![]() The first time I went out in my new wheelchair I discovered just how little was accessible to me. But I discovered that was much like coming out as a lesbian post-Stonewall–a little better than before, perhaps, but definitely nowhere near equal to non-disabled people. I thought I was fortunate to have become disabled post-ADA. I had thought–because I hadn’t been disabled then–the world had become a different place for disabled people after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Like I had done as a teenager discovering my lesbianism, I searched for books that might help me understand both my diagnosis and what it meant to be disabled. My disability and the realization that this was my new normal left me feeling isolated and alone, suicidal and depressed. I had to constantly remind people that I wasn’t just some mannequin in the wheelchair–I was a real person who could hear myself being talked about in the third person. ![]() Now, where I had been used to being the tallest woman in the room, I was now in a wheelchair, ignored and even shunned by the ableism that invades every aspect of our society. ![]() My life had been difficult enough as a woman and an out lesbian. ![]() ![]() I also had to adjust to another minority label. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |