What happened this week was that we were left without electricity for over 60 hours, which not only left me bedbound but also had me staying in one position at 40 °C temperature, so I got sick pretty soon in like the 5th hour, my body was done, I was overheating, and I could do nothing about it even if they could lift me with the lifter I couldn’t go nowhere since I live on the third floor. The elevator wasn’t working since it didn’t have any power. Towards the 60-hour mark, it got pretty bad. I’m not saying this to get pity; far from it. However, July is Disability Pride Month, so I Googled lesser-known disabilities. I saw an article that divided them into five types.
Chronic Pain and Fatigue Disorders:
Muscle fatigue is enemy number 1 for me, and unless I tell you or start dropping things, you know I’m getting a round of it. Most of the medication for pain relief makes you sleepy, so you can’t really function as a normal day, so it’s a pick-your-poison sort of thing. Some disorders which fall under here: widespread pain, extreme fatigue, or debilitating headaches; they’re largely invisible to others.
Mental Health Disorders:
This one is the most important to me, and the one that gets ignored the most, which is the biggest issue, because the brain is the main control that controls everything else. We have more awareness about things like anxiety but not how it affects things like autism, which can have some physical signs.
Learning Disabilities:
I know I mentioned before that I’m dyslexic, and I always thought about sharing that information; my bullies used it against me, and as an adult I was teased at workplaces assuming I’m dumb because on bad days I can have a hard time spelling easy words in the eyes of a person who isn’t aware of what’s going on. For example, when I need to use the letter ‘I’ and the letter ‘A’, they can sound and look very similar to me. (ADHD), and dysgraphia often go unnoticed, and often as adults it’s a battle to be diagnosed.
Autoimmune Diseases:
What are autoimmune diseases? The definition: chronic conditions where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, tissues, and organs instead of protecting the body, like type 1 diabetes but not type 2, since in the case of type 2 is caused by insulin resistance. Symptoms often include extreme fatigue, joint pain, and organ damage, which are often not visible. The issue with this is that disability pension/aids are harder to access in these cases.
Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD):
I’m pretty uninformed on the topic, so I’m learning too. Sensory processing disorders hinder how the brain interprets sensory input. For example, sounds, lights, textures, or smells that seem ordinary to most people can overwhelm or agitate someone with SPD. Though commonly associated with autism, SPD can exist independently. After watching a video from a therapist, I learnt that this isn’t even seen as a dissbility which I believe needs to change.