Ardra Shephard, author of Fallosophy: My Trip through Life with MS, is a trailblazing voice in the MS and disability communities, and creator of the award-winning blog and podcast Tripping On Air. As the host of AMI-tv’s Fashion Dis and a consultant on various TV projects, Ardra is reshaping the narrative around disability.

Whistler Writers Festival: For readers who aren’t familiar with your work, how would you describe it in two to three sentences? 

Ardra Shephard: Part confessional, part informational, part cultural critique. I hope my writing is both intimate and universal. I use humour, vulnerability and whatever wisdom I may have acquired to push back against traditional chronic illness narratives and offer my own definition of what it means to live with MS.

Whistler Writers Festival: The theme of this year’s festival is Joyful Resistance. How do writers participate in joyful resistance through their writing?

Ardra Shephard: One of the takeaways I hope people will get from Fallosophy is that a difficult life doesn’t have to be a joyless life. When the cultural consensus often seems to be that joy isn’t available to those of us with disabilities, the very idea that we can live meaningful, joyful lives can feel subversive.

Whistler Writers Festival: What is something in the literary or writing community that inspires you to keep writing? 

Ardra Shephard: While I wait for science to solve MS, there are things I can do–that we all can do–to improve the lives of people with chronic conditions immediately. I want to tell stories that change how we think about disability, so that we can replace pity parties with celebrations we can all attend.

Ardra Shephard appears in The Real Lowdown: A Conversation with Writers of Non-Fiction with Veronica Woodruff and the WIBA winner for non fiction on Nov. 1. Tickets go on sale Sept. 10.