Disability is a natural part of human diversity. It encompasses a wide range of physical, sensory, cognitive, developmental, psychological, and chronic health conditions. A person may be born disabled or become disabled through illness, injury, or changes in health over time. Disability can be visible or invisible, temporary or lifelong, and it often involves navigating environments that were not built with disabled people in mind.

Living with a disability is not just about the body or mind. It affects how someone moves through the world, accesses care, and experiences belonging. Many disabled people face ableism, medical gaslighting, systemic barriers, and social assumptions that can make everyday life more challenging than the disability itself. The emotional experience of disability is often shaped not only by the condition, but by an inaccessible world.

Disability is more than a diagnosis. It is an identity, a community, a source of wisdom and resilience, and for many, a site of pride. It can also come with grief, loss, transitions, uncertainty, and the constant labor of self-advocacy. Navigating disability requires support, compassion, and spaces where disabled people can be seen and affirmed in their full humanity.

How We Can Help

At Resilience, we offer disability-affirming therapy grounded in disability justice, trauma-informed care, and anti-oppressive practice. We recognize that disabled people face structural inequities that intersect with race, gender, sexuality, class, immigration status, and other identities. Our approach honors the lived expertise of disabled clients and validates the complexity of their experiences.

We do not view disability as something to be “fixed.” Instead, we focus on supporting you in building a life that respects your access needs, uplifts your agency, and centers your well-being. Therapy becomes a place where disabled people can show up without minimizing symptoms, masking pain, or over-explaining their needs.

Our therapists work collaboratively with disabled clients to explore:

• Advocating for accommodations and setting boundaries around energy and limits

• Exploring disability identity, pride, and belonging within disabled community

• Holding grief, frustration, or loss related to changes in the body or abilities

• Managing the emotional impact of fatigue, pain, burnout, or fluctuating capacity

• Navigating accessibility barriers in work, school, relationships, and community

• Processing medical trauma, misdiagnosis, ableism, and medical gaslighting

• Reframing self-worth outside of productivity, performance, or societal expectations

• Supporting transitions into disability or shifts in mobility, cognition, or functioning

• Untangling internalized ableism and cultivating self-compassion

Disability is a natural part of human life. You deserve care that sees you fully, honors your access needs, and recognizes the systems you navigate.

Common Experiences

Many disabled individuals, including those with chronic illness, neurodivergence, mobility disabilities, sensory disabilities, or mental health disabilities, share experiences such as:

• Anxiety or fear around medical appointments, diagnoses, or advocacy

• Burnout from masking symptoms or appearing “fine”

• Disconnect between how disability looks on the outside and how it feels internally

• Emotional labor of constantly advocating for access and being believed

• Fatigue, pain, or fluctuating capacity that impacts daily functioning

• Feeling dismissed or invalidated by healthcare providers

• Identity shifts after becoming newly disabled

• Isolation, loneliness, or feeling misunderstood by nondisabled peers

• Navigating accommodations in workplaces, universities, or public spaces

• Pressure to “push through” pain or limitations

• Shame or self-blame shaped by societal ableism

• Stress around benefits, insurance systems, or securing adequate support

These experiences are real, valid, and deeply human. Therapy can offer a grounding space to process them with someone who understands disability as more than a diagnosis.

If you’re looking for support in navigating life with a disability justice lens, we invite you to reach out for a free consultation.

Therapists