Today is a day to spread awareness about disability and the disability community. Obviously, this is an important topic for me, dear to my heart, but there are so many great disability activists out there than can address it better than I can.
What I do want to talk a little about are “invisible” disabilities–things like chronic illness or mental illness–that may not seem, at first glance, to be a disability at all. People with these “invisible” disabilities are often discriminated against (sometimes, sadly, even by other members of the disability community, but often those closest to them as well, such as friends and family). This can come in all shapes and sizes, from being called “lazy” to claiming someone is “faking” it for “attention.”
Fight for inclusivity because you care about your fellow humans, and remember people with disabilities are just that: human beings too.
The bottom line is everyone experiences disability differently. Even those with the “same” illness or disability are still individuals, and to use one person to generalize everyone with that same disability is doing a huge disservice to them and everyone else in the disability community.
Disability can be a “scary” thing because it is so unfamiliar to most people, but it is also a group that anyone can join at any time. Take today to educate yourself, to explore works created by those with disabilities, and to look at the world through different eyes. To recognize how many things you may take for granted every day as an abled body person (or even a person with a different disability than someone else) are artificial barriers that bar many people from the same experiences you do. Fight for inclusivity because you care about your fellow humans, and remember people with disabilities are just that: human beings too.
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