Check your ableism

I see a lot of fitness and wellness influencers who say a version of the same things, that one’s quality of life is up to the individual, with hard work you too can achieve this or that, this type of thinking is very ableist. The playing field for life’s quality isn’t fair, especially in the times we currently live in. There are many things in life that are completely out of ones control. Ask any disabled person how easy it is to have a quality life when you can’t be employed full time, or your living with an illness that requires loads of time going to and from appointments, living with a disability isn’t lucrative, and it impacts quality of life, many people are living near the poverty line because they cannot work, many people can barely afford to feed themselves, pay for rent and any medication they may need. It’s hard to thrive and have the quality of life you want when you can barely afford to feed yourself.

Being disabled isn’t a choice.

Remember ANYONE can become disabled at any time, and life’s circumstances can completely change. So before you tell people they choose their quality of life maybe check your ableism and be quiet.

Understanding what neurodivergent means….

Shortly after my bipolar diagnosis I entered the realm of being neurodivergent, during my assessment I noticed I had a lot of childhood experiences and behaviours that are similar to my autistic son. I relate with the experience of those with autism, and I felt a sense of community and it’s likely because bipolar is neurodivergence and there is a lot of overlapping qualities within the spectrum of neurodivergence. I don’t usually link other blogs to my blog (I have below please read) but I came across this blog that a neurodivergent person I follow had written that beautifully explained what the term “neurodivergent” means. They wrote it to help those who had never really heard of neurodivergence, and I really think it’s helpful for those who want to understand what this terminology means. I know the term neurodivergent is out there a lot, people think it’s some sort of trend people are jumping on, but it’s not, many people……mostly women are finding out late in life they are neurodivergent because professionals and people with lived experiences are talking about it, and many women have not met the narrow “qualifications” for being neurodivergent because historically most of the studies have been on males with very narrow and limited understanding based upon very obvious divergent “behaviour”. Being neurodivergent isn’t trendy, many people lived undiagnosed a very long time, the DSM has become more detailed and a lot more has been learned about neurodivergence in women…..so as the information improved and it got out there more people are beginning to go and get assessed.

Please click the link below, you will learn a lot 🙂

https://neurodivergentrebel.substack.com/p/neurodivergence-includes-lifelong?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR14xtfLO1EAAoI-fFmX5AzbUmXsMWbbgm2PL5bLpW8_xAIJbX7A4WCSov0_aem_kHBaH6UgPSHeOFctCwByVA

What we don’t take seriously…..

What we don’t take seriously we don’t change, that’s why it is hard for me to be around people who need to make everything into a joke. If you don’t believe something is serious then you don’t have to be responsible for changing your views and actions in real life. If you don’t believe racism in any form is serious and wrong, you don’t have to take legitimate racism seriously, if you don’t believe ableism is real, you don’t have to take disabled peoples experience seriously and accommodate their very real needs, if you don’t believe homophobia is real then you don’t have to take lgbtq peoples experiences seriously.

A lot of my life I’ve been told I take things too seriously, when I hear the pain of others I take it seriously, I don’t think to try to make a joke, or to deem others experience as not that serious, if I hadn’t taken people seriously I wouldn’t have changed my mind about so many wrong beliefs I held, some peoples stories broke my heart and changed the way I thought, they reminded me LOVE and empathy should be my first response to others. I’m coming to believe many people don’t take others realities and pain seriously enough. If we had to live others stories, we would want to be believed, we would want to be listened to and validated, we’d want to be met with love and if it required……action, but if others valid experience is a joke to you or not that big of a deal to you, or you believe they’re pain to be exaggerated or not that important because it’s not your experience, then you’ll do nothing, stand for nothing, and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will change. Peoples stories and reality shouldn’t be your quiet inside joke, or a bit of gossip, others stories should be an opportunity to learn and grow as a human, we don’t need to have experienced others reality to listen and meet people with love, and to take them and their pain seriously.