A question for those with a disability

[user44376]

@EveHarrington I get what you are saying, I just don't like the other terms mention...

I’m hyper-vigilant, paranoid, mistrustful, nihilistic, misanthropic, pessimistic, agitated, enraged, weepy, self-pitying, hopeful and motivated. Usually on the same day if not in the same week. When it’s bad I punch myself in the face, destroy my own property and smoke copious amounts of weed to cope.

Does that sound healthy to you? As opposed to “ill”? The focus needs to be taken off this endless hairsplitting of labelling and language. It’s such a waste of time and focus better spent on trying to cope and heal.

 

[littleoc]

This question is hard to answer.. I have a hard time even telling people what my service dog can do, task-wise. If someone asks the pushy question of what the dog is for, well.. they don't get an answer, usually..

 

[Fadeaway]

None of us are here because we are healthy, I can relate much of what you said.

The focus needs to be taken off this endless hairsplitting of labeling and language. It’s such a waste of time and focus better spent on trying to cope and heal.

Agreed. Although my understanding was that the OP was asking due to English not being their first language.

 

[littleoc]

This question is hard to answer.. I have a hard time even telling people what my service dog can do, t...

Okay, I thought about it and I'm back!

The United States and Canadian government refers to me as an American with Disabilities, so I suppose that'll do, legally speaking. :)

Let's just be sure that you say disabled, and not something like "what's wrong with you?" I only say that because people have asked me that when they see the dog, and had absolutely no intention of being rude or hurtful. They were corrected, no worries. :P

 

[Deleted member 541]

I would rather be called a “person”. But, I’m ok with person with disability too.

 

[Never_falter2]

Yes, I was asking because I am not a native speaker... but also because I often do not know how to cope with those who have a visible disability... which is odd cause hubby is hard of hearing... and that‘s just normal for me... and I do know other people who have a disability and it is just normal for me...
But when I do not know them I never know how to behave when dealing with them, how to call them and so on. Hubby does not really feel like a person who is hard of hearing, he just feels like a person who happens to be hard of hearing but it is not his identity and he cannot offer any insights... and he does not like to discuss the topic because he wants to be left alone with that.

You know what is odd? There seems to be a genre of love stories where one of the persons has a disability. When one is not logged in here there is always this advertisement for things on amazon in the threads. One was about a story called „two hearts for Christmas - a wounded Warrior love story“ or something like this. Odd title cause Vets tend to hate Christmas.

 

[8888]

When I posted I didn't think the OP was referring to PTSD and I wasn't referring to my PTSD. I also have autism so I was thinking about that. I don't consider PTSD a disability, I guess I would consider it a mental illness though I know some would disagree.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I have PTSD but I do not consider myself disabled rather more like challenged.

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

I like to be referred to as a temporary meat-coated skeleton with a huge heart who has miraculously escaped much horrific harm done by self and others, thus far, who feels everydamnthing deeply, along with other majorly heightened sensitivities, who struggles to adapt to such a sick, demented, and twisted "normal" world as others feel I should......but not many peeps seem to be down with that explanation, especially when it comes to certain topics....so they can label me with whatever floats their boat and helps them meet their own needs in the moments they're discussing me.

 

[Lionheart]

I am disabled with PTSD and COPD...I prefer 'person with a disability' or 'disabled person', (although I still think of PTSD as a psychological injury).

I have two qualifying disabilities and several chronic illnesses, all of which are invisible.

All I would like is that people take my word for it when I tell them I am disabled. I had one person say under their breath,"Disabled, my ass", when asked to take a computer to my car (in a push cart) from a well known retail store.

I don't look sick or ill, but I am very much disabled and struggle with my illnesses.

I think it is more important that I be treated like a person with rights and not as a slacker or lazy person and I don't mind much what they choose to call it, other than the mislabeling which is not only incorrect, but adds insult to injury.

 

[EveHarrington]

When I posted I didn't think the OP was referring to PTSD and I wasn't referring to my PTSD. I also have...

It all depends on how severe the PTSD. Some are still able to work, go to school, have families, and so on, and aren’t disabled by the disorder.

 

[Still Standing]

First off...jaccat, you gave me have a good laugh! Too funny. If your dad is a Baby Boomer, calling himself a cripple was common in our era. (I am a Baby Boomer, too) The term disabled, special needs, or challenged was introduced into daily vocabulary in the 1970's and slowly became an approved and accepted form of identification as the years went by. I grew up in the 1950's and 1960's hearing the family talk about, 'something not right' with so-and-so. Or someone was crazy or nuts. And if they had a physical disability, we called them cripples or gimps. Today, all those terms are heard as harsh and insensitive. It's just how it was back then.

As for what I would like to be called, I often identify with being disabled because, physically, I am and have been for 30 years. As for the mental illness of PTSD, my therapist uses the word, "disability". He makes no distinction between a physical disability and a mental one. So, I am OK with being identified as having a "disability".