Pre-election, Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison made his now infamous and controversial ‘blessed to have non-disabled children’ statement.

I’m a disabled woman. But I get it.

I might have said something similar 30 years ago as an able-bodied new mother of three neuro and physically normative children. I was ignorant and unaware of the attitudinal, structural and systemic barriers faced by disabled people and their carers in every facet of their lives.

Acquiring the symptoms of a progressive condition takes some getting used to but why do so many of us feel the need to cloak these changes in an ugly cape of lies (to ourselves and others), excuses and denial? Why do we cling to the old normalcy so frantically? And what harm are we doing to ourselves in the process?.

Everyone loves it when the mailman arrives – sometimes more than others

There was a time when If I cried “catch me, I’m falling”, it was not because my company had induced a swoon. This isn’t a pass; it is the unfortunate effect of having LGMD. While my ambulatory skills were diminishing, getting up from the ground was one of the first abilities to disappear along with my butt, hip and thigh muscles.

Back in 2015 I’m sure a local Aussie Post delivery worker was happy to know I wasn’t trying out the damsel in distress routine to gain his attentions when he found me soaking up the rays on my friends front lawn one fine sunny day.