I'm gonna talk about a disability that I don't think I've ever actually heard talked about that I have!
I have flat feet, also known as Pes Planus. This means that your feet don't have an arch, and are completely flat, hence the name! Now, I'm going to be talking about my experience, since I've never actually met another person who's had this disability, even though apparently 20-30% of people have this disability.
I got diagnosed with flat foot at a very young age, and have had to wear inserts in every pair of shoes to help me have an arch in my feet. Because I have no arches, I can't really wear heels, since most heels and shoes like that don't room for inserts. Along with flat foot, my Achilles Tendon wasn't long enough this made it hard for me to be on my tiptoes, without feeling like my tendon was starting to rip, which it wasn't, but it felt like it! I also had a bunion on both feet too. Because of this I'm fairly certain that having flat foot means you could have other foot problems, or it's just my shitty genes. I dunno!
HOWEVER, even though I wear inserts and I've had the corrective surgery, it does not mean the pain has gone away! Some days I can walk for hours and be fine, or I can barely walk for thirty minutes without feeling pain. Neither of my parents, or anyone in my family, have flat feet, so I often will downplay how much pain I'm in, just so they won't worry. I also forgot to mention or acknowledge my pain because I'm used to teachers telling me I'm fine, or seeing people up for hours without being in pain, so I internalized that I was a lazy fuck who needed to be up more. However, that was absolutely not the case, and I am still coming to terms with how I don't need to be up all the time, and that I need to stop when I am in pain.
But there are also different kinds of pain! There's the pain of simply existing, where I can be seated and my feet still are sore and hurt slightly around a 2/10 on a pain scale. Then there's being up for an hour, and starting to feel my feet burn, 4/10. And then it keeps steadily going up until my feet feel like their being stabbed for simply standing and walking, 10/10.
I have no idea where else to go with this, but if you noticed you don't have arches or your feet hurt when they seemingly shouldn't, I'd say go check for Pes Planus, or anything else that could cause pain! Because according to friends and family, your feet aren't supposed to start to burn after a few minutes of standing.











