a day in the life of a disabled person essay

• Menopause & Aging Well
• Prevention & Screenings
• Sexual Health
• Pregnancy & Postpartum
• Health by Age
• Self-Care & Mental Health
• Nutrition & Movement
• Family & Caregiving
• Work & Money
• Health Policy
• Access & Affordability
• Medication Safety
• Science & Technology
• Expert Perspectives
• Chronic Care Issues

healthy women

Katie M. Golden

Katie M. Golden is a professional patient and advocate for people living with migraine.

Learn about our editorial policies

What’s a Typical Day Like When You Have a Disability?

Out of everything that was asked of me, i found answering this question to be the most important. “describe what you do in a typical day.” but our days aren’t typical, are they here was my reply. .

Katie Golden is a #teamHealthyWomen Contributor and this post is part of HealthyWomen's Real Women, Real Stories series.

Receiving mail from the Social Security Disability office is always a little frightening. Recently, an envelope showed up in my mailbox—it was time to recertify my disability .

It has been three years since I was awarded benefits. The Social Security Administration has the following guidelines on when and how often someone would be asked to recertify their condition:

If medical improvement is:

• “Expected,” your case will normally be reviewed within six to 18 months after your benefits start.
• “Possible,” your case will normally be reviewed no sooner than three years.
• “Not expected,” your case will normally be reviewed no sooner than seven years.

I fit into the “Possible” category. I rely on these benefits and can’t afford to miss anything in this process. I spend countless hours gathering up all the information I need so there would be no doubt that my chronic migraine disease was still stopping me from being able to have a “regular” job or lead a “regular” life.

On this particular form, out of everything that was asked of me, I found answering this question to be the most important: “Describe what you do in a typical day.”

But our days aren’t typical at all. Here was my reply.

Describe what you do in a typical day.

I do not have “typical days” anymore. I have low, medium, or high pain days. I have functioning, semi-functioning or debilitating days. With chronic migraine disease, I am never able to fully escape the pain as it is an everyday occurrence. My day depends on how intense the pain is and for how long.

I will illustrate how my days vary widely and without any warning. I make adjustments to my schedule throughout the day depending on the intensity of the symptoms, which I experience daily on varying levels. These symptoms include head pain, aphasia, allodynia, fatigue, phonophobia, photophobia, impaired cognitive dysfunction, nausea, akathisia and visual aura.

Low Pain/ Functioning Days

When I wake up at around 9 or 10 am with a pain level of 3-4, I know that this is the best I am going to feel all day. I am most productive for about an hour after waking up. I eat breakfast—usually yogurt and fruit. I take a handful of medication—both prescribed and over-the-counter—just to maintain a pain level that is tolerable.

I respond to emails and check the daily news. I may take some time to write, a practice that has become helpful to me in dealing with my illness. I also take this time to make doctor’s appointments and deal with insurance issues, which is a never-ending battle. Even on good days, if I do any housework I usually only focus on one area of my one-bedroom apartment, as this can be exhausting. During the day, my pain level spikes around 6-8, which forces me to take a nap for an hour or two mid-day. When I wake up, the pain has decreased slightly to about a 5.

I try to get in some form of exercise every day after napping. That may be taking a 30-minute walk, going to a yoga class or going on a bike ride. After one of these activities, I usually shower for the day. On a good day, I am able to run some errands, which I usually break up throughout the week in order to not increase my pain. The grocery store and laundry are two tasks that generally wear me out. While eating healthy is part of my life, making dinner can be challenging. I spend little time making dinner and my partner often helps in making meals and with clean-up.

I spend the evening watching TV, however, my pain increases and I become fidgety. With newly diagnosed Restless Leg Syndrome and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, I find it very hard to sit still. Even with medications to manage the full-body, uncontrollable twitching and jerking movements, nighttime is very hard for me. The head pain generally spikes as well back up to a 7 or 8, making falling asleep difficult. I take another handful of medication to prevent worsening migraine attacks and to control the symptoms for the next day.

This is me on a low-pain / functioning day:

High Pain and Debilitating Days

I try to stick to a normal sleep schedule so that I wake up between 9 and 10 am. I eat breakfast depending on how nauseated I am. On these days, leaving the house, driving and exercise are out of the question. It is rare that my symptoms improve throughout the day—they typically get worse even when using rescue medication. Some of the medications I take to cut down the pain and inflammation on high pain/debilitating days cause side effects that make me drowsy. That, coupled with the excruciating pain, cause me to spend the majority of the day in bed. I spend little time on the internet or watching TV.

I use sleep as a coping mechanism. Even while sleeping, my body is tensed up to battle the pain. I curl into a ball to protect myself and often find fingernail marks in my palms because I’ve been clenching my fists while asleep. I also grind my teeth and need to wear a mouth guard.

During long stretches of time with high levels of pain, my sleep cycle is interrupted, my food intake is altered, showering is a chore and my body feels like it has been beaten up. I can be in this state for days, weeks or even months at a time. I rarely see friends or spend time outside when this happens. It can take weeks to build my strength back up.

I spend 80% of my time in my apartment. The 20% that I try to venture out has to be carefully planned out. Will there be any noise, lighting, food or other triggers that will make the migraine attacks worse?

I have to take medication before I leave and have all medications with me for any possible scenario when I leave the house. I need an exit strategy. Will I be able to lie down if the pain is suddenly unbearable? Do I have a way home if I feel I can’t drive? Will my impaired cognitive dysfunction cause me to become disoriented, forgetful, or lost?

I always carry a notebook with me because I can easily forget my tasks or what people tell me. I build in extra time because any task now takes me twice as long to complete. I have a small radius (about 5 miles) around my house where I am comfortable going by myself. Anywhere outside of my comfort zone, I prefer to have someone with me no matter what my pain level is that day.

These questions and considerations dictate my “typical day.”

A version of this post originally appeared at GoldenGraine.com .

POTS Stole My Energy and Everything That Made Me, Me

What is pots, inflammation 101, alopecia areata: losing your hair don’t despair, what is alopecia it’s no laughing matter for millions of black american women, can you hear me and other people with disabilities.

• Sharp Pain in Left Breast
• Signs of a Stroke
• Top 10 Sex Tips
• Covid Vaccine and Menstrual Cycle
• Pelvic Pain
• Sex and Vaginal Pain
• Perimenopause Weight Gain
• How to Last Longer in Bed

Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Disability and Health Stories from People Living with a Disability

• Nickole's Story
• Jerry's Story
• Justin's Story
• Suhana's Story

Real Stories from People living with a Disability

Nickole cheron’s story.

In 2008, a rare winter storm buried Portland, Oregon under more than a foot of snow. The city was gridlocked. Nickole Cheron was stuck in her home for eight days. Many people would consider that an inconvenience. For Nickole, whose muscles are too weak to support her body, those eight days were potentially life-threatening.

Born with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disease that progressively weakens the body’s muscles, Nickole is fully reliant on a wheelchair and full-time caregivers for most routine tasks. Being alone for eight days was not an option. So Nickole signed up for “ Ready Now! [PDF – 4.8MB] ,” an emergency preparedness training program developed through the Oregon Office of Disability and Health .

“The most important thing I learned from ‘Ready Now!’ was to have a back-up plan in case of an emergency situation ,” she said. “When I heard the snow storm was coming, I emailed all my caregivers to find out who lived close by and would be available. I made sure I had a generator, batteries for my wheelchair, and at least a week’s supply of food, water and prescription medication.”

Nickole said the training was empowering, and reinforced her ability to live independently with a disability. She felt better informed about the potential risks people with disabilities could encounter during a disaster. For example, clinics might close, streets and sidewalks might be impassable, or caregivers might be unable to travel.

