I am starting to hate the phrase “(person) has (disability) but they don’t let it slow them down” and variations, including animals who are born disabled or have injuries.
It’s becoming a trigger phrase.
I don’t “let” or “allow” cerebral palsy, ADHD, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, etc etc, to do anything. I work with, through, and around them.
I feel like that phrase, as well as “I have [disability] but [disability] doesn’t have me!!” puts the onus on us, the disabled, to perform abled typical behaviors while laughing off our actual pains and hardships that do come from these conditions regardless of their medical and social disability status.
I’m autistic, and autism is a wide Ouroboros infinity knot consisting of many syndromes that do cause negative symptomatic issues, for example. I prefer to spread autism positivity because we are already prime targets for bullying and murder, not to mention myths about who we are and what we do.
And we can absolutely talk about the bad days when comorbid disorders cause trouble.
But to insist that you must separate yourself from your permanent medical disability no matter its place in societal structures is in my mind similar to trying to literally cut off a piece of yourself because society wants you to.
