#the other stuff I mentioned feels more systemic and reflective of how allergies are disabling

[shadowed-yet-vibrant]

I have had severe, anaphylactic-level peanut and tree nut allergies my entire life. Allergies are absolutely disabling. I agree with every point in the OP, and have some of my own (particularly based on nuts, but these apply to many other allergies as well).

It limits job opportunities, because it eliminates all food service jobs as possibilities. Even a local neighborhood cafe will almost certainly have those allergens on hand.

It makes transit risky. A friend's vehicle, a public train or bus, and especially airplanes, all become terrifying mobile prisons that could have your allergens lurking on any handle, seat, pole, or the shared air.

It limits how you can interact with your pets. Dogs love peanut butter, and it's crammed into tons of treats and toys. It makes dog parks and the vet dangerous, and means you can't give your dog something they'd love. It also makes interacting with friend's and stranger's dogs risky.

It limits what you can drink. The USA does not require allergen labels on alcoholic beverages, and between the popularity of "peanut butter" brews for beer and the longtime use of almond liqueurs, any shared facility or packaging line can be a fatal crossover. There is also no requirement to label wheat or gluten, and it can be found even in liquors that don't traditionally use it.

This may be the same routine I've had since I was 6 years old, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying or any less disabling. I will live with my allergies for the rest of my life, and they will continue to put my life at risk. How I interact with my friends, my family, and the public, will forever be dictated by my allergies. They are absolutely a disability, and deserve to be taken seriously.

you know what. i've always been hesitant to describe my anaphylactic food allergies as a disability because "it's just allergies" but if you look at the numerous ways this has affected my life as an adult (because everybody only talks about kids having anaphylactic allergies):

no restaurants or fast food

no store-bought food from small companies (less accountability/resources to prevent cross-contamination)

no candy or desserts (unless they are 100% homemade, which takes a lot of time and energy if you have other disabilities like i do)

no hand-washing dishes (every place i live in has to have a well-functioning dishwasher)

no kissing people on the mouth/lower half of the face

other people cannot kiss me/put their mouth on me

no allergens in the house (really difficult to enforce with non- immediate family members!!)

always having to cook my own meals/bake my own treats/desserts

no sharing drinks/food with other people

no food cooked in other people's houses/kitchens

always having to bring my own "lunchbox" to family events, work or school, all-day events, or any other situation in which i could THEORETICALLY need to eat or drink something other than bottled water

calling food manufacturers to verify label information on new/changed foods

and none of this is counting the avoidance behaviors i developed with obsessive-compulsive disorder around age 13 in response to the panic attacks i'd have remembering about the anaphylactic shock i experienced at age 10.

i was taught to read labels at age 5. i was taught how to use my own epi-pen at age 6. my parents and i have always been careful and responsible about my allergies. it's not "i just don't like this food", it's "if i eat this my throat will swell up and block my trachea AND i'll go into shock from low blood pressure." as inconvenient as it might be for YOU, you can learn these things too and save a life. happy disability pride month; stop being a dickhead

i don't usually talk about my allergies because it gives me a LOT of anxiety but i felt this was important to share, because most people have no idea what being an adult with allergies is like. life went from "everyone at the birthday party gets a cupcake but me and i'm sad" to to "if i want to kiss someone i like, i have to make sure she hasn't eaten anything i'm allergic to in the past few days" (which is like. hugely awkward to ask of someone holy shit) or "i have to turn down the meal from my friend's mom even though she has the best of intentions and now she thinks i'm an asshole"