Among the tips Nickole learned from Oregon’s “Ready Now!” training are:

• Develop a back-up plan. Inform caregivers, friends, family, neighbors or others who might be able to help during an emergency.
• Stock up on food, water, and any necessary prescription medications, medical supplies or equipment. Have enough to last at least a week.
• Make a list of emergency contact information and keep it handy.
• Keep a charged car battery at home. It can power electric wheelchairs and other motorized medical equipment if there is an electricity outage.
• Learn about alternate transportation and routes.
• Understand the responsibilities and limitations of a “first responder” (for example, members of your local fire department of law enforcement office) during a disaster.

“This training shows people with disabilities that they can do more to triage their situation in a crisis than anyone else can,” she said. “‘Ready Now!’ encourages people with disabilities to take ownership of their own care.”

CDC would like to thank Nikole and the Oregon Office of Disability and Health for sharing this personal story.

Learn about emergency preparedness for people with disabilities »

Jerry’s Story

Jerry is a 53 year old father of four children. He’s independent, has a house, raised a family and his adult kids still look to him for support. Jerry recently retired as a computer programmer in 2009, and competes and coaches in several sports. This “healthy, everyday Joe, living a normal life” has even participated in the Boston Marathon. Jerry also has had a disability for over 35 y ears. In 1976 on December 3 (the same day that International Persons with Disabilities Day is recognized) Jerry was hit by a drunk driver. The accident left him as a partial paraplegic.

Jerry’s life is not defined by his disability. He lives life just like anyone else without a disability would live their life. “There’s lots I can do, and there are some things that I can’t do,” said Jerry. “I drive, I invest money. I’m not rich, but I’m not poor. I enjoy being healthy, and being independent.”

As a person with a disability, however, Jerry has experienced many barriers. Recovering from recent rotator cuff surgery, his rehabilitation specialists “couldn’t see past his disability”, administering tests and delivering additional rehabilitation visits that a person without a disability wouldn’t receive. He once was being prepared for surgery when a nurse proclaimed “he doesn’t need an epidural, he’s a paraplegic.” Jerry had to inform the nurse that he was only a partial paraplegic and that he would indeed need an epidural.

Jerry was in line at an Alabama court house to renew his parking permit and also renew his son’s registration. He watched a worker walk down the line and ask people “what do you need?” When she got to Jerry and saw his wheelchair, he was asked “who are you here with?” And Jerry finds it difficult to go to concerts and baseball games with a large family or friends gathering, because rarely are handicap-accessible tickets available for more than two people.

Jerry has seen a lot in over 35 years as someone living with a disability. He’s seen many of the barriers and attitudes towards people with disabilities persist. But he’s also seen many positive changes to get people with disabilities physically active through recreational opportunities such as golf, fishing and even snow-skiing. There are now organizations such as Lakeshore Foundation – where Jerry works part-time coaching youth basketball and track – that provide recreational opportunities.

Jerry states: “I don’t expect the world to revolve around us. I will adapt – just make it so I can adapt.”

Justin’s Story

Justin was first diagnosed with a disability in the form of ADD (attention deficit disorder, now known as ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) at the age of 5 years. The diagnosis resulted in his removal from a regular classroom environment to special education courses. Justin’s parents were informed by Justin’s educators that he probably wouldn’t graduate high school, much less college.

Years later, as a young adult, Justin developed Meniere disease (an inner ear disorder), which affected his hearing and balance. The onset of the disorder left Justin with the scary reality that he could permanently lose his hearing at any time. Justin recalled a former supervisor taking advantage of this knowledge with an inappropriate prank: While speaking in a one-on-one meeting, the sound from the supervisor’s mouth abruptly halted, while his lips continued to move. Justin thought he had gone deaf – until the supervisor started laughing – which Justin could hear. Behaviors like the above took its toll on Justin’s confidence – yet, he knew he could contribute in society.

Spurred in part by adversity, Justin went back to school, earned a business degree, and shortly after, entered the commercial marketing industry. However, despite his education and experience, Justin was still regularly subject to the same stigma. Many of Justin’s work experiences over the course of his career left him feeling ashamed, guilty, offended, and sometimes, even intimidated. Rather than instilling confidence, it left him demoralized – simply because he was differently abled.

In July of 2013, everything changed for Justin. He joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working as a contractor in the Division of Human Development and Disability at the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Justin’s colleagues put an emphasis on making him feel comfortable and respected as a member of a diverse and productive workforce. They welcomed Justin’s diversity, positively contributing to his overall health.

The mission of the Division of Human Development and Disability is to lead public health in preventing disease and promoting equity in health and development of children and adults with or at risk for disabilities. One in two adults with disabilities does not get enough aerobic physical activity 1 , and for Justin, regular physical activity is important to help him combat potentially lethal blood clots due to a genetic blood clotting disorder that he has. Every working hour, Justin walks for a few minutes, stretches, or uses his desk cycle. Justin also participates in walking meetings, which he believes leads to more creative and productive meetings.

Stories such as Justin’s are reminders that employment and health are connected. CDC is proud to support National Disability Employment Awareness Month every October. The awareness month aims to educate about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities.

Suhana’s Story

Suhana has a sister, Shahrine, who is older by 18 months. While Shahrine’s mother was pregnant with Suhana, their uncle came to town for a visit. During the visit, their uncle was quick to notice that Shahrine did not seem to be talking at an age appropriate level or respond when called upon. Shahrine would also turn up the volume on the television and radio when others could hear it without difficulty. Shahrine’s parents thought that her speech development and behavior were normal for a toddler, but thanks to the uncle expressing his concerns, the family soon took action. A hearing test found that Shahrine was hard of hearing.

Due to Shahrine’s diagnosis, Suhana received a hearing screening at birth and was found to be hard of hearing, as well. Had it not been for the concerns raised by the children’s uncle, not only would Shahrine’s hearing loss have possibly gone on longer without being detected, but Suhana would most likely not have had a hearing screening at birth.

As a result of their early diagnoses, Suhana and Shahrine’s parents were able to gain the knowledge they needed to make sure both of their children could reach their full potential in life. They had access to early services from a team of physicians, speech therapists, counselors, and teachers.

Suhana credits her parents for her own successes, saying that she couldn’t have made it as far as she has without their support and patience. Today, Suhana is employed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an epidemiologist with the agency’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program. All children who are deaf or hard of hearing receive critical services they need as a result of the EHDI program, which funds the development of data systems and provides technical assistance to help improve screening, diagnosis and early intervention for these infants. When children who are deaf or hard of hearing receive services early, they are more likely to reach their full potential and live a healthy, productive adult life.

CDC is proud to support National Disability Employment Awareness Month every October. The goals of the awareness month are to educate the public about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs. [updated 2014 May 6; cited 2014 October 10] Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/disabilities/

If you would like to share your personal story, please contact us at Contact CDC-INFO

• Policy Makers
• CDC Employees and Reasonable Accommodations (RA)

To receive email updates about this topic, enter your email address:

Exit Notification / Disclaimer Policy

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
• Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
• You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
• CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Book Reviews

In 2 essay collections, writers with disabilities tell their own stories.

Ilana Masad

Buy Featured Book

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

• Independent Bookstores

More than 1 in 5 people living in the U.S. has a disability, making it the largest minority group in the country.

Despite the civil rights law that makes it illegal to discriminate against a person based on disability status — Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990 — only 40 percent of disabled adults in what the Brookings Institute calls "prime working age," that is 25-54, are employed. That percentage is almost doubled for non-disabled adults of the same age. But even beyond the workforce — which tends to be the prime category according to which we define useful citizenship in the U.S. — the fact is that people with disabilities (or who are disabled — the language is, for some, interchangeable, while others have strong rhetorical and political preferences), experience a whole host of societal stigmas that range from pity to disbelief to mockery to infantilization to fetishization to forced sterilization and more.

But disabled people have always existed, and in two recent essay anthologies, writers with disabilities prove that it is the reactions, attitudes, and systems of our society which are harmful, far more than anything their own bodies throw at them.

About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times, edited by Peter Catapano and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, collects around 60 essays from the column, which began in 2016, and divides them into eight self-explanatory sections: Justice, Belonging, Working, Navigating, Coping, Love, Family, and Joy. The title, which comes from the 1990s disability rights activist slogan "Nothing about us without us," explains the book's purpose: to give those with disabilities the platform and space to write about their own experiences rather than be written about.

