Kelly J. Mendenhall is a disabled author, speaker, creator, and activist determined to end Medical Gaslighting. She is the creator of the Affordable Art Revolution. To learn more about Kelly, please visit: https://kellyjmendenhall.com/
Name: Kelly J. Mendenhall
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Table of Contents
Before we begin, please introduce us to who Kelly J. Mendenhall is.
Kelly J. Mendenhall: At forty-one-and-a-half years old, I am still figuring out who I am, if I’m being honest. Inside of me is a sensitive blue-collar kid from a notoriously tough town who grew up incredibly idealistic and unconvinced that I couldn’t change the world for the better.
I often now refer to myself as a recovering nonprofit professional, which is my way of having a sense of humor about a career that kicked the crap out of me, physically and emotionally.
When introducing myself, I often summarize, “I’m a disabled author and artist, spreading love and joy widely through art and the written word.” I can’t say it without smiling widely every time, which I’ve found is rather infectious.
Share the story behind the founding of the Affordable Art Revolution and what inspired you to create a pay-what-you-can platform.
Kelly J. Mendenhall: The Affordable Art Revolution was something I dreamed up while recovering from a spinal procedure on a particularly lonely and quiet Christmas Eve, 2022, just me and my dog. My family went out to be with extended family for the holiday, while I was in too much pain to leave the special comforts and adaptable furniture of the home.
For years up to that point, I had been writing and working to raise awareness about, identify, and advocate against medical gaslighting. I survived four neurosurgeries and two abdominal surgeries over 22 months from 2018-2020, including a medically necessary hysterectomy.
Simultaneously, I fought a legal battle against the federal government for my Social Security disability benefits, and my case was finally resolved in June of 2022.
By December of that year, I needed a shift in my work and personal life; I’d been stuck in survival mode for so many years that I sometimes didn’t know when to put the fight down. The anger and resentment I was carrying about the years in which all of my medical trauma unfolded was eating away at me. I was good at telling people how to recognize and combat medical gaslighting and subsequent disability or significant health catastrophes. Still, I didn’t know how to explain to anyone asking how to survive it.
That’s because I’d been doing it one stitch, one breath at a time, for so long that it had become second nature. Embroidery, hand-stitching, and a ton of tenacity, grit, and sheer will saved my life. I found myself wondering how many other people out there living with chronic invisible illnesses and disabilities could access artisan crafts or folk art as creative outlets and coping mechanisms.
I was lucky. I grew up with a super creative, artistic mother who constantly immersed us in creative pursuits. So, I’ve always leaned on the creative arts for self-expression and to express love and appreciation for others in good times and bad. But most of my friends grew up entirely unexposed to these types of things.
As I sat crying that Christmas Eve, having a painful pity party, I started to make a list of all the things I love the most in life that are harder to access now that I’m disabled. For so many of us in the disabled community, Art is not accessible. One thought led to another, and the Affordable Art Revolution was born.
How has your personal journey with chronic illness and disability influenced your work as an artist and advocate?
Kelly J. Mendenhall: I am a once bio-typical and non-disabled person who is now physically and psychologically disabled permanently as a result of a little bit of crappy genetics and years of medical gaslighting and lack of access to care. I have deep empathy for how alienated and unincluded the world can make a Spoonie or other disabled person feel at times.
I read once that non-disabled people have the luxury of life without choice. They may not understand the feelings of embarrassment that come with not having the money for non-essentials, not being able to attend public events and concerts safely and comfortably, not feeling safe to participate without the company of friends, and not knowing where to begin when the one-millionth person tells you that perhaps picking up a hobby would help you pass the time.
I deeply understand this type of existence, which makes me a safe space for my target audience.
Describe the impact you hope your handmade items have on the wellness of your customers.
Kelly J. Mendenhall: Do you know how people often say you should be the person you needed as a kid? I’m trying to be for other Spoonies what I needed and still need: a safe harbor for creation of community, commiseration, creative expression, and healing, one stitch, one breath at a time.
Life is a constant exchange of energies. I think and speak positive intentions over the pieces I create and ask that GUS (God, the Universe, and the Source) carry the piece to whoever may need it most. I speak love over the pieced to the future recipient.
When someone receives any of my pieces, reads my book, or listens to my podcast, my greatest hope is that they feel less alone, that my love is palpable, and that they know they matter
In what ways do you think Art and creative expression can help individuals dealing with mental health issues and chronic pain?
Kelly J. Mendenhall: I have stitched so much beauty out of an excessive amount of brutality. And I can’t think of a better reason to keep existing. Hand-stitching, for me, is an ethereal and meditative experience – so long as no one interrupts me. I can lose myself for hours. At times, stitching was the only thing that could distract my mind enough from my spinal nerve pain to make a living seem possible.
Since starting the Affordable Art Revolution, I have had incredible energy exchanges with people of all kinds through my work. For instance, I had a teen girl who accidentally found my table at a community event. She beamed when she heard I shared some of her diagnoses because she said I gave her hope and made her feel like “embroidery wasn’t just for old ladies.”
