So it's Deafblind Awareness Week, uh, now.

I'm Deafblind.

I feel like most people who follow me on twitter know this already.

But visibility days, while they often feel silly, are also really important.

So let's review.

Saying to someone who says they're Deafblind

"Oh, like Helen Keller? But you can talk!" is... not really where it's at.

Because Deafblindness, like everything else, is on a sliding scale!

I spent so much of my life rejecting the label of Deafblind because of Keller's legacy, and because of the way that able bodied people view my disability as monolithic.

It wasn't until I started hanging out with other Deafblind people that I realized I could claim it.

You can be Deafblind and wear hearing aids.

You can be Deafblind and sign (or not! or use tactile!)

You can have a guide dog or a white cane.

You can wear glasses or not.

I'm tired of living in a world where Helen Keller is the only Deafblind person you've ever heard of.

Read @HabenGirma 's book.

Read my work.

And treat us like individuals. Not carbon copies.

So, why does Deafblind work for me?

Because both disabilities affect not just my body and how I experience the world, but because of the way they converge, they affect the way I adapt to it.

Many skills blind people use don't work well for me because of my hearing.

They're not binary, they aren't separate.

I am Deafblind because I am both at once.