Am I Disabled? On Chronic Illness, Disability, Self-Identification & Internalized Ableism

The relationship between chronic illness and disability – including critical disability studies & the disability justice movement – is something I have actively been trying to understand for years, as my illness has continued to reshape my life. Invisible illness is a strange and alienating thing, and it has been a confusing process.

Part of my confusion stems from the fact that there isn’t a consensus within the field of Disability Studies itself. There are conflicting opinions, and many scholars and activists emphasize a clear separation between chronic illness and disability, while the lived experience of many is that the two often overlap. My confusion has been further exacerbated by a chronic spoon deficit that makes interpreting academic theory and legal/bureaucratic regulations difficult, as well as by the insidious pervasiveness of internalized ableism that plants niggling questions (‘are you really that sick? pfft’) in my head while I’m trying to make sense of things.

Actual questions I have typed into google…