My mission is to spread more love and joy to Spoonies* everywhere through the written word and handcrafted, lovingly made items.

An image of a woman smiling, wearing a flora skirt with black top. Red flowers and green grass are behind her. She has a myriad of tattoos on her arms and chest.

This world wasn’t made for people like us, and we miss out on a multitude of experiences due to our physical, emotional, and mental health limitations. This often includes being unable to afford handcrafted folk and fine art or traveling to art shows and events.

If more people were exposed to folk art and handcrafted items, more people would be drawn to this world for hobbies and find relief from stress and anxiety through the meditative peace of creating. The benefits are twofold because my mental health is at its best when I have plenty of time for creating and hand-sewing! I created the #AffordableArtRevolution to supplement my disability income while spreading joy widely.

*Note: Spoonie is a term for a person living with chronic/invisible illness or disability; you may also see this referred to as dynamic disability. You can learn more about Spoonies and The Spoon Theory HERE in this article I wrote for SpineNation.

Welcome, I am so glad you’re here.

Kelly J. Mendenhall is a
disabled author, artist
speaker, creator,
and advocate.

Image of a heavily tattooed woman from the chest up. Her arms are folded in front of her and she is wearing a black tank top. Her chest and arms are covered with various tattoos. She is smiling and looking down.

#TheMedicalGaslightingProject
#StopMedicalGaslighting
#SpoonieSupport
#AffordableArtRevolution
#YouMakeMeSick

Check out my recent conversation with the delightful Brittany Lynn Budd about turning a lot of brutality into beauty through Art.

The image of a heavily tattooed woman, smiling, standing in front of a white wall. She is wearing a tank top and glasses and appears to be laughing.

If my body hadn't physically forced me to stop dead in my tracks, I might never have reconnected with my most authentic and creative self.

I grew up blue-collar and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, believing that if I kept my head down, worked hard, and followed a traditional path, I would be rewarded with a well-paying job and a stable life. I spent my adult life chasing the American Dream and choosing the safest bets. My only goal was to do well for myself while doing good for my community.

But that’s not exactly how it worked out. When my body failed me in 2017, it didn’t just change one aspect of my life. It changed everything. It forced me to reevaluate what I wanted and how I wanted to live.

While things didn’t work out exactly as I had planned, they have been much more interesting than I could have anticipated.

Nowadays, you can find me:

I am a survivor, a woman who took control of building a life aligned with her most authentic self, determined to honor my mind, body, and spirit and help others do the same.

“Today, I’m a recovering nonprofit professional. Since becoming disabled, I’ve added podcasting, print publications, and medical journalism to my repertoire. I firmly believe that life happens for us, not to us and that my journey since 2017 is the best possible demonstration of that.”

Kelly was the Keynote Speaker for Disability Awareness Day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in March 2023. The event was put on by Disability Advocates of Kent County. Below is a slideshow of photos from the event.

Image of two women talking. One is sitting in a wheelchair with her back to the camera, the other is sitting on her Rollator walker, facing the camera. The two women are engrossed in conversation.

Kelly interacted with an audience member after her PODX performance in Nashville, Tennessee 2019.

Ways you can support Kelly’s work outside of buying books or art:

Kelly’s Origin story

Kelly J. Mendenhall is a self-proclaimed recovering nonprofit professional. She earned her Bachelor of Science and Master's in Public Administration from Eastern Michigan University in 2007 and 2012, respectively. She dedicated her career to serving under-resourced youth and communities. In June 2017, Mendenhall suddenly became medically disabled and lost her mobility nearly entirely. 

However, the cause of her pain and immobility remained a mystery for more than two years.

Mendenhall made a name for herself on the digital scene as a medical journalist and blogger, writing for BlastingNews.com in 2018, SpineNation.com from 2019-2021, and her blog, Nerdzilla Lives! from 2017-2020. On June 1, 2019, Mendenhall released her first book, a memoir, Skin in the Game: The Stories My Tattoos Tell, and received rave reviews. Mendenhall co-hosted a successful indie podcast from 2018-2020. She was featured in Yahoo! News and Business Insider in 2020.

All these accomplishments were achieved while Mendenhall was mostly restricted to life on a couch, on her back, with minimal mobility.

Beginning in 2017, Mendenhall endured years of what she refers to as Medical Gaslighting. Simply put, she was told time and again by specialists and medical professionals that there was no way she was experiencing pain, loss of feeling and control of extremities, and other symptoms reported. It took 2.5 years of fighting against medical gaslighting to discover a rare, centralized disc rupture at the junction of her thoracic and lumbar spines that had grown into a calcified mass, crushing her spinal cord. 

Mendenhall had four neurosurgeries and two major abdominal surgeries between December 2018 and October 2020 and hundreds of tests, procedures, and diagnostic labs. She was permanently disabled and has been unable to work outside the home since she was 34. She has not allowed her disabilities to rob her of her self-worth.

Mendenhall's background as a social scientist made her curious about whether or not her experiences with medical professionals were unique or if other women were experiencing the same difficulties in finding compassionate care. Her research led her to the conclusion that women are regularly suffering from and under-treated for chronic pain. 

Mendenhall concluded that there is an implicit bias against women reporting pain and other chronic, invisible symptoms throughout Western medicine. And ultimately, medical gaslighting is killing and disabling women every day. These conclusions, together with her history as an impassioned and loud-mouthed human rights activist, inspired her to raise awareness to stop medical gaslighting or die trying. "This is my way of turning my mess into a message," Mendenhall often says.