Instagram

Sunday 5 February 2012

Don't dis my abilities and how it feels to be discriminated against...

On 3rd November every year is the International Day of People with a Disability (IDPWD). New South Wales celebrates it with the campaign  "Don't DIS my ABILITY" celebrating diversity and the abilities of people who live with disabilities. I really like this campaign, I find it wonderful to have such a great celebration of all the things people CAN do, when the emphasis is continually on what people cannot do.

I have been quiet on this blog. Life has been throwing a lot at me, things that I wish like hell I didn't have to deal with. I have been feeling humilated, depressed and frustrated. Not because of my pain, nor from the challenges that normal living brings. The challenges are not from my disability, but from the way that I am "disabled" by others. The humiliation of begging to be able to have the same opportunities as people who are "able". The frustration of living with a condition that people have no understanding of; of having an upper-limb disability that is even less catered for than lower-limb impairments.  I am being discriminated against. And that, that is what is making me feel depressed about my life. It is an awful, terrible feeling. It makes me feel ashamed of who I am.