Desiree Lama is a 20-something-year-old PhD student living in Austin, Texas. She was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis during high school at only 17 years old but began experiencing symptoms at 14. Since a young age, she has found a safe haven in writing because her grandma fostered her love for words and learning. Desiree lives her life through being authentically human in a superficial world. In this column, she will share personal memos of being a disabled, bisexual Mexican woman in an overcritical world. Desiree hopes that this column will encapsulate the captivatingly burdensome feelings of human existence, especially for those with MS.
Too often, I’d find myself amid joyful moments with loved ones, struggling to keep irritability at bay. At those times, my mind would stagger between living in the happiness of the moment or an…
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As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, I’m now pursuing a doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Given that work, 99.9% of my day revolves around typing, despite my…
Recognizing and valuing authenticity is an aspect of life I began to grasp only a few years ago. During the peak of quarantine restrictions due to COVID-19, I was forced to move back home…
Many of my personal breakthroughs and discoveries occurred during college, when I was living in a new city as a young adult with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). One of those “aha!” moments was…
Upon commencing my undergraduate studies at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, I pursued a major in prehealth neuroscience. I had decided to pursue this degree shortly after my diagnosis of…
My graduation ceremony at the University of Texas at Austin had just ended, and there were swarms of people everywhere I looked. I was sweating profusely in the summer heat and overstimulated by the…
My adolescent years can be characterized by a series of naps, long-lasting migraines, always being sick, and never being able to donate blood, which my family and I never understood. My journey with…
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