Watching the news is part of the nightly routine in my household. We sit in our living room, talking about what we’ve already heard regarding the major news of the day, and then we put on the world news to see if there are any updates we should know. It’s a priority in my family not to have our heads in the sand, even when the news is especially painful to hear, and it’s important to me as a social justice activist to keep up with what’s happening.

The 24/7 stream of news available via social media makes it relatively simple for people to know what’s going on at all times, and it ensures that people who write about social justice issues have a never-ending wealth of topics to focus on. But it also means that every once in a while, I find myself questioning some of the writing I do. I’ve recently written pieces on subjects ranging from barriers to access for wheelchair users, to bettering relationships among generations of activists, to a review of a cell phone charger that plugs into power wheelchairs. When I reflect on what I choose to publish at times, I sometimes scold myself: “Who gives a damn about the building that’s not wheelchair accessible when a prejudice-driven murderer took the lives of nine innocent people in Charleston, South Carolina?” “Who cares about a cell phone charger for wheelchair users when the Supreme Court just enacted marriage equality throughout the United States?”

In other words, I want to continually better myself as an activist and an ally, so my gut yells at me to be on top of all social justice issues at all times, while trivializing some of the work that I do. And then I wonder if other people who write on social justice issues ever feel a sense of guilt for writing about something smaller than the biggest injustices or triumphs currently facing the world.

Don’t mistake this to mean I think that one voice makes or breaks an issue. Rather, I worry that in writing about something that’s not the news at the forefront of most people’s minds, it might come across as though I’m ignoring, or perhaps even denying, the occurrence of larger issues. I’ll call this the bad-activist-complex.

But then I remind myself that sometimes we simply need to focus on smaller issues. How can we solve the greater problems when we can’t even tackle little instances of prejudice? One person’s discriminatory act against a marginalized group creates a ripple effect that perpetuates stigma around the world.

In the same vein, small victories must be celebrated as well. So too can someone’s acceptance of another person start a ripple effect that promotes acceptance around the world.

And so I want those active in the fight for true social justice to remember that their words are valuable even when the scale may be small. We cannot and should not disregard bigger issues at hand, but it is okay to choose our battles wisely while never losing sight of the battles others are fighting. Most importantly, we must continue to speak up against all the little injustices, and to share all the little triumphs. These are the stories real change is made of.

Emily Ladau is a writer and disability rights activist whose passion is to harness the powers of language and social media as tools for people to become informed and engaged social justice advocates. She maintains a blog, Words I Wheel By, as a platform to address discrimination and to encourage people to understand the experience of having a disability in more positive, accepting, and supportive ways. You’re welcome to connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.