(Silje 2026)
Hello, and welcome! 🙂
My name is Silje Elsrud Yttervik, and I am a 🇧🇻Norwegian writer, museologist, and social entrepreneur – exploring disability through history, culture, and storytelling.
I was born in 1991, with a complex form of epilepsy, where disability has shaped every stage of my life. It has introduced me to emergency rooms, hospital wards, surgeries, medications, medical rehabilitation, and the uncertainty that so often accompanies chronic illness. It has also given me firsthand experience of 🇧🇻Norway’s welfare system—its strengths, its shortcomings, and the ways public policy can profoundly influence the lives of disabled people, for better and for worse.
Those experiences have not only shaped who I am; they have shaped what I have chosen to dedicate my life to.
Through my BA’s in linguistics, litterature and history – and my MA in museology and cultural heritage, I became fascinated by the stories societies choose to preserve— and those they leave untold.
My work now focuses on disability as part of our shared cultural and historical heritage. I believe that disability is not only a medical or political subject, but also a human story that deserves to be understood. Often through history, museums, literature, and lived experience.
Having lived in several parts of Norway, in other Nordic countries, as well as across the Atlantic, I’ve come to appreciate how place, community, and culture -highly influence the way we understand one another.
Those experiences continue to inform both my writing and my advocacy.
Today, I write shorter essays when I am able, create educational content when I can, and hope to develop projects that invite people to think differently about disability, identity, history, and belonging.
My goal is not simply to describe the world as it is, but to contribute to the world as it could be: one that is more informed, more compassionate, and more inclusive.
So, whether you’re here because you share similar experiences, work in culture or healthcare – or are simply curiously browsing through the internet;
I hope you’ll find stories that challenge assumptions, encourage reflection, and remind us that understanding begins with listening.
Regardless,
Thank you for being here.
– Silje