The hardest part of being disabled isn’t the pain, it’s the people. It’s trying to explain. It’s asking people to rethink all their assumptions in text messages. It’s being bombarded with slurs about me every day that no one seems to think are a big deal. It’s getting up the courage to share my pain with someone, only for it to be dismissed by comparison. (No, my disability is not like that time you broke your ankle in junior high.) It’s having to weigh the pros and cons of sharing any of this with someone, risking the relationship, knowing they might roll their eyes at my frustration. Or,
...more
