they'll be with you not in sickness, but only in health

Yes, ableism hasn't gone away, even though our society tries to make it look like it's the opposite.

It's not, though. You can come back to our beloved planet Earth now, sorry.

Sure, it's painful to realize that the world hasn't changed at all and everything that happens around you is the same medieval discriminatory shit, it just was put into a beautiful progressive wrapping paper.

What's the problem, exactly?

Disabled people are still treated like utter crap. Like we're either something similar to furniture or way worse.

Asking for accommodations is also quite risky — who knows how the other side is going to react? They can either get extremely offended or...or approve of it? Who knows?

The chance of actually being accommodated according to how your disability disables you is still quite low.

"Oh, but how are you going to survive in this world?"

"But you will have to learn how to do so and so eventually"

The second sentence and all derivatives of it are even more infuriating. Mostly because we're still measured by able-bodied standards, we're still treated like we're "able-bodied, but with something extra" or "able-bodied who fake being in pain all the time"

I encounter shit like this all the time. It may not be noticeable for an average healthy person, but disabled people see it.

Getting compared to your able-bodied peers when it comes to some things, even if they tend to not do the same things you also fail to do.

Somehow you're judged way harsher than this person, not the other way around, even though you're not doing it on purpose.

"But you're failing at so and so all the time"

Maybe because I'm disabled and you attempt to put me on the same level as your average non-disabled friend?

"But you said you're just like everybody else"

Yes, that means "just a human living their life", not "human who is in the exact same box as the majority". If I say that I'm just like everybody else, I mean that I'm a human.

A human who deserves to be heard and understood, not shoved in the same box as everyone else and judged by the same standards.

Aside from that...what else do we have?

We have "the 'special needs' kid" as a meme trope, where we're treated like some kind of comic relief characters. You know, those characters which are there simply for shits and giggles, they're not usually given a lot of attention. Yep, that's what we can call either furniture treatment or pet treatment.

We're just there for comic relief, for "inspiration", and when we suddenly demand to be treated like actual human beings, the able-bodied folks act like we're asking for too much, like we're being mean and so on.

In fact...I feel like there is an explanation for that reaction.

They're used to being the dominant group of people, those who aren't treated like toys, furniture or pets. When it comes to them denying the fact that some of our conditions are incurable or "that serious", they seem to be scared of the same thing happening to them someday. Like, you know, if you acknowledge the fact that there are people living with that shit, not being able to heal from it completely, there is a big chance of disappointment, some sort of crisis, where you realize that you too can become disabled at any point in time. At any point in time, if not at birth.

Plus, the capitalist society has taught us that you're only valuable as a person if you contribute to said society. So what if you can't work? You're automatically lazy and undeserving of any benefits you have or want to have.

Accommodations are still treated like something extra, as if we already have everything we need to succeed and ask for these extras (ex.: noise-canceling headphones / earplugs to block out the background sounds) simply because we're selfish and so on. A lot of able-bodied folks obsessed with fairness and equality (don't confuse with equity) throw the usual "if i give it to you, other people are going to ask for it as well" card in your face.

Is it difficult to just...you know...understand that I wear headphones in class to block out the noise that distracts me? I can't just "learn" how to block it out by myself, my brain is wired differently. It doesn't work the same way.

Yes. For them it is difficult, not because of something they can't control, but because they chose to be ignorant. No matter how many times you tell them that you can't change it...they won't even try to understand.

Fatigue? No, just go to bed earlier! Surely it's gonna be fixed overnight, right? It's just sleepiness! (no, it isn't)

We're treated like somebody way worse than trash, we're constantly talked over, especially by medical professionals with fancy degrees who had nothing but an hour and a half-long lecture on our conditions based on an outdated study book.

You're training as a teacher and just started talking about my disability at your special ed classes? Cool, but if you present me, a person that literally has this disability, one severely outdated shitty point and keep insisting it's correct...well. You know it's ending with me leaving the convo.

I am mad. I am frustrated.

Yes, this post is a rant. Hence the attached song.