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Note to my younger self: you are not broken

Published
June 27, 2021

Note to my younger self: you're not broken, society is.

When you live with chronic illness, disability, mental illness, or neurodivergence, it's hard not to feel broken sometimes.

The world you live in?

It wasn't designed with you in mind.

But that's the world's problem, not yours.

When teachers that are supposed to have your best interest at heart call you slurs like g*mp and cr*pple after your surgeries? Or when peers call you Rain Man for noticing patterns? And when your parents talk about "fixing" you and wishing you were "normal?"

It all says more about them than it does about you.

Because despite what they all say, disability is not about weakness.

If you're existing in this world as a disabled human, I'm fairly confident you're strong as hell.

At least in the ways that matter.

It takes strength to exist in a world that wants to forget about you at every turn.

To navigate the same buildings and streets made for people who can move so much easier than you. To sit in conversations where people talk about you as if you're a problem to fix, instead of a living, breathing human. To endure the slurs, attacks, and more systemic problems like discrimination and medical abuse.

I'm willing to bet you're stronger than anyone you know.

And smarter, if you look at the way society is now and can see, this isn't right.

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If this essay helped you learn something or think differently, please consider sending a tip. I love writing about doing marketing differently, but spending my energy this way has real repercussions for my health and business.