Your regular reminder that if you’re neurodivergent, mentally ill, chronically ill, have regular pains, regularly dislocate stuff, and/or regularly struggle with things like breathing, eating, walking, moving and sitting
This also goes for common conditions many people don’t often peg as disability in everyday interactions: endometriosis, menstrual and hormonal disorders, diabetes, chronic fatigue, paranoia, anemia, personality disorders, etc etc
No, you’re not taking it away from people who are physically disabled (in fact many of the above count as physical disabilities)
No, you’re not lesser for being disabled
No, it doesn’t mean anything about your future
It means you’re disabled and thus are impacted by things like ableism (including internalized ableism regarding what disabled people are or “should be” like and thinking of yourself as non/disabled)
It means you have a community of disabled peers—and movements like Disability Justice and radical care work built around helping people like you make it through this world built on our pain and suffering being expendable, ignored, or outright made into a profit margin for corporations
It means you should consider treating yourself as disabled and stop feeling guilty about accommodations, including setting up accommodations yourself in your life but also including work and school formal accommodations (did you know that at least in the US it’s possible to get school accommodations for depression? For anxiety? Flexible attendance, flexible deadlines, the ability to leave class if overwhelmed, test aids, class recordings and materials, so much support is out there). Maybe energy pacing and monitoring can help you, or learning spoon theory, or seeking out medical and social support. Maybe you should consider that an easy way to get someone to fuck off and/or understand the levels of effort and pain you’re going through is to tell them “I’m disabled, which means x” instead of jumping through hoops trying to get them to understand what your condition means, or to take it seriously.
Be proud and open about disability! Claim that shit! Embrace it! Life is better on the other side.