How Disabled Journalists Work: Ashley Castillo

Last Updated: September 17, 2025

Ashley Castillo, a Black Afro-Latina journalist, stands in a pink shirt and jeans. She is holding a TV microphone and is smiling. Behind her is a street scene that includes people and trees

Monday

Before my tasks, I have a morning routine. I get ready, eat breakfast, then read ten pages of a book or listen to a podcast.

I begin each work day looking to see what the latest news is that fits into what DJA covers. This helps our team decide what to post on social media and which articles we may want to republish via creative commons licenses. I look at a variety of topics at the local, national, and international levels, including what the Trump Administration is doing.

The stories that caught my interest on this day were from the Columbus Dispatch, CBS News, and the Intercept. The intercept story caught my eye because it is a good reminder that the majority of people incarcerated have some sort of unknown or known disability diagnosis.

Reading these stories helps me formulate my own reporting skills and writing style. It also trains me to better identify what catches my attention, what’s missing from a story, and what makes something a good fit for DJA.

I get two to five weekly tasks and break down each task per day. This helps me to hyper focus on one task per day and pay attention to the details. Today, I looked into a website called Job Accommodation Network and familiarized myself with their content.This website was assigned to me to learn more about what accommodations will fit best for me as I move forward in my career.

Tuesday

I started at 8:00 a.m. with the news cycle. On this day I focused directly on disability and accessibility. A few of the stories I found valuable came from Bethesda Magazine, CBS News, and the Gothamist.

One of the things I’ve been focusing on during my internship is my environment. First, deciding if I’m working from my bed or my desk. The majority of my time, I work from bed due to back pain. In the background, I play tunes such as meditation music, but when I have more energy then I put on some bachata, merengue or tipico, which is Dominican music. Playing music from my culture reminds me I can be grounded in my roots and still take up space where people who don’t look like me dominate. We can be successful and thrive in our identities, even if there are differences in language and hair texture.

I simulate an in-office work space for myself by having a cup of coffee with me while I’m working. Afterwards, I’ll have a beverage of my choice. If I miss the social aspect, I’ll call my friend who also works from home and we’ll talk about what we’re working on or what our dinner plans are. On this day I had my regular meeting with Cara, DJA’s founder. I meet with her regularly to share my progress and learn how to improve. She reminded me to build a workflow that works for me and urged me to find consistency and efficiency that doesn’t require cutting corners.

I also started to copy which accommodations would help me in a future newsroom job. I struggled with this task because a lot of accommodations intersect with one another. I reached out to my editor for assistance.

Wednesday

I had a doctor’s appointment, and took the day off to prioritize my health.

Thursday

As I looked at the news cycle, I was drawn to stories from a number of regional news outlets in places like North Carolina, Idaho, Virginia, and Colorado

I met with my editor about the accommodations assignment and, after some clarifications, I was able to continue. The task had emotionally triggered me because I learned recently that I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child but was never told about it. As a result, my teachers were only aware of my physical disability.

For the past few years, I’ve been playing tug-of-war with medical professionals for a diagnosis, finally feeling validated that my experience was due to racism because I felt unseen in my identities. Listing out potential accommodation reminded me of my time in special education and the lived experience of limited resources to succeed in a school placed in the “hood.” My path felt destined for failure, I was not taught, guided or provided any resources to succeed as a child. I sometimes feel like I barely know how to write a sentence.

To know my teachers never knew that I had ADHD helped me understand part of why I struggled in school. ADHD was and is stigmatized. Looking back at that ADHD diagnosis made me feel overwhelmed about students from poverty not being taught a proper education. I was never given the toolbox to succeed as a child. I look back and I was treated like a slave, barely taught to read, write, or do math. Special education students don’t have the guidance for higher education and are clumped up in isolation.

As an adult, this concerns me. How do I live in a world where I wasn’t taught the rules to success? I’ve made it to my master’s program barely scraping by. I have been fired in the past because my accommodations were considered unreasonable. At the same time, I know I have to ask in order to receive them.

I was planning not to tell my editor about being triggered. I didn’t want to do this assignment because I never knew my accommodations outside of my physical disability. I’ve been conditioned to not make a long list because it determines how you work at your job. I’ve had jobs that discriminate against me because I am physically disabled.

My editor worked with me and helped me identify my needs. He created a space to voice what happened and how I felt. He guided me through the process of the assignment. Now, I have a list of accommodations that I feel confident I can ask for as I enter the job market in the coming years.

Friday

I started at 9 a.m., finding articles focused on Social Security reform and airplane inaccessibility, and I changed my working environment. I chose the kitchen table before transitioning back to bed later in the day.

To complicate the end of my week, my computer shut down and cleared all of my pages. My first reaction was, ‘Oh my god, I’m stressed. Do I even remember my password?’ Staying calm and positive helped me stay focused because it happened twice. Eventually, the documents returned as my computer started functioning properly again.

To end the day, I spoke to my editor again as we worked through the piece you are now reading.