On Being Disabled....help me out with this list

[mopaul]

there's a great thread in GD called, 'on being poor', that i'd like to copy, but with a different theme, the theme of being disabled and all it entails. there are so many kinds of disabilities, and i figured this forum would be the best place to compile a list, and your help would be appreciated. I'll kick it off.

Being Disabled is often being permanently poor.

Being Disabled is suffering humiliation at arriving at a restaurant only to find you can't get in there.

Being Disabled is being unable to communicate with others, and unable to use telephones, or computers.

Being Disabled is being forced to beg for help from government agencies, and being made to jump through bureaucratic hoops.

Being Disabled is very difficult on children, because kids can often be very cruel, and the pain continues throughout adulthood.

Being Disabled is being thought of as mentally stunted.

Being Disabled is being expected to suffer in silence and being stoic.

Being Disabled is having to ask for help, when you like to be independent.

Being Disabled is trying to get a job.

Being Disabled is often a burden on one's family and friends.

Being Disabled is being unable to drive a car.

Being Disabled is worrying about becoming more disabled.

Being Disabled is being permanently stuck at home, with no social life.

Being Disabled is feeling like less than a man, less than a woman, less than a mother or father, less than american, and simply less than.

Being Disabled is making some folks mad because they have to accommodate you.

Being Disabled is worrying how you're going to get out of a burning building.

Being Disabled is being turned away from a restaurant because of your guide dog.

Being Disabled is being self conscious and socially awkward.

Being Disabled is having to work 10 times harder to do what most folks do easily, and not getting respect for it.

Being Disabled is being afraid to cross the street in traffic.

Being Disabled is being denied Social Security or other help.

Being Disabled is being thought of a lazy, and a burden on society.

Being Disabled is looked down upon because you can't realize the american dream.

Being Disabled is finding it difficult to find a mate.

Being Disabled is being severly depressed, all the time.

Being Disabled is being targeted as an an easy victim.

Being Disabled is living in constant physical pain, and addicted to medications.

Being Disabled is trying to make others understand what if feels like.

Being Disabled is rejecting sympathy and pity and desiring equality.

Being Disabled is being unable to enjoy sports and physical activity, or exercises.

Being Disabled is being accused of being a whiner and complainer.


---feel free to add to this list, and i hope to pass it around to various formats.

thanks!

Mo Paul

[AirmensMom]

1. I must be seeing double ... or triple.

Seems like a lot of duplicates. I can really relate to "worrying about becoming more disabled."

Here are some more:

Being Disabled is having to fight in court to get your LTD payments that you paid premiums for.

Being Disabled is feeling like a fraud if your disability is invisible.

Being Disabled is losing your friends because they don't understand.

Being Disabled is being afraid of losing your spouse/family, because you can't make it on your own.

[mopaul]

2. i THINK i fixed those repeat glitches

thanks for adding

[AirmensMom]

3. Looks better. Thanks.

:hi:

[sam sarrha]

4. i am Autistic.. I appear Normal, I have an IQ of 164, but i lack clerical

skills, i learn by 'hands on' and 'visually', i have EXCEPTIONAL problem solving and mechanical skills, i am actually a Savant.

but Poverty eliminates any possibilities of a higher education. and dont flame me about that.. there is a lot of propaganda, if you dont live on the east coast and have to work for $6 an hour.. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO COLLEGE.. everything has been cut. I have collected 5 years of college thru night classes and one quarter at a time. but the requirements change and you can never catch up.

my disabilites..Jenious(that is Extreme Intelligence with no degree)

and being functionally illiterate isn't covered as a disability.

prospective employers say i am over qualified, over educated..if i had the degree they would hire me tho.

IT COSTS A LOT to get out of poverty..

[KamaAina]

17. The word is "typical" or "neurotypical"

we do not let THEM define themselves, and not us, as "normal".

Gratifying to see yet another non-NT turn up at DU. That makes about a half dozen that I know of so far.

[preciousdove]

5. Being disabled is being told (even on DU) you shouldn't express an opinion

because you cannot physically get to the site of the protest or event.

