I don’t digress, exactly

I should pin this as a page, but I’ll tag it too as a regular post. It fits my usual tags equally, if abstractly.

It occurred to me that some of my posts may be seen as digressions, especially those that talk about disability in general rather than a specific assistive hardware or software, or that mix in NVLD. But I don’t see it that way. As I’ve said, I don’t distinguish between the brain and the body — the brain damage that caused the hemiplegia also caused the NVLD. The hemiplegia, in turn, is contributing to the faster breakdown of the good side of my body. The NVLD causes me assorted bluntnesses and hesitations, a love/dependency for printed language, and grief at being less able to type it — leading to an addict-like effort to get it back. Assistive technology supports me in ALL of this — physically, cognitively, and emotionally — whether I’m explicitly talking about it or not. I wouldn’t be writing any of these posts without it. Not only does it influence how I write, but it has altered how I think and, gradually, speak.

I want technology to be a given here, but also the rest of it, because I can’t enjoy that integration elsewhere — mentioning it in conversation makes the other person uncomfortable because he or she assumes I’m deliberately harping on my disability. Never mind I just think a particular innovation is brilliant, or that computers interest me intensely, or that my computer malfunction is as critical and mundane as your car breaking down. It’s a part of my life. It’s not obvious unless you see or overhear me working, but it’s there. I can’t stand passing — it’s fatiguing. The same goes, obviously, for the NVLD. There is no artificial divide between the blogger who reviews assistive technology and Dragon tips, and the blogger who muses or vents on NVLD. “Both” are one and the same.