I’m pretty sure I’d still have panic disorder if capitalism didn’t exist tbh

Like clockwork in my family as soon as a generation starts getting into their late teens and early 20s about a quarter of the young adults start getting regular panic attacks and the rest of them start getting random phobias and the proper adults are all known in their friend groups as the one that worries a lot. It’s just as genetic as high blood pressure.

And like with high blood pressure, yeah some people may be able to avoid it if they do all the right things and are in the right environment. But some people are just gonna get it no matter what they do. Saying blanket statement that capitalism is the sole cause of anxiety and depression is like saying that capitalism is the sole cause of heart disease. Sure, it made it way worse. But it sure as hell existed way before any kind of economics was even conceived.

FUCKING THANK YOU, FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT

I’m not disabled because I’m not exercising enough. I’m not disabled because I’m not following that specific diet. I’m not disabled because I’m not spiritual enough. I’m not disabled because of my attitude. I’m not disabled because I’m too lazy to fix it. I’m not disabled because I don’t always make the healthiest choice. I’m disabled because real life isn’t fair and some people get unlucky.

Disability doesn't come with extra time and energy

I’ve heard a lot of advocates of inclusion say things like “kids with disabilities work twice as hard as everyone else” or “my employees with Down’s syndrome never come in late or take a day off.”

This sounds like praise, but it isn’t.

The time disabled people spend working twice as hard as everyone else has to come from somewhere.

There are reasons why kids aren’t in school every waking moment. There is a reason why vacation time exists and why it’s normal to be late occasionally.

People need rest. People need leisure time. People have lives and needs and can’t do everything.

Being disabled doesn’t erase the need for down time. Being disabled doesn’t erase the need for play, or for connections to other people.

Working twice as hard as everyone else all the time isn’t sustainable. Praising disabled people for doing unsustainable things is profoundly destructive.

People with disabilities should not have to give up on rest, recreation, and relationships in order to be valued. We have limited time and energy just like everyone else, and our limitations need to be respected.

It is not right to expect us to run ourselves into the ground pretending to be normal. We have the right to exist in the world as we really are.