My Journey As A Disabled Journalist
If you had told me last year that I’d be doing a summer internship from Nova Scotia, but reporting for New Brunswick, all whilst in the middle of a pandemic – I wouldn’t have believed you.
You may’ve seen my work featured in Huddle this summer. This is how it started.
So, who am I? Well, I’m a coffee shop enthusiast, a storyteller since birth, and an actress who loves to sing, dance, and act my heart out.
But I’m also sick.
Not sick in the way of having a cold or flu, (or Covid-19, thank goodness.) But, sick in the way that I’m chronically ill.
When I was 16, I was admitted to the hospital with hives covering every inch of my body. And I stayed there for pretty much four months. Nobody knew what was wrong with me, they just knew that I had hives that wouldn’t go away and every other symptom under the sun.
I was finally sent to the children’s hospital, IWK, in Halifax, Nova Scotia where they diagnosed me.
My core illness is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). It’s a chronic autoimmune disease where the body mistakenly attacks the body’s healthy tissue. It can affect almost every part of your body including skin, joints, kidneys, brain, lungs, et cetera.
On top of that, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, an illness characterized by musculoskeletal pain; Inflammatory Arthritis, joint inflammation caused by an overactive immune system, it attacks many joints at the same time; Chronic Urticaria (hives) where I get what appears to be an allergic reaction with hives on every part of my body, every day. I take eight allergy pills per day; Raynaud’s Syndrome, a blood vessel disorder that causes blood to not be able to reach the tips of fingers, toes, and nose when the body is cold or stressed; and a few other small illnesses that just added to the pain.
The summer of 2016, I didn’t even think I’d be able to finish high school, let alone go to university or do a full-time summer internship.
My arthritis causes me to be unable to use a pencil, that’s a pretty vital skill when you’re a journalist.
But I can type.
And this illness made me a stronger person than I ever thought I could be. I had something to prove.
So, I kept getting jobs, and I kept gaining experience, and for the most part, I didn’t feel like “the sick girl” anymore. I was Hannah Rudderham, the journalist with my own byline.
Last summer, after my first year at St. Thomas University, I worked at a radio station driving around and attending events. I was set to do that job once again this summer.
About a week after coronavirus hit and my school was cancelled, I got the call that I was temporarily laid-off from my job for the summer.
I wasn’t surprised, but I was also pretty disappointed.
I looked into the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and applied, all while job searching.
And then I get the best email asking if I was interested in applying to an internship for Huddle Today – but it’s out of Fredericton.
I said I was incredibly interested, but I had already moved back to Sydney, Nova Scotia when Covid-19 hit.
But between FutureReadyNB, the Office of Experiential Learning at STU, and Huddle, I was able to start my new job.
I started a little later than most summer interns, but we eventually got the hang of how this was going to work.
I set up an office in my home because there was no way I’d be able to stay on top of everything if I worked out of my bed.
And I started writing.
And really, I haven’t stopped writing since it all started.
This summer, I’ve gained a plethora of new experiences. In fact, I owe quite a few people a visit in Fredericton. I did all my interviews over-the-phone so most of my interviewees want to meet the face behind the phone call.
When I applied to this job, I had a total of three business articles that I could send as examples.
I wrote 36 articles for Huddle this summer, all business or economics-related, so talk about adding to my resume!
I met so many new people and learned really useful new skills. Mark and Cherise, my editors, along with the fabulous Huddle and Acadia staff, helped me so much. They were patient, gave me advice that I can carry with me, and helped me build my confidence.
So, I finished last week, and have moved on to be the news editor of The Aquinian, the student publication at St. Thomas University. I’m absolutely terrified, but I would never be as prepared as I am now if it wasn’t for my experience at Huddle.
If I told myself in 2016 that I’d be here, I would’ve said, “yeah right.” If I told myself in 2019 that this is how I’d spend my summer, I’d say, “are you crazy? A pandemic?”
But now, I can gladly say, “look at that, I did it.”