Feelings About Disability Pride
*Note - feelings regarding individual circumstances are welcome, a reminder not to post more broad ableist statements
Disability Pride can bring up a lot of conflicting thoughts or emotions.
Disabilities and discrimination can lead to a lot of shame.
Many people also do feel pride for standing up, for connecting to the community, for advocating, for overcoming challenges, for willing to take up space just being ourselves, unapologetically.
How do you feel about Disability Pride?
What are "broad ableist statements", exactly?
@slowdecline48 Negative statements about disabled people, for example stating our worth as people is less than abled people.
Ah. Well such statements are quite untrue, at least in my book... Since the onset of my main chronic condition, I have felt a few different ways about it (none of them pleasant), but shame has never been one of them. What do we disabled folk have to be ashamed of? Just because we're not entirely able-bodied doesn't mean we don't have plenty to offer as humans!
Disability pride brings up a lot of confusing feelings for me. I find that while I am not ashamed of being disabled, I do not feel the need to be put on a pedestal by others for doing daily living tasks, which I finds happens a lot. I love sharing about the ADA, why it is important, and why disability pride WITHIN the disabled community can be important. I think being prideful of the fact that we are disabled and that's OK is my biggest takeaway, but some will definitely take that as a "oh you prefer your disabled body to when you were abled." Honestly though, I do. I grew way more in my disabled body. I got comfortable with the uncomfortable, and I was able to connect and grow in so many ways that I never could in my able body because I never let myself sit outside the box, until my disability gave me no choice. I do prefer my disabled body to my abled body, and I am proud to be disabled.