owners with health conditions by giving them a platform to promote their work.
We are a social enterprise, which means we are a business, not a charity, but our company serves the greater purpose of promoting accessibility, inclusion, and justice for all.
We hope you’ll join us in building a life beyond limits.
Our Values
At The Ability Toolbox, your voice matters, and we put the needs of our community first. These are the values that drive our company:
- Pay disabled people. Professional writers and creators with health conditions deserve to be paid for their work. It’s often harder for people in our community to hold traditional jobs because of discrimination and unpredictable health, so our first priority will always be paying our writers. We do publish unpaid articles, but only when the writers choose to donate their work or submit content that was previously published elsewhere.
- Support small businesses. Many people with disabilities and health conditions, including our founder, choose self-employment because we can tailor our work to our abilities and schedule. That’s why we created a directory of disabled-owned small businesses, and also feature small businesses owned by people with health conditions and other marginalized people in many of our articles.
- Be transparent about how we make money. Many companies try to hide or obscure how they make money and what they do with your data. We will never do so. Currently, we earn money from affiliate links, sponsored posts, and display advertising.
Our Founder
The Ability Toolbox is proud to be a disabled-owned small business. Our founder is also part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Ability Toolbox. I received my BA in English from Stanford University and MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles, and have worked in entertainment and health media for over 20 years. I also blog about traveling with a disability. As a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, I am deeply committed to amplifying the voices of the disability community through writing and advocacy.
Our Medical Review Process
All articles on The Ability Toolbox are fact-checked for accuracy. Our medical reviewers ensure that our content is scientifically accurate and reflects the latest in evidence-based health information. Our review team includes board-certified physicians, licensed mental health care providers, scientists, and educators. We work closely with professionals who also have lived experience with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and mental health conditions to ensure that our articles are easy to understand, inclusive, and free of ableism, sexism, racism, weight bias, and other forms of prejudice that are prevalent on other health websites.
Featured Medical Reviewers and Contributing Writers
Meet some of our professionals and peer experts.
Dr. Wilson graduated from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, IL. In addition to her private practice, she works as a science communicator, teaching health literacy in schools and online.
I’m a Biologist, Ph.D. in Psychobiology, Biotechnology specialist, and owner of Medlink, a Medical and Scientific Communications company.
I am a registered dietitian/nutritionist and CEO and founder of Nutrition With Susan. I provide personalized nutrition counseling to women with autoimmune disease. I was diagnosed with RA in 2017 and spent years trying to figure out how to get my life back. I’m currently symptom-free and want to help other women feel better too.
Leif Gregersen is an author of fiction and non-fiction, and has published 12 books, of which 4 are poetry collections, 3 are short story collections, 2 are short novels, and 2 are memoirs of his life experience with mental illness.
I am Black, lesbian, disabled, mentally ill, fat, a birth mom, mom and grandmom (grand ma Coco to be exact) and Funny. I am a woman who is constantly fighting for my and your liberation.
I have a history of working for those living at the margins mostly in activist and nonprofit spaces. I currently work in the mental health field serving those who have been convicted of felonies and are in mental heath court. I am also a writer. I write about disabilities, chronic illness, mental health, racial trauma, sexual violence and disordered eating. I am also a public community speaker on the same topics. Hit me up if you need my writing or speaking skills.
Please use she or her pronouns when referring to or about me.