I had a customer reach out to me after buying a set of heirloom ornaments to thank me for doing what I do. She told me that she is also disabled and relies on Social Security disability income. She thought she couldn’t afford any Christmas gifts for her loved ones that year; thanks to my shop, she would have one very special and beautiful gift for each person.
How do you see the role of advocacy in your work, and what specific changes are you striving to achieve in terms of disability inclusion?
Kelly J. Mendenhall: Often, people don’t know what they don’t know or can’t see. I don’t think that venues and stadiums have purposely made events inaccessible; many executives are unaware and (fortunately for them) haven’t ever had to think about it. They ensure that their facilities meet ADA guidelines, and they believe that helps and is enough.
But I want to teach people that those guidelines are the bare minimum and that we should all want to do something other than the bare minimum.
I would love to see those with invisible and dynamic disabilities enthusiastically welcomed and accommodated in all public spaces, including concert venues, stadiums or sports complexes, museums, public schools, and everywhere else. It’s one thing to be welcomed into a space and “accommodated,” it’s another to walk into a space that is built to accommodate and accommodate all.
I would love to see affordable, comfortable handicapped seating offered everywhere, without price-gouging attached. That’s the other thing that drives me crazy: the places that offer accommodations but price most of us out of utilizing them. Like the mobility scooters at malls or parks and things that cost $20 an hour to rent. Or, for instance, the fancy recliners you see set aside in corporate sections of stadiums that often remain empty and roped off. In contrast, the “ADA” section is just a spot to park your wheelchair in front of a guard rail overlooking a seated section.
The thing about being dynamically disabled that most people don’t understand is that I don’t often know, until I wake up each day, how I am going to feel or where my pain levels are. Some days, I need mobility devices and have a low range of motion in my legs; I have to take tiny steps. On other days, you’d never know anything was wrong with me. I’m walking tall, and my short friends struggle to keep up! I am treated poorly and accused of “faking” and all kinds of things. If the public was more aware, I think this would happen less often to myself and others.
How do you see the role of advocacy in your work, and what specific changes are you striving to achieve in terms of disability inclusion?
Kelly J. Mendenhall: Often, people don’t know what they don’t know or can’t see. I don’t think that venues and stadiums have purposely made events inaccessible; many executives are unaware and (fortunately for them) haven’t ever had to think about it. They ensure that their facilities meet ADA guidelines, and they believe that helps and is enough.
But I want to teach people that those guidelines are the bare minimum and that we should all want to do something other than the bare minimum.
I would love to see those with invisible and dynamic disabilities enthusiastically welcomed and accommodated in all public spaces, including concert venues, stadiums or sports complexes, museums, public schools, and everywhere else. It’s one thing to be welcomed into a space and “accommodated,” it’s another to walk into a space that is built to accommodate and accommodate all.
I would love to see affordable, comfortable handicapped seating offered everywhere, without price-gouging attached. That’s the other thing that drives me crazy: the places that offer accommodations but price most of us out of utilizing them. Like the mobility scooters at malls or parks and things that cost $20 an hour to rent.
Or, for instance, the fancy recliners you see set aside in corporate sections of stadiums that often remain empty and roped off. In contrast, the “ADA” section is just a spot to park your wheelchair in front of a guard rail overlooking a seated section.
The thing about being dynamically disabled that most people don’t understand is that I don’t often know, until I wake up each day, how I am going to feel or where my pain levels are. Some days, I need mobility devices and have a low range of motion in my legs; I have to take tiny steps. On other days, you’d never know anything was wrong with me. I’m walking tall, and my short friends struggle to keep up! I am treated poorly and accused of “faking” and all kinds of things. If the public was more aware, I think this would happen less often to myself and others.
What future projects or goals do you have for the Affordable Art Revolution and your broader mission of spreading love, joy, and accessibility?
Kelly J. Mendenhall: Oh, I have dreams of making this not just a shop or a project but an actual movement for disabled artists and creatives!
This year, I’m launching a podcast with my best friend, Noelle P. Scott. It’s called “You Make Me Sick.” It’s a conversational Comedy Podcast about things that shouldn’t be funny, as we like to say. Noelle and I utilize humor to cope with the complexities of Spoonie Life, survive medical gaslighting, and celebrate the friendships that keep us alive along the way.
I envision art fairs and maker events organized by and built to serve creatives and customers with disabilities! An annual Spoonie Con, with workshops about all kinds of programs and life skills, and of course, creative workshops for expression and therapeutic purposes, classes about how to generate income to supplement or replace social security income working from home.
I want to teach people how to create lifestyles and careers that will honor their minds and bodies unique needs and limitations, just as I am doing for myself.
More than anything, I want to show my disabled peers, as well as the rest of the world, that our diagnoses are not the end of our stories and that we still have plenty of value to offer the world!
Brooke Young, VIP Contributor to WellnessVoice and the host of this interview would like to thank Kelly J. Mendenhall for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Kelly J. Mendenhall or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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