You a not a burden

This is something that I have had in draft form for a while but it needs to be said and that you are not a burden as we see that in coming up to Christmas we will have well meaning but uninformed people talking to us about life and asking us when we are getting a Job, going back to study or moving out of home. 

Also l feel that this time of year for a lot of people brings a lot of stress so we need to say to people you are not a burden and  if you look at the volunteer hours if you had to pay someone what people with disabilities do their would be a massive economic burden to this and often people with disability’s do this for free, or for under the award wages.

We also see that people are talking about what is in the news and often this is the NDIS and we see that this is a whole other issue due to the fact that people see it as a  cost blow out and don’t really understand that it is a complex program and often it’s not the clients that are defrauding the system it is the providers and this is where I feel this post is needed that you are not a burden and that your efforts at what you do are valid and do let other’s invalidate your experiences as a person with a disability, and we see that people do try to do this and it is a massive issue in that people need to be aware of this and that the older generation might see disability as something to be hidden and ashamed of due to the way that disability was thought about when they where young and it was thought to be something to be ashamed of.

Now we have inclusion programs and the NDIS and it is something that we need to be proud of in a way due to the fact that it gives people a chance at a normal life to celebrate Christmas with family and friends, to live with people their own age and abilities and it has created a whole sector and we see that it will start to self regulate as well. 

 So I know that this is a shorter post but I feel that it needs to be said that we see you and that having a disability is nothing to be ashamed of, having addional needs as part of this disability is nothing to be ashamed of, having support workers is nothing to be ashamed of, needing extra down time is nothing to be ashamed of.  

We see that often in the news that the NDIS and other international care programs are talked about with the word burden but when you stop and see the person behind the care program and with the support worker they are able to contribute, weather this be volunteering in a shop, weather that be running a micro business or being able to make a simple meal for themselves without support we see that this is an issue and we see that people need to be aware that this can contribute  to the  mental health detrition of people with a disability and this isn’t great as people with disabilities often can push themselves where the shouldn’t to be able to keep up with people.  

Often I find that I pushed myself and then spend the next day in a massive amount of pain, as well and this is something that I am finding that for my readers as well as my self I need to give myself permission to rest and accept care and to accept that there are some people in my life who don’t get the fact that yes I am high functioning but I have disabilities, and this is why I try to stay away from the disability politics as their seems to be a Oppression Olympics, and this isn’t great as everyone’s experiences with disability is different and their perception of disability is different and we see that people often have enough on their plate and don’t have the time or even the willingness to educate themselves on disability and this is such a sad thing due to the fact that the world would be a vey different place with a more accepting attitude towards disabilities as I asked over on Quora if people had been punished for their disabilities and it was sad to see that yes they had and even when their was the paperwork  on file for them to have extra accommodations. 

We also start to see people like Dr Peterson who have the mantra of never let your disability become your excuse he has a great message but we need to temper this with his wider message of getting people to take accountability for their lives and some people with disabilities can take this to mean that it’s not ok to ask for your needs to be accommodated and that it’s not ok to have additional needs because it creates a headache for others and this is really sad to see due to the fact that people need to be aware that there are many programs out there that would help them to reach for the goals that they have and this message really can invalidate the everyday struggles that people with disabilities have in there day to day lives and I am not even sure that he is aware of what message he is spreading with this saying to take accountability for your life, as often people with disabilities try to but decisions are made for them and not with them, and this is often for their own good. 

So we see that again I am going to say that you are not a burden and it is ok to ask for what you need and to receive the govement funded care that you need as well and to ask for this care is taking accountability for your life as well.