People with disabilities are everywhere. Sometimes you can see the disability; sometimes you can’t.

But ask those with a disability about their experiences navigating through life, and often they will tell you about the Worlds of Same and Different.

The World of Same means that people with disabilities see themselves as just like everyone else, full of hopes and dreams, full of fears and insecurities. In other words, they view themselves as “normal.”

The World of Different, on the other hand, means that people with disabilities are fully and completely aware that they are not at all like those around them; their experience of living with a disability is always before them. 

The paradox of these two worlds is that often times they coexist. People with disabilities often report that they feel completely the same as everyone else and completely different all at once.

DisabilitiesUnderstood:  Connecting the Worlds of Same and Different