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Kody's Blog: A Confession About My Disability

I pretended I wasn’t blind, basically.

I didn’t do this out of shame. I’m not ashamed of being blind. I did it because I didn’t want it to be part of my identity. I am a person. I am writer. I am a girl. I am a Southerner. I am a music lover. Way, way, way down that list you might see “I am blind.” Of course it is a part of me, but it isn’t me.

But our society loves “tragedy.” In my experience, when I’ve been open about my visual impairment, I suddenly lose my identity to it. I am no longer “Kody” or “a writer” but instead “a blind person.” That moves to the top of the list instantly, even though it is one of the least important parts of my life.

So why am I talking about it now?

Well, there are two reasons. First, because dear God someone has to. Someone needs to stand up and say how ridiculous it is that our society treats disabled people as “disabled” rather than “people.”