While uniformly brief, the essays vary widely in terms of tone and topic. Some pieces examine particular historical horrors in which disability was equated with inhumanity, like the "The Nazis' First Victims Were the Disabled" by Kenny Fries (the title says it all) or "Where All Bodies Are Exquisite" by Riva Lehrer, in which Lehrer, who was born with spina bifida in 1958, "just as surgeons found a way to close the spina bifida lesion," visits the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. There, she writes:

"I am confronted with a large case full of specimen jars. Each jar contains a late-term fetus, and all of the fetuses have the same disability: Their spinal column failed to fuse all the way around their spinal cord, leaving holes (called lesions) in their spine. [...] I stand in front of these tiny humans and try not to pass out. I have never seen what I looked like on the day I was born."

Later, she adds, "I could easily have ended up as a teaching specimen in a jar. But luck gave me a surgeon."

Other essays express the joys to be found in experiences unfamiliar to non-disabled people, such as the pair of essays by Molly McCully Brown and Susannah Nevison in which the two writers and friends describe the comfort and intimacy between them because of shared — if different — experiences; Brown writes at the end of her piece:

"We're talking about our bodies, and then not about our bodies, about her dog, and my classes, and the zip line we'd like to string between us [... a]nd then we're talking about our bodies again, that sense of being both separate and not separate from the skin we're in. And it hits me all at once that none of this is in translation, none of this is explaining. "

From the cover of Resistance and Hope: Essays by Disabled People, edited by Alice Wong Disability Visibility Project hide caption

From the cover of Resistance and Hope: Essays by Disabled People, edited by Alice Wong

While there's something of value in each of these essays, partially because they don't toe to a single party line but rather explore the nuances of various disabilities, there's an unfortunate dearth of writers with intellectual disabilities in this collection. I also noticed that certain sections focused more on people who've acquired a disability during their lifetime and thus went through a process of mourning, coming to terms with, or overcoming their new conditions. While it's true — and emphasized more than once — that many of us, as we age, will become disabled, the process of normalization must begin far earlier if we're to become a society that doesn't discriminate against or segregate people with disabilities.

One of the contributors to About Us, disability activist and writer Alice Wong, edited and published another anthology just last year, Resistance and Hope: Essays by Disabled People , through the Disability Visibility Project which publishes and supports disability media and is partnered with StoryCorps. The e-book, which is available in various accessible formats, features 17 physically and/or intellectually disabled writers considering the ways in which resistance and hope intersect. And they do — and must, many of these writers argue — intersect, for without a hope for a better future, there would be no point to such resistance. Attorney and disability justice activist Shain M. Neumeir writes:

"Those us who've chosen a life of advocacy and activism aren't hiding from the world in a bubble as the alt-right and many others accuse us of doing. Anything but. Instead, we've chosen to go back into the fires that forged us, again and again, to pull the rest of us out, and to eventually put the fires out altogether."

You don't go back into a burning building unless you hope to find someone inside that is still alive.

The anthology covers a range of topics: There are clear and necessary explainers — like disability justice advocate and organizer Lydia X. Z. Brown's "Rebel — Don't Be Palatable: Resisting Co-optation and Fighting for the World We Want" — about what disability justice means, how we work towards it, and where such movements must resist both the pressures of systemic attacks (such as the threatened cuts to coverage expanded by the Affordable Care Act) and internal gatekeeping and horizontal oppression (such as a community member being silenced due to an unpopular or uninformed opinion). There are essays that involve the work of teaching towards a better future, such as community lawyer Talila A. Lewis's "the birth of resistance: courageous dreams, powerful nobodies & revolutionary madness" which opens with a creative classroom writing prompt: "The year is 2050. There are no prisons. What does justice look like?" And there are, too, personal meditations on what resistance looks like for people who don't always have the mobility or ability to march in the streets or confront their lawmakers in person, as Ojibwe writer Mari Kurisato explains:

"My resistance comes from who I am as a Native and as an LGBTQIA woman. Instinctively, the first step is reaching out and making connections across social media and MMO [massively multiplayer online] games, the only places where my social anxiety lets me interact with people on any meaningful level."

The authors of these essays mostly have a clear activist bent, and are working, lauded, active people; they are gracious, vivid parts of society. Editor Alice Wong demonstrates her own commitments in the diversity of these writers' lived experiences: they are people of color and Native folk, they encompass the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, they come from different class backgrounds, and their disabilities range widely. They are also incredibly hopeful: Their commitment to disability justice comes despite many being multiply marginalized. Artist and poet Noemi Martinez, who is queer, chronically ill, and a first generation American, writes that "Not all communities are behind me and my varied identities, but I defend, fight, and work for the rights of the members of all my communities." It cannot be easy to fight for those who oppress parts of you, and yet this is part of Martinez's commitment.

While people with disabilities have long been subjected to serve as "inspirations" for the non-disabled, this anthology's purpose is not to succumb to this gaze, even though its authors' drive, creativity, and true commitment to justice and reform is apparent. Instead, these essays are meant to spur disabled and non-disabled people alike into action, to remind us that even if we can't see the end result, it is the fight for equality and better conditions for us all that is worth it. As activist and MFA student Aleksei Valentin writes:

"Inspiration doesn't come first. Even hope doesn't come first. Action comes first. As we act, as we speak, as we resist, we find our inspiration, our hope, that which helps us inspire others and keep moving forward, no matter the setbacks and no matter the defeats."

Ilana Masad is an Israeli American fiction writer, critic and founder/host of the podcast The Other Stories . Her debut novel, All My Mother's Lovers, is forthcoming from Dutton in 2020.

Photo by Jerome Sessini/Magnum Photos

Am I disabled?

With my pen hovering over a form, there is no easy answer: better to provoke stigma with support, or resist classification.

by Joanne Limburg   + BIO

Do you consider yourself to be a disabled person?

Yes: ☐ No: ☐ Prefer not to say: ☐

Yes. Because forms like this – and questions like this – always throw me into confusion, and sometimes into complete mind-stoppage. You appear to be asking a closed question, but ‘consider’ is a word I would use to open up a question. Forms are full of such questions, presenting themselves as straightforward logic gates, which on closer inspection turn out to be impossibly multivalent. Rather like everyday speech. You haven’t been specific enough, so I’ll just have to throw everything at you – at least then some of it will be what you’re looking for.

Yes . Because I have a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), and that comes under the broad spectrum of conditions that are recognised as disabilities. If this form is part of a process that requires documentation, I can provide a copy of a detailed report by the psychologist from Britain’s free National Health Service who diagnosed me.

No . Because for the 42 of my 50 years that preceded my diagnosis, I was, as far as I knew, non-disabled, and it’s hard to shed such a well-established assumption about myself. For most of my life, I’ve been used to thinking of disabled people in the mainstream way – that is, in the third person. When I tick ‘yes’, I still can’t quite believe it. Even after eight years of paying close attention to disability scholarship and activism , when I picture disability, my mind still defaults to the stock images: the wheelchair symbol, the guide dog, the white stick, the prosthetic limb, the accessible toilet.

When I read the book Disability Theory (2008) by Tobin Siebers, I recognised that the representations to which my mind defaults are not direct representations of disabled people or their bodies, but metonymic representations – where the paraphernalia associated with disabled comes to stand for the people who use them. The disabled people whose paraphernalia is not so readily visible (the shunt, the stent, the colostomy bag, the anti-seizure or anti-inflammatory drugs, the blood-sugar monitors etc) cannot even offer any symbols to stand as proxies.

I’m thinking about one of those default images now: the painted wheelchair symbol that marks out a disabled parking space at a supermarket car park, and the figure on that wheelchair. The stick person appears fused to the wheelchair, suggesting not just that a disabled person can be only a person who uses a wheelchair, but is someone who cannot be separated from it.

