(Photo credited to Tracie Kaska)
For the past couple of years, I thought that I was. When I was looking for work and disclosed my disability to certain employers, I could see their faces fall, I could see how much collateral I would be for their company. None of them saw my potential. All they saw was the one thing I couldn't help.
In that time, I watched my parents finances tank. They were struggling more and more to make ends meet and I somehow felt it was my fault. That, because I was alive, I was taking up their resources.
But the truth is? It wasn't my fault. It was through their own choices. And not getting work when I was looking for it gave me another opportunity that most do not have.
Sure, having the income and something to do during the day would've been nice, but I was already struggling internally and I was so emotionally erratic that just adding work to the stress would've just made it worse. It also isn't my fault that I was turned away from work because of my disability. I know I have worth and I deserve value and I would rather work at a place that sees me as the person that I am then the label that I had no hand in making.
I am not a burden. My disability isn't something I asked for, and it isn't my identity. It is not an excuse for people's ignorance or refusal to accommodate for another human being.
Because that's what we all are- human beings. We all have our challenges and we shouldn't be shamed for having them. #Disability #ChronicIllness #MentalHealth #ChronicPain #Iamwhoiam
Latest
