15/09/2023
📣 Chronic Illnesses are dynamic disabilities! 📣 Say what now?? 🧐 let me explain…
When someone loses a limb, say their leg for example, they will never be able to walk without a mobility aid or prosthesis ever again. No matter what happens, this will always be the case and will never change - that is an example of a STATIC disability. But chronic illness works differently, it’s not static, it’s dynamic. A dynamic disability is one that isn’t always the same, it changes day to day, week to week, because the symptoms of it are impacted by SO many different factors - such as how much sleep we’re getting, the amount of stress we’re under, the season, the weather, our medications, our emotions, changes in routine, external demands, and the list goes on!! So that’s why one day we might be bed bound, have zero energy, in a world of pain, and unable to do anything beyond the basic self care tasks, but then a couple of days later we might be able to go to work, exercise, or attend a social event - although it will still be a struggle - just a manageable struggle. This is because some days our capacity is higher than others, and Just because you might see us looking “well” and doing things one day, doesn’t mean we’re cured! And it certainly doesn’t mean we’re not struggling - we are! ALL. THE. TIME. It also doesn’t mean that tomorrow we’re going to be feeling and looking the same and able to do the same things all over again - in fact in all likelihood we won’t! 🫣 Having a dynamic disability means that we’re not only disabled on our bad days and we’re not suddenly able bodied on our better days. It means we live in a state of varied capacity, with sets of symptoms that are in constant flux. Every single day we wake up and have to assess what our capacity is for that day - how much energy we have, how much pain we are going to need to manage, what other symptoms we have to deal with and how intense those are. Being chronically ill is complex, it’s exhausting, and it’s crucial for our loved ones to understand that we are ALWAYS doing are best within the capacity we have on any given day. 💜
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