T he wheelchair stick-figure seems to me to stand for a set of commonly held, largely unexamined beliefs about disability that go beyond the medical or naturalistic models used by clinicians, and usefully outlined by the philosopher Robert Chapman in the recent Routledge collection Neurodiversity Studies (2020). All the medical model requires is evidence of a body or a mind, which in form, function or both deviates from the statistical norm in a way that harms the disabled individual and puts them at a relative disadvantage. That stick person, fused to their chair, denuded of all other distinguishing characteristics, does quite a lot more. It equates disability with mobility impairment, yet it also suggests that a disabled person is one who is:

i) disabled to the same degree in the same way at all times and in all contexts

ii) nothing but their disability

A disabled person is always and only disabled.

Inside every Yes box is a flat, painted wheelchair stick-figure, asking me what I’m doing in their parking space.

No . Because, as the wheelchair-stick-figure implicitly seems to ask, why would anyone want to occupy a disabled space if they had a choice? Isn’t it better, if you can, to sneak out of it in able-bodied disguise, and pass for non-disabled? Why would you want to identify with an unheard, underdrawn wheelchair stick-figure, stuck helplessly to the tarmac, walked over and parked on and generally ignored? Why would you want to be the person who other people are grateful not to be? Why would you want to identify as one of The Most Vulnerable In Our Society – the group that exists to be rhetorically useful to politicians and campaigners, but who are rarely the main topic of speech, and always assumed to be unable to speak for themselves?

Why would you want to own up to an ‘underlying condition’ that apparently makes your death from unrelated causes less regrettable than someone else’s?

Why would you volunteer to be written off?

Why would you volunteer to be pitied?

Well, in that case, Prefer not to say.

I had naively thought that diagnosis would lead to lightening of the burden of social labour

Prefer not to say. Because although, on paper, the purpose of saying Yes is to access the support I require (which I am legally entitled to as a documented disabled person) and also to spare me the debilitating labour involved in passing for non-disabled, in practice it tends to mean swapping one kind of labour for another. This is the labour involved in accounting for the difference between what people believe about autistic people and what they believe they are seeing in me.

Like many autistic people – particularly those who, like me, have gone through most of our lives knowing that we were different but not knowing why – I have absorbed the lesson that it is safer to pass if one possibly can, and I’ve grown accustomed to putting in a great deal of exhausting effort in order to do so, with the result that if I disclose my autism I am often met with comments such as:

‘I would never have known.’

‘But you don’t look autistic.’

‘But you make eye contact.’

‘But I don’t find you hard to get on with.’

‘But you’re nothing like my son/sister/cousin/clients/pupils…’

Even the person who assessed me for Disabled Students’ Allowances a few years ago felt the need to point out that I ‘wasn’t like most of the people’ they saw. They also expressed surprise that I’d completed my first degree, commenting: ‘I would have expected someone with your profile to have dropped out.’

Then there was the fundraiser who phoned me on behalf of an autism charity I’d supported, to ask if I would increase my regular donation. After we’d been talking for several minutes, she asked what my connection to autism was, perhaps expecting something like ‘I have a child who…’ or ‘a brother who…’ or ‘I work with…’, because when I disclosed that the autistic person concerned was the one she was talking to, I could feel her shock down the line as she said: ‘Well, you are obviously managing OK, but as you know, there are many other autistic people who…’

On both occasions, I felt like apologising. I had naively thought that diagnosis would lead to lightening of the burden of social labour; instead, I seemed to have replaced the labour involved in passing for non-disabled with the labour of dealing with other people’s discomfort when I chose not to pass.

Prefer not to say. Because people aren’t just surprised or uncomfortable, but often actively suspicious. In the cultural imagination, a claim of disability is a demand for something – extra effort, extra attention, extra resources; or for something special – special treatment, special favours, special dispensations. To be disabled is to put other people to more than ordinary trouble.

The legislation around disability is based on the principle that what is being asked for is no more than the reasonable adjustments required to allow the disabled person to live, work and learn on the same terms as anyone else. It is supposed to be about ensuring equality, not bestowing scarce and unearned social goods. In practice, though, disabled needs are treated as ‘special’, and the support is offered as ‘additional’. Special, additional and, from a capitalist point of view, a poor investment, since disabled bodies are rarely the most productive. When even the most visibly disabled people are seen as non-productive burdens, any such claim to identity inevitably calls up images of a cultural bogeyman or woman: the attention-seeking, trouble-making, fraudulent scrounger.

In the UK, over the past 10 years, successive governments have used the figure of the scrounger to justify cuts in public spending, intensifying the atmosphere of suspicion and resentment around disabled people and their needs. You can be verbally abused for using a disabled parking space when you don’t use a stick or wheelchair, and confronted if you’re using a wheelchair simply to conserve limited energy, and then have the nerve to quit it for a brief moment. It was not paranoia, but a fear of being publicly shamed that caused a friend of mine with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) to remain in her airport wheelchair, even when the mutual friend who’d offered to push her nearly forgot her and left her behind at passport control. That same reasonable fear of being shamed makes me hesitate when I have to fill in a form. If I am going to ask for support, or resources, or accommodations that are extra or special or additional or different (as opposed to what I need so as to do everyday things most people take for granted) ­– if I am going to put everyone to that trouble, then I should at least look like I need it, and I can’t promise that I will.

Y ou asked if I considered myself to be disabled but, as you can see, one of the reasons why that’s such a tricky question is that, before I answer it, I’m trying to calculate the relative merits of Yes, No and Prefer not to say based on my best guess about what you think disability is, what you think it looks like, and how you’ll treat me, based on my answer. Just like I calculate whether it’s worth responding to every unkind, untrue and damaging comment I see or hear about autism. Just like I calculate whether going into any given social situation will be worth the tiredness and the effort of processing and checking my performance for hours or days after the event. Just like I calculate whether I have enough social energy to interact with the person I’ve recognised on the other side of the road, or whether I should put my head down and pretend I haven’t seen them.

It’s an exhausting and dispiriting business. In fact, it’s – Yes – disabling. But what’s disabling about my condition can’t easily be disentangled from what is disabling about the effort it takes to manage it – and to manage other people’s responses to it as well. I have certain traits that seem to fit the medical model of disability, and which could be considered impairments – that is, unfortunate deviations from statistical normal functioning. For example, the fact that spoken words sometimes fail me (written ones don’t, which is why I became a writer – it is as much a compensation for my weaknesses as it is an expression of my strengths); the fact that my auditory processing sometimes lets me down causing other people’s speech to hit my ear in the first instance as just noise, with the meaning kicking in a beat or two later; the fact that I can’t cope with crowds; the fact that I’m almost place blind, and need help to not get lost; the fact that I experience problems with executive function, which don’t affect my writing, but make it very hard for me to sit down and initiate a writing session, or make myself lunch, or get myself out of bed, or into the shower; the fact that I have trouble getting to sleep; the fact that I can’t cope with noise, light touch, the smell of certain perfumes, the texture of certain fabrics, or the texture of some foods; the fact that I’m never quite sure where I am in space.

These things are all real, and they are the sort of answers you’re looking for when you look at me behaving nicely, and ask: ‘But how does it manifest itself ?’ (You have no business asking that, by the way, but I’ve calculated that it’s less trouble to throw you a bone than have you disbelieve me and suspect me of a false claim to some kind of special attention.)

But that is not the most distressing thing. Dealing with you – that’s the most distressing thing.

If a wheelchair user fails to get into a building, this is a failure not of their body, but of the building’s design

If by ‘disability’, you mean the social model, then it’s a definite, unambiguous, unhesitant Yes. The social model was formulated by a network of British disabled activists, the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS), in the early 1970s. It is explicitly critical of the conventional, medical model, which sees disability as synonymous with impairment. As they wrote in their ‘Fundamental Principles of Disability’ (1975):

In our view, it is society which disables physically impaired people. Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments, by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society. Disabled people are therefore an oppressed group in society.

