Disabling the Term, Disability
with guest author, Danielle Render Turmaud, Ph.D.
I’m so excited to welcome Danielle Render Turmaud, Ph.D. to the blog today. In addition to struggling with her own health issues, Danielle is a trauma therapist and speaker on mental health issues. (Plus, she’s a KidLit author and podcast host!) She brings both a wealth of information and a unique perspective from her training and personal experience, so let’s jump in!
The first time I realized what the word disability actually means, I was shaken.
Disability or disabled: “Not able”
As a person who is positioned in the world with multiple disabilities myself, the implications of this message struck me deeply. How has this message seeped into my psyche and impacted the way that I view myself? How has it impacted the way that I view others?
Words matter, especially to writers. They describe the world and how we see it. They create pictures and imagery that depict reality for us. They define how we see ourselves—and others.
Words matter, especially to writers. They describe the world and how we see it. They create pictures and imagery that depict reality for us. They define how we see ourselves—and others.
Many of us live with disabilities that have an impact our lives in very real ways. Whether it’s flare ups, chronic pain, brain fog, mental health symptoms that are crippling, overstimulation, difficulties focusing, or other challenges, the hardships that come with disabilities are not to be undermined.
And yet, the characterization of “not being able” is not accurate. It is not ours to carry.
Navigating life with disabilities shouldn’t be about focusing on what we cannot do or trying to fit into a box of expectations that society has created that we were not meant to fit in, but about learning how to traverse the journey in our own way. Or in other words, it’s about learning how to care for our diverse bodies and to listen to our needs, to our mind, and to meet ourselves there with compassion and flexibility.
For some of us, that might look like taking breaks. For others, it might look like channeling our OCD or anxious energy on days when anxiety is high and write away. And for others, it means setting strict routines to help us focus. There are no rights or wrongs in the writing process, it is a personalized journey of learning how to care for ourselves and write the stories of our hearts.
Many societies, especially those of capitalistic natures, emphasize the grind. They emphasize everyone fitting into a one-size-fits-all productivity or “accomplishment” schedule. This is where we can find the roots of the term that places emphasis on what we cannot do, versus championing what we can. But the reality of it is, that isn’t how the beauty of humanity or our complex nature works. Our brains, bodies, nervous systems, neurotypes, needs, they’re all different. And that is okay. That doesn’t make us “disabled.” It makes us human.
As a therapist and person with disabilities, I have seen the many benefits that come when we are able to step out of the shadow of stigma that has been placed on us. The challenges of disabilities are already great without this shadow lingering and making us question our inherent capabilities and worth.
So today, I am disabling the term “disability” for those of us who navigate a life with disabilities.
I am here to give us permission to know that we are able, even if our journey looks different than others around us.
We are able, even if our journey looks different than others around us.
I am here to invite us to champion our capabilities while also making space for the grief and challenges that come with disabilities.
I am here to remind us, that in those times of hardship, instead of feeling incapable to meet an elusive and unyielding productivity schedule, may we meet ourselves there with compassion, care, and flexibility.
We may navigate challenges, hardships, and at times limitations that others do not face because of our disabilities, but we are able. And I cannot wait to see what stories you, me, we (writers with disabilities) put out into the world.
DANIELLE RENDER TURMAUD, Ph.D. is an agented kidlit author, a trauma therapist, a Psychology Today Expert Blog Author, an international presenter and speaker (on topics surrounding trauma and mental health), a published author in academia, and an experienced university instructor. Her stories meet at the intersection of lyrical and transformative as she brings her knowledge of human development, psychology, and neurobiology into stories that help readers feel seen, understood, and enough.
Danielle is also the host of writing community resources such as the You, Me, and the Writing Journey Podcast and the #YouDeservepIt (on X and BlueSky) writer pitch event, which are aimed at empowering authors in their journey.
Connect with Danielle on X, BlueSky, and Instagram.
Follow the “You, Me, and the Writing Journey” Podcast on X, BlueSky, and Instagram
Image Credits: Alysha Rosly on Unsplash