The CDC, a favorite of mine, defines a disability as "any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them," This seems like a pretty big and blanketed statment because it is.
Disability is a huge blanket that encompasses so many things and people.
There are so many different types of disabilty and different ways that disabilities manifest in different people. I think the easiest place to start is visiable versus invisable disabilities. A lot of people are more aware and sometimes more cognizant of visable disabilities because they are that: visable. But, there are different challeneges that come with being disbaled in a way that someone can't tell just by looking at you. Almost all disabled people have expereinced ableism in one way or another, but when you are not visably disabled, it's a different type of ableism and normally centers around invalidating the realness of the disability. It's hard to argue with a person with limb loss or limb difference that they are missing something, but it's more common to argue with a child who has ADHD that they just need to work harder to produce the same quality and quantity of work at their peers.
In this space, a disability is something you have (physical or mental) that impacts you in your everyday life. Wheter it's being wheelchair bound or having a disorder that keeps you from leaving the house because outside is so scary and overwhelming you just can't bare the thought, you count. You and your experiences matter!
It's hard to not be able to do everything you see people doing on social media or in the movies. It's hard having to work around something that you just can't fix but rather manage. It's hard dealing with people who don't know how to treat others different from them as anything other than "weird."
One of the only benefits of being an outcast is that you learn how to adapt and overcome and to stop listening to those people; they are the ones being weird. This space is meant to help people share their expereinces and provide a space where we're allowed to help each other or ask the questions that feel too silly to Google. I know what I got diagnosed when I was sixteen, I was so overwhelmed and had no clue where to start asking for help. Even now at 20, I still get overwhelmed.
If you're interested in offering your advice or asking a question, pop over to "groups" on this site, and start typing away. I know that I'll be over there :)
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