The social model distinguishes between the impairment, which is a property of the individual, and the disability, for which society is responsible. To take one commonly used example: if a wheelchair user fails to get into a building, this is a failure not of their body, but of the building’s design. From this perspective, the harms associated with disability come from societal forces, from marginalisation and stigmatisation. Disability, then, becomes a political matter, an issue of structural oppression.

The social model sits well with the neurodiversity paradigm, which arose in response to the medical model of autism – the one that, as Chapman points out, defines all our characteristic cognitive, emotional, behavioural and sensory traits in terms of deficits. As Steve Silberman explains in NeuroTribes (2015), the term ‘neurodiversity’ was first coined in the 1990s by the Australian sociologist Judy Singer, after her daughter was diagnosed with Asperger’s and she began to recognise traits in herself. Since then, the use of the word has proliferated, and so have its definitions. One that I find useful, as articulated by Chapman, explains the neurodiversity paradigm as:

the theoretical and ideological shift towards reframing those who fall outside neurocognitive norms as ‘neuro-minorities’ marginalised by a ‘neuronormative’ organisation of society in favour of the ‘neurotypical’ rather than as a matter of individual medical pathology.

Adopting this paradigm isn’t only a matter of changing the way we describe autism. The pathologising of autistic traits has serious real-world consequences. There are parents so appalled by the prospect of having an autistic child that they knowingly expose their children to infectious diseases – potentially fatal ones – because they have been led to believe that vaccination causes autism. When a difference is stigmatised to that degree, it has a wretched effect on the mental health of those who bear it: Sarah Cassidy, a psychologist now at the University of Nottingham, writing for the UK National Autistic Society, draws attention to recent studies that have found alarmingly high rates of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide among autistic adults. Neurodiversity means that I don’t have to apologise for being myself and that parents don’t have to apologise for their children. It means that we’re not walking tragedies and that we don’t belong in the bin.

Yes. Because identifying as disabled has enabled me to accept myself, to acknowledge my limitations and my particular difficulties without shame. In a just society, it should be possible for everyone to assert their right to live and thrive without editing out those parts of themselves that are difficult or challenging, and without recourse to the ‘hardship-denying’ rhetoric that can limit the usefulness of both the social model and the neurodiversity paradigm.

C hapman has extended the value-neutral model of physical disability proposed by the feminist philosopher Elizabeth Barnes and applied it to cognitive disabilities, distinguishing between ‘local’ and ‘global’ wellbeing, where local refers to ‘wellbeing in some specific sense and specific time’, and global refers to ‘wellness on the whole’. While it is undeniable that there are aspects of both physical and cognitive disability that can affect local wellbeing, Chapman notes that Barnes is keen to point out that there is also a great deal of empirical research to indicate that ‘physical disability precisely does not tend to make global wellbeing worse, even though stigma and marginalisation do.’ The same could be said for intellectual disability, and for autism.

Yes . Because now that I understand that it is stigma and marginalisation that threaten my wellbeing, I can use that full self-acceptance as the basis for positive action, and begin to strive for proper accommodations, self-respect and dignity, not only for me as an individual, but also as member of a minority group – at 15 per cent globally, a large and significant one. It’s about claiming visibility as a disabled person, in a world where, as the disability activist Sandy Ho writes: ‘The erasure of disabled people is one of the most common international crimes against humanity.’

To counter this erasure, to counter the reduction of a huge, diverse and creative community to a two-dimensional painted symbol, disabled people continue to reach across the boundaries of the separate spaces that our different diagnoses place us in, and work together. In this short space, I’ve been able to reference only a tiny proportion of the disabled writers, scholars and activists whose work and visible presence – in journalism, on social media – have helped me find my place in the world and understand the work I need to do in it. As Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, states in the introduction to her anthology Disability Visibility (2020): ‘ Community is political … Community is magic … Community is power … Community is resistance … ’

I’ve come to understand that when I pass as non-disabled, when I say No , the best that I can hope to be is an inferior version of an ideal of normality that allows only for the narrowest range of body types, cognitive styles and life trajectories, that equates the worth of a person with her economic productivity, that fetishes independence and disavows our connections to each other, and that seeks to discriminate arbitrarily between those who are allowed their full humanity and those who are denied it.

So, to return to your initial question:

History of ideas

Baffled by human diversity

Confused 17th-century Europeans argued that human groups were separately created, a precursor to racist thought today

Jacob Zellmer

Archaeology

Beyond kingdoms and empires

A revolution in archaeology is transforming our picture of past populations and the scope of human freedoms

David Wengrow

Meaning and the good life

Philosophy was once alive

I was searching for meaning and purpose so I became an academic philosopher. Reader, you might guess what happened next

Pranay Sanklecha

History of technology

Learning to love monsters

Windmills were once just machines on the land but now seem delightfully bucolic. Could wind turbines win us over too?

Stephen Case

Biography and memoir

The adoption paradox

Even happy families cannot avoid the reality – my reality – that adoption is predicated on transacting the life of a child

Fiona Sampson

Pleasure and pain

Me versus myself

I work against myself through procrastination, distraction and addiction. Why do I consistently sabotage my own life?

Eliane Glaser

• Skip to main content
• Skip to secondary menu
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

A Plus Topper

Improve your Grades

Disability Essay | Essay on Disabled Person, People With Disabilities, Concept of Disability in Media

December 22, 2021 by Prasanna

Disability Essay: The definition of “disability” is not set in stone. It can vary quite a bit depending on how it is being broken down. This means we can group disabilities under some general themes, but sometimes, there are situations that do not fit neatly into these categories. For example, most disabilities are thought of as orthopedic disabilities, that is, disabilities involving the body and its functions.

However, there is also what is called ” cognitive disability.” This is not something people think of as easily, because in most cases the disability is invisible. But although this type of “disability” has no outward appearances, it can and does affect a great many people. As the labels imply, “cognitive disability” refers to conditions or diseases of the brain. The most well known type of cognitive disability is Alzheimer’s disease, which is an irreversible, progressive mental deterioration that usually begins with old age.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Diverse Nature of Disabilities

As discussed above, disability is a multifaceted and complex state, and may extend to: cognitive function, sensory impairment, physical, self-care limitation, and social functioning impairment. Disabling conditions may be acquired as a result of genetics/chromosomal abnormalities or as a consequence of environmental agents. As noted, the condition may be c (e.g., back pain that requires physical therapy) or irremediable (loss of a limb due to an accident). Coping with disability is hard, especially when you live alone and need to rely on yourself for everything. But the key thing to remember is that disability affects everyone in different ways. It’s very rare that two people will experience the same exact disability due to the diverse nature of disabilities.

Concept of Disability in Media

It’s pretty rare to see disability depicted accurately in the media, to be honest. And even if disability is portrayed accurately, it usually isn’t in a very graphic way. More often than not, the media attempts to tell the story of disabled people without actually portraying disabled people . There is a lot of work that needs to be done for the public to understand disability. For example, most media will never portray a person with a real disability in a leading role.

Are the Jobs and Environments open to Disabled People?

Some of the occupations you are considering are likely conducted in an environment that is restricted or even inaccessible to disabled people. For example, many administrative roles are conducted within a chair-free office setting. This may make it impossible for someone who is mobility impaired, has joint problems, or suffers from arthritis to take up this position.

Moreover, you may be surprised to learn that a number of occupations are physically taxing and the nature of the work puts the worker into vulnerable positions. Such environments are undoubtedly  difficult for individuals with physical disability. For example, a person who is visually impaired or otherwise has difficulty moving around in the workplace may not have the ability to physically reach items safely. This can lead to accidents that can result in injuries or even loss of life.

How do People with Disabilities Live a Full-Filling Life?

You might think that people with disabilities live very full-filling lives, but in reality, often they don’t. It’s quite hard for them to find job opportunities in the workforce. They may also find it difficult to do many simple, day-to-day tasks. Nevertheless, one of the best things is to find joy by strengthening relationships in all aspects of your life – reaching out to others and making an effort to take care of yourself. Volunteering or doing activities that interest you, even if you are disabled is also a good way to keep yourself engaged. Regardless, with proper training and motivation, people with disabilities can live a fulfilling life.

