I filled out a job application the other day (just for a side gig, nothing big) and the question that is becoming ever more popular on applications these days popped up.

‘Are you Disabled?’

It went on to give some legal jargon about how they don’t discriminate and invite you to answer the question, however voluntary it may be. I glanced at the examples they provided of instances that may in fact mean that you are Disabled. Blindness, Loss of use of extremity, Bipolar Disorder, Epilepsy, Paralysis, and oh yea, Multiple Sclerosis (just to name a few). I looked at my answer choices that were presented to me. Yes, No, Don’t want to give up the truth Prefer not to answer.

What did I answer?

No. I’m not Disabled.

‘But wait! You have Multiple Sclerosis! That’s on the Disabled list! You should have answered Yes! You liar!’ (teeny tiny voice, deep inside me)

DISABLED: incapacitated by illness or injury; also :  physically or mentally impaired in a way that substantially limits activity especially in relation to employment or education

By definition, I sure sound disabled (sometimes), but I definitely don’t feel disabled.

I feel that I have my good days and bad days, much like anyone else. The only difference is that my ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are now defined differently than they were before. On my good days, my brain is functioning at (almost) full speed, my legs don’t feel numb/sensitive and I am able to workout or attend a CrossFit class. On my bad days, I am tired beyond belief, my brain is absent and my body does not want to cooperate in any way, shape or form. But neither one of those days includes the description of disabled.

I choose to see myself as abled.

I choose to see myself not as a disabled person with Multiple Sclerosis, but as a person who is living with Multiple Sclerosis. As a person who is being successful regardless of having Multiple Sclerosis.

I may technically have the diagnosis of MS, but I am not disabled by it. Even if the day comes, where I am unable to use my legs, or arms, I think and hope I have the strength to see past that. To see what I chose to see about myself instead, what I can still give to others and how I can contribute. I hope to never see myself as disabled, only as abled in different ways.

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