This month’s blog showcases Sierra Roth, our Social Media & Project Coordinator, experiencing her 10th life day, a yearly celebration of life since acquiring a disability. —-
10 Years. What seemed like a lifetime ago, a “tragedy,” has really turned into something beautiful and brought so many amazing humans into my life.
Wouldn’t change it for the world.
Enjoy this life day glow up from the past 10 years that I’ve been reflecting on.
Still reflecting, still grieving, still living, still breathing.
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For ten years, I have been rolling on wheels and learning about disability. Not just my disability, but the broader disabled community. I have learned that the disability community is vastly unique and diverse, given that a disability could be acquired at any moment.
Those with congenital disabilities are fascinated by those with acquired disabilities, and vice versa, because of the uniqueness of each experience. Acquired, whether traumatic or not, requires a great deal of acceptance of a new state of health and the ways in which you move throughout the world.
When I was first injured, I had to relearn how to live day to day in a wheelchair. This included getting dressed, moving around in a wheelchair, my bathroom program, learning how to manage the secondary complications of my diagnosis and navigating high school. Continually learning to navigate a world that is not built for me requires a great deal of patience, grace, and a whole lot of exploration to figure out what works. It also brought about a lot of grief, something I did not have words for until about year eight.
Interestingly, not only was I navigating ableism in my everyday life, but I also had to acknowledge the internalized ableism that I carried. Which, ironically, was not taught to me until I started taking disability classes during my university degree- years four, five, six and seven of life on wheels.
So, for 10 years, I have been reflecting on the disabled experience and the uniqueness of each experience. I reflect on the complex and real challenges that come up for each person who lives with some kind of disability and acknowledge that we are all on our own paths to navigating the disabled experience.
I often write something each year on my life day, a day to celebrate the survival of my accident when I acquired a disability, and even within my own writing, you can hear the complexities. You can hear the grace I try to give myself as I navigate every day. You can also hear the optimism that today is just another day that I am lucky to be alive – nothing more, nothing less.
This July, I encourage you to learn from disabled voices because each voice has value in how we make this world a more welcoming space for everyone. Finally, do me a favour and use the word disabled and disability. Disability isn’t a bad word; it is something worth celebrating.