Social isolation is a major problem for many people because a life with disabilities can be quite lonely. Such people should develop a support system to counteract this problem. One solution to this problem is social media – this is due to the fact that social media is an easy way to make new friends because everyone from all over the world has access to the internet. People with neurological symptoms could make use of treatment from a psychiatrist to help reduce anxiety, stress and depression. Early intervention can be effective particularly to children with disabilities and in order to deal with this issue, substantial support should be provided by family members.

A Few Tips for Living With a Disability

The U.S. Census Bureau counts approximately 34-37 million people, or roughly 10% of the population, as living with a disability in the United States as of 2014. These people experience anything from hearing or muscular limitations to paralysis and cognitive challenges. It’s only logical that there is a lot going on in our day-to-day life that we do to cope with these limits and remain happy and successful. If you’re living with a disability yourself, here a few tips that might help a bit:

• Always treat yourself with respect and self-love. While people might not always treat you the way you deserve to be treated, always be kind and understanding towards yourself, because you’re truly half of life’s happiness.
• Make sure your surroundings are safe for you. For example, if stairs are a real challenge for you, make sure your apartment is on the ground floor or at least the first floor.
• Budget your day to strengthen your sense of purpose. For example, if going out and socializing makes you feel good and can be done in a way that doesn’t make you feel too exhausted, try to plan the week ahead in such a way that one of the days is reserved for that purpose. Remember to leave yourself a little energy reserve to rest!
• Remember, people around will be there for you .
• The experience of being alone can also be positive if you do it in a way that is meaningful and enjoyable for you . For example, painting, playing guitar, writing stories, watching a movie, etc.
• Remember that you are not a machine and learn to care better for yourself and become aware of your own limits when it comes to physical, emotional and mental energy.

Conclusion on Disability Essay

Being disabled can affect many aspects of life. Moreover, most places are not easily accessible to those with disabilities – transportation, public amenities, and more. Even employment opportunities are limited, though some institutions will have certain reservations for the disabled in place. Regardless, there are ways to make our world more accessible for those with disabilities. First off, it is important to educate the general population on what they can do to help combat this issue. Raising awareness and educating others is paramount. Those with disabilities should not be “fixed” but rather accommodated.

A good place to start is by teaching schools how to accommodate those with physical disabilities, then encourage children who are differently abled that they can still make a contribution to society. The same applies for workplaces where employers need to reevaluate their cultural perspective so as not to be discriminatory against disabled employees (some laws against workplace discrimination do exist and are published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).

FAQ’s on Disability Essay

Question 1. What is a disability?

Answer: Disability means that you have a physical or mental impairment, which changes how your body works. The impairments can affect things like your bones, muscles, brain, sight, hearing, speech, movement or the way you think. When you first find out that you have a disability, it can be an overwhelming experience.

Question 2. How to cope with a disability?

Answer: The following are some tips for how to cope with a disability: 1) Get educated on disabilities and disabilities rights. 2) Seek out support from family, friends, and professionals. 3) Join a self-advocacy group or other social group related to your condition. 4) Save money for the future by saving part of your income and/or getting financial assistance from the government or private organizations. 5) Prepare for emergencies by making lists of emergency contacts and creating an emergency plan with your family members or friends.

Question 3. What are examples of disability?

Answer: The following are examples of disability:

• Conduction Deafness
• Visual Impairments
• Motor Impairments
• Cerebral Palsy
• Polio Disease
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Picture Dictionary
• English Speech
• English Slogans
• English Letter Writing
• English Essay Writing
• English Textbook Answers
• Types of Certificates
• ICSE Solutions
• Selina ICSE Solutions
• ML Aggarwal Solutions
• HSSLive Plus One
• HSSLive Plus Two
• Kerala SSLC
• Distance Education

November 2023: Engage Britain has now merged with Demos. You can still find all our work from 2019-2023 here, but to get in touch or find out about our new ventures, go to https://demos.co.uk/

Cookies from Engage Britain

We use cookies to make sure our site is secure and to enable basic functionality. By using this site, you consent to these. We also use third party cookies to analyse how the site is used (so we can continue to make it better), to help us share relevant content with users and to enable social media functionality.  

• Review settings related to cookie consent in more detail
• Reject all extra cookies
• Accept selected extra cookies
• Accept all extra cookies

In 2021, nearly 700 people across Britain took part in online conversations to talk about their experiences of health and care. Here’s what Disabled people, neurodiverse people and their loved ones said about their experiences.

• Disabled people, neurodiverse people and their loved ones feel treated like second class citizens
• It is possible to get support but often it is a struggle
• People go unsupported if they do not have someone that is able to help them explore, request and challenge care provision
• Disabled and neurodiverse people want a level of support that will allow them to have things others take for granted, like a social life
• The health and care systems are disconnected and constantly firefighting crises, which stops Disabled and neurodiverse people getting the long-term support they need. Read more

Disabled people, neurodiverse people and their loved ones’ experiences with health and care

• Bookmark “I don’t think they look at the emotional impact” Bookmark
• like “I don’t think they look at the emotional impact” 2 I can relate to this
• Bookmark The main communication we got was our letter Bookmark
• like The main communication we got was our letter 3 I can relate to this

• Bookmark “Listen to the patient all the time” Bookmark
• like “Listen to the patient all the time” 1 I can relate to this
• Bookmark My general experience of social care is misunderstandings Bookmark
• like My general experience of social care is misunderstandings 3 I can relate to this

• Bookmark “Listen to the voice of experience from those that live it” Bookmark
• like “Listen to the voice of experience from those that live it” 1 I can relate to this
• Bookmark Someone who is dyslexic and autistic having to refer themselves to social services Bookmark
• like Someone who is dyslexic and autistic having to refer themselves to social services 3 I can relate to this
• Bookmark She’s got a really good plan Bookmark
• like She’s got a really good plan 2 I can relate to this

Do you have something to say on this topic? There’s a number of ways you can get involved, from submitting quick 2 minute answers to sharing your story by video.

You may also be interested in these themes

We share people’s experiences because we want people making decisions to hear from people who live with those decisions every day. But we know some of this experiential content can be difficult to watch. If you’ve been affected by anything you’ve seen, heard or read here please consider getting in touch with these  organisations that can help .

To help preserve people’s anonymity, real names haven’t been used on quotes.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Sunday Letters

Living With Disability

Several readers discuss how their lives have been changed, for better and worse.

To the Editor: Re “ Becoming Disabled ,” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson (Sunday Review, Aug. 21): Growing up, I was one of the only visibly disabled people in my public grade school and high school. But I never considered “disabled” as an identity. I thought disability was something to be ashamed of, or a weakness — that everyone with a disability wanted to be fixed, and that wasn’t me at all. I loved who I was, and had pride in my identity even if I didn’t recognize it in that way.

Social media and the internet changed things for me. I was able to connect with other disabled individuals and see how they felt about their identity. I found communities online where there were heated and engaging conversations about what it means to have a disability in a world that isn’t built for us in mind. That’s when I proudly labeled myself disabled.

There are certain symptoms of my disabilities that I have difficulty navigating: the pain, the anxiety and breathing problems. But would I change who I am, would I take away my disability? No. Being disabled is too linked to my humanity, to my empathy and my strength. It dictates my relationships with others. What I’ve experienced in life is a story worth telling, and road worth following, despite how society tries to tell us otherwise. I would proudly live this life again if I could.

ERIN HAWLEY

Keyport, N.J.

To the Editor: As I lay in my hospital bed 37 years ago, having lost my right leg above the knee as a result of being hit by a bus, my very talented and wise orthopedic surgeon said something that was hard to comprehend then, but that has meant more to me as the years have passed: “We are all just temporarily able-bodied.” He was right, of course, but able-bodied is certainly a nuanced state, dependent on so many things.

