themighty.com
14.03.2023 / 21:53
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185
How It Feels to Finally Be Recognized as a Disabled Person
I haven’t always been a wheelchair user. For the first seven years of my illness, I was still mobile, though it was a real struggle at times. During this time, my condition was completely invisible to others, including my employers, colleagues, flatmates, lovers, friends and family. It was such a struggle trying to keep up with working part-time, and even the reduced hours left me comatose in the evenings and having to use the weekends to recover before getting back on the treadmill. I had no energy left to enjoy life and became depressed. Going out and about, since people could not see how fragile I was, they could never have known to offer me a seat, to not rush me at the till, to not expect me to hold open the door for them, and not to bustle past me, knocking me out of the way. It was so isolating, being so vulnerable with no understanding or kindness from the world around me. At the time, I was still without a formal diagnosis and so would not have been able to explain what was wrong with me either, as I did not know.