Jeneva Stone (she/her) is an author and advocate for disability rights and health care. She’s the author of Monster (Phoenicia Publishing, 2016), meditations on caregiving in which she subverts popular tropes about Frankenstein by returning to Shelley’s original theme: When creators abandon their progeny, they are the true monsters. Jeneva’s essays and poems have appeared in New England Review, American Poetry Review, Waxwing, and many others, with a recent essay listed as “Notable” in Best American Essays 2021. She is a MacDowell and VCCA Fellow. Her opinion writing has been featured in The Washington Post and CNN Digital.
Jeneva and her disabled son Rob volunteer for multiple advocacy groups on rare disease, disability rights, health care, and developmental disabilities, including Little Lobbyists, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, and the Self-Directed Action Network. Jeneva has been appointed to the newly established Maryland Rare Disease Advisory Council, and serves on the Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities. Jeneva and Rob have told their story at press conferences, rallies, and in legislative testimony.
Jeneva holds an MFA from Warren Wilson and a PhD from Columbia University. She and Rob are graduates of The Arc of Maryland’s Partners in Policymaking program.