Meet Genia Kuypers | Writer, Journalist and Chronic Illness Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Genia Kuypers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Genia, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I chose to pursue an artistic career initially because it drew me in the most, I felt the most comfortable in creative fields. Growing up with a learning disability and being identified with Attention Deficit Disorder, it became clear early on that part of finding a career I would be successful at I needed to be fundamentally interested in it Having ADD makes focusing difficult, even more so if you aren’t enjoying or drawn to the topic itself. I was drawn to writing and acting as a way to express myself safely. When my chronic illness became more debilitating writing and content creation became a lifeline to finding a community I could connect and build relationships with. I realized that my writing could help support others, and give them the words they couldn’t find themselves in a space where I had a presence.

The upside to a creative career was that despite my chronic illnesses becoming more critical I could still do what I love. My experiences with my conditions weren’t unique but the topics themselves were so taboo, that society hadn’t started to really give them the recognition they deserved. When I was diagnosed with Endometriosis in my 20s I’d never heard the word before and no one around me had either in 2016. The information was outdated and difficult to navigate. I realized what was happening to me was happening to so many people all around the world. Once you’ve been diagnosed with an illness the reality, the difficulty, and the toll is a lot, and having a community can be one of the most important things for patients. Knowing someone understands and can relate to what your experiencing is crucial for people with chronic illnesses.

You hear a lot about certain illnesses and disabilities, but there is a massive part of chronic illness and disability that is completely invisible to most still.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
A question I’m asked a lot on social media is how do I share the difficult things that I do? How do I share when I’m struggling and unable to cope? For me it’s like breathing the words are just there, and sharing my experiences, writing has always come naturally to me when I needed to express myself. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up so writing was a way for me to vent.

When I started high school I started behind, I didn’t know how to write a proper paragraph, let alone an essay with perfect grammar. So when I started writing in my free time I began developing my voice as a writer along with the topics I wanted to focus on.

When my father died in high school poetry and writing were the only things that helped me work through how I was feeling. Back then I wasn’t brave enough to share what I wrote so being able to now is really special.

My social media became a way to document what I was going through mostly just for me and the people I knew. I wanted to give them an honest picture of my life with my illnesses. I was tired of being told how great I looked because the assumption after was that I was better and healed when in reality I’m just good at faking it. I wanted them to understand how difficult it was and that my outward appearance wasn’t how I was actually feeling. I started writing posts about the fear and struggle, which gradually became expanding to add education to people on my illnesses as well as support for the chronic illness community.

Someone will always relate to the struggles you’re going through, even if they aren’t in your life. There’s someone somewhere in the world that understands how you feel and being that person for some is an incredible honor I take very seriously because that’s what I was looking for when I was getting sick. I wanted someone to understand me

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Toronto is so big and has so many attractions it’s hard to pick! I would say one of my favorite places in Toronto is Toronto Island, it’s beautiful no matter the season. But has a lot of different things to do without going too far and you could easily spend the day there. Growing up my parents took us to Centerville. I probably wouldn’t take someone downtown but we would definitely go to Almond Butterfly Bistro a gluten free cafe here in Toronto that has the most amazing brunch and sweets you can find! They’re amazing for those with allergies as they have ingredients available for people if they need.

Another thing I love about Toronto is the different areas I’m half polish so I grew up going to places like Roncesvalles and Bloor west village where they have different delis and shops carrying a lot of traditional polish and European foods. Once we’ve had enough food and snacks I like walking around stopping in smaller local Canadian shops like Frock. There are so many unique artists in Toronto you can always find something really special.

If it’s summer another one of the things I love doing is visiting the Dream in Highpark every summer the Canadain stage puts on one of Shakespeare’s plays. The theater is nestled right into the center of high park so you are surrounded by trees and it’s really just a unique theater space, especially for Shakespeare. It’s almost like being in another world.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This definitely has to start with my parents, my dad worked until he passed when I was 15 and my mom stayed home with my brother and me growing up. My mom has always been supportive and encouraging of the activities I wanted to do, my hobbies, and my interests she was supportive of whatever made us happy. I was fortunate I didn’t have a mom that made me play sports or do activities I didn’t like or wasn’t interested in.

It was my mom who fought for me to be identified as learning disabled and diagnosed with ADD when she saw how much I was struggling in school. I was considered to be “too normal aka not disruptive enough to the other students” and the school refused to have me tested through the ministry of education. My learning disability made retaining information extremely difficult.

I grew up hearing all through elementary school and high school that because of my learning disabilities I shouldn’t pursue post-secondary education. I was told I was stupid, useless and a waste of space in an education setting because I didn’t learn the same way others did. At my elementary school, to them, I was the intellectual equal to the chair I sat on, and absolutely irrelevant. I was withdrawn from English and math classes in elementary school to be placed in a learning strategies class where we learned nothing. Virtually guaranteeing I couldn’t learn anything, and then we were given coping strategies instead. Learning strategies class was more repetition of the idea that kids with learning disabilities weren’t smart, unfortunately even the teacher seemed to believe this.

I now have an honors bachelor of arts from the University of Toronto. I completed a post-graduate degree in broadcast journalism and last summer I gave a speech as part of a medical conference to residency students, and these are just some of the things I was told I would never do.

All of these things I did because of my mom and dad. Because while everyone told me not to dream, pursue, or try for anything she told me to do all of it, and then helped me do it. She enabled me to achieve my goals even with everyone around me saying I never would.

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