“I like your ‘can-do’ attitude,” my supervisor told me at my annual review, my first with her, as she’s a new boss.
I grew up in a family that approached everything with a “can-do” attitude. The idea that there was anything at all that we couldn’t do never entered into consideration.
As I examine this, I see it as both an enabling and an ableist attitude.
It has enabled me by instilling the confidence to approach any task, any learning activity, any project, and any dream.
I have learned that it’s an ableist view when I come face-to-face with activities I can’t do, or with those that cost me, in comfort, energy-level, and processing-power, so much that I will need to allot time for recovery. These are areas where I need accommodation to be on a level playing field with neuro-typicals.
What is an ability? What is a disability?
The…
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Autism Candles 