Sick Stories honours and celebrates the different ways in which individual conditions and identities can intersect. We strive to hold ourselves and others accountable in remaining an anti-ableist, anti-racist, pro 2SLGBTQIA+ space who celebrates intersectionality.
We mostly operate from Tkaronto (Toronto), Turtle Island (Canada) with many roots and connections in the United Kingdom - Sophie’s country of birth.
Right now we’re building our roster of workshops and events and dreaming into existence bigger conversations around disability stories.
We are always open to conversations surrounding how we can make our website and content more accessible and representative of our world. Please feel free to email us at oursickstories@gmail.com.
Giving Thanks
We wouldn’t be in the position we are without the early support of some folks who believed in Sick Stories from the beginning. Building a community takes a community. We’re especially grateful to:
Business In The Streets for the encouragement and $ for our first PWYC workshops
ArtReach for funding My Body, My Story
Sam Anis aka Dairy.Sam for co-facilitating My Body, My Story
Vincy Lim for co-facilitating My Body, My Story
Harmeet Rehal for co-facilitating My Body, My Story
Clau Souza for our beautiful logo and ongoing branding
A little note…
Even if/when we get grants to fund programs, Sick Stories is not a charity. For some disabled folks, money is too tight for a creative writing workshop. We believe that should never stop someone from accessing a writing community to develop, share, and get feedback on their stories. While we are a brand, we’re also individuals who mostly work cross-projects, disciplines, and within the limits of ourselves. Want to work with us and have an idea how that can financially happen? Get in touch! Want to just support us in general? Please consider gifting, paying-it-forward, donating - whatever you want to call it - a partial or full workshop spot to someone who doesn't have the financial means to sign up. You can be the unsung hero of a story.
Who Are We?
Sick Stories exists to bring literary visibility to the world’s largest minority. So often our disabled existence is the plot device or inciting incident for finding joy and inspiration for other characters - but why not ourselves?
Sick Stories is founded by Sophie Lyons, a white, queer disabled writer and lifelong reader who never saw herself represented in literature or media growing up. While able-passing now, Sophie's inability to hold down a corporate job without experiencing extreme burnout and ableist microaggressions made her turn to freelancing and eventually owning her own business to regain the narrative of day-to-day life.