Erin Field | High Roller
Erin Field sustained a spinal cord injury just before her senior year of college at the age of 21. She is now an aspiring disability rights lawyer, dog-mom of two, and social media advocate for the disability community! Get to know her!
How young are you? I am 28-years-young.
Where do you live? I currently live in Florida. I lived in Boston for 3 years and that was where I was injured. I moved in 2021.
Please share your SCI/D story.
I was injured on July 11, 2017. My now fiancé, Jack and I had just started dating. He was living in Pennsylvania and Boston was a half-way point between us. We were both about to travel abroad so we decided to meet up for the weekend. Hanging out at my brother’s apartment rooftop, I sat down on a hammock which was like a swing, and when Jack sat down next to me, the chimney on the left hand side collapsed and crushed me. I became a C5 quadriplegic and was in the ICU for 3 and a half weeks on a ventilator and feeding tube. I couldn’t talk and really don’t remember much about that time. I went to rehab for 3 and a half months at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.
Tell us about your initiatives and work within the disability community.
Originally when I first got hurt, I never had a peer mentor, specifically a girl peer mentor, so it was important to me to be one when I left Spaulding. I was a peer-mentor on the spinal cord injury floor, because there weren’t many girls doing it. When I moved to Florida, I became the chair of the Disability Committee for my county.
Social media is really big for me- connecting with people, making videos, watching other people’s videos, talking to people. The 10% App is my brother and my passion project – my work to truly become an advocate for the community on social media.
What inspired you to start the 10% App?
When I first got hurt, I reached out to a lot of disability influencers. It was mostly people with big platforms that wouldn’t often read their messages or respond. I felt that I couldn’t connect with anyone, it was very isolating. I had so many questions.
My brother and I discussed how important it was to create a ‘hub’ for people to connect. Originally, we were going to make the app solely for individuals with spinal cord injury but the entire disability community needs this. The 10% App is a social networking app for the disability community. You’ll be able to create a profile and put your disability on your profile. Our hope is that people create groups, forums, events and a Q&A space.
What are your goals for the app?
The biggest one is connecting with other disabled people; connecting with people of similar ages, disabilities and even interests as you. I hope people feel like they have someone to talk to and ask questions to. I want it to be a place to find resources and ask questions, because that was something I really struggled with.
What are some hopes/desires/dreams you have for the disability community?
Two of the biggest things I hope for, especially as an aspiring disability rights lawyer, is marriage equality for the disability community – being able to get married and not losing your benefits; and to change some of the laws of airlines and being able to stay in your chair when you fly.
Who do you look up to and admire?
I am going to say Dani Izzie. She’s a quadriplegic and a mom to twins. Dani decided to have kids after her injury, and she is just really cool. She’s a really great mom and started her own business, called Access Social. She’s an account manager for multiple social media accounts, both disability content creators and non-disability content creators. I do work for her part-time.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I like filming stuff for social media and talking to people on social media. I make it a point to respond to every message. I don’t want to not respond to anyone, because it happened to me and it was really hard.
I like walking my two dogs with Jack. I really like to workout at home. I lift, and have a stim bike and standing frame. Hopefully once I am in law school I won’t have much free time!
What is a quote that inspires you?
“One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it will become someone else’s survival guide.”
Do you have any advice for people who are newly disabled?
Reach out to someone who is going through something similar or who has already done it, especially if you need advice. In the beginning of my recovery, I made a conscious effort to keep busy and surround myself with people, to help me not fall into a depression. If I had a bad day, I let myself have a bad day and reminded myself that tomorrow is a new day.
Stay tuned for more updates on the 10% App!
