The Ability Umbrella

For my final colored pencil drawing in this "Stronger Together" series, I will be focusing on ability. Before I start getting into the actual step-by-step process of creating the drawing, however, I want to take a minute to describe what I mean when I use the term "ability."

We all have different physical, mental, and emotional/psychological abilities (and limitations), which are impacted by our age, health, genetics, and life experiences.

Let's start with the physical - the one that most people would think of first when considering differences in ability. There are people who we might call physically disabled, because they are not "as able" as fit, healthy individuals - whether permanently or temporarily, or whether due to genetics, age, disease, or injury. Their physical disabilities might make it more difficult for them to interact with their environments - and in fact, many communities do a lot to accommodate these people with physical handicaps, to make their public spaces equally accessible to everyone. Elevators and ramps might be utilized, as well as push-button and automatic doors, for those lacking the ability to climb stairs or open doors. Signs might be written in words and in Braille, or crosswalks equipped with visual and auditory cues, to accommodate those with visual impairments. Where audible communication is integral to the use of a space, assistive listening devices might be provided for the deaf or hearing impaired - like individual headphones, written subtitles, or lectures or speeches that are simultaneously spoken and signed with American Sign Language.

These differences in physical ability don't have to be as "serious" as the above examples, of course. For example, there are minor differences in physical ability that will change as children grow older, taller and stronger. A perfectly healthy child still won't have the same abilities as an adult, due to their size and physical maturity. We accommodate children who are too short to reach the bathroom sink by lifting them up or supplying them with a step stool. We also protect them from systems designed for adult use, such as front seat airbags in automobiles, and require them to sit in the back and use appropriate child-sized car seats until they can safely sit in the front.

But more than all this, physical ability goes beyond the obvious signs we can see from the outside. There are countless diseases and genetic predispositions that wreak havoc only inwardly, with no visible outward symptoms. Many people suffer from these "invisible" illnesses, which include diabetes, IBS, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, infertility, ADD/ADHD, sleep disorders, allergies and food intolerances, asthma, lupus, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, migraines, arthritis, and other chronic pain disorders. These might affect someone's physical ability to work a full day, do something significant they may want to do (like have children, travel, or train for a marathon), or even get out of bed in the morning. Some of the symptoms can be treated or managed - but not always with 100% effectiveness, or for 100% of the time.

I start with this list of physical limitations that might impact our abilities because I think most of us can agree that people are still people, regardless of health or injury. Some people might need more assistance than others, some might rely on eyeglasses or walkers or hearing aids to get them through the day, and some may rely on a combination of understanding, compassion, and several different medications to manage invisible symptoms - but regardless of what life has thrown us in the way of physical health, we are all people who still deserve to be respected and treated with dignity, people who deserve to have their voices heard and their physical limitations accommodated for as much as possible, and people who have a lot to offer the world back in return.

The same holds true for those suffering from mental illnesses, emotional/psychological disorders, or neuro-atypicalness. These include autism/Aspergers syndrome, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and phobias, schizophrenia, personality disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse, and PTSD. Like "invisible" physical diseases, these are not usually obvious to outsiders, and are often stigmatized. People are often told that their suffering is all in their head, or their fault, or their responsibility to fix all by themselves, without outside assistance like medication, therapy, or strong support systems.

In addition to these diagnosable disorders, we also have differences in our mental and emotional abilities based on our experiences, how we were raised, any traumas we've lived through, our cognitive habits, genetics, or proclivities. We don't all process the world in the same way, and we all employ a variety of coping mechanisms (to various degrees of helpfulness or healthfulness) to help us through our day-to-day lives.

These differences in physical, emotional, and mental ability in turn impact what skills and talents we're drawn to or cultivate. Someone on the autism spectrum who finds emotional connection difficult or impossible might thrive on intense focus and in-depth research, while someone who is plagued by bipolar disorder might be able to tap into parallel wells of creativity and emotion and produce a beautiful piece of art. Someone with a hearing impairment might steer away from career opportunities that rely on their ears - or might attempt a career as a musician anyway, just for the challenge. Someone without arms might face having to learn how to do everyday tasks with their feet or teeth, and end up having better balance and control and of their muscles than someone without the same physical limitations.

We are stronger when we work together. We all have at least one limitation or another, and we all have something (or more than one something) that we can do well. We have different abilities and different ways of approaching the same problem. When we help each other out, we can accomplish great things.

Our physical, emotional, and mental abilities comprise part of who we are, and we do what we do because of who we are. But, we are also not only our physical, emotional, and mental abilities. We transcend these characteristics, just like we can transcend our race, our gender, our sexuality, our religion, and our class. I am a straight, white, atheist, middle-class female, with the beginnings of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, using therapy to work on her emotional/mental health - and yet, I am also more than just the sum of those individual parts. I am first and foremost a human, just like everyone else. And we all deserve to be treated as such. To repeat - regardless of how we live our lives, we are all people who still deserve to be respected and treated with dignity, people who deserve to have their voices heard, and people who have a lot to offer the world back in return.