Way Too Many Playlists

It’s Disability Pride Month. I shared this on Threads because I think it’s something our culture often gets wrong: a lot of people don’t realize disability pride and disability grief can exist at the exact same time.

I love the Disabled community. I’m proud of the creativity, resilience, humor, and ingenuity I’ve found here. Disability has introduced me to people who have changed my life forever. It has fundamentally shaped the work I do, the community I’ve built, and the purpose I’ve found.

And, yet… I also grieve so much: surgeries that never should have been necessary, the careers, opportunities, relationships, spontaneity, and sense of security that my chronic illnesses/disabilities have taken from me, watching my body change in ways I never asked for, the uncertainty of not knowing what my health will look like a year from now... Or even tomorrow.

Being proud to be Disabled doesn’t mean I’m grateful for pain. Nor does it mean I have to celebrate every loss or pretend suffering is empowering.

Disability pride is not about pretending disability is easy.

Simply put, disability pride is about refusing to believe that disability makes me less worthy of love, joy, ambition, beauty, or a full life. PERIOD.

Those two truths don’t cancel each other out. They coexist. I can fight for accessibility while wishing I didn’t need it, celebrate disabled identity while mourning what illness has taken, love the person I’ve become while grieving the life I imagined.

Both are real and deserve space, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Happy disability pride, y’all ♥️

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