I started off thinking okay, fair dos: if you have a medical condition that affects your life on a daily basis (I'm lucky - my gut problems only affect me part of the time), you don't want to be dwelling on what's wrong with you all the time. Take the optimistic view. Mustn't grumble. Always look on the bright side of life. It'll get worse before it gets better. Et cetera.
Then I thought haud oan a wee minute. If you're sick, you're sick. If you're chronically sick - like with lupus, MS, ME, cancer, bi-polar disorder, diabetes, cerebral palsy, fibromyalgia - does anybody really think you can get through the day without considering your condition? Can you just ignore the need for a wheelchair or a walker or for special arrangements so you can use the bus or the train - or the toilet? Can you forget about the need for special foods and just have a burger? Walk when you know you're not fit? Be 'normal' when you're not?
My own view of disability is different. If you're disabled, forget the hifalutin philosophy expressed in this poster. Don't disown your condition. It's part of you. There are many other people in the same position. Demand that it be recognised and accepted that the human race does not conform to somebody's vision of what's 'normal.' Expect to be given your place in society along with everyone else.
Don't settle for being excluded from certain hotels in Scotland because they don't have disabled access or for being pushed across the car park in the rain because there's no disabled access to the restaurant.
Don't let people put you off doing the job you want to do because your history of mental illness and the likely recurrence of your condition make it uncomfortable for other people.
Don't let people talk to you as if you're a child because you walk or talk funny.
And promise yourself, whatever your disability, you'll have a good life. You deserve it.
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