we dont talk abt the way that constantly being distrusted and talked over as a disabled kid makes it impossible to understand ur own feelings as a disabled adult
i learned very quickly that if i said "im tired all the time and cant find the motivation to do schoolwork" theyd say "no ur just lazy, stop making excuses" and if i said "my ritalin makes me feel uncomfortable and itchy all day" theyd say "stop being difficult and just take the pills" and theyre the adults and im just a lying lazy kid so what they say goes
so since correctly identifying and expressing my feelings was punished i focused instead on making excuses that adults would accept. "i cant bear to spend another day doing busywork in that awful windowless building where all the students and faculty hate me" turned into "i just threw up". until i learned to skip the step where i ask myself why i feel so awful, bc that information sure isnt going to help me
eventually all i was left with was the internalized voice of my teachers and parents insisting that no matter how miserable and exhausted i am i just need to stop faking it and try harder. and its taking a long long time to unlearn that and figure out how im supposed to know how i feel
As a disabled kid, I noticed and came to loathe the cultural belief that kids are "lazy" and "trying to get out of things" in general. Treating kids with suspicion and distrust only makes them less trustworthy.


















