Interview with Shoutout Michigan

December 20, 2024 Kelly J. Mendehall

Meet Kelly Mendenhall | Dynamically Disabled Author & Artist, Creator of Affordable Art Revolution

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans, and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

The disabled population is the only disenfranchised population that anyone can become a member of at any moment. Allow that to meditate for a moment. Everything I am now was born out of the ruins of what would be most everyone’s “worst-case scenario ” situations. My vitality is my responsibility. I’m not responsible for the past traumas inflicted on me by doctors, lawyers, judges, ex-partners, former family members, etc.; All of that will be what it is, forever. But I *am responsible for vitality, and it is ultimately up to me whether or not I pursue and achieve the best possible quality of life. There is a saying about not drowning by falling in the water but drowning by staying there. It’s up to me (and you) to fight to get back to the water’s surface and take that breath. No one is coming to save us. We have to be the heroes of our own stories.

Kelly J. Mendenhall, Shoutout Michigan Interview