SOME SUFFERINGS COMMON TO THE FACT OF BEING NON MOBILE (Seventh of a series)

Physical Disability and Depression Journals.plos.org

LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE

One of the skills most appreciated by an adult person is the fact of being independent.

The definition of 'independent' as found in Dictionary.com is:

"Not subject or contingent upon something else for existence, operation, etc."

In other words: Freedom to come and go as needed!  Sovereignty to provide is it for oneself, or for the family.  Autonomy to choose the schedule, work, own way, and the how, when, and where of living. All of which are psychological factors that empower the human spirit by nurturing the sentiments of our self-confidence and self-esteem.

Debilitating illnesses such as #Muscular Dystrophy — even in its mildest forms as #Miyoshi myopathy which is the one that I have been suffering from since more than 20 years ago, — are well known to cause a significant decline in the ability of an individual to perform daily routine tasks as simple and essentials as, personal hygiene, eating, or even bowel movement or sphincter control. Thus causing at the lapse of some years that a person who once was the breadwinner of the family, the strong one, the active, the responsible, is now a frail 'disabled dependent'.

A very hard pill to swallow as you can understand by the definition of 'dependent' found on Dictionary.com is:

"Subordinated, appurtenance, an annex, not an integral part."

Especially when you apply those terms in reference to a disabled person, you could say that Subordinated means: A person that requires the help of another person to be able to change position, get cleansed, or be fed. In other words: to live.

Like a child! 

With the difference —the enormous difference! — that a dependent baby is lovable and cute and small and easy to maneuver while the adult is heavy, stiff, cranky, and not so lovable and easy to manage. 

This change of status imposed upon a sick but still conscious adult by the everyday increasing inability to perform basic living activities causes, not a too long time after, the loss of any social role, and, thus also, the loss of identity and respect as a person.