KNEE BRACE PRESS

A place for stories about chronic illness, disability, mental health, and neurodivergence.

chronic illness

  • A white person with long, curly, brown hair wears a forest green sweater and black-rimmed glasses. She is smiling with her mouth and eyes closed.

    nothing changes whilst everything changes, or, 2005 through 2023

    By

    “It’s getting bad again – I mean, this is technically the worst it’s ever been …” In her new poem, sickness in the seams of it all, Sophie Mattholie writes about her experience with POTS.

  • A person with long, dark hair smiles as she looks off to the left. She wears a pink shirt with pink, purple, and blue flowers on it.

    Submergence

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    “You are born drowning. At the bottom of the ocean, your lungs fill with saltwater and sludge. Anglerfish light the immutable night, bright white spots catching on their jagged teeth and misshapen eyes.”

  • A white woman with light brown hair smiling with her mouth closed. The photo is a selfie. Also pictured: a bookcase in the background and a (really cute) brown and black cat.

    Application for Disability 

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    Poet April McCloud (she/her, 1% bionic human) writes about her complex relationship with disability in the form of an application.

  • A white person with long, curly, brown hair wears a forest green sweater and black-rimmed glasses. She is smiling with her mouth and eyes closed.

    sickness in the seams of it all

    By

    “It’s getting bad again – I mean, this is technically the worst it’s ever been …” In her new poem, sickness in the seams of it all, Sophie Mattholie writes about her experience with POTS.

  • A Black person with white-rimmed glasses smiles widely with their eyes closed. They are holding their book, DEAR PHILOMENA by Mugabi Byenkya, and are surrounded by a circle of light.

    texting a friend in 2021

    By

    Mugabi Byenkya’s latest poem, texting a friend in 2021, is about recovery, boundaries, and protecting your peace.

  • A tabby cat sleeps on a purple shirt. Her paws are tucked under her head. She might just be the cutest cat ever.

    Spoons

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    EJ Croll’s speculative short story, Spoons, is about their own experience of chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and the frustration of living with these limitations.

  • A Black person with white-rimmed glasses smiles widely with their eyes closed. They are holding their book, DEAR PHILOMENA by Mugabi Byenkya, and are surrounded by a circle of light.

    Hopelessly Romantic

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    Hopelessly Romantic is a disabled love poem set during the pandemic by award winning author Mugabi Byenkya.

  • The image is all in black, white, and gray and is divided into three sections. The first shows text reading, "An almost invisible cause. Static moving. Patterns of sounds, invisibly visual." There is a dark figure at the bottom. The second image shows the words, "HYPER ACOUSTIC" built out of blocks. The image is very busy with a lot of cut out shapes in the background. The last image is mostly text, but the words keep getting cut off. There is also an arrow pointing down.

    Layers of Hyper Acoustic Pain

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    Layers of Hyper Acoustic Pain by Luca M Damiani uses the artist’s writing, artworks, and photography based on his own disability, showing layered moments of invisible sensory disorder.

  • A white woman with short hair wears round glasses and a black sweater. She gazes at the camera. The photo is in black and white.

    Spoons

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    “I woke up/faced with my limitations/A body yesterday/so tired it physically was done.” In her third poem for Knee Brace Press, Amba Elieff writes about spoon theory, fatigue, and learning to understand her body’s limitations.

  • A Black person with white-rimmed glasses smiles widely with their eyes closed. They are holding their book, DEAR PHILOMENA by Mugabi Byenkya, and are surrounded by a circle of light.

    An interview with Mugabi Byenkya

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    Memoirist and magical realism author Mugabi Byenkya writes for themselves. Or, more accurately, the angsty, confused, Black, Ugandan-Rwandan-Nigerian, disabled, queer, polygender, and neurodivergent little human they used to be and still are.