Reflection

Only a couple hours after i sent out the notice on the Globe Article, my Clara Barton Friends started writing in, giving thanks for speaking out. I just want to say first of all, no thanks deserved here. If anything, I want to thank the diabetic community for standing behind me.

To be honest, I was quite nervous about doing the Boston Globe piece. I thought to myself, "now everyone would have to know." I wasn't sure i was ready to "out" myself to everyone- including my own community at school. Many of my professors, bosses, coworkers, classmates, etc still don't know i have diabetes because i hide it well. But lately, i've become exhausted with the masking what's really there- the real me. because as much as i want to hide my diabetes, it is apart of me, so i must accept it. and i must learn to love it. ultimately, diabetes as an identity trumps all of my other identities and social markers. in the end, my experience is navigated more by my disease than my gender, race, sexuality, etc. because of all of those other things i am, i am through disease. not to say i am only diabetes - no, i am much more.

but still, at the end of the day, i worry my teachers will view me as less than because i am a Sicko. i've witnessed the transformation before - one day i'm a brilliant mind filled with potential and the next i am just a thing sitting on death row. nothing hurts more than not having your opinions matter.

in addition, i wouldn't say my politics is formed from disease but informed by it. i don't believe there is a singular disability politic but disability issues. and i think as a community of disabled persons, we coalesce around such issues in a political manner. but that's not to say all disabled Americans share one politics - a disability politic that is inherently different from a "healthy" person's politic. no, instead i think disability issues fit into the larger subset of party politics. i think an identity-based politic takes away from the complex and intersecting identities existent within anyone community or person. because in the end, my politic isn't solely informed by disease- it is also informed by my experience as a woman and an Irish-American, agnostic, white, middle-class, educated person in America. all those identities converge to form me. at one time or another, one of those competing identities comes to the forefront of my political agenda. sometimes I'm more active with issues in relation to women's rights and at other times, labor rights, religious rights or education, etc. i will say, in the end, most of the time I'm on the disability bandwagon. at others, i want to leave that identity at home. but more and more, I'm "coming out" to those around me about my experience as a Sicko in America.

I think "coming out" about disability is an important process and movement. if more people "came out" about their situation i feel we'd garner more understanding- hopefully.

on a side note, PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW SICKOS!!! and VOTE OBAMA. OBAMA IS FOR US SICKOS.

one way to get the word out on disability issues is to VOTE!