#disabled experience

[the-angry-acrobat]

chronic pain is kind of like your body screaming “I’m in pain” and you’re like “okay what’s wrong” and your body’s like “oh that part is actually a secret”

[theoverstimulated]

Why You Should (Still) Care About COVID-19

I wrote this as a reminder to myself, but I'm sharing it in case someone else needs to be reminded too.

"You might think that because you’ve had COVID-19 and lived through it that repeat infections will impact you similarly, but “reinfections aren't harmless. As cases continue to rise and more variants arrive on the scene, infectious-disease experts are warning that repeat infections could have cumulative, lasting effects.”

...If you want to maintain your current level of health and avoid potential damage to your body & organs (up to and including your brain & your heart) and/or want to live as long as possible, taking precautions to prevent COVID-19 infections is crucial."

[onlytiktoks]

[dailydoseofmusicality]

You know what the funniest thing that's happened to me recently is?

I could not figure out for the life of me why none of the accounts I usually follow aren't as active on here as they usually are but then it hit me suddenly.

Me, internally: Oh, that's right most people your age are in uni right now and finals are happening, because unlike you they can actually afford to get a degree right now.

😔*sigh* On the one hand I'm kind of glad I'm not going through that right now because I know that all the deadlines and burn-out would wreck me but at the same time I kind of feel envious, there seem to be so many people that are able to go through that milestone currently even with how horrible the economy is and I'm still here drifting aimlessly with no purpose and being left behind again by missing out even though I know I've got potential and so much passion to share.

Even though I know I also should probably be used to that feeling by now.

[magical-soup]

The worst part about researching a disability that you have is finding out over and over that so many other problems you have are connected to it. Your brain and body are literally perfectly aligned to be broken in all the specific ways that they are, all the issues cursed to be together.

Like, oh yeah! OCD is a comorbidity for another issue that I have! Of course! Because it couldn't just suck on its own! It had to bring all of its 2000 relatives!!!

And then a study or article will just be like "We studied people with [my disorder] and [another one of my disorders] and found patterns! They are connected and also have an increased rate of [damn it, it's another one of my struggles again!]" and I just have to go on with the rest of my day with the knowledge that my brain was literally set up to develop all of these problems together.

Turns out, me struggling with all these issues had nothing to do with me "not trying hard enough" My brain is literally made to work like this and that's also connected to everything else about me that I didn't even realize was a part of this whole polycule of disabilities and daily struggles.

What do you mean my impulsivity, emotional regulation issues, and executive dysfunction are all related to my trichotillomania and skin picking?! And Maladaptive daydreaming??? And OCD!!! AND-

Like. Come on :( I'm just a silly little guy! You can't just all gang up on me! That's unfair :((((

My silly ball of neurons ^v^ perfectly built to be fucked up in 20 different specific ways that are all connected somehow :D Yay!...

[echo-stimmingrose]

The month before my senior year of highschool I started having this reoccurring dream. Everything would start out normal (or as normal as a setting in a dream can be) where I would just be going about my normal school day, going to class, getting bullied by peers, etcetera. But then, about halfway through the day I would realize that I forgot my wheelchair. Suddenly I would be actively thinking about walking and I would no longer be able to walk. Like a fucking cartoon character that doesn't fall until they look down, my legs- that I didn't even actively know were there- would collapse beneath me. As if my body suddenly remembered it's not supposed to be able to move like that. I would then spend the rest of the dream having to use my arms to army crawl my way through the day.

Eventually, once the dream ended and I woke up, I would panic for a second that somehow when I went to school I would forget my wheelchair. This became a legitimate source of anxiety for me. That is, until logic brain caught up to realize that this wouldn't be physically possible.

By far this is the weirdest reoccurring dream I have ever had and I'm not entirely sure what that says about me. Has any other wheelchair user had this type of dream? I certainly don't think so but hey it's amusing.

[chronic-illness-cultureis]

Oh, chronic illness culture is just the normal event of your legs suddenly losing all feeling and, when you attempt to stand, taking a hard fall instead! Completely unheard of! And of course, everyone’s just dying to know if you need an ambulance, however, that's just your typical Friday afternoon adventure.

Chronic illness culture is