51 replies to this topic

[Apparelyzed]

Ok, this may sound like a weird one, but do you consider yourself disabled, or just someone who's in a wheelchair?

It's often been said that those who have become disabled after being abled bodied for most of their lives, still have the mindset of someone who's able bodied.

I have to say that since my injury, my mindset is pretty much the same as pre injury, but I know alot of people who completely changed following their injury.

As I indicated in the poll, some people, probably quite a few actually will not get what I'm on about, but if you "get it", please vote!

Simon

[nomis]

I think I’ve got a grip on what you are saying but I don’t think I fit into a YES or NO answer. I’m a bit of both.

Mostly I’m the me who always was who happens to be in a chair that has wheels. That’s my normal state. But I frequently switch to being a person with a disability as in lifting my chair into the car, being faced with steps, discussing matters with my doctor.

As a child, I was brought up very properly and after my injury my reflex was to stand up when a woman came into the room. I don’t do that any more. But sometimes when I’m engrossed in an activity, I have to check myself as my mind outstrips my physical abilities.

[rkzenrage]

There are things I am unable to do that I was not able to do before, therefore I have been "disabled" to do these things.
In that way, yes.
Do I see myself as a person with the title Disabled? No.
Politically do I identify with the group of people with special needs who need public support and who others identify with when they see me? Yes.
Am I disabled from being able to do anything that I want to do within reason with help and determination? No.
It goes on... It is not so simple.

[Tim13]

In general, no i don't consider myself disabled but every once in awhile a situation arises that forces me to face the fact that i am.

[nomis]

I'm not disabled but my legs are crippled.

[Joed]

Interesting question! And one I do get.

By most people's standards, I've been disabled from birth, but my body image and abilities were always AB in my own mind.

Since the onset of paralysis in '03, there are certain realities to acknowledge, however. For the most part, my thinking brain is predominantly AB...but now my body has to go and throw it's two cents in.

[darrel]

yes I consider myself disabled, when I can't pick any thing up withone hand and the other hardly works. I can deal with not being able to walk that far but the use of my hands is what bothers me

[wheeliebear75]

I put yes........but define "disabled". I mean I think in most respects I am like most of the other women my age. So in many respects no I do NOT consider myself disabled.

However........I've spent more time sitting now that standing. I think it all depends on what aspect you're talking about. I know I'm disabled......my body reminds me of that daily. I need a wheelchair or crutches..........and let's face it most ABs don't have any T-shirts that pertain to "disability humor".

I think there may be more of a middle ground that those of us with injuries reach more so than someone who was disabled from the start.

I'm disabled.........but only so physically so.

[wheels5894]

OK, I have voted 'no' but like Nomis I am a bit of both really. For the most part, at home and out, I find that the wheelchair is a positive help.

I can and do prepare food using a large tray on my knee and a chopping board.I can do that anywhere more of less.

When I go shopping I take a large plastic box, fill it with the things I need, pass them through the checkout and back into the box. Easy! I cna carry
more and awkward shopping that way that leave ABs looking disabled!

Oddly, though, it is in the car that I feel most disabled. No it is not because the car is easy to drive and I enjoy it. It is when I get to somewhere and need to pop a letter through a letterbox and as an AB I would leap out and back in 2 strides but then I realise , unload the chair, assemble it, roll to box, roll back load the chair - argh it's not worth it so I ask my family to doo it!

[Somebody]

yes I'm really limited-able

[carole338]

Hard question, but yes I feel I am physically disabled because I was so very active before my injury. Yet when I’m relaxed reading a book or able to do the normal things I did before, the answer is NO. I’m working on getting my life full of more NOs,

[dave420atya]

sort of a handycapable crip, I have brain damage also , but the only lasting effect from that is , I can't taste or smell. Wierd huh? I've be working on getting my "middle " leg to work again. It's cumming right along , slowly.

