On Reclaiming "Differently Abled"

I figure it finally appropriate to post why I decide to reclaim the term "differently abled" for myself.

I only reclaim it in respect to one of the disabilities I have. Hyperacusis is a different ability, in the respect of how I experience it, but it is also quite disabling. It's fucking terrible, actually. But I think it is a gift at the same time.

If you know me well, I have a motto that boils down to: "clarity with pain is greater than freedom without acuity."

(Of course, I invert this for extreme cases, because I think the idea that I feel like I have to lie in bed for 4 days after going to a party is terrible.)

But the same thing that causes me to want to lie down in bed is the thing that causes me to be able to do great things. I get to have this brilliant sense of discrimination between sounds. I will sit in the rehearsal room, and I know exactly where and how each of the eleven other players is playing at any given time. Because of this, I can't tolerate crowded rooms because every conversation is as clear to me as the one I'm trying to actively participate in.

I can join you immediately in song, knowing precisely how to place myself and blend in, without a piece of sheet music on the stand. But ask me to join you at a convention? That's going to take a 50-page packet, contingency plans, and the realization that you're probably going to find me back in the hotel room at least once during the day because I have to take breaks from using the tools that let me be there.

And those examples are why hyperacusis is, partially, a different ability to me. That level of sharpness and perception may have come partially from training, but the physical part of me had to come first to make that happen.