I NEVER in a million years would have thought that I might become chronically ill in my 20’s and permanently disabled by illness by age 30. Barely having time to establish a career, barely having time to experience dating and figuring out who I was and who I wanted in a life partner, missing out on having children, living with constant financial struggles, forget about luxuries like vacations, dinners out, salon days, and saving for retirement or long term care needs at the end of life is just impossible. Yes this was my reality, and is the reality for thousands of young people everyday in the United States and millions around the world. My mission is to help share our experiences to others so we can receive more support in all ways from friends, families and communities as well as government systems which fail people like us who are disabled at such young ages before we even got a start at adulting, there is no long term disability insurance to get by on if you were already sick while in college, or even high school for some… and many of us did not have parents and families to lean on as our world’s fell apart.
Image: young man sitting on an exam table being examined by a doctor. “No one every thinks they will be disabled in their 20’s or 30’s, yet that is the reality for thousands of young people.”
