DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH ….

Becoming Disabled While Being a Disability Educator

The irony, or perhaps more accurately, the serendipity of being diagnosed with a progressive disability after years of advocating for those with disabilities and working to educate people about the ways to support disabled persons, is not lost on me. Certainly, as a parent of a son with profound disabilities I felt I had a keen sense of the everydayness of it, the lived experience of it, but in actuality, I was once-removed. To live inside the experience rather than adjacent to it, has meant that I am renewing and revising my ‘knowledge’ of disability, and understanding the vulnerabilities – physically, environmentally, socially and emotionally – in new and raw ways. Every time I lose my balance, freeze in step or twitch with frustration I am reminded. Every time my fingers stiffen on the keyboard, or my voice suddenly constricts in volume and I realize I’ve forgotten to time my Levodopa properly, I am reminded. And I feel humbled that I presumed such confidence of knowledge before. My learning about disability feels destined to complete a full cycle, and I am definitely a life-long learner in the process.