Ms. Garland-Thomson, when she describes how we “move in and out of disability in our lifetimes,” characterizes that nuanced state. When do any of us feel “perfect”? Because I wear a prosthetic leg, does that necessarily make me less able-bodied than the other 62-year-old person walking toward me on the sidewalk? It may appear that way to most people, but if I don’t have the serious heart ailment that this other person has, who is more disabled? It’s all a question of appearance in many cases, and that is a nuance we need to be aware of.

I have felt throughout these adult years of my life — marrying, raising three children, going to work — that perhaps those observing me (and disabled people are “observed”) may see that having this disability is perhaps different but maybe not as different as they may have thought. Thank you, Professor Garland-Thomson, for your insightful, thought-provoking and uplifting essay.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

My Problem With College Admissions Essays as a Disabled Person

As a 20-year-old transfer student who spent a summer studying abroad, dragging out the old same elegized story of my life as a young person “robbed of a normal carefree youth” is a bit boring. I’m tired of hearing my story, too. The story isn’t untrue or unworthy of being heard; it’s just so often associated with the disabled community that it becomes the only story expected of me. The disabled community is the largest marginalized minority in the world. There are many narratives worthy of being told, but so often they are overlooked for the inspiration porn , instantly shareable Facebook headlines.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good overcoming adversity story. These stories are valid and so important. The essays I write for those college admissions boards, outside of how my disability affects my life, are not necessarily a Penguin Classics level work ready to be sent off to the closest corporate bookstore. The essay I try to write focuses more on my personal journey of self-discovery that genuinely starts out with “I’m a cliche” and goes on to wax poetic about the magic of soul searching. But when does the disabled community get to stop “overcoming adversity” and allow members to be known as individuals? My multiple sclerosis is an important part of my life, but as I’m sure many disabled kids who have applied to college can attest: it’s also the hardest to make sound not boring.

Personally, before I was diagnosed my life was a whole lot of sleeping all day, then vomiting if I ate anything. Really fun to relive as you beg a school for scholarship money, right? This is why I wholeheartedly believe college application essays are inherently ableist. I understand my privilege in this world as someone who was diagnosed later in her youth and was fortunate enough to have opportunities — like study abroad, or even being able to afford my medical care.

This is not what colleges want to hear about, though. Sure, maybe under the veil of how my disability affects such experiences and how I overcame it. (Spoiler: Sometimes I don’t; life for disabled people isn’t endless amounts of awe-inspiring obstacle climbing.) The personhood of any disabled person cannot be boiled down to one label. A disabled life is more than just one bad thing after another, so let me revel in the good once in a while.

Now, excuse me as I finish my Common App essay with this last line of lamenting my disabled experience. Hey, I still need that scholarship money.

We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor  here .

Image by contributor.

My journey to self-acceptance as disabled was full of realizations about what labels are and who gets to define them. I am disabled with a lot to say and not talented enough to join a punk band.

Essay on Respect For Persons With Disability

Students are often asked to write an essay on Respect For Persons With Disability in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Respect For Persons With Disability

Understanding disabilities.

Disability is a term used when a person’s physical or mental abilities are not like most people. This does not mean they are less important. People with disabilities can do many things just like anyone else. They might just do them differently.

Respecting Differences

Respect means treating people with kindness and understanding. It’s important to respect people with disabilities. They have the same feelings and rights as everyone else. They deserve to be treated fairly and equally.

Showing Respect

There are many ways to show respect to people with disabilities. One way is by being patient. Another way is by learning about their disability. This can help you understand their needs better.

Importance of Inclusion

Inclusion means including everyone in activities. It’s important to include people with disabilities in all things. This shows respect and helps them feel accepted. It also helps others learn about different abilities.

Ending Discrimination

250 words essay on respect for persons with disability.

Disability is a condition that can make some activities harder for a person. People with disabilities might need to use a wheelchair or need extra help with learning. But they are just like everyone else and deserve the same respect.

Respect means treating others the way you want to be treated. It’s about accepting people as they are. When we meet someone with a disability, we should not feel sorry for them. Instead, we should respect their abilities and strengths.

Being Kind and Helpful

Kindness is a simple way to show respect. If a person with a disability needs help, we can offer it. But remember, we should always ask first. They may want to do things on their own.

Using Polite Words

We should always use polite words when talking about disabilities. For example, we say ‘people with disabilities’ and not ‘disabled people’. This way, we focus on the person, not the disability.

Learning Together

We can learn a lot from people with disabilities. They often have to find new ways to do things. This can teach us about problem-solving and creativity.

500 Words Essay on Respect For Persons With Disability

Understanding respect.

Respect means to show regard or consideration towards someone or something. It’s a way of treating or thinking about something or someone. If you respect someone, you accept that they are different and valuable in their own way.

Understanding Disability

Disability is a term that we use when a person has certain limits in doing things that most of us can do easily. These limits could be in hearing, seeing, moving, learning, or even in social situations. It’s important to remember that disability is just a different way of living and not a disease.

Respect for Persons with Disability

Why it’s important.

Respect for persons with disability is important for many reasons. Firstly, it helps them feel valued and included. When they are treated with respect, they feel good about themselves and their abilities. They are more likely to be confident and happy.

Secondly, it helps us grow as individuals and as a society. When we show respect to persons with disability, we learn to appreciate diversity and understand that everyone has a role to play in the world. It makes us more compassionate and understanding.

How to Show Respect

Another way is by being patient and understanding. If they take longer to do something, or if they do it differently, we should not make fun or get annoyed. We should understand that they are doing their best.

We can also show respect by including them in our activities. We should invite them to join in games, discussions, and other social activities. This shows that we value their participation and enjoy their company.

Respect for persons with disability is not just about being nice. It’s about understanding and accepting their unique experiences and contributions. It’s about treating them as equals and making sure they feel included and valued. By showing respect, we can help build a more understanding and compassionate society.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Disabled People: Problems and Challenges Report (Assessment)

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

People with disabilities of varied nature constitute a significant percentage of the population in many countries. Developing countries face more problems as a result of poverty. People with disabilities continue to face problems in relation to marginalization by societies and therefore face barriers to their involvement in communal activities. Disabled persons are entitled to exercise their social, civil, economic, cultural and political rights on equal basis with others and hence current debate and issues surrounding disabled people include political and social rights, citizenship and social inclusion. Efforts of looking for effective ways to ensure that disabled people can fully participate in society issues and make their contribution in all spheres of life have been realized.

Disabled people face many challenges in visiting several public places such as shopping malls and food courts especially if these places are not designed to facilitate their easy movement. If we first begin by looking at parking spaces usually reserved for disabled persons in shopping malls and food courts. The first challenge facing disabled persons going on a shopping trip is finding a handicapped accessible parking spot. Disabled people spend lots of time looking for parking spaces reserved for them since they are normally limited. Other motorists who can be described as unkind park their vehicles in disabled people spots making the situation worse. However other shopping malls have several parking spots reserved for disabled motorists and management have developed rules and regulations that are used to discourage other motorist parking in spots designated for the disabled. The front parking spots closest to the shopping mall should have been given to disabled persons but instead they are given on first come first served basis to able bodied people while the spots for the handicapped are put on the sides. Entrances to shopping malls should be designed to cater for the disabled but in several instances it does not favor the handicapped. Entrances to malls have to have handicapped accessible cuts in their side walks in order to allow access for wheel chairs. Disabled people have to use the cuts in the side walk since they are unable to use the steps. Though some shopping malls my have these cuts, they are located off to the sides far away from the entrance instead of close to the entrance making it uncomfortable for the handicapped. Shopping mall owned wheel chairs are located at the customer desk far inside the mall instead of being placed at the entrance to facilitate easy movement of the handicapped. Several stores are not handicapped accessible considering their design for example isles are not large enough to allow wheel chair to move through. Shopping for clothing is not a good experience for the disabled. Though there are shopping malls that have handicapped accessible dressing rooms, several of them lack this important facility. In stores that lack this facility, it would be difficult for the disabled to try fitting clothes as it would be difficult to access fitting rooms that are not wheel chair accessible. Visiting the rest room is another challenging experience for shopping malls and food courts that have no handicapped accessible rest rooms.

