#pnkd

You call us "disabled." You see weakness, limitations, a metro pass discount. You offer pity.

We call ourselves CHRONICS.

And here is why that is a badge of honor.

A Chronic is not someone who "can't." A Chronic is someone who is forced to do everything DIFFERENTLY.

While you run, we calculate every step so the "heron pose" on the bus doesn't turn into a fall.

While you forget to eat,we cross-reference our troop deployment schedule (medications) so our own biochemistry doesn't mutiny against us.

While you think about your career,we think about how to get through tomorrow without a flare-up.

Our lives are not defined by a lack of ability. They are defined by a permanent campaign for survival on the territory of our own bodies.

We are not "sick." We are veterans. Veterans of a quiet, invisible war that is fought every single day.

· Our weapons are not swords, but pill schedules, breathing exercises, and the willpower to simply get out of bed.

· Our armor is not steel, but the dark humor that saves us from despair, and the rage that refuses to let us surrender.

· Our battle is not for land, but for every "normal" day, wrestled from the jaws of pain, fatigue, and fear.

You fear having one seizure in public. We have been negotiating with ours for years.

You say: "I am sick, I need treatment."

We say:"I am in remission," "I am in a quiet phase," "I am having a good day." We speak the language of tacticians and strategists, not patients.

Pity? We don't need it. It is demeaning.

What we need is respect. Respect for our hard-won knowledge of our own conditions, for our right to name our own struggle, and for our incredible, titanic strength that you often fail to even see.

You see a crutch. We see a tool that allowed us to travel one more meter.

You see pills.We see artillery support, without which our front lines would collapse.

So the next time you meet a "Chronic," don't offer pity.

Non-epileptic ≠ Functional.

pankda II