A Balancing Act: How Women with a Hidden Disability Perform Femininity — Page 4:
16 As soon as she walked into the room and saw several overbearing black electric wheelchairs and heard loud whirring machines, she’d concluded that she’d made a mistake. One man used his lips to move a stick which propelled his wheelchair towards her.
17 “Welcome,” she thought he said. “Come in.”
18 She pulled a folding chair over to this lopsided circle. “I’m Mary,” she introduced herself, “I have Mitochondrial Myopathy. I came tonight to meet other people with MD.”
19 They looked her up and down, appraising every curve of her body that implied muscle lay beneath, as if evidence of an outright lie. The man, speaking on behalf of the group repeated himself, “Well … welcome.”
20 In the hour that followed, no one spoke about anything Mary could relate to. The group shared the challenges of feeding tubes, breathing tubes, IV needles, inaccessible buildings, and personal care attendants. They discussed their week, each person describing the experience of confronting and clashing with ableist stereotypes and oppressive attitudes. Mary looked around blankly. They were trying to get others to understand and recognize all the things they can do as people with disabilities. She was trying to get people believe that she had a disability and to recognize the things she could not do. During the bathroom break, Mary grabbed her cloth bag and made for the door.