“we’re all equally disabled!” 👀 #disabilityawareness #disabilitypride #disabled #autistic

This! I feel like so many people forget that some disabled people ARE more disabled than others. It doesn’t mean they’re worse or better than us, it just needs they need more help or support! We don’t all have to be at the same level of disability to be considered disabled!

And if you’re curious of the context, this is in response to a popular hEDS creator on TikTok who has been gaining a lot of pushback for a recent (now deleted) video showing a graphic of a “disabled hierarchy chart” and telling folks that all disabled people are equally disabled, that there’s no one more or less disabled, and that this rhetoric encourages infighting. None of which are true! 👏

This is so true. I have autism and chronic pain, and my friend has cerebral palsy. Whilst we are obviously both disabled, I have days when I am pain-free and don't need my cane, but he needs his crutches or wheelchair every day. So yes, he is more disabled than me, and that doesn't invalidate either of our struggles.

There will always be someone better off than you and someone worse off then you but if your disability affects you in a negative way that’s what makes it a disability and your experience matters just as much as anyone else’s.

My autistic humans watching these vids to not feel alone ⬇️

As a visibly disabled person with MSN autism, thanks for saying this. It can feel really isolating to be in spaces that center invisibly disabled folks experiences at the expense of silencing disabled people who cannot escape ableism and have unique experiences. Naming those differences doesn't have to = invalidation :)

While no autistic person is 'better' or 'worse' than another, nor is autism inherently 'good' or 'bad', some people ARE more impacted by their autistic traits, especially socially, than others

I have several cluster b disorders, thank you so much for mentioning disorders which are more stigmatized! Even within the disabled community, ive always felt ostracized considering how much of our symptoms arent necessarily considered desirable or memeable. Its so nice to see someone bring light to this, even if not mentioning us directly!

I am less disabled than others in the sense that I can stand, walk, and have all my limbs. But I am also more disabled than others in the sense that I struggle to concentrate, can't feel hunger/thirst, and that I can't stand for too long without being in pain. The baseline for being disabled isn't "non-disabled", there is no baseline because all disabilities impact others in so many different ways. Awesome video as always ❤

I have ADHD. I was able to finish higher education and I'm able to keep a decent job. I have the ability to mask and don't deal with significant issues related to emotional dysregulation. I'm a careful driver and have only gotten in one collision in my life, which happened when I was a relatively new driver. But I get overwhelmed by bad smells, I struggle to do regular cleaning and cooking, and my dental hygiene habits are poor. So I don't deny that I have a disability, but I think it would be short sighted to not recognize that I'm less disabled than others with this condition, and I'm definitely less disabled than people with lots of other disabilities. Like, you're not going to convince me that someone who is unable to leave their home or even unable to leave their bed is equally disabled as me, a person who could decide on a whim to pack all my belongings and move across the country with minimal help (I don't want to, but I could!) Or that someone who can only handle part time work or can't handle a job at all isn't experiencing way more limitations than I do. I feel somewhat similarly about being a queer woman. I've only ever been in one relationship, and that's with my husband who presents to the outside world as a man. I'm bi, but straight people generally have no idea I'm not one of them unless I say something! I'm also a woman, so I have more leeway to exhibit masculine traits than a man would have to express a similar degree of feminine traits - obviously there's a line with masculinity since butch women absolutely get shit, but I'm not butch. So I still deal with homophobia/biphobia, mostly in the sense that I'm very careful about who I out myself to. But other people don't have much of a choice, and if they are true to themselves, everyone will probably read them as queer

A friend of mine says that he feels like he doesn't have a right to complain about being depressed and anxious when there are other people who have it worse, and he has no reason to be depressed, it sucks because a lot of people share that same mindset. That stuff can actually be extremely debilitating, mental and physical stuff tie together, if you don't feel like eating, or you eat too much, and you don't feel like moving around, I'm sure you're going to be the pinnacle of health. Another thing is, is the mindset and the support of the individual person that could impact how their disability impacts them. My friend feels like a burden and he's ashamed of his disabilities, I don't, even when other people tell me that I'm a burden, I don't feel guilty or ashamed because I didn't ask to be born like this, so I see no reason why I should feel bad. I wish other people didn't feel bad for things like having learning disabilities, or other things that are frowned upon, I can understand why they do, intelligence is highly sought after, they even have a sexuality named after it, sapiosexual, so yeah, it's perfectly understandable why someone would feel bad, but they're humans too, and their life is hard. The other side of this too is when you're considered more disabled and people think you should be miserable about your life and think that you suck as a person, I'm very content with my life, and very happy with who I am as a person, just because other people think I suck, and they'd want to die if they were me doesn't mean that I feel the same way.

THANK YOUUU!! my experience going from invisible -> cane user -> “severely disabled” wheelchair user has been intense and there’s have def been more opportunistic ppl the more visible i get!

tbh i feel like alot of what brings these ideas about is alot of disabled people who aren't visably disabled or who need less support being compared to higher support needs/visably disabled folk to invalidate the lsn people, and like. i do understand wanting to create a defense to that and to have a visceral reaction of "i'm not less disabled just because you can't see it!", but also that's putting your anger towards the wrong thing. someone with 30° scoliosis has objectively less scoliosis than someone with 60°, that's no issue, the only issue is if someone goes "oh because this person has 60° your 30° isn't valid and you don't have scoliosis !" we should be mad at the guy telling you that you don't have scoliosis and not the guy saying "you have scoliosis at 30°, 60° is just more scoliosis" this is also just theory on why people act like this tho maybe some people just don't like people being more/less disabled for some other reason

I love your videos. Last night I stayed up until 12 AM watching these. Don’t worry I got some sleep.😂❤❤❤

i have hEDS and a lovely friend with a significantly worse nerve disorder. his disability is significant and heavily impacts his life, in some cases making it impossible for him to stand on his own even with mobility aids. standing is often painful for me, but not nearly to that extent. he is objectively more disabled than me, and that’s okay! it just means that he needs more accommodations than i do and should be given more support, not that i’m less important or less of a part of the disabled community

Being both bpd and autistic means double the stigma for me and a harder time functioning. Im not saying anyones pain is less valid or only i can be in pain but this combo makes one hell of a time existing

Thank you! This had been such a difficult thing to get people to understand and your vid put it in a rly easy-to-learn way :D

I can sympathize with the desire to homogenize the status/identity of “disabled” especially in our ableist world that seems to love pitting marginalized people against each other and making people “prove” their right to accommodations and basic rights… BUT ignoring the differences within the disabled community, that is estimated to include over 1.3 billion people, is to silence the voices of those most effected by marginalization, discrimination and violence. IMO the “who has suffered most” game has absolutely no winners, but if we generalize the experiences of literally billions of people we are bound to be excluding the most vulnerable and persecuted among us.

Couldn’t have said it better

Every disabled persons struggles are valid but some need more supports and are more disabled by society and their disability ❤❤❤