In the case of the person with disabilities similar to mine, she was meaning "You survived, it gives me hope that I can, too" and I was fine with it.
That's the kind of thing I actually love to hear.
but at a point I also wondered "What if I can't power through anymore? Will you still respect me?"
Bang! Exactly!
I know my friends will, and all the people who personally matter. But culturally, no, there is no respect. And I don't CARE what people think, I DON'T. But because this shitty attitude infects so many people, I have to deal with the fallout from that. It's harder for me to get care, because I am assumed to be lying, or at least complicit in my own illness. I don't find support as easily. I am bombarded with messages that clearly discount people like me as folks whose opinions should be taken into account -- messages intended for "normal" people, and not me, because I am "those people." And messages about and for and by people like me are brushed aside. We're whining, we're lazy, we're unappreciative, we're bumming everyone out.
When I fall into a pit and am doing just horribly at coping with my life, suddenly I am in a state that to many people is unworthy of respect. I'm not fighting hard enough, or something. We culturally have a really shitty sense of "Your best doesn't always win the battle." We are so focused on success and the myth of "think positive" and "manifest success" and "The Secret" and "if you try hard enough you can do ANYTHING" that we bulldoze right over people for whom those tactics didn't work, or who couldn't apply them in the first place, they are so broken.
XD Actually, no, I can't, since I don't have a TV that's hooked up to any external feeds! But I'm not surprised if they lampooned this way of thinking. It's ripe for mockery.
That's the kind of thing I actually love to hear.
but at a point I also wondered "What if I can't power through anymore? Will you still respect me?"
Bang! Exactly!
I know my friends will, and all the people who personally matter. But culturally, no, there is no respect. And I don't CARE what people think, I DON'T. But because this shitty attitude infects so many people, I have to deal with the fallout from that. It's harder for me to get care, because I am assumed to be lying, or at least complicit in my own illness. I don't find support as easily. I am bombarded with messages that clearly discount people like me as folks whose opinions should be taken into account -- messages intended for "normal" people, and not me, because I am "those people." And messages about and for and by people like me are brushed aside. We're whining, we're lazy, we're unappreciative, we're bumming everyone out.
When I fall into a pit and am doing just horribly at coping with my life, suddenly I am in a state that to many people is unworthy of respect. I'm not fighting hard enough, or something. We culturally have a really shitty sense of "Your best doesn't always win the battle." We are so focused on success and the myth of "think positive" and "manifest success" and "The Secret" and "if you try hard enough you can do ANYTHING" that we bulldoze right over people for whom those tactics didn't work, or who couldn't apply them in the first place, they are so broken.
I hate it. I really really hate it.
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You watch the Simpsons, don't you? ;-)
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