I've a friend, male, white, young adult, who was in an abusive relationship. He sought help and there was no shelter, no help beyond a phone number given which ended up being "are you afraid you might hit your partner" place. He does not understand how white male privilege helped him. It took a while to get across the difference between an individual and the larger institutionalized, societal, issue.
There are people playing libraler than thou, or "suffering more than thou". There are some who try to compartmentalize people and miss the larger individual bits, and that we all belong to many different groups. This is not meant to trivalize any individual's treatment, or the larger societal/institutionalized issue.
I am very open about my hearing loss, hoping to help others who may have the same problem see that it isn't demeaning to wear hearing aids. Also to make sure those who don't have the same problem see that it isn't demeaning, just part of who I am, and how to help make sure they don't exclude us. It is funny when someone says with a shock in their voice "I didn't know you wore hearing aids", and I reply "yup, for the last 10 years, thanks genetics and loud noises. Want to see them?" I found a hearing loss for medical professionals group that is doing a lot of education since so many of us are getting this as we age. I have not considered myself "disabled" until recently when it was pointed out that yes, this is a disability. I'm still me, uppity and lively, just like so many of us, in so many groups.
My friend is very open now about her MS as she wobbles around "no, I'm not drunk and no, I can no longer work, yes, it makes me angry but deal with me as a person". She used to try and hide it, being upset that something this personal was becoming public. Why should she have to modify her life to make others comfortable? Why should she have to become a public face on the issue of disability?
Another diabetic friend was tased when he pulled his car over to the side of the road when his blood sugar plummeted and he could not obey the orders of the cop. A local young man with known mental health issues was punched in the face by a cop to try to get him to comply quickly rather than taking the time to walk down the street with him talking with him. A blind local man was denied entrance to the movie theater for his seeing eye dog because dogs aren't allowed and why would a blind man want to "watch a movie"? On and on go the individual stories.
Disabled are an entire demographic and too often overlooked, sneered at, not understood. Thank you for speaking out for them, for us.
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