Disability Pride Month

What do you picture when you think about disability? Many people picture someone in a wheelchair, the literal symbol of disability that fails to show the majority of the disabilities are hidden. July marks Disability Pride Month, an annual, global event that aims to shine a light on physical, learning, hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. 1 in 5 people have a disability in the UK, 80% of which are hidden or invisible.

The disability pride flag was created by Ann Magill, which has different elements:

• The Black Field: A colour of mourning; for those who have suffered from Ableist violence, and also rebellion and protest;
• The Zigzag/Lightning Bolt: How disabled people must navigate barriers, and the creativity in doing so; breaking free from normative authority and body control;
• The Five Colors: The variety of needs and experiences (Mental Illness, Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Invisible and Undiagnosed Disabilities, Physical Disability, and Sensory Disabilities);
• The Parallel Stripes: Solidarity within the Disability Community and all its differences.

Disability Pride is all about reminding people that despite these disabilities – we MATTER and have VALUE just the way we are.

Challenging the stigma and educating the people that disabled people are not one homogenised group is something I am passionate about. Little things can make a huge difference – calling a toilet accessible rather than disabled for example.

I recently took up a position as a students with disabilities officer at the Scottish Rural College’s Student Association (SRUCSA), and hope to use my time there highlighting invisible disabilities. Ending stigmas of mental health, enabling people to raise their voices to help them improve their lives through education, and making those whose role is in teaching more aware of how disability can impact on study – be that in person or online.

Next time you hear someone say ‘but you don’t look disabled’, just remember most are invisible, and will never know how it impacts on their life. Normal is a function on a washing machine, it does not reflect the diversity that makes up the human species. Just because someone may take longer to do something, it does not mean they never will, be patient and support them (how they need it, not how you think they need it).

Finally, if you see someone with a sunflower lanyard, meaning they are exempt from wearing a face mask in public to prevent COVID-19, don’t judge them or think they maybe faking it. This last 18 months has been hard on all of us, don’t be the jerk or joker, be the empath and supporter.

© Fi S. J. Brown

T’s Song

Inspired by a friend’s experiences with autism, mental health and divorce during the coronavirus lockdown.

These four walls are not my home
I’m sat afraid and crying all alone
Trapped in a cage with no bars
There’s no freedom from here for me
Looking through the eyes of change
Shining like the evening sky’s stars
And a cold that makes me shiver
There’s no freedom from here for me

But through the darkness whispers
A light in the forest breaks
Gentle birdsong calls out my name
Singing out across the land
So high up into the heavens
There’s no freedom from here for me

I was blinded by your foolish love
Wandered from across the country
To be in the arms I thought understood
There’s no freedom from here for me
And the diagnosis nobody understands
The meltdowns as cope with uncertainty
A desert that grows barren by the day
There’s no freedom from here for me.

But through the darkness whispers
A light in the forest breaks
Gentle birdsong calls out my name
Singing out across the land
So high up in the heavens
There’s no freedom from here for me

Knowing this is where my story may end
Poor in wealth, body, mind and soul
Standing too close to the edge of the cliff
There’s no freedom from here for me
Burned out like days old cigarette butts
Awaiting fate’s final twisting tale
Defrauded of every love and need
There’s no freedom from here for me

But through the darkness whispers
A light in the forest breaks
Gentle birdsong calls out my name
Singing out across the land
So high up in the heavens
There’s no freedom from here for me

© Fi S. J. Brown

Autism Awareness

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and as I spend my working life with students on the spectrum I felt it important to make this post. Only yesterday I had a complaint on how poorly it is known or understood by staff and students where I work.

So what is Autism? It is a developmental disorder. It impairs your ability to communicate and interact. It can be defined as a complex neurobehavioural condition which causes problems with language and communication skills. It also causes a person to have repetitive and rigid behaviour. As it is characterised by a range of symptoms and is thus also known as autism spectrum disorder.

I work with young adults on the spectrum I know the frustrations they face and wish there was more widespread awareness about it. To to break social, environmental and psychological barriers they face.

It has to be known that autism is one syndrome, which falls under autism spectrum disorders. These are the disorders classified under umbrella diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder:

1. Autistic disorder: This is autism, which is characterised by problems with communication and social interactions.

2. Childhood disintegrative disorder: This kind of autism affects children, where they develop normally for at least 2 years before they lose most of their communication and social skills.

3. Asperger’s syndrome: Children with asperger’s syndrome experience same social problems as autistic disorder. They have limited scope of interests but they don’t face any problems with language. They score as much as average or above average students as well.

4. Pervasive developmental disorder: This is also similar to typical autism. This disorder is for children who experience some autisticbehaviours but they don’t fit into any of the above categories of autism.

Thanks for reading 😊✌.
©Fi S. J. Brown

Disability

Today is a day the United Nations has marked as “International day of persons with disabilities.”

For some a disability is something they can see, for example someone that has a physical disability so use a wheelchair, those with a learning difficulty such as autism and people with a visual or hearing issue.

There are also hidden disabilities such as dyspraxia and dyslexia that impact on our ability to learn, mental health issues varying from depression and bipolar to PTSD and schizophrenia, and epilepsy to brain injury.

Despite any disability we are all human, with a heart to love with compassion and empathy. So is it not about time we stopped the stigmatism of disability, appreciate we all cannot do everything, and there is always someone who has it harder than us.

Fi S. J. Brown