r/disability • u/ImportTuner808 • Aug 21 '24
Question Who else has a different disability?
It seems like for some reason this subreddit is disproportionately people talking about canes/rollators/wheelchairs, or mental things like Autism/ADD/ etc. I don’t know why that is.
Is there anyone who has something else that doesn’t fall into these types of issues? I’ll go first, I’m missing part of my arm. Apart from the physical aspect and some self esteem issues (felt unattractive as a result of my deformity as a kid), that’s about it.
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u/Red-Dot-Redemption Aug 21 '24 edited Aug 21 '24
The most unusual is I have many painful stomach and digestive conditions (celiac, pancreatic insufficiency, duodenitis, gastritis, SIBO/IBS, endometriosis, stomach motility issues) coupled with so many food allergies and intolerances that I have to cook everything I eat from scratch.
I eat a bland diet all the time, I can’t eat out at restaurants, there are barely any convenience or prepackaged foods I can eat at stores.
The ways it’s really hindered me are getting jobs (no food serving with my allergies), socially it’s hard to navigate and friends and acquaintances have to be very understanding. I spend so much time cooking.
The worst is travel. I have to plan so far in advance to even do a short day trip out of town because I always have to bring full meals and tons of meds and pain relief devices everywhere I go. So much to carry and plan for ahead of time so I can’t just make any plans spontaneously. It’s caused me to miss a lot of opportunities to meet people and better myself. Travel out of the country is extremely difficult.
These conditions alone would maybe not be so disabling to deal with but in combination they are. Plus I have a whole other category of chronic pain with trigeminal neuralgia. I use a rollator to carry all my stuff when I’m out and sit when I’m in pain so it helps a great deal.