I’m upset. And I know deep down when I’m upset that I should turn off the laptop, walk away and root out a tin of Celebrations from the spare room that ‘we’re saving for Christmas.’ But like a fool I can’t do that. I need to get this off my chest.

First of all, I’m upset with myself. I’ve been around for thirty-two years, you’d think with all of the physical and metaphorical knocks I’ve had in my lifetime my skin would be thicker. That stupid comments wouldn’t get to me.

Today, Ann Marie Flanagan, a disability activist from Clare, wrote a well articulated article for thejournal.ie about why Ireland urgently needs to ratify the United Nations Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities. Unfortunately some of the comments on the article demonstrated the frightening ignorance of some of the Irish population. (I have said ‘some’ twice, I am not making generalisations, okay. Some of you are lovely). Yes, I know, thejournal.ie and trolls are well-known bedfellows. And like the gobshite that I am, I fed the greedy trolls.

One comment that was made was along the lines of ‘You need a PA to get things done and you thought it’d be a great idea to have a child?’ I don’t know this person from Adam, nor he me, but this isn’t the first time I heard this particular line. In fact, the first time I heard this was in the hospital the day after I had my daughter and I was walking to the toilet for the first time after the section. It wasn’t even a nurse that said it, it was an orderly (who we reported afterwards).  It wasn’t any of her business, but we weren’t going to go all angry  crip on her and run the risk of not being able to bring Alison home. Which nearly happened anyway when the head midwife suddenly, for no apparent reason, decided that we couldn’t go home because I was going to be a danger to my baby.

And that moment has never left me. I fought so hard to prove myself before Alison was born, and yet it wasn’t enough. And when I developed postnatal depression afterwards, I felt that I couldn’t seek help in case I accidently revealed some vulnerability and had my daughter taken away from me. There’s an underlying narrative to disability: everything is a struggle. That narrative begins from the day we are born. And I’m so tired of it, I really am.

I’m tired of biting my tongue every time someone comes over to Alison and says to her ‘are you looking after your mammy?’ I know it’s harmless banter, but I’m the parent, she is my daughter. She has her little chores but nothing like a carer’s role. And having a good PA service will ensure it always stays that way. Alison is very much a child, and will always be, because I am her capable mum. I have to tell myself this every day, and I’m sick of it.

I’m tired of explaining my personal choices to strangers, of having to reassure them that I know what I’m doing (I do have a Trinity degree after all) and having to wangle that degree into conversation to gain credibility from them.

I’m tired of the weight of history on my shoulders, a history that depicted disability as a fate worse than death, that it was perfectly okay to control disabled people and their families by denying them the appropriate services in order for them to live independently, which ultimately results in resentment of the disabled person by their families (Johanne Powell being the most recent example of this).

I honestly don’t know if I can change any of this stuff for the better.

But what I do know is that there’s a box of chocolates in the spare room, and while it won’t exactly change the world, at least I’ll go to bed on a (sugar) high.