disabled people are worthwhile with meaningful lives. if you can’t work because of disability. if you can’t study, can’t be independent. can’t do house chores. can’t care for yourself. you have the same worth and meaning as everyone else. you deserve the same dignity and respect. there’s no life that is a waste to live
I struggle like fuck, I cannot work, but I have seen beautiful things and touched many animals and read poetry and trashy novels, I have held hands with other humans, seen the stars, held the dying, laughed so hard I cried, enjoyed amazing music, helped other living things in need, wondered at my purpose, tried to see ghosts, invented dozens of fantasy worlds, invented my identity all by myself, escaped captivity, made awful mistakes, fixed broken things, cried in pain, marched for a cause, lent out my favorite novel, picked stitches from a wound, eaten a tomato straight off the vine, listened to my dad’s war stories, so many human things have gone into my life.
Why is my experience of life valued less than that of someone who is not disabled? Why is it working that makes someone valuable, when it is ultimately not the most important part of being who we are? Why can’t we value people because they are sentient beings experiencing the world, and acknowledge that simply being a human is of infinite worth?
We don’t die clinging to the memories of meaningless labor. Our bosses don’t gather around us at the end. The district manager or head of HR isn’t going to deliver your eulogy, comfort your family, care for your dog.
Everyone has the same thing, ultimately: that we were human and here for just a little while. Being able to hold a job adds no value to that and if you think it does I urge you to find something other than your job to live for before you lose all the little time you were given.
The (temporarily) abled could learn a lot from us, if they would only listen.
I cannot work due to CPTSD and like, sometimes I feel that makes lesser than Actually Disabled People (which includes everyone else with CPTSD) but like, there are things I do that are good maybe? Like I can say I write and make art and cuddle babies and add value to the world?
(My weird brain trick is that I will fight anyone who says that paid work/productivity is the (a/only) measure of a worthy life when it applies to anyone else but when it’s me, somehow different)
(via alexseanchai)
