- For All Able-Bodied Friends
- For background, I'm physically disabled. I have chronic pain and need a cane to walk short distances, and use a wheelchair for longer distances.
This is not your problem. It does become so when your friend with a similar condition flakes on plans or does not get things done in a timely fashion. I can't speak for other disabled people, but I would want anyone who should happen across this page to understand how exhausting disabling chronic pain is. So-called "spoon theory" was invented for a reason. I participate in life at a snail's pace. It is often a choice between getting basic life tasks and being social or productive. Simple tasks take me much longer. Going to the spice rack a few times while cooking dinner is much slower when you have to turn as if you had Resident Evil-style movement, because the wrong kind of movement aggravates your condition. Can't sit down and stand up over and over. Can't squat. What I can do takes a toll, and I end up needing to be sedentary for the rest of the day. Sometimes I'm bedridden with pain.
It's fucking depressing to have to tell your friends and family you can't spend time with them because cooking lunch left you feeling like you'd been hit by a car.
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