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You Are Not the Only Disabled Person at Work
In work meetings, in the classroom when I’m teaching, at social events, and at conference sessions, I often wonder if I’m the only disabled person in the room. Because disability is so often not apparent and it is seldom spoken about, even when I know there must be other disabled people in the room, I…
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Shorter Days Bring Disability Worries
Colorado, where I live, officially has four seasons, but for me, there are two seasons: light and dark. My low vision is a complicating factor all the time, but when there’s more darkness in a day than light, I am in a constant state of anxiety. Around this time of year, when the days start…
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How to Support Someone Looking for a Diagnosis
Last week I wrote about why getting a diagnosis can be so difficult: it can be expensive in terms of both money and time, and patients and doctors don’t speak the same language. On top of that, there’s a social cost: someone who is trying to get a diagnosis is often dismissed by friends and…
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Why Getting a Diagnosis Can Be So #^&! Hard
In my mid-20s, I started having sudden blinding headaches sometimes accompanied by vomiting, confusion, and slurred speech. I also had weirdly intense reactions to familiar smells. I didn’t know if the smell reactions were related to the headaches and I couldn’t figure out what was triggering the headaches. I didn’t have health insurance and couldn’t…
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What Disability-Affirming Looks Like (and why it matters)
I hate everything about the concept of overcoming disability. I understand that typically when people talk about someone having overcome a disability, they mean it as a compliment. I’ve heard people talk about how FDR overcame his polio to become president, how Helen Keller overcame her blindness and Deafness to communicate, how Simone Biles overcame…
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How to Talk with Disabled People
Before his stroke, my husband was the kind of man to walk into a room and instantly own it. People deferred to him because of his confident swagger, his understated confidence, and his uncanny ability to cut through bullshit without shaming the bullshitter. After his stroke, when he used a wheelchair, spoke slowly, and experienced…
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I Don’t Recognize Myself in Photos (Life with Face Blindness)
About 10 years ago, a friend mentioned meeting someone at a conference who couldn’t see people’s faces. This person couldn’t tell TV characters apart, didn’t recognize herself in photos, and walked past her loved ones in public without realizing it. My friend said this person’s condition was called “face blindness.” First chance I got, I…
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How to Be Gentle with Yourself
I had to learn how to be gentle to myself. Maybe you need some help, too.
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Disability is not a catastrophe
Considering that most of us who live long enough will become disabled at some point in our lives, it makes sense to approach disability as a normal part of any life.
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What You Probably Don’t Know about Non-Apparent Disabilities
Many disabilities aren’t apparent to others. You may see someone who doesn’t appear disabled using an accomodation. Let it go.
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