In the past, I identified as a disabled cyborg and now my body is even more of a cyborg as I am tethered and power dependent on a number of machines to stay alive.

Knowing a power outage or malfunction can become a life or death situation can really do a number on you.

This is DeathS. situation can really do a number on you.

This is death, sex, and money.

The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.

I'm Anato Sale.

Oh, and need to talk about more. I'm Anna Seale. I first talked with disability rights activist and writer Alice Wong back in 2020.

She'd just edited a collection of essays called Disability Visibility.

Since then, she's published another book,

a memoir called Year of the Tiger, an activist's life. It's unlike any other memoir I've read,

with a mix of writing and excerpts of talks and interviews she's given, including an excerpt from her death, sex and money episode, where Alice told me

with biting humor about the horrors of high school for her.

Just before that memoir came out, Alice had a major medical emergency, and she ended up losing

the ability to speak and eat. We want to share that original episode with you again this week.

We reached out to Alice for an update, so we sent her a list of questions.

She recorded her responses using a text-to-speech app.

Last summer, I had a series of medical crises that led to four weeks in the ICU.

It was one of the most harrowing experiences in my life.

I lost the ability to speak and eat. I now have a tracheostomy that is attached to a ventilator that breathes for me 24 hours a day and a feeding tube in my stomach and small intestine

that is attached to a machine for hydration and nutrition.

I have to adjust and learn new ways to communicate.

I missed my voice dearly with my inflections, gifaz, profanity, and sarcasm.

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