Having a Disability Does NOT Make me Incapable

Both Nemo and I are college students.  While Nemo is nearing the end of her medical leave, I (Tremors) have been attending college classes.  Now, most would think that being chronically ill, and having a variety of medical problems would greatly limit our abilities.  You might even be thinking why are you two even in college? Even if you don’t think that, somebody does.

To answer that, we are both stubborn, and decided that we wanted to be able to prove everyone who said we could not do this wrong.  Now, our classmates have figured out that something is up with each of us.  (Our professors have to be given notices about our accommodations so there are not many secrets) We are not exactly discreet.  For example, Nemo has a service dog, and I show up around campus bald under a beanie.  We have both had to take medications during class, and have both had to miss classes to take a quick trip to the hospital.  Most would think that we would be barely scraping by.  That we are at the bottom of the class, that assumption is incorrect.  We would like to tell the world that while we may be sick, we are dedicated and smart.

While our peers are out partying on a Friday night, we are home studying.  This is not purely, because we are nerds with no life (even though we totally are nerds).  It is because we know that in the future we may have a day where we are to sick to do homework.  Or, we might might just want to stay home.  While we might not be able to go out, we can read over notes while sitting in bed.  I’m not saying that we only study when we are not at 100%.   Another reason we study on friday night  is that we both know that we have to get ahead, and stay ahead.  Who knows when one of us is going to be rushed to the ER, or if a flare will last longer than usual? We surely don’t, so we know that the only way we will be able to survive our program is to be on top of our work.  

Our classes are pretty small, so everybody is in everybody else's business. This means our peers notice when we are not there. Similarly, everybody knows everybody else's test scores  Previously, they were probably saying things behind our backs along the line of why are they even here. I would assume people talked behind by back since a few asked me that very same question to my face.  You could say that they were shocked when they saw our grades.  

Just because we spend a lot of time in clinics and hospitals, does not mean that we are stupid.  We work at least twice as hard as a healthy person to be able to go to college.  We have binders full of handmade study guides.  We have finished our papers before our classmates have even started.  We recognize that we are fighting an uphill battle. There are people out there who love to see us fail just to prove that they are right, however, we are stubborn, and determined.  With that, we can do almost anything we set our mind to.  We are ironically the students that everyone turns to for help.  We are the ones they ask for study tips from, and we are the ones that always know what the homework is.  They might not realize that we did said homework in a hospital room, but they still respect us.  They are learning that we do deserve to be here, and that we are here to stay.  

It is so important that mainstream society starts to realize that having a disability is not a death sentence. Everybody is different, and everybody does things To everybody with a disability that wants to follow a dream do it, reach for the stars.

Don't be afraid to chase your dreams

WE BELIEVE IN YOU

• Nemo, Tremors, and Secret Agent Puppy