I remember telling my mom once that I think my life would be
easier if I was more disabled because people would treat me more seriously.
Then
hi guys. This is Ola here with another video.
If you haven't seen any of my previous videos, check them out.
I talk here about my life as an independent disabled person.
Today.
I would like to tell you a bit about having thoughts
that I am not disabled enough just because I am independent
and because my disability is not very obvious and not very well known around.
I know it may sound a bit weird to you,
but sometimes I feel like because I am an independent disabled person,
I don't really have rights to speak up about disabled people's rights
or even, I don't know, create this youtube channel.
But then I also think that I'm talking here about my own experiences and opinions,
not about
all the disabled communities. So I'm not trying to take anyone's space.
I strongly believe that everyone should be given
their own space to share their own stories and
this is my space to share my stories.
But still sometimes I feel like just because I'm independent and just
because disability is not really a huge part of my life,
that means that I shouldn't be talking about it and I shouldn't sharing
my own stories because there are other people whose stories are maybe more valid
or whose stories maybe will teach other people more and help other people more.
But then I remember how many people like me,
there are in the world who are disabled but independent or have invisible
disabilities or not obvious ones or the ones that other people don't know,
they've never heard of them really.
And then I feel
like this is a great space to share all my experiences with these people and
also able bodied people or people with different disabilities
with different kinds of disabilities who just want to
learn something about different groups because
my experiences are
very much different from
experiences of person who's a wheelchair user.
And that's ok.
We have different experiences even if they have the same disability as I do.
So I think it's good to share these both sides
and show these differences because people like me also exist.
And I think we should all be able to share whatever we would like to share
and just, you know, show ourselves to the world
and
make this representation of disabled community even bigger.
I have similar photos when I think about
joining some spaces for disabled people that are,
you know, not online but in real life.
Like disabled society at university because I feel like if I go there,
I'm not gonna really fit in there because I'm gonna meet people who
need more help than I do need more accessibility than I do who are
not independent or who share similar issues that I don't share with them.
And that's why I've never really joined any group like that
even though I always wanted to.
So I think it's even harder for people
with completely invisible disabilities because people can't recognize
that they are actually disabled
and they always have to kind of come out with their disability.
My disability is not invisible. It's just less obvious than other ones
and people
can say it can know is that,
but they often think that I just look weird and not disabled, which is not ok to,
you know, tell me that.
But ok, let's just leave it for later because it's, it's a different topic.
So, yeah,
the main reason why I sometimes feel like I'm not disabled enough
is not really about the way they look like it's more about
how able I am in my disability
and if I'm independent or not and how much help I need
and how it compares to other disabled people.
And I know that I shouldn't think like that because I am disabled. My
opinions and my experiences are valid,
but still sometimes I feel like I shouldn't
be talking about problems of disabled people if
I don't have as many problems as other people, even though it's wrong.
And I know I shouldn't be thinking like that.
I still,
and I think it's probably not only,
I'm probably not the only person thinking like that.
I haven't really talked with other disabled people about it too much.
But
I don't think I'm the only one because I
think it's not my problem but it's society's problem.
I feel like, because in the society in media,
we usually see people on a wheelchair or
amputees or blind people representing disabled community.
That's how our society sees disabled people later.
And that's also how I kind of see disabled
people later even though I am disabled myself.
And because only people with these types of
disabilities speak about their needs and their problems.
And I, I don't see people like me
speaking about their problems and their issues and with their opinions,
that's why I kind of feel like
I, again, I'm not disabled enough to speak about things that I experience.
I remember telling my mom once that I think my life would be easier
if I was more disabled because people would treat me more seriously then.
And of course, I don't feel like that anymore.
It was a bit stupid of me to say that a few years ago to my mom.
But I still think that there is something in what I thought then.
And I think it's because some disabilities are more normalized than other ones.
And that's why I think we should raise awareness of all kinds of disabilities.
And that's why I'm here to do that.
And so that there is no one else thinking that they are not disabled
enough or not valid enough to talk about their issues or their opinions.
There is more types of disability in the whole world than you could ever imagine.
So, if you ever meet a person who looks perfectly fine and
you know, can do everything that you can do but still says that they're disabled.
Don't question that
because they may have an invisible disability,
they may have a chronic illness or mental illness or
anything. Really just don't question that. Just don't
tell them that they don't look disabled because that's just
not ok.
And please remember that it doesn't matter if you're disabled or not,
you are always enough and all of your opens and experiences are
always valid and you should never feel afraid of sharing them.
Thank you very much for watching.
I hope you're staying safe and sane in this lockdown,
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Thank you very much again and I will see you next time. Bye.