Author: Chrysanthemum
Hello everyone! Now that 2023 has come to a close, I want to talk about what I have learned this year in regards to my disabled identity. From becoming more comfortable with how I refer to myself, to how I have began to respond to people who ask silly invasive questions, I have changed a lot this year! Let’s jump right into it, shall we?
The first thing I am going to talk about is my identity. I have learned that within the disability community, there are two main identity labels that are most commonly used. One is person first language (example, “person with disability”) while the second is disability first language (example, “disabled person”).
I have found that I HEAVILY vibe with the latter. My disabilities are a fundamental part of who I am. They have shaped my life experiences, and have helped shape a large part of who I am today. Without my lived experiences with my disabilities, I would not be who I am today, and I proudly rock this aspect about me in how I prefer to be referred to as! This is always fun explaining to medical professionals who are most often trained to use person first language… This next part is a fun one! This year, I have fully given up on trying to give people vague explanations, or straight up ignoring them, when I am randomly asked things like “Why are you in a wheelchair?” “What happened to you?” “Can you do _____?”, allll of that fun stuff that I am sure many of us have been subjected to at one point or another… While ignoring invasive questioners tends to work for a lot of people, and it usually gets the questioner to shut up for a bit, I think it’s been MUCH more fun to respond with silly things! Some of my favorites are “Oh, it’s terrible… my butt is too big to carry around”, and “Oh, i really love the game Mario Kart, so I decided to constantly play it in real life!” (That one gets alot of people to ask, and generally gets people to rethink if what they just asked me was appropriate).
Honestly, I don’t owe anyone my medical information, nor do I think it matters to a random person why I need to use a wheelchair, but sometimes it’s a little fun to mess with them.
With each year that passes, I find myself growing stronger and more confident in how I live my life as a disabled person. From gathering the courage to kindly and hilariously tell people off when they ask rude questions, to how I am further solidifying my disability first personal label, I am proud of these two and how far I have come this year with my confidence!