From the above assessment, there are so many difficulties that disabled persons encounter in moving around in public places. Business and public places such as shopping malls and food courts should be made more accessible to the handicapped. More handicapped facilities such as handicapped accessible fitting rooms, rest rooms and parking spots should be encouraged and increased in number to make the disabled comfortable in their daily lives just as the able bodied people do. Legislation should be developed to ensure that all public places are made accessible to the disabled and designing of places not accessible to the disabled should be discouraged completely.

• St. John's Home of the Handicapped
• Non-Disabled Activists Should Not Campaign for the Liberties of Disabled People
• Shopping Mall Setting Observations
• Misrepresentation Under Contract Law
• Building of Conscious and United Community
• Wearing a Mask Outside on Campus: Problem & Action
• Disability Equality of a Disabled Lone Parent
• “The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors in the General Population” by Joyal and Carpentier
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, March 12). Disabled People: Problems and Challenges. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disabled-people-problems-and-challenges/

"Disabled People: Problems and Challenges." IvyPanda , 12 Mar. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/disabled-people-problems-and-challenges/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Disabled People: Problems and Challenges'. 12 March.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Disabled People: Problems and Challenges." March 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disabled-people-problems-and-challenges/.

1. IvyPanda . "Disabled People: Problems and Challenges." March 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disabled-people-problems-and-challenges/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Disabled People: Problems and Challenges." March 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/disabled-people-problems-and-challenges/.

People with disabilities essay

Disability is one of the most important issues in the contemporary society because stigmatization of people with disabilities contributed to the formation of biases and prejudices which put them into the disadvantageous position compared to people, who did not have problems of disability. Such biases and prejudices contributed to the discrimination of people with disabilities which has been eliminated consistently since the emergence of the Civil Rights movement and introduction of legal changes, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Nevertheless, today, the problem of people with disabilities and their discrimination persists because many biases and prejudices are resilient. In this regard, education is particularly vulnerable to the problem of the integration of students with disabilities into the learning process since the modern education system attempts to provide equal opportunities for all students, eliminating the discrimination of students with disabilities. Moreover, the modern education system confronts another problem, the problem of students with excessive abilities, who also face problems with the integration into the classroom environment and development of positive relations with their peers. In such a way, the concept of disability/ability is fulcrum of the contemporary education system in relation to students interaction and elimination of discrimination of students based on abilities/disabilities.

Disability is the complex notion that involves limited opportunities and special needs of people but it does not mean the inferiority of individuals compared to those, who do not have disability. At the same time, ability is a set of skills, knowledge and opportunities to exercise them to perform specific tasks. In such a situation, the risk of the widening gap between individuals with disabilities and those, who do not have them because disability can limit opportunities for individuals to exercise their knowledge, skills and opportunities to the full extent, while those, who do not have disabilities, can take the full advantage of their skills, knowledge and opportunities (Kudlick, 2005). In this regard, the attitude of the social environment to people with disabilities may be crucial for their social standing and opportunities to stand on the equal ground for others.

One of the major challenges people with disabilities face is the challenge in their professional training and development. Disability may limit learning abilities of individuals that prevent them from obtaining the target education and making a successful career. For example, many students with learning disabilities, such as ASD, have difficulties with learning that prevent them from successful learning. In such a situation, they cannot complete their education just like other students do, while the lack of education limits their career opportunities consistently. On the other hand, many researchers (Mansell, 2003) point out that students with disabilities may be as successful as other students, while some students may be even more successful than the average student in certain subjects.

In such a situation, disability may be a substantial obstacle on the way to the professional development of individuals and to their career. On the other hand, often it is not the disability proper but the prejudice of employers that becomes an obstacle on the way of people with disabilities. However, such discrimination tends to disappear due to legal changes, including the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and current policies aiming at the inclusion of disabled people. In this regard, the discrimination of people with disabilities persists because the power of prejudices and biases is very strong.

At the same time, educators should be aware of special needs of students with disabilities. They should understand that students with disabilities are no different from other students but they have special needs, which educators should match to help them to succeed in their learning and reach a considerable academic progress just like other students do. In fact, students with disabilities are not inferior compared to their peers but they just have special needs. For example, some researchers (Mansell, 2003) admit that even children with serious mental disabilities may be integrated in the learning process successfully on the condition of meeting needs of those students but the problem is that educators are not trained to work with such students. This is why they have difficulties while working with students with disabilities and the integration of students into the learning process and into their peer groups becomes quite difficult.

On the other hand, the modern education focuses on such issues as Knowledge, Enquiry, Empathy, Pluralism, Social Commitment to prevent the problem of discrimination of students with disabilities and to set educators free from their biases and prejudices in relation to students with disabilities. Knowledge is essential for educators to understand needs of students with disabilities. The enquiry is essential for the research of latest advancements in the field of education and exploration of the problem of disability. The empathy is essential for educators to treat students with disabilities, which educators should treat on the equal ground compared to other students. The pluralism is essential for educators to develop the personalized approach to each students, regardless of their abilities and disabilities. The social commitment is essential for educators to treat students with disabilities as an integral part of the school community. The social commitment means that educators should serve to interests of the community and help students with disabilities to integrate into their communities and help communities to accept children with disabilities as equal community members.

At the same time, there is another issue related to abilities, which often remains unnoticed by educators and researchers, which is the issue of excessive abilities. What is meant here is the fact that some students are gifted in certain fields, which make them different from other students and, to a certain extent, put them in the position similar to the position of students with disabilities (Enns, 2013). Excessive abilities lead to the focus of students on the specific subject, which is particularly interesting for them and where they are particularly successful. For example, gifted students may be successful in math that will put them in quite a challenging position. On the one hand, conventional math classes will be boring for them because instructions educators provide for other students may be not even necessary for gifted students, who understand those instructions perfectly and know more than other students, while their math skills may match standards which are normally attributed to higher grades. As a result, such students feel bored with the classroom environment and the learning process because math classes are not interesting for them because they do not contribute to their progress that discourages them from paying much attention to their math class. This trend can be traced in relation to other subjects, which gifted students may be particularly strong in.

On the other hand, gifted students may have difficulties with developing positive interpersonal relations with their peers. In fact, peers may feel the difference of gifted students because of their excessive abilities that may lead to the development of the sense of inferiority-superiority in relationships between the average and gifted students. In addition, gifted students may stay too focused on their favorite subjects or particular interests that also prevent them from developing positive interpersonal relations with other students. In such a way, students with excessive abilities have difficulties with building up positive interpersonal relationships with other students just like students with disabilities.

Thus, the concept of ability/disability turns out to be pivotal for the modern education system and society at large because it influences consistently the development of students and position of individuals with disabilities and excessive abilities. In this regard, disability and excessive ability are two extremes which may raise problems in the personal and professional development of individuals because they face the risk of the development of poor interpersonal relations with their peers. At the same time, both students with disabilities and excessive abilities need the integration into their classroom environment and development of positive interpersonal relationships with their peers.

Do you like this essay?

Our writers can write a paper like this for you!

Order your paper here .

Home / Essay Samples / Life / About Myself / A Day in My Life

A Day in My Life

• Category: Life
• Topic: About Myself

Pages: 1 (466 words)

• Downloads: -->

--> ⚠️ Remember: This essay was written and uploaded by an--> click here.

Found a great essay sample but want a unique one?

are ready to help you with your essay

You won’t be charged yet!

Ambition Essays

Laughter Essays

Loneliness Essays

Honor Essays

Anger Essays

Related Essays

We are glad that you like it, but you cannot copy from our website. Just insert your email and this sample will be sent to you.

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service  and  Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Your essay sample has been sent.

In fact, there is a way to get an original essay! Turn to our writers and order a plagiarism-free paper.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->