i am constantly worried that my unpredictable health will lose me all my friends. you might say thats irrational, but it has already happened to me twice.
i have been called flakey, unreliable, a downer and probably more i havent heard. and i cant help but wonder, if the world around me was accessible, would i be any of those things?
the lengths i go to for relationships never feels flaky or unreliable to me. but maybe to other people it doesnt matter why i cant show up sometimes. maybe all that matters to them is a yes or no are they here with no context.
try be accessible and lenient with your disabled friends please..
THIS
If you're a disabled young person, you've most likely been hit with the "pfft you think you're in pain now? Just wait til you're my age" bullshit from older people at least once. Everyone talks about how invalidating it is
But I haven't seen anybody mention how it's terrifying, too. Yes, I know health deteriorates with age. I know that old age is a disability unto itself. I know that the healthiest person alive will start getting aches and pains past the age of 40 and may even need mobility aids
I know all this stuff. And it always makes me think "yeah, if I can't walk without joint pain even while using mobility aids AT AGE 21, how painful will life be for me at the age where it gets painful for everyone?"
And it's hard not to feel like I'm doomed, y'know? Where most people get a period of health that they wish they appreciated more when they start to lose it, my starting point was a body that doesn't work properly and it's only gonna get worse from there. It's worse every fucking year.
TLDR stop telling disabled young people that their pain will only get worse to the point of being unimaginable as they age, WE FUCKING KNOW