I Have A Disability - I am Disabled

Look at the video of Michael McIntyre and skip to 2.46. This video is for everyone who gives       "that look" at a person who parks in a disabled spot.

There has been a lot of talk recently about Disabled Parking, and how not every disability is visual to the onlooker. However, I know for a fact that when people who have CF cough in public and they get a weird look, they get very annoyed and disgruntled. On the other hand, this is our visual "disability" and people will look weirdly. Seen as the word is highly sensitive to being sterile and the risk of contamination of an airborne disease from out coughing. This isn't necessarily true. We just cough because this is our disability and we need to clear mucus. 

So, we can't have it both ways. We can't give out about people looking at us when we show our disease/disability, yet give out when someone gives us a dirty look when we park in a disabled space. The disability of CF isn't as obvious as someone who moves from their car into a wheelchair. 

                                                            

Yes, I have a disability. Meaning I am disabled. In other words, I have CF. I am a person with CF (PwCF). I am a CF person. I am a CF'er. I am a sick person. I am a person who is sick. I am differently abled. I have special needs.

I am using anything that comes to my mind in different ways on how I can convey that I have a condition. Or is "a condition" still a not politically correct? As you can see, it doesn't really matter to me what you call it. I still have it. Trying to powder over the fact that I have CF doesn't get away that it is a fact. The last "label" - I have special needs - might seem a wrong label to use because you think a person with special needs is disabled. You see what I did there? A person who has a mental or has a physical impairment in which it effects them on a daily basis. Yes, this is me. It effects me, but it doesn't stop me. I have special needs in that I have to take special medication, or have a special diet. But you still wouldn't call me "special needs" because I don't have Down Syndrome. I don't even know if Down Syndrome is politically correct anymore??

In the CF world, or maybe I should say "in the world of CF", people have a problem with CF'er, or Cystic, or CF person. People aren't going out of their way to insult you by calling you a Cystic or CF'er. I even get given out to for using CF'er. The politically correct term for us is PwCF.
There is another side to this. Why do we need to be labelled? We don't really, but everyone has a label. CF takes up a huge part of our life, and I think we tell people that we have CF. It kinda comes up in conversation. I think it adds to the awareness of it, and so that people don't get it confused with Multiple Sclerosis. It sounds very similar to Cystic Fibrosis.

I use the title CF'er to show you that a word/label is only a word/label, but it is your interpretation of it that creates the problem. Maybe it is an insecurity about the "label" you are being called. I do not give one care if a person says i have a disability, or i have special needs, or that I'm a Cystic. The fact is I have CF and whichever way is easiest to explain or say to someone that I have CF the better.
I can't speak for everyone with CF seen as I get in trouble for using CF'er etc etc. These are my thoughts, and I want to show people that not everyone with something wrong with them has a hang up over labels or words.

I don't have a disabled parking permit. Simply because I don't feel I need to park closer to the shops. There are others who actually need to be closer to the shops, or need extra space to get out of the car. I do have a problem with the logo. It shows a person in a wheelchair. I suppose it is misleading, and showing that this is the only disability out there. I don't know what else I would use. Maybe a D.P (Disabled Parking) sign?

Out of interest, If you do not like "disabled" or "disability", what would you use instead?

#BeatCF