Living with a Disability

There is nothing wrong with having a disability, I know because I have one. I have arthritis all over my body, I also have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and I am not ashamed of it. It is what it is, I can’t do anything about it, so why stress and worry about it?

Yes it gets hard really hard but it is my life and instead of getting depressed and letting it get the best of me I just get on with things the best I can and some days are a lot harder than other days. I am determined to not let it get the best of me.

You will find that we are all a lot stronger than you think we are. These conditions bring out the best and worst in people, but you will always find that they will work so hard to get some normal into their life and fight with every part of them.

I know some people look at you and feel sorry for you. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me I just want them to understand what it is like to be in this situation where you don’t have control of your own body, the pain that can’t be stopped by pain killers or medication.

There are so many of us around the world, and we need to be listened to, shown respect, understood and not treated differently. We are everyday people who just happened to have special needs and need help with things. We can’t always find work or we are not allowed to work for different reasons. We all have different levels of our disease and problems, some you can see and some you can never see unless we are having a bad relapse or a bad day.

Not every disability is noticeable for example MS, Cystic fibrosis, arthritis, Ehlers–Danlos syndrome EDS (known as Zebra disease), people with pacemakers or heart problems, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and many many more. People don’t have to have a wheelchair, crutches or conditions like Down syndrome.

People need to start noticing those who are invisible and not think that if they are just parking in the disability parks to just get a closer carpark. With any one of those I mentioned you can have a great day were walking and getting around is a lot easier and there are days were we can barely walk, get around or even get out of bed. We all have our good and bad days ours are more noticeable. Yes there are some people who do that but I can assure you majority of them are in need to use them, you just can’t see it. I urge you all to stop and think about it when you decided to write a horrible note accusing them of doing the wrong thing. You never know any persons circumstance by second guessing and appearance alone.

Those who do not want to work and fake illnesses and just don’t want to look for work make it harder for us that need to get disability. It’s not fair on us, we would much prefer to be looking for work and out there doing things that everyday people do, we can to an extent but we would much prefer to have our bodies functioning like everyone else. Please stop making it hard for us who genuinely need the help and assistance.

I don’t think anyone can understand what it is actually like inside the body of someone who has a disease that is incurable, autoimmune, that you have no control over unless you have it. Our pain is unbearable at times, you can succumb to any infection, flu, cold and take months or weeks to overcome something that should be a week – five day thing.

My own experiences are losing grip of objects and dropping things, stiff all over, hip and back going out or into a spasm that can paralyze me from my hip down on one side or in cold water It can paralyze me on both legs from the pelvic area. Loss of concentration, weak, lack of sleep or constantly sleeping and tired. Even just doing simple house chores are hard to do, making my bed is hard and my back starts hurting very quickly when trying to clean my room and make my bed.  What should be simple tasks for everyone is not so easy for me or a lot of other people.

I personally take at least a month to overcome any cold or flu and a simple stomach bug can pull all my muscles and make it near impossible to stand up longer than a few minutes, I will not go into full detail but it does make having a stomach bug incredibly hard to deal with. Even showering I end up laying on the bottom of it because it’s hard to even stand up and shower.

I have one person that can massage me as I need it gentle I can’t go to anyone to get a massage. I am not allowed to see a chiropractor, physiotherapy doesn’t really work and I have even tried Bowen therapy that actually made my back go into spasm and I struggled to walk or straighten my back.

Please understand this next time you come across someone with a disability and give them a chance. Even if you know someone with a condition try and understand the condition and know how hard it is for them to function and live a normal life like you do.

I have to thank my parents for being so supportive, I know they don’t always understand my condition or what I am feeling at that time but they do give me some extra support and they are there for me when things get really bad and need some help. You always need a good support system that you can get help from. If you do need help don’t be afraid to ask for it. I am incredibly grateful to my parents I don’t know how I would be if I didn’t have you guys helping me and looking out for me. Thank you.