Disability Histories Project

Share Your Story

What would you tell the world about living with a disability?

In 2024, Mass Humanities awarded DPC a grant to document the history of people with disabilities across the state of Massachusetts. We have been collecting and archiving materials like books, articles, and documentaries - but now we need your help!

The Disability Histories Project is accepting submissions of personal stories of disability told through a variety of mediums like prose, visual art, audio recordings, poetry, and more.

If you are interested in sharing your story but require assistance, please let us know. We want to help as many people as possible document their experience of living with a disability in Massachusetts.

If you are interested in sharing your story or getting involved with the Disability Histories Project, please reach out to disabilityhistory@dpcma.org.

Note: to participate in this project, you must live or work in Massachusetts.

NEW! Storytelling Workshops

‍ Starting Monday, March 30, 2026, we will be offering a storytelling workshop on Zoom to any current or former resident of Massachusetts with disabilities who wants all or parts of their disability history documented and preserved. The workshops are free and will be held on the following dates:

• March 30th

• April 6th

• April 13th

• April 27th

• May 4th

• May 11th

• May 18th

• June 1st

• June 8th

• June 15th

All workshops will be 5:30-7:30 PM on Zoom.

If you have already been working to tell your story on your own for the Disability Histories Project, you are still more than welcome to participate in this group activity.  Sometimes, working with a group can spark your own thoughts on aspects of your life that you may want to document for history.  Plus, working within a group that has homework each week makes one feel accountable to the rest of the group for bringing in your own homework each week.

Homework will be given each week.  Participants should do the work as best they can, and present how far they have gotten at the next week's class.  You may express your homework in any way you prefer, including essay, poetry, painting, drawing, photography, singing, dancing, sculpture.

At the end of ten weeks, participants can decide if they want to continue working on their projects on their own, or if they want the workshops to continue. 

To register, please fill out this form or email Sandy Novack at disabilityhistory@dpcma.org, or leave a message at the DPC office for her by calling (617) 307-7775.  Please provide your full name, your address, also your email address, phone number, and whether you request an ASL interpreter or another reasonable accommodation for the series of workshops.

For the privacy of all participants, whatever is communicated in the workshop about someone's disability, health, and more stays inside the workshop, and should not be shared or otherwise used outside the workshop except by the person whose life it is about.