Since July is Disability Pride Month, I wanted to ask y’all how you feel about the term “pride” being applied to the context of living with sz as a disability. I know it presents a lot of challenges for us and not many upsides (if any, as I’m sure many of you may feel) but do any of y’all feel proud to have sz/sza? Or maybe not proud to have this particular dx/set of symptoms per se, but proud to be living as a person with a disability in a world that pities us at best, and at worst wants to erase us?
Personally, I don’t see a lot of upsides to having sz/sza (in my own case), at least when it comes down to pure symptomatology, but I do think the experiences I’ve had and challenges I’ve faced as a result of it have allowed me to see the world and other people in particular from a different perspective. I feel that I am a more understanding and compassionate person because of my experiences as a disabled person and have more tenacity to fight for the rights and equity of marginalized groups, and I am more willing to speak up when I see people saying or doing something ableist or otherwise bigoted. I’m not trying to tout the “suffering builds character” cliche, but I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the experiences I’ve had, and hey, maybe that’s not so bad.
That’s my two cents on the matter; I’m curious to hear your thoughts!
(If this is better suited to a different topic category please let me know)
It has only brought me trouble.
I’ve lost many years and various opportunities to sz.
I’m doing ok right now, but not as well as pre-illness.
I’m only proud to have survived so far, nothing more. I’d trade it away for a student loan or genital herpes in a split-second.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a disability. Disability isn’t a bad or wrong word, the negative connotation is a result of institutionalized ableism. It just means your body or brain functions in a way that doesn’t coincide with the way society was built. It can sometimes impair day-to-day functioning but that can fluctuate with treatment. I work full time as well but still consider my sza a disability.
Yeah, I tend to agree with the first part of your statements. I don’t particularly feel it’s something I have “pride” in having. I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t feel prideful about it either. It just is what it is. It’s a bit like having pride in having MS or something. It’s just something you have to deal with, not something to particularly take pride in. “I’m proud to be schizophrenic”, sounds like a bizarre statement to me. Most people would rather be rid of it if they had the choice. Schizophrenia awareness month would be more appropriate IMO.
Nothing wrong with it, but if you stand on soapboxes and shout loudly enough about it you may alter peoples perceptions in the wrong direction. I’ve been as professionally successful as I am by pointing out that having SZ doesn’t disable me (and I’m right). What you propose will not be helpful to me at all.
That’s valid. If I’m being honest I would probably want to cure or in your words trade away my sza too, but I don’t think I would choose to have never had it in the first place because it’s made me who I am.
I was healthy for the first 30 years of my life. My identity was already strong at that point. I would go back to those times in a heart beat. Granted, less experienced, but healthier.
I feel like I’m being held hostage by this illness.
To feel proud about it - would resemble in my eyes to have some sort of Stockholm syndrome.
I try to ignore it altogether and make do.
I respectfully disagree. Not talking about disability or using euphemisms to talk about it only worsens the stigma. That’s fine that you disagree and choose not to identify as being disabled by your condition, and I thank you for expressing your opinion and encourage you to consider others’ opinions on the matter as well
Yeah I do agree that being vocally proud to be schizophrenic seems a little strange to me, but then again if someone did choose to feel that way I certainly wouldn’t try to stop them. I guess it’s more like (if you’ll pardon the extreme analogy) if someone had cancer or another severe and chronic physical illness and had lived with it for a long time, it’s not the disease itself they’re proud of, it’s fighting it every day and surviving that brings them pride, if that makes sense.
I have a F___ schizophrenia shirt in my rotation. It’s enough of an advertisement for me. I personally don’t feel the need to participate in a parade or shout it to the heavens that I’m proud to be schizophrenic, but I’m fine with others doing what they please.
One thing I aimed for was to not let my mental illness become my identity. Always striving to find something outside of it.
I accept it but dont let it be the definition of me.
I agree that is certainly worth noting, but I don’t think it detracts from the fact that there isn’t anything inherently wrong with being disabled. The issues surrounding it come from ableist social standards and unwarranted, harmful stereotypes and the fact that society just wasn’t built with disabled people in mind, which clearly isn’t our fault. That being said, I don’t usually mention my disabilities before I’m accepted for a given position because the hiring discrimination protections in the ADA (the primary law related to employment protections for people with disabilities where I live) can be hard to enforce because of the burden of proof is on the disabled person. But after that, I do tend to mention it because I usually need certain accommodations to do my best work in the position, and at the very least it gives them an explanation for my “eccentric” behavior and mannerisms.
I’m hoping the “neurodivergent” trend takes off in the near future.
There’s absolutely no shame in living with a disability, but perhaps there’s some underlying negative connotations associated with the word.
I don’t want to take away from the gravitas of the word “disability” and all it entails for those who live with one (or more). It illustrates the real truth— that yes, some people are physically/mentally limited by a condition that makes it extremely difficult to function at full capacity most of the time.
Sometimes I feel like being disabled is akin to being a “write-off” in society’s eyes.
I dunno.
I mean, you can call a pig a dog, but at the end of the day that pig is still a pig.
It’s not so much the word, but rather the picture it paints to those not in the know, and the treatment received because of it.
It’s probably just semantics at this point, but words can be extremely powerful— and sometimes can alter a person’s experience in the world.
I’ve had similar experiences with this, and I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with it as well. So now I usually mention it to my department manager (or equivalent supervising position) but not to my coworkers. The one exception is if I have an episode at work and I need to show someone I’m working with my medical alert card that has my dx’s and emergency contacts on it so they can help me calm down and get home safely. That doesn’t happen too often though so as it’s been said I generally keep it on a need-to-know basis.
