Alumna Elsa Sjunneson is an Author, Activist, and Woman of Marvel

“I have fond memories of writing scripts, right there next to Mike Cimino,” says SAAS alumna Elsa Sjunneson, thinking back on her days in Mike’s classroom. “I finished my first novel in that room.”

Elsa, a deafblind woman, started writing cranky op-ed essays in high school. It was the beginning of her journey with writing, her time to “test out how to bring the fire with words.” Now, as a SAAS alumna and published author, Elsa has made a career out of disability rights advocacy and writing. 

“I want disabled people to be in the future,” Elsa says. “Most of my activism is doing precisely what everyone says I can’t. That includes existing in public. For a long, long time disabled people were not allowed in public. Many people don’t remember going to school with someone who is disabled. Living publicly is a way of making sure people know we are still here.”

“Disabled people need to be seen,” says Elsa. 

This is the title of her debut memoir, “Being Seen:One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism.” Published in 2022, her memoir and biography discusses the portrayals of disabled people in the media. “Being Seen” won her a Washington State Book Award and sent her on a book tour to Elliott Bay Book Company and Third Place Books in Seattle, Powell’s Books in Portland, and Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York. 

Elsa attended SAAS for most of middle school and sophomore year of high school. During this time Elsa jumped into writing and activism. “It is a school that asks you to try new things pretty regularly. I think that was important — to be taken out of my comfort zone every once in a while.” 

This is the Culture of Performance that persists at SAAS. Elsa participated in stage combat and musical theater. She recalls a middle school performance at the Intiman Theater on the big, main stage and not being entirely ready for it. “That was a big ask for a 7th or 8th grader.” 

In adulthood, Elsa takes her comfort zone and throws it out the window. Elsa is also the written voice and inspiration behind Peggy Carter, a disabled Marvel character, that she wrote for the first issue of the Women of Marvel series that was published in March 2022. 

Elsa’s new PBS documentary “American Masters BBS” features her fencing. “No one ever told me that I couldn’t. But no one ever told me that I could,” says Elsa. 

“It is about non-disabled people being comfortable with disabled people being able to set their own limitations. I ski. I go bouldering with my husband. I don’t do math. I don’t floss my kids' teeth (they are old enough to do that.) My limitations are done by me — not by others making assumptions about what I can or can’t do.” 

“The fact is, there are 1 billion disabled people in the world. Of those 1 billion, each of their disabilities is individual. Every single disability is effectively individual. There are no two deafblind people that are exactly alike,” Elsa explains. 

Her message — is simple. “I hope people are paying attention to disability in their wider communities. I hope people look around and ask themselves whether their community is accessible, and then work to make it more accessible than it is now.” 

This year, Seattle Magazine named Elsa one of Seattle’s 25 most influential people.

Elsa is a disability rights activist, author, educator, and mom. You can follow her on her website, which includes access to her books, documentary, and Radio Lab feature “The Helen Keller Exorcism.”