Asking For Help While Being Disabled Shouldn't Feel So Much Like Handing Someone Your Autonomy And Saying

it's funny that people act like disabled people are such a downer and negative and pessimistic for acknowledging their health conditions when we have to be the most optimistic suckers on earth to repeatedly go to drs with the expectation of actually recieving treatment. did i say funny sorry i meant soul destroying

to me, the universal trust in doctors from people who haven't experienced medical mistreatment/neglect is akin to the trust that upper middle class and white people have in the police. they haven't experienced the mistreatment themselves so they assume it doesn't exist. they assume that every doctor or police officer is only in it for protecting people. they assume that the people who made the rules for these organisations are somehow all-knowing and know the truth about what is morally correct for society. the difference is that there actually is such thing as a good doctor, while there is no such thing as a good cop.

people who assign morality to disabilities: you are not above becoming disabled. you will do everything right and you might still find that one day you are not able-bodied anymore. disability and morality have no correlation.

chronic illness really makes the weirdest ‘would you rather’ scenarios come to life.

like, would you rather: show up to christmas with no presents for anyone or show up having not showered for a week?

would you rather: feed yourself or do the dishes?

you can choose both but your penalty is to spend an unknown amount of time bedbound afterwards.

Doctor calls you with your bloodwork results and just says “I’m really mad at you” and then hangs up

Please understand that not every marginalized person is going to have a list of peer reviewed sources and accurate statistics proving the bigotry they face in their daily life and you sometimes just have to decide to believe people when they tell you they are suffering

me: ive been bedbound for six months

dr: have u tried getting up?

me:

dr: being upright is good for u to prevent deconditioning

me:

dr:

me: it was in fact the first thing i tried

doctors hate her! This woman is experiencing symptoms that might point to a health problem and wants doctors to do something about it

When abled people are involved, the concept of "doing it once in a while for a few seconds doesn't mean you can do it consistently on command like it's nothing" is easily understood.

For example, if someone is able to walk outside without a jacket in the cold to get the mail, everyone would easily understand that they'd still need a jacket if they were outside for a prolonged period of time. If someone is able to hold their breath underwater for a few seconds, everyone would easily understand that they'd still need an oxygen tank in order to stay underwater indefinitely.

But when disabled people are involved, that concept is somehow forgotten. You can stand for a few seconds? You must not actually need that wheelchair. You can socialize once in a long while if the conditions are exactly right? You must not actually struggle to socialize and any struggle you think you have is just fear and negativity. You can be physically active for an hour on a good day? You must not actually be too disabled to work. You have a lot of knowledge on a topic because it's a special interest of yours? You must be "smart" and any bad grades you get are because you're lazy.