[hanguk]

the fact that I'm disabled is too obvious to ignore either by myself or anyone else. The struggle to do things is in my face every day. However, I am not as disabled as most people think I am. The average person thinks I can't do much of anything unless they get to know me.

[City Girl]

No I am NOT disabled. I am 'injured' and 'in recovery'.

[Webwych]

For the first time in 35 years, yes I do. And I can't tell you what a relief that is.

[eleanorigby]

I don't really feel disabled until someone else makes me feel that way. Usually I just feel like me and I happen to use a wheelchair. I've accepted the fact that the way I live my life is way different from the norm and can sometimes suck beyond the telling of it, but I see it as doing what I need to do to take care of myself, not as a disability. Everybody has junk like that in their lives, it just comes in different forms. I don't define myself by what I can or can't do, I more define myself based on my friends and family, and my actions towards them and the world around me.

[carole338]

I was doing OK and considered my self semi-disaabled and then OOPS, a few days ago I fell and found myself on the floor of a public ladies bathroom. They had to get my hubby to get me back into my chair. After a good cry and a sprained foot I feel semi again.

[City Girl]

carole338, on Aug 1 2008, 01:39 PM, said:

I was doing OK and considered my self semi-disaabled and then OOPS, a few days ago I fell and found myself on the floor of a public ladies bathroom. They had to get my hubby to get me back into my chair. After a good cry and a sprained foot I feel semi again.

I know how you feel. Falling seems to be routine. I have fallen so many times now that I am just sick of it. I have gone flying over bumps in my wheelchair with the bloody thing strapped to me and falling on top of me at least half a dozen times. (I got fed up and took the seatbelt off a month ago.) Addtionally, I have slipped off my chair just sitting on the edge and leaning over to pick something up off the floor. And lastly, I have fallen several times from losing my balance while walking...it's a much longer way down than falling out of one's chair. You actually have the time to think, "@#$% I haven't hit the ground yet. Yeeks, it's coming soon!" And yes, I have cried. Sometimes I hurt myself but usually it's more of a pride/anger/frustration mixture of feelings that make me cry. I have occasionally laughed at what a spaz I am. Those are the best falls. Laughter is good medicine.

Just keep getting back up!

[Abbey22]

It may be just because I'm 20 and stubborn, but I refuse to apply the term "disabled" to myself. Yeah...my legs aren't exactly in working mode but I've never let it stop me from doing what I want.

I have a day every once in awhile when I get hit with painful memories of things I used to love to do that I physically can't do any more...it's been 3 years and it's STILL heart wrenching to sit through a fast pitch softball game, because it makes me feel like all I can do is watch the world turn as life passes me by. BUT I don't stay there. I just focus my energy on something I can do. Cause I find new abilities pretty much every day lol. So I'm a little injured, with a few scars, a little shorter, but nope, I'm not disabled.

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens...but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." -Helen Keller

[E-DOG]

I used to be able to walk. Now, I am unable to walk.
Guess I'm "unabled" or perhaps "disable-ized" "unwalkable?"
You want some syntactical ambiguity? You got it!
But then again, I never liked walking much anyway. And CHA-CHING! now I gets me some money for it!
No workin', no walkin', an' I can shit whenever and whereever I want.
Life is good. Very good.
OOPS!
Now did I just fart, or was it........
E

[sits2much]

I voted YES, for a number of reasons.. I am on yet another night of hardly no sleep due to the pain keeping me awake... Ok now that I've said that I really voted yes because I can not do a lot of what I use to do both physically and financially. There is no quick fix to either of these things and it's becuase of my accident, so yes I consider myself disables.. I still try very hard to do most the things I use to do but for example just went camping for 3 days and honestly is stunk, I decided to tent it like I have done for years and well it was not easy, not to mention swimming, I ended up and am still cleaning the sand out of my bladder (yes I wrapped up my suprapubic line)..

So I am still able minded but my body and finances put me back into perspective on a daily and at the end of the day I am still disabled!

