boost: Heather Sellers Explores the Benefits of Coming Out as Disabled To Yourself

[jesse_the_k]

I adored this essay by Heather Sellers, who is face-blind and place-blind. Sellers teaches creative writing and her craft is A++. This essay explores:

• wayfinding
• accommodations
• self-compassion
• coming out as disabled
• the possibility & joy of later life learning

Where Am I? from Longreads

I didn’t understand my confusion. That’s the signature move of confusion. It creates pervasive static in your brain and covers the world with a veil.

....snip....

Way-finding requires ongoing effort, practice, review. Some humans are excellent navigators because they automatically perceive and process visual clues provided by objects and landscapes. Others don’t rely as much on space and geometry; they create a holistic landscape out of stories, feelings, and memories in order to understand, access, and execute a route. Some people “just know” how to get across campus and back to their car. I have very limited abilities in any of these realms, but I have developed another set of skills.

I know how to remain calm. I know how to ask questions. I have my paperwork in order.

....snip....

every disability is really an on-ramp to universal human design. We all need help. We all have to ask each other questions to fill in what we do not know — everyone does. Just as wheelchair ramps assist adults pushing kids in strollers and people with troubled knees and scritchy hips, or trailing roller bags, any problem one person faces is likely a shared problem, forcing a question, an ask for help from a fellow human, and once you realize that, here comes the gentler world, the connected world, the world of contact. ​

On a completely different topic, Pedal Pedal Pedal in The Sun gloriously evokes the power and freedom of bike riding. Her well-organized website has tons more.

Comments

[sonia]

Loved the Pedal Pedal Pedal essay! Bounced off the "Where Am I?" essay for some reason, but I'll try again later. Thanks for the links!

I'm thinking that not having depth perception has been a big factor in my face blindness, and I'm hoping that section of my brain will come online as it gets more 3D information after getting prisms in my glasses. I keep looking at noses. They stick out!

[jesse_the_k]

How dare those noses stick out!

(It does help with wearing glasses, tho')

[sonia]

No judgment implied! More astonishment. Like a four month old baby looking around at everything with an attitude of, "Whoa, look at that!"

[jesse_the_k]

100% agree on the Pedal Pedal Pedal essay. Bicycles are truly magical -- they're engines of autonomy for young people! In fact, starting to use a powerchair gave me the same thrill as when I first mastered balancing on a two-wheel, age six.

[wendelah1]

I loved "Where Am I."

"every disability is really an on-ramp to universal human design. We all need help. We all have to ask each other questions to fill in what we do not know — everyone does. Just as wheelchair ramps assist adults pushing kids in strollers and people with troubled knees and scritchy hips, or trailing roller bags, any problem one person faces is likely a shared problem, forcing a question, an ask for help from a fellow human, and once you realize that, here comes the gentler world, the connected world, the world of contact.​"

Thank you so much.

The writer really captures so much

[jesse_the_k]

...of the engines of "Disability Pride."