Disabled isn't a label I decided to start call myself it was more something imposed on me which was used as a sometimes successful pretext to exclude me from school, work, youth groups, etc. My disability is simply considered a matter of medical fact, if I ever found myself in a custody battle I couldn't argue I wasn't disabled. I went though my childhood actively angry and embarassed every time somebody was told about my disability and wished for it to stop. Disabled people don't nessecarily have a choice in being portrayed as a victim that choice is thrust upon them my the medical establishment and if you don't want to be treated as a victim you have to jump through hoops to mask your victim status. It's not like all disabled people in the first world were on Tumblr and went "You know what - I feel kind of bipolar" and that was their identity from then on.
I hate this question BECAUSE it pressures me into admitting I have a disability, that I'm a "victim", when I would rather not do that. Victimhood doesn't get you ahead in the first world either - that's why so many disabled people react negatively to this question - because it makes others see you as either a victim (if you say yes) or a liar (if you say no). Just listen to how you perceive disabled people in the first world - in my situation wouldn't I have every incentive to hide my diagnosis from you to hide that fact from somebody like you so you didn't see me as a whiner taking advantage of sympathy for disabled people to seem cool?
P.S. The first world is seeing self-reported depression and suicide rising simultaneously. Certainly some people think it's cool to be depressed, but maybe more is going on than westerners becoming image obsessed given people are killing themselves more and more.
I hate this question BECAUSE it pressures me into admitting I have a disability, that I'm a "victim", when I would rather not do that. Victimhood doesn't get you ahead in the first world either - that's why so many disabled people react negatively to this question - because it makes others see you as either a victim (if you say yes) or a liar (if you say no). Just listen to how you perceive disabled people in the first world - in my situation wouldn't I have every incentive to hide my diagnosis from you to hide that fact from somebody like you so you didn't see me as a whiner taking advantage of sympathy for disabled people to seem cool?
P.S. The first world is seeing self-reported depression and suicide rising simultaneously. Certainly some people think it's cool to be depressed, but maybe more is going on than westerners becoming image obsessed given people are killing themselves more and more.