you know what. i've always been hesitant to describe my anaphylactic food allergies as a disability because "it's just allergies" but if you look at the numerous ways this has affected my life as an adult (because everybody only talks about kids having anaphylactic allergies):
- no restaurants or fast food
- no store-bought food from small companies (less accountability/resources to prevent cross-contamination)
- no candy or desserts (unless they are 100% homemade, which takes a lot of time and energy if you have other disabilities like i do)
- no hand-washing dishes (every place i live in has to have a well-functioning dishwasher)
- no kissing people on the mouth/lower half of the face
- other people cannot kiss me/put their mouth on me
- no allergens in the house (really difficult to enforce with non- immediate family members!!)
- always having to cook my own meals/bake my own treats/desserts
- no sharing drinks/food with other people
- no food cooked in other people's houses/kitchens
- always having to bring my own "lunchbox" to family events, work or school, all-day events, or any other situation in which i could THEORETICALLY need to eat or drink something other than bottled water
- calling food manufacturers to verify label information on new/changed foods
and none of this is counting the avoidance behaviors i developed with obsessive-compulsive disorder around age 13 in response to the panic attacks i'd have remembering about the anaphylactic shock i experienced at age 10.
i was taught to read labels at age 5. i was taught how to use my own epi-pen at age 6. my parents and i have always been careful and responsible about my allergies. it's not "i just don't like this food", it's "if i eat this my throat will swell up and block my trachea AND i'll go into shock from low blood pressure." as inconvenient as it might be for YOU, you can learn these things too and save a life. happy disability pride month; stop being a dickhead
i don't usually talk about my allergies because it gives me a LOT of anxiety but i felt this was important to share, because most people have no idea what being an adult with allergies is like. life went from "everyone at the birthday party gets a cupcake but me and i'm sad" to to "if i want to kiss someone i like, i have to make sure she hasn't eaten anything i'm allergic to in the past few days" (which is like. hugely awkward to ask of someone holy shit) or "i have to turn down the meal from my friend's mom even though she has the best of intentions and now she thinks i'm an asshole"