Anne B. Thomas was a lawyer and National Storytelling Festival Slam champion who liked to say she took up storytelling because the hours beat lawyering. Paralyzed at 18 in a 1976 accident backpacking across Europe, Anne earned her BA and JD at the University of New Mexico, worked for the EEOC as the Americans with Disabilities Act passed, and directed UNM’s Office of Equal Opportunity. In 2008, diagnosed with a rare blood disease and given a year or two to live, she quit working to tell stories on stage. She beat that by a decade, performing her one-woman show, No More Helen Keller Jokes, in theaters and festivals. Her memoir, Was It Spectacular?, was published after her death in 2019.
updated: 10/27/2026