In my blog, I’ll share with you my experiences as a chronically ill and invisibly disabled advocate and journalist.

Karina wears a red The Mighty Shirt and a blue flower in her short, brown hair. She is smiling.

A letter to myself after getting diagnosed with EDS in 2014

This is a letter I wrote to myself right after getting diagnosed with EDS in 2014. It’s all the things I would have needed to hear from doctors, friends and family. And it’s also advice I gave myself. It was published by The Mighty in…
Black and white photo of Karina, a woman with 7 mm shaved hair and huge round earrings.

Let’s get real. This is how 2020 really was for me.

Over the last weeks, I got many kind messages from followers of my blog, often saying, “The way you handle your life with all your conditions is so inspiring. How do you do this?” Let me try to give you an unfiltered insight into my life…
Karina, a woman with super short brown hair is wearing a black hat and has her hand on top of the hat to take it off. She wears huge, feather-like earrings and lipstick.

How it all began: Getting diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Oh Gosh, I feel like I have told this story too many times, but you are new here, so I might as well share it again. So this is how it all began and the reason why you are here, on my Blog, today. I try to keep it short, though.  Am…
Black and white photo of Jade, a young girl with shoulder-long, blonde hair and a tube up her nose. She faces towards her left hand in which she holds part of her IV
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Watch ‘We Are Visible’ online ON DEMAND

My documentary film ‘We Are Visible,’ featuring people living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome all across the globe, is now available ON DEMAND. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, most events and film screenings for ‘We Are Visible’…
White letters on black background: You are faking it
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We Are Visible – Trailers

Many of the people who know me well would tell you that I am not a person that can do ”short.” I like to talk a lot, prefer to write long articles - the more words, the better, and love to involve more than one person in order to show a…
Karina, a woman with short, brown hair looks into the nothingness. She sits on stairs in the nature and is seen in profile. She wears four earrings. One of those is a dolphin, and the other one a turtle. Additionally, she wears a white-blue scarf around her neck brace.Karina Sturm
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”Nothing about us without us!” – Producing ’We Are Visible’

My film We Are Visible, a feature-length documentary about people living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome all around the globe, is in its final production phase, and it would be the time to release a trailer now.   However, putting together…
A collage of 9 teenage and adult women and two children who are all contributors of the film We Are Visible
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Ehlers-Danlos documentary: Meet the people involved

We Are Visible is a documentary film about people all around the world living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Today, I invite you to meet the main contributors of my film. Ashley & Sophia  Ashley Ashley is a mom of two, and they…
Two pictures. On the left is Denise B., a woman wearing a blue shirt, wrist and knee braces. She has short red hair and sits in front of a tree in the forrest. On the right is Rana T., a woman with long brown hair, who has sunglasses on her head, sitting in a park
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Misdiagnoses – an investigative article

Have you ever wondered if you are the only one who has been misdiagnosed by a medical professional in the past? In fact, you are in good company. Diagnostic errors are a global threat, but rarely do we hear about them. For this article, I interviewed…
Sam E. Rubin ist ein junger Mann der vor einem Gemälde sitzt, die eine Katze zeigt. Er blickt nach unten und hat grüne Augen mit langen Wimpern. Sein Haar ist braun und wellig, sein Hemd kartiert.
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Firsts – Episode 3: Sam E. Rubin

Firsts is a mini documentary series about several authors contributing to the book "Firsts - Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities" by Belo Cipriani. Please enjoy Episode 3: Sam E. Rubin Version with closed captions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYt3ehUk-54 Version…
Caitlin Hernandez, a young woman with brown, straight, shoulder-long hair and brown eyes smiles
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Firsts – Episode 2: Caitlin Hernandez

Firsts is a mini documentary series about several authors contributing to the book "Firsts - Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities" by Belo Cipriani. Please enjoy Episode 2: Caitlin Hernandez Version with closed captions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VffHRQjCkck Version…
David-Elijah Nahmod, ein Mann mit Brille und kurzen, welligen, braunen Haaren sitzt in einem Bürostuhl und trägt ein blaues Hemd.
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Firsts – Episode 1: David-Elijah Nahmod

Firsts is a mini documentary series about several authors contributing to the book "Firsts - Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities" by Belo Cipriani. Please enjoy Episode One: David-Elijah Nahmod Version with closed captions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEuDbmmLQN0 Version…
Belo Cipriani, a young man with black, short hair wears a blue shirt and black jeans and sits on stone steps in front of a sea of pink flowers. One hand lies on the back of his guide dog, a black labrador.
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Firsts – The Mini Documentary Series for Belo Cipriani

I had the honor to work with Belo Cipriani, a blind journalist, and advocate for people living with disabilities. Belo recently established a publishing house called Oleb Books whose mission is to represent disability in a respectful and honest…