A Josephine Celeste Reflection from Twinning, Vermont

When the pandemic began, the world went quiet.

In Twinning, the sidewalks emptied, storefronts dimmed, and routines disappeared overnight. Life slowed in a way I had never seen before — a pace my body had always needed, even when the world refused to match it.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, I moved into my own apartment. The timing was frightening. The world felt uncertain, and yet that moment marked the beginning of my independence.

But what changed my life most wasn’t the isolation.

It was accessibility.

As everything shut down, something unexpected happened — doors began to open.

Doctor’s appointments moved online. Meetings became virtual. Grocery shopping became accessible from home. School and work adjusted their expectations.

For years, people with disabilities had asked for these options.

We were told they were too complicated.
Too expensive.
Too difficult to arrange.

Suddenly, they were possible.

For the disability community, this shift wasn’t about convenience.

It was about dignity.

It meant we no longer had to exhaust ourselves just to participate in everyday life. It meant access didn’t depend on transportation, weather, pain levels, or the availability of support staff.

For the first time, the world adapted to us — not the other way around.

When restrictions lifted and life slowly returned, something remarkable happened.

The access remained.

Technology improved. Options expanded. Flexibility became normalized.

What once required advocacy now existed as a standard choice.

The pandemic took so much from the world, and that loss will never be forgotten. But it also revealed a truth many of us already knew:

Accessibility was never impossible.

It simply hadn’t been prioritized.

Today, from my small apartment in Twinning, I’m grateful that the doors that opened during the pandemic did not close again.

Because access is not a privilege.

It’s a right.

“Inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists — it is making a new space together.”
— George Dei