I don't generally so blatantly rant, but this has been an issue with me lately, so I'm going to bitch. Fair warning, don't read it if you don't want to hear me whine.

I have a physical disability. Sometimes, it's worse than others, but basically because of a severe laxity of the collagens in my body, I'm double jointed in every mobile joint. If the joint moves, mine goes beyond what would be considered the normal range of motion. This makes the joints unstable, and easily dislocate. The actual disorder I have is Elher-Danlos Syndrome (EDS for short) either type 3, or hypermobility type. It also makes me extremely clumsy. It hurts, it sucks, and at this point I'm used to it.

Right now I have three joints that are particularly bothering me. My right thumb, right hip, and left shoulder. The worst of the three is my hip. Now, I would normally wear a thumb brace all the time, but because my hip is bothering me more than my thumb, I have forgone the thumb brace in favor of a cane, because I cannot use the thumb brace and cane together.

Which brings me to the actual point of my rant. I'm 28, but because of the whole collagens being lax, I look like I'm in my early 20s. I usually look about 10 years younger than I actually am. Anyways, I look to be in my early 20s, and I'm using a cane with a heavy limp. I walk funny right now. Not because I want to, but because it hurts. And people stare. A lot. I hate it. I am aware that people are curious as to why a perfectly normal looking 20 something is walking the way I do and using a disability placard to park. People are curious, and if anyone asked, I would gladly tell them what was going on. I'm very open with my condition. I write a blog about it. I try to raise awareness in any way possible.

But nobody asks. Ever. Instead they stare. Because I am who I am, I generally stare back at them, to make them uncomfortable, because what they are doing is damned rude.

I work a full time job. I am not on disability, although I do qualify. Sometimes, I am able to function at a higher level than other times, so I don't always have to use a cane, but I always have some sort of brace. My thumb doesn't heal. It never will.

Again, this is a rant, so take this any way you wish, but honestly, love, tolerate, and don't stare at the gimp girl. She's carrying a three foot long metal implement that could "accidentally" get tangled in your legs and trip you, because you're too busy staring to notice. Ooops, so sorry about that.