The Borders of the Body

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at fifty, the writer confronts not only the loss of physical control but a profound crisis of identity. Set against pandemic-era medical delays in southern Italy, this essay traces how illness reshaped her autonomy, faith, and sense of womanhood.

Through menopause, chronic pain, and decades of cultural messaging about aging and femininity, the author discovers pole dance not as spectacle but as mirror—reclaiming physical agency and inhabiting age fully.

This essay recounts the lived experience of a nonspeaking autistic person navigating a world that consistently mistook motor disability for intellectual deficiency—exposing how systems that refuse to presume competence actively silence autistic voices.

Moving through caregiving, grief, disability, and late transition, this essay traces a nonlinear journey of becoming shaped by survival, translation, and quiet crossings.