I might just be speaking to the void here and that’s completely fine, but my life has gotten exponentially better since I started using mobility aids.
I haven’t talked about this yet on here so, context dump: long story short, I’ve gotten worse and I found myself really struggling to walk to my classes so, using my prior knowledge and research, I got myself a pair of SmartCrutches in order to help myself (and tbh I prob should’ve got them earlier). also, my doctors were no help so I paid for them out of pocket.
but i swear, I’ve been met with nothing but positivity since. not only is walking not as painful for the first time in my life, but I’ve had so many nice conversations with other disabled people too. also, people will wordlessly hold the doors open for you (and not in a showy way), I’ve been met with actual genuine interest and concern from my friends (not over the top. context: I’ve never had anyone really listen to me about my disabilities and I like talking to people about it) and natural accommodation, and the best yet, I get to stab the automatic door buttons >:)
people have been so much nicer than I ever thought they would be. this past weekend was especially nice — I was at a dance thingy on campus and I did the dance lesson, rested a bit, and then danced again as they played the rest of their playlist, sometimes while using my crutches. the leader of the group saw me dancing in my crutches and actually came up to me and offered to teach me one of the other dances, which of course I said, “yes” to. I didn’t use them while learning, but like she was fully prepared to teach me if I had to use my crutches — and I dunno, just not making a big deal out of it is the best form of inclusion and acceptance to me.
and now that I talk about it, this other girl taught me a couple other dances, and I sorta knew her ahead of time bc she’s a friend of a friend, but anyways, so it’s loud — there’s music playing, there’s a lot of people talking over the music, and I am actually Hard of Hearing and losing a bit more of my hearing atm. so I can’t understand or hear what she’s saying because she has an accent and it’s so loud, even with my hearing aids on.
she automatically switches to sign and asks me if I know sign. fortunately, now I do know quite a bit of sign so, luckily, having her sign and speak to me was something that actually helped a lot. to be fair, I knew she knew ASL bc that friend I met her through is Deaf and primarily communicates through sign, but it was still nice. then, whenever she’d come up to me again, she’d remember and sign to me.
then, after the dance, while hanging out with some cool people I met there, we get talking about cosplaying and jokingly, they say I could make myself a mech, as a nod at the forearm crutches, and it was great. I’m all for jokes like that and I actually feel more included when people make them. it’s nice.
yes, I have noticed a lot of accessibility issues on campus and people aren’t always the greatest at responding to seeing disabled people, but it’s been honestly liberating both physically and emotionally to start using mobility aids and letting it be known that I am disabled
I have been suffering for so long and now I’m free — well, mostly, I’m still getting there, but I’ve made good progress. who knew life could be so nice and I could be so happy when I am not pushing my body? and am actually working with it and listening?
I’m literally living one part of my far off, never-gonna-happen childhood dream of who I could be. man, this is disabled joy, isn’t it?
