Theme
9:29pm September 8, 2014

fourloves:

Also, like, let’s talk about this particular area of the bad brains population where your condition is best described as, can’t do shit but somehow send out magical psychic rays convincing everyone that you’re an amazing genius who can do anything. You know what I’m talking about?? It’s like a fucking episode of the Twilight Zone. You are crawling out of bed every day over a period of five hours, moaning the entire time, and everyone is like, “wow you’re so smart and talented!! I bet with a little work you could be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a bestselling author, and president.” But guys. “Don’t be down on yourself I can just FEEL how smart you are.” But look at me. “Oh you’re just not trying! Be positive and you can go to graduate school while working 5 jobs! I can just tell you’re that kind of person!”

but

g u y s

image

I’ve had a very weird mix, my whole life, of people presuming a level of competence that I couldn’t possibly attain, and people presuming a level of incompetence that literally is impossible for any living human being to have.  Navigating that has been… the story of my life, really, and it’s very confusing.

Especially when people go… “Well I always believed in you,” when they mean “I always believed you could do more than you could ever do.”  Or “I never would have pushed you that way,” because they never would have seen me as competent enough to push in any way.  And each side gets offended by being mistaken for the other.

I seriously think one of the things disabled kids need most is to see severely disabled adults, preferably ones sharing a disability with the kid, who are living outside of institutions and are not in horrible living situations.  As soon as I realized that these were real people, and not an elaborate setup by my bullies to give me false hope, my entire life turned around.  But I had to see those examples – just people living in poverty on SSI in crappy apartments and barely getting enough services, that was enough to give me lots and lots of hope I never had before.  Because that life looked good compared to the options I was being given.

Notes:
  1. ghostofasecretary reblogged this from into-the-weeds
  2. tuesdayisfordancing reblogged this from fourloves and added:
    THIS THING
  3. imnotevilimjustwrittenthatway reblogged this from fourloves
  4. raisel-the-riveter reblogged this from anonymus-maximus-er
  5. anonymus-maximus-er reblogged this from thetigerisariver
  6. the-oziad reblogged this from into-the-weeds
  7. shehasathree reblogged this from vassraptor and added:
    ;_; (I was pondering the glorious hyperbole of “work five jobs while going to grad school” and then I remembered the...
  8. self-critical-automaton reblogged this from happyjadewithflowers
  9. nicocoer said: In.Deed.
  10. effeteboywhippet reblogged this from aprilwitching
  11. lilulak reblogged this from fourloves
  12. tahalika reblogged this from megasumpex
  13. vassraptor reblogged this from star-anise and added:
    shehasathree
  14. thetigerisariver reblogged this from raisel-the-riveter