Since college matured my writing, I’ve been revamping old blog posts, but it’s been hard seeing how my disability degeneration has stripped my independence.
Independence is important, but not as much as autonomy. Many able‑bodied people treat independence as the goal for disabled people and often misunderstand it in disability conversations. Autonomy, as control, choice, dignity, and the right to shape your own life, should be the real goal.
What do disabled people mean by autonomy?
I’ve seen my church grow, change, survive and thrive over the last sixteen years, but recently I've seen how fragile our identity has become when different backgrounds form and push different expectations of church and service styles. When those expectations clash with other leaders and congregation members, it splits the Church’s direction.
Two weeks ago I wrote about an incident with a staff member at Arty’s school. A week later, after my complaint, I met with the Head teacher. It wasn’t the best day. Miss L, offered to move the meeting but I wanted it done.
My nerves weren’t just about Arty or what happened that morning. After eighteen months of fighting for James, I knew school meetings can turn against you fast. I’ve watched schools hide mistakes rather than fix them. I’ve seen the system break my child. Those experiences entered this room with me.
This meeting felt different. They had a staff member take notes because I cannot. That alone was a small victory after everything that happened with James’ school.
