A lot of people say “laughter is the best medicine.” Doctors don’t say that because, well, medicine is also really good medicine, but there’s a reason that the rest of us latch on to that phrase. When faced with difficult situations, turning to humor is a beautiful source of relief. When disabled people face ableism, a silly pun or meme can really change the vibe.
The Squeaky Wheel is the first ever satire publication to focus on disability. With stories written by disabled people and for disabled people, it explores the absurd reality that disabled people deal with every day.
I created The Squeaky Wheel in 2021, when I wanted to write humor stories based on my experiences, but couldn’t find a publication that they would fit in. While I greatly admired publications like The Onion and Reductress, I knew my life wasn’t relatable enough to their audiences, and so I created a space where disabled writers could turn their experiences into jokes for an audience that “gets it.”
Building upon a style of humor that has been integral to disability culture for decades, our publication aims to centralize, formalize and amplify the voices of funny disabled people. Since we first launched, we’ve had over 40 contributors, and have published over 300 stories. Our content is shared daily across social media, and thanks to the generous embrace we have received from the disability community, we continue growing each day.
Staff writer Jerome Palliser finds writing for The Squeaky Wheel to be incredibly validating. “So much of living with disabilities can be isolating, or make you feel like you’re the only one experiencing these symptoms. And then you read a headline that perfectly distills what you’re going through. You feel validated and counted. The absurdity, really, is living in a space and system that isn’t meant for us.”
Part of the beauty of the stories is that in addition to providing daily laughs, they often sneak in educational messages about disability justice. “Learning is work, and we resist work, but funny learning is hard to resist.” explains contributor Andra Mae Morrigan.
In 2023, the project expanded to become a piece of Squeaky Wheel Media 501(c)(3), a nonprofit organization that supports not only our satire publication, but also several new programs we’ve designed to share humor from within our community.
Our “Squeaky Workshop” series brings Squeaky Wheel writers to meet with disabled student organizations, either virtually or in-person, to teach them about using humor to combat ableism. From New York University, to Harvard University, to the University of Amsterdam, our interactive workshops have been able to spread our mission and pass on what we’ve learned to the next generation of disabled creatives.
In partnership with Hitsby Entertainment and Accessible Media Inc, we recently premiered The Squeaky Wheel: Canada, a variety sketch television series. Consisting of eight episodes, the parody news show features a cast of disabled actors performing sketches written by disabled writers, bringing our bizarre and wacky disabled worlds to life.
From our online stories to our workshops to our video content, humor is at the center. Every single day disabled people have to put up with the most bananas, unfair, indescribable, bonkers and unjust experiences. We might as well laugh at them.
To learn more about The Squeaky Wheel, visit www.thesqueakywheel.org, or follow us on Instagram @TheSQKYWheel.