[Slowlegs]

I am still able to do a lot of things so I am able bodied although I do have some disabilities. Maybe I can't handle the truth but maybe then again I am only disabled when looking for a good parking spot. When I was assessed for my insurance lump sum they said I was over 125% disabled so I suppose people consider I am but I would prefer not to think of myself in that way unless of course I meet a pair of 27 year old devotees, then I will be as disabled as they want me to be. The other night I went to a party. As I arrived I got to the front door I heard someone inside say "someone is here". Someone else asked who it was and the answer was "it is that disabled guy". That is a time when I am sure you know what I wanted to be as every hot single woman who looked at the door after that (totally innocent) comment knew what she was expecting to walk in the door. It was "that disabled guy".

[Travelling Blackbird]

I didn't think of myself as disabled for a long time, because I had a group of friends around who gave me the security to think that I could do anything. My home was fully accessible, my upper body strength felt limitless, and I was able to do anything my friends were doing, just with wheels in tow. However, especially now that I've moved but haven't been able to do all the reconstruction I need, I find myself thinking of myself much more as a disabled person. I've taken a couple of falls this year, which didn't help.

I don't mind the word itself anymore. I've been called worse!

[disjointed]

Interesting to see how so many wheelchair users do not embrace the term disabled as applying to themselves. Me? I am most definitely disabled despite the thoughtless comments I frequently get about "looking fine." I have a myriad of limitations and severe chronic pain. I am disabled, and yet I find a backlash from a lot of wheelchair users who don't give me any respect (i.e., refuse to believe I have problems, consider me less cool than them, etc.). Uggghhh... Was just chatting with a similarly injured man who deals with daily incontinence issues in spite of being ambulatory. He and I agreed that validation is Really hard to come by when you are on your feet. Well, at least he and I understood each other.

[allyouneedislove]

I'm new to this forum, and this is my first reply. I guess I would consider my injury a disability, ,but only to the effect that I have to go about things in a different way. Since I am a pretty recent injury, things are a little tougher (i hope!) than they will be for me in the long run. Call me crazy, but having to have a routine to take a poo is an inconvenience i might call a disability. also, i was a professional singer before my accident, and now am unable to go up the 6 flights of steep stairs to my church loft where I used to cantor...that is a bummer. However, I am lucky to be in a professional full time position as well where my physical abilities suffice.

[Travelling Blackbird]

CervInstabilityHMSandRSD, on Sep 1 2008, 05:09 AM, said:

Interesting to see how so many wheelchair users do not embrace the term disabled as applying to themselves. Me? I am most definitely disabled despite the thoughtless comments I frequently get about "looking fine." I have a myriad of limitations and severe chronic pain. I am disabled, and yet I find a backlash from a lot of wheelchair users who don't give me any respect (i.e. refuse to believe I have problems, consider me less cool than them, etc.). Uggghhh... Was just chatting with a similarly injured man who deals with daily incontinence issues in spite of being ambulatory. He and I agreed that validation is Really hard to come by when you are on your feet. Well, at least he and I understood each other.

But-you-don't-look-sick syndrome from able-bodied people: I don't get that reaction myself, but a few friends (one with fibromyalgia, one with lupus, one on a walker) hear it all the time.

[allister]

Voted no, but there are times like now when I've been up all night again due to the chronic pain

[Yasko]

I voted NO, cause to me, the only mentally challenged people are the real disabled people!

[CR_L1]

Voted No because I don’t consider myself disabled, sometimes limited in what I’m able to do but I find new ways around my limitations as they arise.

[ClaraTaylor]

I guess I don't really notice, my walking sticks are now just extension of my hands, my various bodg-its around the house just... signs of piss poor decorating skills?

Today I was in the workshop battering seven bells of hell out of an exhauster, as I have done many many times... it didn't even occur to me that I spent three hours crawling around my "work area" on my rump until a delivery driver stopped me and gave me the strangest of looks when I didn't help him unload. So I'm not disabled... apparently I'm an ignorant little !!!!...