[AirmensMom]

6. YES!

I had a friend who told me I should shake off my malaise and go do something about it if I was so unhappy with things. I told him I don't want to talk to him again until he shakes off that arrogance and learns some compassion (he's a "compassionate conservative"). That was a year ago.

[mopaul]

9. why aren't YOU going to the big protest in d.c.?

cause i CAN'T, or i surely would

[Traveling_Home]

12. Sure ya can - You can do it

ADAPT is in DC - NOW!!!!!!!

http://www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/aar/wdc05/
http://adapt.tnet-hosting.com/gallery/index.php?cat=10002

[Rainbowreflect]

7. My husband has Muscular Dystrophy & we are trying to get

him SSD benefits. The hoops they are making us jump through are unbelievable. He is a very proud man & this is very hard on him.

[AirmensMom]

8. You're so right.

I'm amazed by how many times they need to ask the same questions ... and how many of the forms are geared totally to heart problems or pain, even if you've already answered a hundred times that those are not the conditions that prevent you from working. Then you have to fill out the same form every year or two or three (it varies). All this when you feel like crap -- very difficult!

[adaada]

10. Being Disabled is being blamed for things beyond your control. eom

[applegrove]

11. Being disabled means having to learn the wisdom of an adult - as a child

[kineneb]

13. another

Being disabled means being hooked up to a dialysis machine three times a week.

Hubby will soon be there. Right now he is not feeling at all well. Oct. 11 the docs remove his appendix, gall bladder and left kidney. They think the kidney is cancerous. He is going into renal failure now, and when the kidney is removed he will be on dialysis. I doubt that he is a good transplant candidate.

[Sugarbleus]

19. I"m so sorry Kineneb....

You must be under a lot of STRESS. My S.O. is physically disabled with a plethora of ills. He's in and out of hospital constantly. I don't know how many years he has left either.

He, and because of his medicaid insurance, isn't getting the best care.

Please accept my sincere empathy and concern for your and hubby's wellbeing... :hug: SB

[MaryBear]

14. It also can mean

getting to park in Handicapped spaces,

getting help from others,

getting to march more slowly and stopping more often, and DU'ers willing to do it with you.

[DemBones DemBones]

21. So we're lucky duckies who have nothing to complain about?

Yes, I can park in a handicapped space IF there is one and IF someone without a handicapped sticker isn't parked there already!

Yes, I can get help from others who condescend to me.

What WERE you thinking???

[DemBones DemBones]

22. HUH? You think we're lucky duckies?

Yes, I can park in a handicapped space IF there is one and IF someone without a handicapped sticker isn't parked there already!

Yes, I can get help from others -- who condescend to me.

What WERE you thinking???

[undergroundpanther]

15. Being disabled

means when you talk people blow off what you say because you are nuts anyway.\

Being disabled means it hurts and since you aren't worth the time,and don't want to be a burden you endure it.

Being disabled means the immanent reality of being beholden and dependant upon people who secretly wish you didn't exist.

Being disabled means people pity you but will not care about you as a real person.

being disabled means there will always be bills to pay,If the bills stop,than something gets worse and you got bills to pay.

being disabled means people resent you for being disabled and in THEIR way,taking up THEIR space using up THEIR time...ect.

[bobbieinok]

16. a small thing compared to those already listed

being disabled means you get embarrassed b/c it takes you longer than most to get your money out at the cash register

....and you remember how impatient you used to get BEFORE you became disabled

(I've had rheumatoid arthritis now for about 3 years)

[Sugarbleus]

18. Mo Paul, this is FANTASTIC!! Thank you thank you

for starting this thread. I'm almost in tears. Thanks to all the other posters for their stories and definitions too.
Ya'll put it out there perfectly!!

Being Disabled means you might not get the quality healthcare others get; you could end up dead before your time because you are a "worthless eater"

Thank you Mo Paul and others......... :grouphug:

[AirmensMom]

20. mopaul, do you have the link to the thread on GD that was just like this?

It had a lot of replies and I can't find it anymore. Thanks.

[AirmensMom]

24. Found it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4838159

[Megahurtz]

23. The one that bothers me the most is

"Being Disabled is being thought of as lazy, and a burden on society."

I think that the Republicans are mostly responsible for this one.:(