A word about me and disability.

1) I entered the disability movement as a parent of a kid with Down syndrome. It's the identity marker I placed on myself.
2) I have been dyslexic my whole life and knew it since my 20s.

3) I began experiencing extreme depression, including suicidal ideation, in 4th grade. I was diagnosed when I was 45 - on the day Anthony Bourdain died, in fact, when I went to the doctor to talk about "feeling no joy," at the urging of my wife.

4) My son also is also autistic, something we only realized a few years ago, so I never identified as an "autism parent." But I do now, to the extent I work hard to support autonomy and agency for my son and everyone else.

5) I am in the regular care of two mental health professionals (ok I'm on a break from one. I got tired) and take regular mental health medication but have never gone through a two week period without at least one thought about suicide. [TW suicide]. I don't ever expect to.

6) I also have an anxiety disorder which causes me PTSD-like attacks (I do not have PTSD, but it's what my therapist described it as) at weird times that can be debilitating. I take drugs for both my conditions and am pretty stable these days.

7) I have made many mistakes while writing about disability. I have tried to own up to them.

8) It has been ... hard ... to call myself disabled. I feel like I don't deserve it, that it's a category reserved for other people. So when folks - as they have today - refer to be as a non-disabled writer (weird as I wasn't even writing, just linking to other writers), it's odd

8a) ... but anyway I don't get upset because I offer my voice very much as a parent when writing about anything other than dyslexia or depression/anxiety.

9) If this thread seems to come out of nowhere, it's related to various ongoing conversations in semi-viral threads and I don't feel like spamming anyone, but felt I should write some words down.

10) I am a disabled journalist. I am dyslexic and have severe mental-health related disabilities as well. I say that not to claim any particular status for myself or exempt myself from any criticism, but for a simple reason. It's true.

P.S. A lot of men wait until their 40s and 50s to seek help, if ever, often too late, and often after harming themselves and others. Don't wait. https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-i-discovered-my-depression