URevolution is telling better stories about life with chronic illness or disability.

We are an online glossy lifestyle brand and diversity and inclusion magazine packed with compelling, quirky chronic illness stories and disability stories. We are the magazine of the future: where Body Positivity includes our medical conditions, neurodiversity, and 'mismatched' bodies.

We don't give medical or clinical advice. We are focused on how health or disability affects people's lives: their relationships, their careers, their love life, their families...pretty much every aspect of their existence. We're more interested in publishing How to tell your Tinder date you wear a colostomy bag? rather than How to wear a colostomy bag: a guide for patients.

A little bit about URevolution

Do you know what to say to someone who’s been diagnosed with cancer? More importantly, do you know what not to say to someone who has cancer? When it comes to chronic illness and disability, there are all kinds of uncomfortable moments like this that can get pretty #awkward.

URevolution was founded in June 2017 on the belief that we’re all better off discussing our sensitive health topics, not by avoiding them or avoiding people with an illness or disability.

So, here’s where our story really begins. When co-founder Brendan McDonald was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, he suddenly began having pretty uncomfortable interactions with friends and coworkers.

“I didn’t know how to tell people. I didn’t want to tell people. And when I did, there were uncomfortable awkward moments. URevolution is a project that I started with Corinne Gray to use humor and a bit of biting wit to explore life's most awkward moments.”

A revolution in awkwardness

URevolution® is on a mission to change how people talk about sensitive health topics by giving them a fun, accepting place to bring up uncomfortable topics. We welcome all colors, creeds, nationalities, and sexual orientations to join the revolution!

Payment for nonfiction submissions

As a social enterprise, all revenue raised from our shop is currently directed towards maintaining our Diversity and Inclusion Disability Magazine. Our small editorial team consists of volunteers who provide their services on an ad-hoc part-time basis (which is why it sometimes takes a while for us to respond to submissions). From 1 January 2023, all published authors will receive a $25 URevolution diversity gift card as an honorarium for their contribution to the magazine.

This is UR revolution. Get uncomfortable.

Support us by shopping for DEI Swag and Diversity and Inclusion Promotional Items at URevolution

Submit

Uncomfortable Revolution™ is looking for totally awkward personal stories and anecdotes about chronic illness and disability. You may submit blogposts, photo essays, cartoons, animations, illustrations, videos, and audio.

Pitch us ideas for raw, authentic stories about life with disability or any health condition: from cancer, HIV/AIDS, and heart disease; mental illness, addiction or eating disorders; to MS and other mobility-affecting illnesses.

Our tone is humorous, authentic, and a bit quirky. We are never preachy.

We define "chronic illness" as any physical or psychological health condition that is long-term and affects your everyday life. We define "disability" as a mismatched interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which they live.

If you had the flu that one time, this isn't for you.

What we're NOT looking for:

Poetry
Medical/Clinical/Pharmaceutical/Nutritional advice.
Undercover promo for your business or service
Subject matter that does not fit the express theme of awkward conversations/moments that arise from chronic illness or disability
Subject matter that (whether intentionally or not) discriminates against an entire category of people (ethnicity, gender, political persuasion, religion, sexual identity etc.)
Pieces that require significant editing or re-writes
Anything that's not written in English. This is really our failure because we are monoglots. :(

What we want you to submit:

Authentic, true, raw stories of uncomfortable moments or conversations that have come up because of chronic illness or disability: whether you are the one diagnosed, or someone you know is
Stories could be about: conversations you did have; conversations you never got the chance to have; a gifting experience gone wrong; dating and sex: what's it really like?; what's it like at work, or life in general? Tell us the things you never get to talk about, but are dying to
Creative fiction works about chronic illness and/or disability
Stories that make us laugh, shout, scream, die slowly inside, cry, or want to hit somebody. Make us feel what you feel
Well-written/produced content that is ready-to-publish (i.e. typo-free) that you are the author of, or have permission to submit
Written pieces in the range of 500-2,500 words
Include a bio of no more than 100 words written in the third person, plus links to your social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and a portrait photo.
We are currently unable to pay for submissions for personal stories.
We commit ourselves to promotion of your work, even if published elsewhere, on our website and social media platforms.
Note: if you are using a pseudonym please enter the pseudonym in the name field, and clearly state in the "about author" section that your name is a pseudonym.

So, get it off your chest! Send us your story idea by filling out the form below.

URevolution®