Tell me again: Who's sick? Who's broken? Who needs a cure?

I'm going to take a really complex issue and pretend that it's really simple for a minute. I'm prefacing with this, so be patient.

I'm gonna break a few things down for you, right now.

FACT: There are groups of people within our society that are oppressed.

Oppression: The domination, dehumization, acts of violence, expoitation of people based on one or more aspects of their identity.

Examples of these identities are: people of color, women, LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) people, the poor, people with dis/abilities, people with mental illness---there are many more.

These groups that experience oppression, experience it in very identity-specific ways. We are all complex individuals with multiple identities. This means that many people experience oppression as a member of one or more of these groups.
There is no such thing reverse anything. Let's be clear. No reverse racism, sexism etc. etc. etc. I'm not even gonna play with this shit, because NO.

Even though people experience multiple identities (we call this intersectionality, or the ways our different identities intersect and overlap), we are constantly choosing a primary identity depending on where we are or who we're with.

Each of these oppressed groups are working for their rights, they want liberation. It's not a game or competition but because we are so often forced to choose only ONE of our groups, we sometimes have to neglect the others. We are forced to pass the buck, put the shit we're being given onto someone else.

Something I've noticed lately is that no one wants to claim that they're sick or that they need a cure. And duh, who would want to?

Trans activists are saying "Don't tell us that our experiences with gender are a mental disorder or disease. We aren't looking for a cure. We aren't sick". THIS IS TRUE

(Dis)ability activists (I highlight the dis- part because many people find that offensive) are saying "Don't medicalize or try to police our bodies. There is nothing wrong with the way we are, we don't need a cure because we're not broken". THIS IS ALSO TRUE

I'm saying right now, as a person with a mental illness:

I'm not sick
I don't need a cure, not like there is one anyway
I'm not broken

And these other groups, rightly, don't want to be grouped in with us. We're trying to draw attention to the very specific ways we each are oppressed and the realities of our individual experiences.

With that said: In your own struggles, don't leave me with the rest. You're not sick, nothing is wrong with you. But my mental illness doesn't make me sick either. Don't throw me to the wolves, be careful when you're telling the world you don't want to be/aren't anything like me.

I understand the temptation to do this. When I first had to register with the Disability Resource Center in order to receive accommodations in my classes, like deadline extensions and excused absences, I was angry. I don't have a disability, that's not my struggle. I'm still angry because I feel like I've been tossed in with a group that experiences oppression in very different ways than I do, rendering me invisible.

I'm very conscious now though, that being angry doesn't mean that I'm insulted that people might consider my mental illness a disability. I'm angry because my struggles aren't being addressed. I'm not getting the support I need. And when people do talk about my mental illness, they're calling it an invisible disability. That's not what it is, that's not what this is for me. It's MADE to be invisible, because people don't know what to do about me. And as soon as you can call it invisible, you can tell me it's not real. That I'm not authentic or real. And what's left for me then?

And even more I'm angry that because the Disability Resource Center doesn't know what to do for me, my professors do NOTHING at all. They can't see what I'm struggling with, they assume that I'm cheating the system somehow, they skirt around the rules. I spend more time each term keeping my professors in check than I do studying. And you bet I'm fucking angry about it.

This is obviously complicated and I was unable to even make it as simple as I had originally hoped because it isn't. It can't be made so. This is the best I can do.

Now to study, I guess.