More on disability

I just got in a fight because someone said that I am not disabled. I guess I am angrier than I thought about this issue.

What angers me is that people think I'm not disabled because my disability is often invisible. No one knows the ammount of time, engergy and resources that it took to make me seemless into hearing society. Sometimes the seams show ... other times not. People don't know that it hasn't been a walk in the park to speak and hear as well as I do ... it took many years of training, therapy, and coping strategies.

Plus, people still think that hearing disability is a funny thing that Grandma has. Someone sent me a 'zine with the joke about a phone sex operater having hearing AIDS. So, the message is: liberate the phone sex operator at the expense of the disabled person. How fucking annoying.

I don't see myself walking in any disability parade any time soon. In general, I'm annoyed with parades. What it does mean is that I am entitled to call myself whatever the fuck I want: if that's disabled, then call me disabled. If it's "hard of hearing," call me that too.

Don't tell me that I seem so "normal." Fuck you. And don't tell me, "You're not disabled."