"I am not this fragile body."
Ironic that this is the day when I chose to post about the most insidious discrimination I face: Ableism. Yes, I am more than my body; yes, I am more than "just" a disabled identity--but the only thing that makes that true is that I am not alone. I am more, because we are together. A friend of mine says that, "The body is the great leveler," and for a long time I couldn't get that, when I felt that mine had been so compromised in so many ways, not least by how so many others have always seemed to perceive it. Yet identities are not forged in isolation; even one who directly experiences social isolation, as I did for many years, is usually aware of the distance and space between themselves and others. I finally found that the body is one way to bridge that, precarious as it may seem. It is important; as both creature and creation, it is a perfect partner to the soul.
Ironic that this is the day when I chose to post about the most insidious discrimination I face: Ableism. Yes, I am more than my body; yes, I am more than "just" a disabled identity--but the only thing that makes that true is that I am not alone. I am more, because we are together. A friend of mine says that, "The body is the great leveler," and for a long time I couldn't get that, when I felt that mine had been so compromised in so many ways, not least by how so many others have always seemed to perceive it. Yet identities are not forged in isolation; even one who directly experiences social isolation, as I did for many years, is usually aware of the distance and space between themselves and others. I finally found that the body is one way to bridge that, precarious as it may seem. It is important; as both creature and creation, it is a perfect partner to the soul.
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