Laura Gehlhaar

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Laura Gehlhaar

Laura Gehlhaar (born January 8, 1983 in Düsseldorf ) is a German social worker, blogger, activist and author. Gehlhaar writes and publishes primarily about her life as a person in a wheelchair and advocates more inclusion of people with disabilities in German society.

Life

Education and career

Laura Gehlhaar was born in Düsseldorf in 1983. At the age of eleven she was diagnosed with a muscle disease , at the age of 23 she decided to use a wheelchair from then on. After graduating from high school, Gehlhaar studied social pedagogy and psychology in the Netherlands and Berlin. After completing her studies, Gehlhaar worked for a few years in psychiatry as a social pedagogue, then for a while as a copywriter. In 2008 Gehlhaar moved to Berlin for professional reasons. Gehlhaar completed mediation and coaching training at the European University Association (EHV) of the Free University of Berlin. For several years she has been working as a coach and freelance copywriter.

engagement

Since Gehlhaar has lived in Berlin, she has been campaigning for more inclusion of people with disabilities in German society in various ways. Together with other activists, she is part of the Berlin social heroes association . There she supports, among other things, the online map " Wheelmap " developed by the association , on which places suitable for the disabled can be entered. In addition, she writes for the social hero blog “Leidmedien.de” and tries, among other things, to explain how journalism can better report on people with disabilities.

Since the beginning of February 2014, Gehlhaar has also been blogging in her private blog "Frau Gehlhaar" about her life in a wheelchair, especially about everyday problems. In September 2016 she published her first book with the title Can you do something there ?: Stories from the everyday life of a wheelchair user in Heyne Verlag . In the book she also writes about her everyday problems as a person with disabilities in German society. Together with blogger Lorenz Meyer, she designed a “wheelchair user bullshit bingo” that is widely used on social media.

Laura Gehlhaar is received by numerous German media and portrayed as one of the few better-known bloggers and activists in a wheelchair. She herself writes in an article for Edition F that “[...] disability is never just an individual matter, but a social and political problem. My understanding of disability is not based on the medical but rather on the social context. Disability arises from social structures, laws that prevent people from living independently, and prejudices. My disability does not belong to me alone, it belongs to all those who contribute to it ”.

plant

  • Can you do anything else ?: Stories from the everyday life of a wheelchair user, Heyne Verlag, September 2016, ISBN 978-3453603677

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Dominik Schottner: " Just take me" - Laura blogs about sex in a wheelchair. In: Doppelkopf. detektor.fm, April 11, 2015, accessed April 19, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Julia Maria Grass: "My problem is people's insecurity". In: Welt.de. September 12, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Katharine Buess: “Frau Gehlhaar” blog about love, sex and stupid sayings What a wheelchair user experiences every day in Berlin. In: Berliner Zeitung. July 21, 2015, accessed April 19, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c Manuela Kanies: Wheelchair user Laura Gehlhaar blogs against prejudice. In: New Osnabrück Newspaper. May 3, 2014, accessed April 19, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Silvia Follmann: Laura Gehlhaar: "My handicap also belongs to all those who contribute to it". In: Edition F. April 7, 2017, accessed on April 19, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Goose hair, Laura
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German social pedagogue, blogger, activist and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf