How do I explain my disability as part of my identity, not just a limitation?

Sor Juana knew something we're still learning: that what makes you different often holds your deepest insights. When you live with disability, it shapes how you think, create, and understand the world. That's not separate from who you are—it's woven through you. The shift happens when you stop translating your experience into someone else's framework. You don't need to prove your disability is 'not that bad' or 'but look what I can do anyway.' Both can be true: you have real access needs AND you have clarity, resilience, and ways of knowing that come directly from navigating the world as a disabled person. Start by noticing what you've learned because of your disability, not despite it. How has it changed what matters to you? What do you understand about yourself, others, or systems that you might not have otherwise? That's identity work—claiming the whole of your experience as legitimate and formative. You're not being positive or inspiring by doing this. You're being accurate. Your disability is part of your intellectual and personal life, your justice concerns, your rights claims. Own that.