BADD continued

So this failure of imagination makes me think less about what "is" or "is not" a definable disability and think more about normalizing individual needs that we each have. This is not to join the club or get away from my institutionalized privilege (of course I still need to be accountable for that)

There are lots of us that need bigger bathroom stalls
There are lots of us that need a variety of seats for back problems, breastfeeding or because our left butt cheek hurts from the latest shot of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin to force your ovary to release an egg.

There are lots of us that need to eat or not eat particular foods, listen better at meetings where we can doodle or crochet, can't stand for long periods of time, need the captioning turned on while watching House (which really needs to get over the "bitterness over crippled leg=asshole"equation they use), can't come to work on certain days because of something that happened 2 decades before. . . .

It's not possible to us/them disability. If you're honest, it's not possible.
It is necessary to us/them ableism or disablism in terms of who has work to do.

Some of us have a lot more access to systems, jobs, institutions, health care. . .
It is necessary to identify your sphere of influence (your institutional power) and use it to create social change.

I'm off to go change the girl's diaper
And then change something else in the world. . .

Check out some of the other posts.