YOU DON'T LOOK DISABLED - WHY THAT IS WRONG TO ASSUME


It's amazing to me how many times someone says something like "your not disabled, your just fat". The preconception that at over 300 lbs anyone can be 100% able bodied is actually ridiculous in the first place. The other thing is almost all the people I know that have been disabled a long time are of plus size. They got this way after 15 or 20 years of sedentary life. They did not start out this way.

For me I was slightly oversized as a kid after I hurt my spine badly and had to take several months of time off of being active. I have had no explanation why the weight never went off after as it should have. I went back to being active in the extreme, yet the weight persisted.

I was slightly plus sized up until I had a second back injury that put me into the sedentary category. After that I gained weight very fast and because of depression and anxiety disorder - coupled with the imprinted thought that food fixes your problems, I went up to 498 lbs that I know of. I'm actually sure I was over 500 at one point but never got on a scale at the time.

I was actually fine with being massive in size. I literally did not care about it. Then came a trip to the ER and I don't remember why, but they gave me an EKG and said "when did you have your heart attack"? Well this was strange to me, because I had no idea that I had one.

A trip to the heart doctor confirmed that I did have one in the past and that I was in very bad shape. In fact I was going to die in a year to two if things where not fixed. So I was finally motivated to lose weight and I did, a LOT of it. I'm still over 300 lbs and still working on it 5 years later, but I'm no longer at risk of being dead soon.

A combination of at the time experimental drugs (Entresto), the weight loss, and walking a lot more because now I could walk and not be out of breath before the end of the block - had vastly improved my heart function.

This being said, I am still quite disabled. There are days when I am in so much pain, I can't walk a block. It is not possible for me to sit at a desk for more than 1 hour as well, so I am not able to work. There is the Anxiety that has become very much worse as well. Also being mentally ill (schizoaffective disorder) I can't work. The last 2 times I tried to work I ended up staying in the mental ward for a couple weeks after. The stress of work triggered a breakout and off I went.

So now I contribute to society by sharing art I create on the computer with the world for free. I've been in several nonprofit related publications like calendars and so on. This is all free to them even though they are willing to pay for it. I've given art to people many times at the cost of the prints as well. The work can be downloaded and printed at will from my art page by anyone. It's not a big thing, but it is something to contribute.

So to sum things up, to say "you don't look disabled" is folly. There are a great deal of disabled people who can do things and look able bodied but for one reason or another, they can't work. Several people I know have anxiety so bad they can't work. Some it's a different form of mental illness. Others it's things like Fibromyalgia (I have this hellish curse). For some it's chronic fatigue syndrome (got this one as well). Hell some people with CFS are so disabled they can't care for themselves for weeks on end. Yet most of these people on a good day, look able bodied.

On a side note: 8 Reasons Someone May Be In a Wheelchair by colourblind_zebra can be found HERE

Comments

  1. Well Fat IS disabled especially when you are old like us, and once you get a certain size forget all about working out and losing tons of weight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We live in a society that hates the disabled. More and more people are showing that side of them.

      Delete
    2. I actually think it comes from jealousy " Why do I have to work if they dont", it is human nature and it is global. People are miserable in their jobs so they take it out on people who cant work.

      Delete
    3. McDonald's pays more than I get. 1093 a month and 428 goes to rent. Then there are Bill's. Meh. They don't realize they could not live on it. I keep getting told "cut your spending" yeah the small amount that goes to going out will make a difference. Lol.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Most Popular In Last 30 Days

CANADIAN TV SHOWS OF THE 1970'S

Don't Let Hate Discourage You, You Are Valid

Update on Life and More

Feeling Abandoned by the SAID Program (Saskatchewan Disability)

24 Cocktails and 1 Shooter