Student Uses Poetry and Art to Explore Her Disabilities, Help Others
OlaRose Ndubuisi ’29 knows from experience that disability looks different for everyone and the challenges a person is facing privately may not always be readily visible to those around them.
The first-year student, who is dual majoring in biology and journalism, has spent the last several years transforming some of the hardest experiences of her life into poetry, advocacy and community. Her poetry, which documented her own journey with scoliosis with raw honesty and hope, earned her the title of New York State Youth Poet Laureate for 2024-2025.
Ndubuisi, who is a Coronat Scholar and in the , is passionate about encouraging others to use creative outlets to positively express their own emotions and challenges. That will be the focus of an April 17 event hosted by the Disability Cultural Center,
Ndubuisi will discuss navigating her own experiences as a student with disabilities, including being born as a one-pound premature infant, having unilateral hearing loss and being diagnosed with severe scoliosis.
Ndubuisi says it means a lot to her to speak during Disability Pride Month.
“After reading a poem about my own scoliosis journey, I’m going to show students how to use creative outlets to positively express themselves, their emotions and how we all can face our own invisible challenges by leading a fun writing and art workshop,” she says.
Resiliency and Creativity After a Diagnosis
As a kid, Ndubuisi thought the medical challenges she experienced from being born prematurely, including unilateral hearing loss in her right ear, a perforated esophagus and weak muscles, would be the hardest experiences of her life.
“Despite all of that, I played the piano and I was able to play tennis despite my hearing loss,” she says. “I’m able to recite poetry, compose my own music.”
But when Ndubuisi was 14, she says her world turned upside down when she went to the doctor for a routine checkup. She wanted to get cleared to play on her school’s tennis team, but when she mentioned to a stand-in doctor that she had been experiencing bursts of pain and that she felt she was shorter than her peers, the pediatrician decided to screen her for scoliosis and ordered an X-ray.
The results showed severe scoliosis—an S-shaped curvature of the spine, with her lower curve measuring in the surgical range. For the next year and a half, she wore a brace 22 to 23 hours a day and attended physical therapy and yoga every week. The pain was constant, and she often felt isolated from her peers.
“I was able to use writing, art and music to positively express my emotions and cope with my pain, turning my pain into something beautiful and relatable,” she says.
At the age of 15, Ndubuisi underwent vertebral body tethering surgery, but complications left her with more pain than before. She used a wheelchair for five months as she recovered from the surgery, and she had to miss the second half of her 10th grade year.
“I’m proud of my resilience and that I was able to work really hard and maintain all A’s, and I was able to go back to school for 11th grade and the rest of high school,” Ndubuisi says.
An occupational therapist recommended a music therapist, who introduced Ndubuisi to music composition software during those difficult times. She now has more than 100 original compositions and has released several on Spotify.
From Personal Pain to Public Advocacy
Her experience with scoliosis inspired her to establish the (FiSK) Project, a nonprofit focused on awareness, education and support. Ndubuisi created an educational survey that has reached more than 25 states and 19 countries, and a T-shirt fundraiser featuring her artwork and lines from her poetry raised more than $5,000 to support free scoliosis screening in underserved communities.
Back home in the Rochester, New York, area, she founded a FiSK Club at her high school, running writing and art workshops, organizing music concerts and creating space for students to talk openly about invisible struggles.
The work Ndubuisi does with FiSK has dovetailed with her advocacy as New York State Youth Poet Laureate. In that role, she has led workshops for young people across the greater Rochester area and has been a featured reader at literary events statewide, including a headlining appearance at a poetry reading tied to artist at the Guggenheim Museum.
She also hopes people learn from her own experiences that the challenges or difficulties you face “don’t have to negatively affect the trajectory of your life.”
“Scoliosis has been a really difficult and painful challenge for me, but it’s also shaped me into who I am,” she says. “It’s definitely made me even more resilient and strong, even more compassionate through meeting other kids with scoliosis and being able to share my story.”
takes place April 17 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Barner-McDuffie House.
