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The “im symptomatic of this illness/condition, but don’t have it cuz I don’t have [insert hyper specific circumstance]” to “okay so maybe I have that condition/illness” pipeline is something fierce.

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Why is being disabled embarrassing? Why am I truly embarrassed to need thing things I NEED, why am I embarrassed to even get a cane? To take my SD places in the future?

Like I'm disabled, I've been disabled since I was at least 15, but what if I'm not disabled enough? What if it's all in my head, yknow?

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If u interact with my posts, just know I respond like this:

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So you’re telling me I have just this one body for *checks notes* the rest of my…life? Like no refunds/returns/exchanges/do overs?

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i shouldn’t be in social situations i should be in the dark

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When I say "I can't do that" what I'm not saying is:

I don't feel interested in doing that

I don't care enough to

I'm too good to be doing that

I don't think you deserve that of me

I'm not in the mood to do that

Not now, I'll do it later

Maybe

If that's what I meant, that's what I would say

What I am saying is:

It will negatively affect me in ways I can't afford

I simply can't physically fucking do that

I can't risk the potentially severe consequences I may experience if I overestimate my ability to do that

And if I explain that I am unable to do that, it is not an invitation to:

Tell me how much my disability hurts your feelings

Ask if I'm sure

Interrogate me because you believe yourself to be the judge of how unwell is unwell enough

Put words in my mouth ("why don't you care?")

Tell me how easy it would be

Remind me of how many other things I've been unable to do. I keep the score more than you do

Accuse me of exaggerating or faking to avoid doing it

Ask me again shortly

Make assumptions about additional explanations. (I must be mad at you, I must not care about this)

Offer compensation in return ("I can pay you" "we can do something you want to do after" "I'll get you something you like")

Ask what it would take for me to suddenly be capable of doing it

Tell me how you do things you have to do when when you're tired and then you can just rest and recover. I am not like you

Remind me of a time I was able to do that. Either I had more spoons or was less severely disabled if at all.

Say that if I was well enough to do X today, I should be able to do this as well. Energy doesn't work that way. Are you capable of running 8 miles right this minute just because you were okay to work a 10 hour shift today? That's what I thought

Suggest simply doing it a certain way ("take your time", "do it sitting down", "we can stop and take breaks", "just take your painkillers", etc)

But it is an invitation to:

Leave me the fuck alone about it 💕

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something i think a lot of able bodied people dont understand is that being chronically ill affects your emotions. constantly being exhausted and feeling bad is going to make you sad or depressed or angry or jealous. constantly being in pain is going to affect your mental health. never feeling "good" is obviously going to affect the way you act.

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[ID: a text sent by the user that reads: ‘I miss when being in this much pain was a serious concern and not my everyday life’]

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“Other people have it worse—“ there are also other people who have it better and I’m sure those other people would meet both our stories with concern. Think about that before you say I need to be oppressed more to be valid

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they should invent a shower you can take that isn’t exhausting and doesn’t make you dizzy and too hot and damp after and also isn’t a terrible sensory experience

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Just saw a vid of a woman saying how being chronically ill means slowly going insane but being forced to pretend you’re not and I feel that pretty hard.

Anyone that goes to war with their body and will never be the same emotionally, I see you and you’re not alone 💕

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TW: talk of body image/body weight.

I wish the world was a safer space for people that lost weight and are upset about it. I’m not interested in hearing how much you “wish you had that problem”. I miss what my body was before I couldn’t eat meals anymore.

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I knew from a young age I was weird and off putting and unlovable.

(Weird and off putting ≠ unlovable)

i knew from a young age i was weird and off putting and unlovable

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being chronically ill is so weird. like, my body is inescapably me but at the same time i feel so distanced from it, even while it affects literally everything in my life. it’s hard to feel like a human being sometime because i feel like the way i experience life with a chronically ill body completely alienated me from the vast majority of people i know. it’s just. a lot.