@joshroxs123_ Thank you very much! I never thought I’d graduate despite having cognitive dysfunction 😅😅 It completely rearranges your perception of what you can and cannot do despite so many challenges.

@linseigh me personally i've just lost all of my motivation. And I have no clue how to get it back. That's partly why i'm going to therapy. Because I used to have this HUGE drive to do things and defy odds, but that's been gone for a while now now. I wanted to be a disability advocate but you can't do that unless you can advocate for yourself, which is difficult for me sometimes.

@joshroxs123_ Haha it’s funny because right now, I am going through the same thing. I think a lot of the issue is that those of us who deal with different disabilities are at a higher risk for mental health issues. I am almost positive my lack of motivation is coming from depression. But I also see it as a boomerang effect: there is a period where you are paralyzed with hopelessness, but eventually, you will be able to bounce back. It comes in dips & peaks

@joshroxs123_ It is complicated: I was super happy to have finished my program, but I am still retraining myself in reading and still have trouble with my writing craft. I tried a writing workshop today and felt like garbage when my brain wouldn’t work for me. I see #writingcommunity posts about 1000s of words a day when I can barely get a sentence out. They feel guilty about not writing for a few days when I couldn’t write a word for a year.

@joshroxs123_ My classmates now have book and film deals and I’m trying to regain literacy, let alone the art. And I still walk into bookstores looking for happiness and leave in tears. It is extremely ironic and even feels cruel — like what was the point of working so hard, only to end up like this? So again, it’s complicated. Sometimes, I think about losing my art. Other times, I think of what I was able to do. Now, I’m listing what I’m still fully capable of & exploring that.

@linseigh oh my God that is totally how I feel. I was studying paralegal technologies (sorry for the super long delay in replying; I was eating and I y am using speech recognition to type). I worked my ass off in that program and I had a 4.0 GPA and I was basically promised a job at the end of the course by the head of the program, but when it came to the last day, yes he suddenly switched gears and told me he could not help me because I am on Medicaid there is an income limit… Frustrating.

@linseigh and I was basically like"Yeah I know there is an income limit that's why I wanted to change it, but you won't give me the opportunity to do so".

@joshroxs123_ exactly this!

@linseigh yeah. It is my ultimate goal to be able to run for congress and change the laws surrounding the ADA and Medicaid. Just because I am in a wheelchair and have limitations, doesn't mean that I can't hold a job (at least part time), and be able to be paid just like anyone else. I could easily do IT what's the issues.

@joshroxs123_ @linseigh A wheelchair is definitely not a limitation. Certainly wasn't for Madison Cawthorn or Greg Abbott.

@amay206 @joshroxs123_ just a different way of doing things. If anything, I would say these things become limitations when society isn’t willing to make the tiniest adjustment for that difference. I attended a rare disease conference w powerhouses who relied on wheelchairs & scooters. The venue kept closing the doors, so these leaders were trapped in toilets & kept out of the conference room! It’s not you; it’s society.