How do individuals with disabilities inspire you?
"The human spirit is one of ability, perseverance and courage that no disability can steal away."
In what ways, do people with disabilities inspire you?
@Tazzie People with disabilites inspire me because of all the challenges they have to overcome. We all go through challenges but when you have a disability, they become even harder. I have people close to me who have a disability and they are always smiling. They don't let what happened to them control their lives or attitudes. They are happy and they love life. They rise above it and that is truly inspirational.
They inspire me because they show humans can go through a lot of challenges and still be amazing and determined. They also inspire me to be more conscious of barriers in my environment and ways I can make spaces more accessible for everyone, to have patience, and always be considerate of all the different ways that humans can function and the different needs we all have
@Tazzie I think people who have disabilities are just like us, human. Indeed, they have to put in more effort in certain activities than us but what
If they can do it, what's your excuse?
and the desire to do it is power to do it.
@Totheskyandbeyond
If they can do what? Exist? My disability doesn't make me inherently any better at that than anyone else. There are many different types of disabilities. I have one that does not impair my intellect, and it makes me no less vulnerable to hopelessness and depression. And no one needs an "excuse" to feel like they can't keep fighting through life. Psychiatric illnesses can also disable people. So what do you mean by "they"?
@DeterminedDandelion
@Totheskyandbeyond
I participated in a depression clinical trial. The study was looking at the levels of inflammation in the brains of people with depression. The researchers were also looking to see if a drug [given to people who have rheumatoid arthritis to reduce inflammation] would reduce inflammation levels in the brain of those with depression. They had previously concluded that people with depression have higher levels of inflammation in their brains. I said all this to say, there are often times people are told to get over their depression however, how can they when there is research showing that there are just reasons for their hopelessness. @Totheskyandbeyond, we must be aware of making general statements. For example, depression isnt a disability which we can see and someone with depression may not be able to do anything due to being hopeless. We may may perceive someone as giving an "excuse" when in fact they can be depressed. It was scientifically proven that someone with depression have higher levels of inflammation in their brains. And when I get to view results of the study Ill know more regarding as to if lower inflammation levels causes someone with depression to feel better. Hopefully this post makes some logic, I am tired...
Seeing their determination and how strong they are makes me feel like I can do the same as well
@Tazzie
I dont look to people with disabilites as a source of inspiration. I see people with disabilites as way to educate us on the diversity of the human experience. When we encounter an individual with a disability in life, I want them to be seen as the unique, strong and capable person that they are. I see people with disabilites as human, like those without disabilites.
@PetiteSouris
Thank you for this. I found most of the responses to be a little hurtful. I was declared a "disabled adult child" in social security terms when I was in my early twenties. But it's not due to intellectual impairment, and so it didn't seem to fit into the category most responders seemed to have in mind. There were so many generalizations made about an extremely large, diverse group of people. It hurt to read,for instance, that people with disabilities don't let it affect their mood and that they're always smiling. Such statements reflect how invisible many of us are. They dismiss the pain of being different and not being self-sufficient, especially for those of us who live in societies that glorify individualistic principles. Self-sufficiency isn't actually possible, but most strive towards such an illusion anyway here in the US. When that's not even a possibillty, it's demoralizing and terrifying. Anyway, thank you for this. It was healing.
@DeterminedDandelion
You are welcome! I am happy to hear that my post was comforting. I went back to read all the responses that were posted. Now that I read the responses I would like to add to your very insightful post for educational purposes. A disability can be physical and they can also be mental. Depression is one such mental disability that in the United States people receive disability benefits[ I can only speak on where I live]. People diagnosed with depression arent hopeful about life and therefore doing things such as self-care becomes diffcult for them. They dont accomplish much in a day and often times are really tired by little tasks. I have a lived experience with depression, and I wouldnt want anyone to feel inspired by me at that point in time. In fact, I would want them to be educated on the signs of someone with depression. There are many times I wish someone asked me " How are you doing?" instead of looking up to me and feeling inspired by my academic abilities [ my depression occured at school]. This is why personally I dont look to anyone for inspiration, I rather people see the diversity in the human experience. There are also people who are paralyzed and arent able to accomplish much more than being alive. I have a friend who is a quadriplegia and who isnt able to move and has been on a ventilator for the past 16 years. Again I would rather people know what a quadriplegic is as well as other types of paralysis. Saying everything I have said doesnt negate that there are people with disabilites who accomplish things in life. There are people I have view on youtube who are born without arms and drive with their legs, cook with their legs, write with their legs. These people on youtube who I view are very positive in mindset, and have great will power. With that said, I think there are many answers to this question. It is a subjective question and there can be varied responses. Not all physically disabled people accomplish things and there are those that accomplish things. There are physically abled people who have mental disabilites and may be struggling behind closed doors but often times we are busy looking up to them instead of seeing them as human. As the saying goes, " We dont know what people are going through behind closed doors."
I took a mental health first aid class this past week and I learnt that depression is more severe that someone who is paraplegic, why because someone who is depressed is hopeless. A paraplegic maybe more hopeful[ or maybe they are depressed as well]. Sometimes, we cannot see that a person is depressed, unless we care and see them not as inspiration but as human.
"I view everyone as human, and thus treat everyone with care and attention so that those with unseen disabilites arent overlooked. We are human having our individual experiences in life." - PetiteSouris
@PetiteSouris
Again, thank you a million times over for this as well.
Last time I was in hospital I was with a 50+:man amputee. His right leg amputated. I offered to help him pee but he always reassured me and tgabked me saying "I will manage" and he did. He called me many times after to check on me...
They make me feel like even more of a failure because I'm disabled and useless.
I think we all have a disability but some of us aren't visible. That's why we're misunderstood and hurt. We're trying to be defined by a definition of normal that doesn't exist. It makes me sad.