Disability : a personal odyssey

Abstract

A person having an impairment is not, ipso facto, a disabled person. Indeed, I know many highly intelligent, highly qualified, charming people with impairments who are just that: people with impairments, not persons with disability. That is to say they do not perceive themselves as persons with disability. Disability for me has come to mean, not so much dwelling within a biologically impaired body, as a sense of self-ownership. Ultimately, defining myself as a person with disability implies never being apologetic about my differences, but valuing them as intrinsic elements of myself that I am proud of.