Living with a disability

[Bat Vader]

Sorry if the thread title seems a bit depressing or misleading. I could not think of a good title for the thread.

I was just curious if any other Escapist users have a disability and how it effects them.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis in my knees, three fingers, and I believe my elbow. I have osteoarthritis in both my feet and my ankles. I also have a lazy left eye.

It effects me in both negative and positive ways. The negative ways are that I am usually in a moderate or severe amount of pain and something as simple as getting up to go to the bathroom is painful.

The positive ways are that it has allowed me to mentally mature faster than my peers while I was in school. I was able to attend a school for people with disabilities called MCTI where I met one of my closest friends that I have known for four years now.

 

[aba1]

I have ADD and while most people fluff it off as what ever it really does become a hassle at times. I really can't handle lectures or long periods of time simply listening to someone without going into deep day dreams. It helps with my art and being creative but in boring atmospheres it kills me.

 

[TehCookie]

I have ADD and while most people fluff it off as what ever it really does become a hassle at times. I really can't handle lectures or long periods of time simply listening to someone without going into deep day dreams. It helps with my art and being creative but in boring atmospheres it kills me.

It really annoys me when things like that aren't taken seriously. Same with depressing and aspergers. It's not a mental illness unless it interferes with your normal life. People who are shy or have trouble concentrating do not have problems unless they are unable to overcome it, and I know plenty of people who say they have A.D.D because they get distracted easily, but can concentrate fine when they need to. Not to mention psychologist get paid more for diagnosing, they'll diagnose people with things that aren't serious problems.

OT: I wear glasses, does that count?

 

[Rylot]

I've had Spinabifada from birth (26 years so far). Basically the very bottom part of my spine didn't form right. I've got some feeling in certain parts of my legs and severe weakness in my calves and ankles. I can walk for short distances and stand for a certain amount of time but I've got a day chair for longer distances. I'm somewhat stuck in between the disabled and able-bodied world. Growing up I had some trouble fitting into the disabled world since I could walk some and I'd get a little shunned for that, but as an adult it doesn't happen very often anymore.

It doesn't affect me too much on a day to day basis since I've lived my whole life being disabled and can plan things accordingly. It's also a huge help to be able to walk if I really need to. Sometimes interacting with people can be difficult if they aren't sure or don't want to interact with me.

It's actually been an advantage in many way to be disabled. I've been competing in wheelchair track and wheelchair basketball since middle school and It'd opened a lot of doors. I've competed both all over the United States and several foreign countries over the years (I actually just got back from a trip with my girlfriend to watch her do a wheelchair half marathon in Japan). I went to the University of Illinois on a wheelchair track scholarship. I've built some pretty strong and lasting relationships with people through disabled sports.

I've also been dealing with mild to sever depression since high school. I honestly hate having depression more than Spinabifada. Spinabifada doesn't change ever. I've dealt with it from birth and know how to deal with it. Depression fucks with how I think. I can tell myself all I want that my feelings of worthlessness don't make sense and are illogical and that I have a great support system but it doesn't matter. Once I start spiraling down it's really hard to pull myself out of it.

 

[FalloutJack]

Aspergers. Doin' fine, really. I dunno how to tell you this, but to me it seems like disability in name only. That's largely due to overall level which I fall in. Others of my kind have it worse, but I'm somewhere lodged between them and your typical person.

 

[ultrachicken]

I have chronic pain in several parts of my body, often random but also spurred by physical activity. I don't really consider it a disability, but it has prevented me from getting involved in sports or getting a decent amount of exercise.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

I have really loose ligaments and joints. Very loose, I can bend my thumb the wrong way far enough that the nail touches my arm. That means that I can't do fine motor skills since my fingers are always wobbling and twitching slightly, even if I try and keep them straight. So I'm incredibly innacurate with throwing things, and my handwriting has always been piss poor since I can't hold the pen straight, so I had to get a keyboard for school when I was 8.

Normally this wouldn't be a disability worth a mention in this thread, since nothing in everyday life is really affected. But in February this year I got a really bad dry chronic cough, and I still have it right now, 8 (almost 9) months later, without any change at all. It's bad enough that I can't go to school or the movies because it's just so loud, and coughing every 10-20 seconds gets exhausting. The doctors still haven't figured out entirely what it is, but a theory at the moment is my loose ligaments have caused a pipe in my chest to open when it should be shut, and it's let a gas move somewhere it shouldn't be, which makes me cough.

