I’ve been getting a lot of questions like this so I want to make a post that will hopefully address everyone’s questions.
Firstly, let’s talk about how we define disability. I, as well as most people who identify as disabled, subscribe to the social model of disability. The term disabled is used to describe not our physical or mental state but our social state. Because society discriminates against us, we are segregated, systematically murdered and sterilized by governments, legally paid slave wages, and many other atrocities we say that society has stripped us of our ability to have the same functions and rights as able-bodied and neuro-typical people and thus we are disabled.
In this particular philosophy/definition disability can be subjective and to label yourself disabled is a personal choice. Disability is not even something that can be consistent throughout your life, or consistent throughout history.
Gender and sexual minorities were considered to be disabled, as were people who wore glasses but because of medical research and social development they are now not. Also, there are people who are disabled off and on in their life, like my father who had paranoid schizophrenia but when he was in the correct treatment he operated as neurologically typical and passed in society as “normal” and thus he was not disabled at these times but when he was not in the correct treatment he was disabled and faced discrimination.
Both the blind and deaf community have members who are divided over whether they are disabled or not despite the fact that society clearly sees them as disabled. This is an example of why self identification is important and should be respected.
That being said, there are people who identify as disabled who are absolutely not. Most commonly I’ll see people who break a bone try to identify themselves as disabled, but they are not.
To make this less confusing if you’re still undecided, let’s do a simple test:
Are you physically disabled? Do you…
1. Have a permanent physical abnormality, illness, or genetic mutation that puts you below the societal standard of acceptable ability? It does not have to be visible a.k.a. passing privilege does not apply here
2. Have what would be considered a “disfigurement” which results in cultural/social discrimination?
Either one of these things qualify you as appropriately labeling yourself disabled
Are you neurologically divergent? Do you…
1. Have a mental/neurochemical abnormality that makes it hard for you to act in socially accepted ways?
2. Have a mental/neurochemical abnormality that makes your comprehension and/or perceptions different than what is socially acceptable?
Again, either one of these things qualify you but neurological divergence is a bit more complicated socially. You may have anxiety but only to the level where you need to take a Xanax to board a plane which is socially acceptable or you may have anxiety to the extent where you take daily medication or even have to have a nonconventional lifestyle to fit your needs which can not be socially acceptable.
Also, as I mentioned before, being neurologically divergent can mean you are only sometimes disabled but even so you have the right to identify yourself as a disabled person.
In the end, this has to be a personal decision for you and unfortunately part of identifying as disabled (even people who are very visibly disabled) find themselves defending their decision to label themselves thusly. It’s disabling to be disabled.
