“All bodies are unique and essential. All bodies have strengths and needs that must be met. We are powerful, not despite the complexities of our bodies, but because of them. All bodies are confined by ability, race, gender, sexuality, class, nation state, religion, and more, and we cannot separate them.”
From “What is Disability Justice” (Adapted from Patty Berne’s “Disability Justice – A Working Draft”, Published in Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People, A Disability Justice Primer, Second Edition.
As always, we ask that in order to participate in the weekly megathread, one self-identifies as some form of disabled, which is broadly defined in the community sidebar:
“Disability” is an umbrella term which encompasses physical disabilities, emotional/psychiatric disabilities, neurodivergence, intellectual/developmental disabilities, sensory disabilities, invisible disabilities, and more. You do not have to have an official diagnosis to consider yourself disabled.
Mask up, love one another, and stay alive for one more week.
When I first started college we had a few people in our year that were around 40. Honestly for people aged 30 I wouldn’t classify them as significantly older than the majority of our year that ranged between 17 and 25 with most people being between 18 and 20. The people that were on the older side usually found each other for socialising because people who are 18 can still behave kind of childish and as a full adult it can be tiring to only socialise with such young people.
However, there was no awkwardness at all around the age gaps and when it comes to talking about and working together on assignments we were all just classmates who wanted to score well. Usually the older people take the classes more seriously and then become friends with other students who take their classes seriously.
This dynamic is different between schools and countries but from my perspective it’s not you who will be weird for the younglings, it’s the younglings who will appear a bit childish to you. This holds even if you have less confidence and are less skilled in socialising with neurotypical people.