The disability itself usually doesn't interfere with anything, but if the doctors are right then that's almost a full year of my life gone where I couldn't do anything but sit at home, since the treatment will take a while.

 

[Doclector]

Aspergers. It doesn't affect me as much as Doctors like to say that it does, but it does bother me. I feel some massive disconnect from humanity, when I can't fully understand their actions and body language, like how there seems to be a very specific amount of sex that is socially acceptable to have. Too little, and you're a loser. Too much, and you're a manwhore/whore, and I've rarely heard of a case where nobody thought either about somebody, suggesting the "ideal" is incredibly, nonsenically, specific.

But mostly I get along fine. I've often suspected my feelings of alienation were caused more by childhood bullying than the disability itself.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Don't know if many people around here would call them 'disabilities', but I have mildly arthritic knees (seriously, can't stand up for more than about twenty minutes without them threatening to break on me), chronic major depression, avoidant & schizoid personality disorders, colour blindness, partial deafness in both ears and photophobia... :/

Seem to be doing OK, but I really wish someone'd encourage me to get a career 'cos I can't seem to do it myself...

 

[bluepilot]

I do not have a disability but I have a medical condition that causes problems, so medically I am considered disabled. I won't go into the sordid details but I have my bad days and good days. So I spend the good days running around with my knickers on my head and the bad days curled up in a ball of pain and sadness.

After being diagnosed with this condition 4 years ago, the whole expectations of my life had to change. From now there would be a ton of milestones I would never pass, a lot of things that I would not be able to do, and I had to learn to live at a new pace of life.

Now that I have adjusted my expectations, and learned to slow down, the condition is a lot more manageable and I don't really feel sorry for myself at all.

My condition is very manageable though...for the most part...sometimes by body turns into this Judas traitor that I do not recognize anymore.

I think that the worst disabilities are the ones where people cannot manage it no matter what they do, things will get progressively worse, and everyday is a bad day. Things like Parkinson's or becomes paralyzed after a stroke and stuff.

 

[Myndnix]

I've ADHD and Asperger Syndrome. The former doesn't really interfere with my life anymore, but the latter...sort of does, I guess? I don't know, I just feel as if I don't really fit in with most of the human race because I don't think or feel like most people do.
It feels kind of isolated.

Besides that, I've Graves' Disease, a thyroid disorder, but since I'm medicated for that now it's not a problem.
(When I'm not medicated, I tend to sleep for 18-20 hours a day and lose weight at a rate that would make most people envious)

 

[the_duke_CC]

I'm a paranoid schizophrenic, so i hear, see and experience that aren't really there. this leads to me not leaving the saftey of my room plus I have ral difficulty in talking to others due to my paranoia. the only reason I'm typing this is the reletive annonymity of the net, plus my therapist said forums are good place to start talking about my stuff.

hope this helps

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I have bad eyesight but nothing really too bad. I wouldn't be surprised if I had ADD or something because I used to be extremely good in school and in the advanced classes and things but now I can never pay attention and just end up drawing stuff.
That is more than likely just my laziness taking over however.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

This will probably be among the least serious problems mentioned here but I'm colour blind.

It doesn't really affect my day to day life although it can be pretty annoying playing games if they use colours and gradients I can't distinguish.

Mainly this happens when using red dot scopes in shooters because 90% of the time I can't see the dot. Also I generally find it hard to tell the difference between the red and green names above enemies/allies.. so sorry if I accidentally team kill you

 

[purf]

A lazy eye. Usually, I'm not noticing it but it does make me pissed off about the 3D craze, because yeah, the textures are nice, but what 3D, huh, where?
It gets kinda trippy when I wear 3D glasses and look into a mirror.

 

[VeryOddGamer]

Well... I stutter pretty often? I guess that counts.
So yeah, I stutter pretty often. It's extraordinarily irritating, but nothing that interferes with my personal life all that much.

 

[Yopaz]

I am not sure what exactly I have, but I have a problem with my hands. My fingers wont cooperate fully if that makes sense. It makes it impossible for me to hold a pen properly which makes it impossible to write properly. It doesn't affect my motor skills and I am able to assemble small objects. Just a year ago I found out that this is what they thought was the problem which suddenly explained a lot of the things I played with. So much of that was intended to train my fingers.

It doesn't affect me a whole lot, but it's kinda painful when I have to write a lot and I always have to be careful not to strain myself.

There's also asthma and bad eyesight, but I have managed to minimize my asthma through exercise and I plan to get laser eye surgery at some point.