You’re not crazy, the world is very, very ableist.
G is for gaslighting. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation. The phrase was coined in 1938 after the British Play The Gas Light in which a husband gradually convinces his wife that she’s going crazy by slowly dimming the lights and telling her she’s imagining things. Gaslighting is extremely common in the disability world: from doctors to people who have yelled at me for using an accessible space because I “don’t look disabled”, all of these things eat at a chronic illness or disability patient’s sanity. Specifically, with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS, the condition I have), many symptoms are dismissed and often ignored by medical professionals because they are not easily explained. Check out this article on medical gaslighting from The Atlantic for more on how medical gaslighting especially affects women.
G is for Google it. It wouldn’t be an alphabetical list from an SEO strategist without an invitation to Just Google It. If someone has a condition you’re unfamiliar with, you can ask them but understand that they likely have explained it 2-3000 times this month alone (slight exaggeration possible), or you can try Googling it to get a basic understanding. This allows you to ask questions that aren’t extra labor for the person being asked.
Gaslighting and Google It also applies to other historically excluded populations such as LGBTQIA+, Black, Asian, and Muslim communities, and more. Having to defend your existence as a person with disabilities, a person who is trans, non-binary, or agender, or because of your skin color is exhausting. Remember that you are in charge of unlearning the biases, and you only are responsible for this.