Charlie Kramer Vision

I always love shooting with Larry - Sekondtry / St Louis Photographer

We shot this week out in Dowtown STL, and these are some of my favorites. We wanted to capture me in my element- out in public, using my cane and doing my thing.

Larry and I kept circling back on two things while chatting during the shoot:

Representation matters. I want all of you to see my with my cane, because I use it every day. It’s not an accessory, my cane is truly a part of me. All of these shots showcase that truth in motion.
Creativity and community go hand in hand. When you bring people together to create, you automatically establish a community that has an unspoken connection. In today’s digitally driven world, being around humans is unbelievably underrated.

Larry just organized a STL Photography Walk that brought out 65 people to take photos, be in community and create together.

It inspired me and got me thinking about the potential of doing some Disability Reimagined meetups. Would you be down for that?

Anyway, I’m just so glad you’re here and so grateful to see our community growing here on IG and beyond.

Wishing you a great weekend,
Charlie

Image Description: A series of photos with me holding and walking with my white cane. I have sandy brown hair, glasses and a well-trimmed beard. Dowtown St. Louis is seen begind me throughout the photos.

Accessibility matters deeply. But access alone does not undo the internalized ableism that teaches so many disabled people to shrink, push through, or feel like they’re “not disabled enough” to receive the support they deserve.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to discover your Disability Archetype.

Disabled people are constantly told to wait.

Wait for a medical intervention.
Wait for the world to become accessible.
Wait for workplaces to become fully accommodating.
Wait for other people to finally understand what support actually means.

All of those things matter. and we should keep working toward them.

But your life cannot stay on pause until every external condition changes.

You deserve tools now.
Support now.
Community now.
Language now.
Joy now.

That does not mean pretending the barriers are acceptable. They are not.

It means learning how to live fully with your disability while still telling the truth about what needs to change.

At Disability Reimagined, we have supported over 250 disabled adults in building the tools, skills, confidence, and leadership to live life fully with disability included.

Because disability does not put your life on pause.

And you do not have to wait for the world to catch up before you start living a good life now.

Your Disability Archetype can help you understand the pattern shaping how you relate to disability, support, accommodations, boundaries, and self-advocacy.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the to discover yours.

You are not lazy for being tired before you arrive.

You are carrying the planning, adapting, explaining, anticipating, and recovering that other people never get to see.

That invisible access load is real.

And when you keep carrying it alone, exhaustion starts to feel like a personal failure instead of a sign that support is missing.

Your Disability Archetype can help you understand the pattern shaping how you relate to support, boundaries, energy, and your disability.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to discover yours.

People with disabilities are carrying work we should not have to carry alone.

Systems, workplaces, and communities have a responsibility to become more accessible, supportive, and honest about the cost of unsupported survival.

And while that responsibility is not yours alone, you still can gain tools, resources, and community that you live fully and joyfully with your disability in the present.

You should not have to wait for society to change to live fulfilling life with your disability.

Your Disability Archetype can help you see the pattern shaping how you relate to support, burnout, self-advocacy, and your own worth.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link.

One of the hardest truths many disabled people have to face is this:

If someone only respects your disability when it stays quiet, easy, convenient, or invisible, they may not truly respect your disability at all.

And if your people do not respect your disability, they may not be your people.

That is painful to admit.
And it is also incredibly freeing.

Showing up authentically with your disability does not mean explaining every symptom, sharing every detail, or making your experience understandable enough for someone else to approve of it.

It means you get to choose what you share.
You get to choose when you share it.
You get to choose who has earned access to that part of you.

And when your needs, boundaries, tools, or accommodations become visible, you also get important information back.

Who honors your needs without making you perform gratitude?
Who respects your boundary without demanding your entire medical history?
Who supports your access without treating it like an inconvenience?
Who makes you feel more like yourself, not less?

Those are your people.

The goal is not to keep shrinking until your disability becomes easier for others to accept.

The goal is to become clear enough, supported enough, and honest enough to stop confusing tolerance for respect.

You do not need to convince everyone to understand your disability.

You do not need to keep abandoning yourself for people who only accept the version of you that asks for nothing.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to discover your Disability Archetype.

P.S. I’m glad you’re here, disability included. ❤️

A lot of disabled people learned how to function because functioning was rewarded.

Needing less was praised.
Pushing through was admired.
Being “easy” made other people more comfortable.

That is not your fault.

And you deserve more than quietly surviving.

You deserve support, pride, clarity, and a life where your disability is fully integrated instead of constantly managed in the background.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to discover your Disability Archetype.

You are not at fault, ableism is.

Ableism shows up in the assumptions, barriers, discrimination, pity, lowered expectations, inaccessible systems, and pressure to be “normal.”

Internalized ableism is what develops after living in an ableist society.

Internalized abelism is the voice that says:

Hide your disability.
Apologize before asking.
Do it alone.
Prove you are capable.
Do not ask for too much.
Fix everything yourself or nothing will change.

So no, it is not your fault if these beliefs feel true.

They were not created in isolation.

They were shaped by real experiences in a world that often questions, minimizes, or misunderstands disabled people.

Once you’re able to name how you relate to your disability, you can begin to dismantle the false belief systems shaped by internalized ableism.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to discover your Disability Archetype.

Disabled leadership is not just about changing systems.

It is about building the internal capacity to keep showing up while those systems are still broken.

That takes regulation, acceptance, clarity, self-trust, support, and practice.

If we want to create real change, we have to learn how to face what is difficult without letting it harden us, consume us, or pull us away from who we are.

Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to discover your Disability Archetype, helping you to better how you relate to disability and respond to ableism.

A request for accommodations should not make someone’s competence questionable.

It should make their conditions for success clearer.

Accommodations are not special treatment.

They are part of what allows disabled professionals to communicate clearly, work sustainably, and contribute at their highest capacity.

The need for an accommodation is not the problem.

The ableism attached to it is.

What would change if workplaces treated accommodations as leadership strategy instead of professional risk?

Learn how you relate to your disability → comment “QUIZ” and I’ll send you the link to discover your Disability Archetype.