Chronic identity crisis

 Who am I? Who are you? Who am i? No seriously who am I? I’m the Phlegm Genius of course. But in an era where everyone appears to be trying find themselves online, or build a brand and find their voice. Identity has become such a heated battleground. But often for disabled people outside of managing our day to day lives, truly knowing who we are, coming to terms with ourselves, our bodies, our mind, our conditions and learning to love ourselves (or at least like ourselves) for some of us really feel like our hero’s journey of life. Especially now of all times when in certain countries disabled people feel under attack and rights seem to being eroded on an almost daily basis. Whether it’s welfare reform or accessible transport and housing or legislation around assisted dying, politically it can feel as though we’re going back in time.

If the world feels as is there’s no place for you then it’s hard to have confidence in yourself and fight your daily battles for the support you may need r just to get through the day. But we need to have hope. It can feel as if bridges are being burnt for underneath us, a lot of these rights were facilitated by the battles that disabled people fought before us and continue to do so. We can and must come again. And there’s not bigger resistance right now than liking yourself. Accepting yourself, which is the same as accepting the situation. We can’t collectively fight back or build if we don’t collectively believe in ourselves.