Poet · Advocate · Mentor
It took things I'd have kept. It's not a gift. It's a clean slate I'm already writing on.
The Core Work
I write what survives the night: the spaces where not giving up is how truth gets told. Grief, beauty, defiance, held without compromise.
Poetry Collections
Uncoiled · Reruns · Fables & Folklore
βMy rule is simple: the people a change affects should be able to understand it, evaluate it, and shape it.β
Now I'm fighting for disability equity: advocating for more inclusive ADA law, rebuilding institutional accessibility from the inside, confronting algorithmic bias, and championing economic independence for anyone carrying a diagnosis.
On Stage · TEDxRochester
How training data, trust, and transparency fail the people algorithms already sort. A clear record of how ethical technology, lived disability advocacy, and poetry occupy the same body.
Open on YouTube βRoots & Mentorship
I mentor: I help young people find the next door, and the one after that.
I arrived at the University of Rochester as a Posse Foundation Scholar and learned the institution from the inside out: Student Alumni Ambassador, the Senior Giving Committee, the Minority Male Leadership Association, and Douglass Leadership House. The open curriculum let me study neuroeconomics and international relations; the city taught me the rest.
Living with four types of lupus in one body changed how I move through rooms, benefits, and the quiet costs that do not photograph well. When policy and poetry occupy the same lived body, every written word becomes an act of truth-telling and self-preservation.
Pistachio has already approved the move.
Start Here
Choose the room you came to enter.
Read selections from Uncoiled, Reruns, and Fables & Folklore.
Examine online accessibility, disability equity standards, and NY ABLE disability savings.
Book a poetry reading, consult on digital accessibility, or start a dialogue with Courtney.
Disability Savings
Not a generic tip jar. Deposits go to my NY ABLE account β tax-advantaged savings for disability-related expenses without disqualifying critical need-based benefits.
Ugift Code
Connect
For poetry readings, ADA dialogues, and letters that refuse to be quiet.
Email: courtney@courtneythomasjr.com
Location: Rochester, New York · He/Him/His