Jessica's articles have been featured in numerous publications.
To see her books, visit here.
He Cared About Me, So I Broke Up With Him
The more caring David was, the more she recoiled. “He’s the greatest!” She texted her sister. “But I doubt I’ll go out with him again.” This wasn’t the first time she’d felt like fleeing from affection, but something about David made Jessica hesitate. Was she finally ready for a new kind of love? Read the full article.
My Power Wheelchair Makes Me a Better Mom
"Most mornings, my 2-year-old makes a request to 'ride Mama dinosaurs.' What he’s really asking is if he can sit with me in my wheelchair on a visit to our local science museum, which has a paved trail through dense woods with incredible life-size dinosaur replicas. Many weekends we arrive early and join the crowd of families waiting for the doors to open. My enthusiastic toddler pumps his fists, trying to incite a juvenile riot: 'We want Tyrannosaurus rex! We want dinosaurs!'" Read the full article.
Imposter Syndrome and Parenting with a Disability
Jessica's essay was included in Alice Wong's acclaimed disability anthology.
Learn more about the Disability Visibility anthology here.
Parenting with a Disability Makes Me Feel Like an ‘Impostor’ as a Mother
"I didn’t know that I was about to become a mother: We found out that our son, Khalil, existed 12 hours before I brought him home from the hospital. Sometimes I still don’t feel like one. When people talk about parenting — the long nights pacing with a crying baby, the carpool slog, potty training — I can chime in, but a part of me feels like an impostor." Read the full article.
Covid Doesn't Shorten My Life Expectancy.
Rationing Might
"On our 21st day of total isolation, my husband, David, and I curled up in bed, sleepily discussing how our toddler was coping with having only us as playmates. (Mostly okay, albeit with some new phobias: certain pillows, falling vases and our sleepy geriatric dog’s "sharp claws.") Mid-conversation, I made the ill-advised decision to check the news on my phone. Within seconds, we were wide-awake, sitting up, computers out, plotting how to make me appear as not-disabled as possible."
Read the full article.
What Are You Doing Right Now? I’m in Chronic Pain
"My chronic pain never stops being interesting to me. If someone were to ask about my health, I could provide them hundreds of updates about today alone. The way my brain felt like it was bouncing in my skull when I walked down the hall to put my dishes away. The way looking down at this computer pulls painfully on my middle back. The way I felt the shower walls sway this morning and crouched on the floor so that I was even lower to the ground than my shower stool, in case I fainted. The way my toddler Khalil, sitting next to me in bed, my left arm wrapped around him, caused shooting electric nerve jolts to run down my body. The way that, while attempting to make it to the car for a 9:30 a.m. appointment, I experienced wave after wave of consuming clamminess, vertigo, and nausea that eventually drove me back inside." Read the full article.
Throwing Myself into Walls
"We almost said no when they asked if we had space for a newborn. We had been foster parents for only a few months, and seizures were a deal-breaker." Read the full article.
I’m Moving My Family to Canada to Save My Black Son From America
"Every parent mourns the loss of innocence for their kid at some point—the first pet that dies or friend who moves away—but as parents of a Black child, my husband and I know that one day, we’ll have to have The Talk. The one we’ve already started with our 3-year-old son Khalil but have yet to finish. The one in which we have to tell him that because he is Black, he is more likely to be harmed by the police, convicted of a crime, and underpaid for his work." Read the full article.
Our Federal Government Has Failed To Protect Us, And We Have Every Right To Feel Traumatized
"Our 3-year-old son, Khalil, is exactly as reasonable as he should be, which is not at all. He is scared of things that aren’t all that risky ― like the sound of the washing machine ― and completely unfazed by things that could actually harm him ― like jumping enthusiastically under a countertop." Read the full article.