A Take on Disability Pride from LAMN Board Chair, Tye Martin

Disability pride does not mean wanting pity.

Disability pride does not mean wanting sympathy.

Disability pride does not mean wanting applause for breathing.

Disability pride is often false representation of authenticity and appearing one hundred percent comfortable in how you present yourself, inside and out. It is the version of disability pride that translates well into conversations, content, public facing advocacy, and inspiration pornography to be honest. The version that the masses are most comfortable with.  But when do any of these actually happen all at once? It’s not the true reality. This version of disability pride is fictitious. Very few people want to talk about what it looks like during seasons with both ups and downs.

When the support that used to hold you sways, for reasons that may not be understandable. Plans have to be readjusted. An empty void appears. Once again, disability places you in a challenging position. Maybe it makes you flashback to the intensive care unit, stripped of autonomy and control. Maybe it looks like a changing support dynamic with friends, medicine, new caregivers, or new equipment. In moments like this, disability pride comes from letting go. Letting go of the idea that consistency is guaranteed and the belief that emotional walls can be built high enough to protect you.

There is not a perfect solution. No therapist can untangle this moment. No mental checklist is full proof. No neat coping tools come. No breathing exercises or meditation practices magically make the discomfort fully fade. This is not a moment to be fixed. Now disability pride is you continuing to move somehow. Not heroically. Not always gracefully. You cycle through. Anger. Grief. Numbness. Fear. They linger. They do not fully resolve. You survive them in stages, moment by moment, because that is the only scale of time that makes sense when feeling unsettled.

Disability pride is choosing to be present in a body that often demands more than it gives. It is continuing even when nothing about the moment feels empowering. Disability pride looks like waking up and seeing what the next day brings without expectations. The tide will turn and eventually the season will change again. 

Disability pride is beauty.

Disability pride is resiliency.

Disability pride is human.