When the average person thinks of disability, usually one of two things come to mind. Either a wheelchair or perhaps a guide cane for blindness. Once a person sees either of these, that immediately becomes the primary perceived characteristic of the person. Part of this can be attributed to love humans have to sort. People love to sort all kinds of objects from different colored m&ms to, in this case, people. The different and unique is immediately noticed and held separate. Information is easier to get across the easier it is to identify. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this on its own. The problem comes when this sorting behavior is held to the extreme.

I have identified a trait I like to call disability blindness in certain people. By disability blindness I don’t mean that people are blind to recognizing disability (that’s an entirely different problem), but quite the opposite. Instead that becomes all they recognize. The primary perceived characteristic becomes the only characteristic. Any and all other traits vanish since they are not stored to begin with. The disability status is the only relevant one so they stop there.

I attended a high school with one other disabled girl. Her disability was totally different from mine but we had the shared trait of using a wheelchair. She was outgoing and I was shy. Our appearance was also very different. We wore different clothing styles and had different builds, hair color and eye colors. No other traits were in common. I cannot speak to her experience but on my end I was very often called by her name. It had happened so often that I even snapped at another person on one occasion much to my later shame. It infuriated me. All I can remember is yelling “I’m not (insert other disabled student’s name)!” before quickly running away. I have also had school officials treat me in a similar way. I was given treatment that would be effective for a different disability type but was inappropriate for me. Individuality and case specifics be damned.

On the flip side I greatly appreciate the people that don’t stop at the primary perceived characteristic. I’ve made fantastic lifelong friends with people that get to know me as a person. Yes I am disabled but I am also so much more. I am a fellow human, unique identity, and above all: a dreamer.