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Lacey Lyons finds inspiration in the works of many disability writers. Her favorite quote is from Lauren Slater. “And it’s the first essay of hers that I ever read,” Lyons says. “The line is, ‘We do not fall into illness. We fall from illness into temporary states of health.’ And I just love that idea, because it flips this whole idea of two groups of people on its head.”
Lyons is a freelance writer, copy editor, interviewer and book reviewer for Southern Review of Books, and an educator in writing and disability studies at Belmont University. She is also an ex officio board member of Disability Rights Tennessee. Her writing interests lie in disability policy, the intersection of employment and disability, and healthcare access. Lyons is also a person with a disability.* Growing up with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, Lyons has spent much of her life being an advocate for herself and others. She reflects on the role her parents played in shaping her advocacy, starting from conversations they had about disability rights when she was five years old. These conversations were framed in age-appropriate ways and covered everything from what to do when she didn’t reach developmental milestones at the same pace as her peers, to how to advocate for herself to her teachers and friends.
During her master’s program in Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, Lyons sought out and read poems, essays, and memoirs about disability. She consumed works by writers such as Leslie Jamison, George Estreich, and JJ Goode, who would reflect about their own and their families’ experiences with disability, as well as the influence of societal barriers. Lyons remembers how influential these experiences were in shaping her writing, as well as her worldview.
The line is, ‘We do not fall into illness. We fall from illness into temporary states of health.’ And I just love that idea, because it flips this whole idea of two groups of people on its head.
LACEY LYONS (QUOTING LAUREN SLATER)
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However, though Lyons was regularly consuming disability writing, she found herself primarily writing creative nonfiction at the start of her program. She was reading works by, and trying to emulate the styles of, women writers such as Annie Dillard and Eudora Welty at the time. She soon realized that it wasn’t going as well as she had hoped. Lyons remembers all of her friends supporting her, but she reflects, “I was doing that thing that a lot of people do when they’re in the beginning of their career. They’re trying to figure out how to live with a disorder and disability and make their way in the employment world.”
She was navigating this period of uncertainty in her writing career when she had a distinct “aha” moment during a conversation with a friend. Her friend understood that Lyons didn’t want to get pigeonholed into one writing style and was reflecting at the time on job security, but helped her realize that her writing on disability was her best work. Lyons fondly remembers her friend encouraging her to take the risk and write about what she was passionate about. “I just had this feeling that she was right. I realized this is something I really need to cultivate,” Lyons says. After reading the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down for class, Lyons noticed that she was raising questions in class that did not occur to other students, such as those on inequitable healthcare access, and societal and environmental barriers that shape the experiences of people with disabilities. “And so, that was a turning point for me, too,” Lyons reflects. “Because I realized, ‘Hey, here’s a moment where my work experience and my education together can maybe help inform some discussion about issues that I see differently based on my experience.”
Lyons began to take on assignments in the disability and healthcare space, and eventually found herself doing journalistic writing at the start of her career. She remembers how intentional she was about her work from the beginning. In framing stories about people with disabilities, Lyons explains the importance of avoiding tokenized narratives many writers fall back on. “It’s easy to write the tragic story. The harder story is the one in the middle. Yes, this person’s life is difficult. Yes, barriers exist. But, it’s also meaningful. Their life is also meaningful.”
Here’s a moment where my work experience and my education together can maybe help inform some discussion about issues that I see differently based on my experience.
LACEY LYONS
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After receiving her Master’s in Fine Arts in 2011, Lyons began teaching at Belmont University in addition to her writing and editing work. She created interview projects for the students in her disability studies writing classes so that they would be writing on communities with whom they had actually spent time. She also began teaching a unit on the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the implications that policy and legislation have on the disability community. “The first day, I always assume that there is someone with an invisible disability or disorder in my class, and I want that person to know their rights,” Lyons says. Understanding that not everyone would have been able to have the conversations she had with her family about disability, she strives to create a safe and supportive environment for her students.
Now, Lyons lives in Nashville, Tennessee. And when she is not writing, teaching, or copy-editing books, she maintains her daily yoga practice, walks her Border collie mix, Frida, and spends time with her niece and nephew whenever she can. She is a huge Lord of the Rings fan and remembers an era in her life when she would go to medieval fairs in costume with friends and sing while they played the harp and the lute.
Lyons is excited to learn more about and delve deeper into the home- and community-based services (HCBS) space for the HCBS Quality Matters newsletter. “As far as my own writing, I’m really proud of the advocacy work I’ve been able to do,” she says. “It’s what I enjoy the most and want to apply to this [HCBS] world.”