Read on Twitter
hey mentally ill people? you’re allowed to be disabled.
mental health treatment is SO loaded to the brim with the idea that “can’t” is a bad word. i had to get badly physically ill to discover “can’t,” and only then could i discover accessibility.
mental health treatment is SO loaded to the brim with the idea that “can’t” is a bad word. i had to get badly physically ill to discover “can’t,” and only then could i discover accessibility.
my mental illness had me spend so, so many hours in bed trying to will myself to get up, thinking abt how i Should get up, there’s no excuse not to, etc. bc years and years of psych treatment drilled into me that i’m supposed to be able to just Be Normal through willpower alone.
if that wasnt working, i must not be trying hard enough. i must not want to get better.
i didn’t think i counted as disabled, because disabilities are Real. “a disabled person truly Can’t get up, whereas i COULD, i’m just.... not, for some reason.”
i didn’t think i counted as disabled, because disabilities are Real. “a disabled person truly Can’t get up, whereas i COULD, i’m just.... not, for some reason.”
if you have ever thought your mental illness isnt a ~real~ disability, i am here telling you: i’m mentally ill. i thought that. then i stopped being able to walk, stand, sit up, i learned what disability was, and it became so excruciatingly clear that i was disabled all along.
heres the thing: if you could get out of bed, you would. if you want desperately to shower, but its not happening? that means you cant!!
and heres the other thing: it was never disabled people saying mental illness doesnt count. it’s therapists, psychiatrists, teachers, bosses.
and heres the other thing: it was never disabled people saying mental illness doesnt count. it’s therapists, psychiatrists, teachers, bosses.
and just to be clear- “can’t is a bad word, you could do it if you tried hard enough” is something told to people all across the disability spectra of physical, cognitive, illness, etc. the only reason they told you physical disabilities are real is because you didn’t have one. https://twitter.com/sicc_bitch/status/1290437521818738689
i’m oversimplifying my own story a bit, as it seems like i’ve always had chronic illness that was misattributed to MI, and i have a hard time parsing that out. and i’m sure i’m glossing over some nuance where there are mentally ill people who need to be told they Can.
but i really wish i had access sooner to understanding myself as disabled and a more radical idea of what that meant. it’s absurd that i needed this long & particular path of mental illness into a deteriorating body to learn to manage my mental health compassionately/effectively.
so i am writing this thread in the hopes that it helps another mentally ill person move in the same direction.
mental illness can 1000% be disabling. understanding it that way can hugely revolutionize managing it. you’re allowed to be disabled. you’re allowed to say “i can’t.”
mental illness can 1000% be disabling. understanding it that way can hugely revolutionize managing it. you’re allowed to be disabled. you’re allowed to say “i can’t.”
and, crucially (for MI and any other disability!) saying “i can’t” is not ‘quitting’ or ‘giving up.’ frankly, those are ableist concepts and they don’t exist. there is only ever “deciding to find another way”—either a way to do the thing, or a way of life that doesn’t require it.
