Identifying as disabled

In light of my recent completion of the quiz about my invisible illness, this entry on FWD [Feminists With Disabilities] has me thinking. If I can come out publically as having a mental illness, can I go further with a political/social self-definiton of "disabled?" I commented:

Nellie Jean said, I’m also “afraid” of coming out PWD because I never thought I had it “bad enough.”

I can understand that sentiment thoroughly. I have a sister with cerebral palsy, so the manifestations of her disability have strongly affected what I think of as “disabled.” I am very much loath to identify as disabled with my anxiety disorder and occasional depressive episodes because they don’t seem “bad enough.” The medical model is clearly talking here. I have more thinking to do.

Thank you for the post, Abby.

Michaela gets a better body!

Michaela started off in an earlier incarnation as a CG head on a CG 1.0 body, but, when I redid her, I put her CG head on an articulated Barbie body with Obitsu hands, then painted the arms and neck to match her head's color. [Linked entry shows her before skintone matching.]

Michaela's Barbie body, while being appropriately small and slight for a girl that was killed and vamped at 13, does not pose very well. But Michaela is a key player in the next few seasons [in the Anneka and Will vs. Thomas plotline], so she needs to pose well! That's why she's getting a Volks Dollfie Plus body. Though I have eschewed these bodies in the past because of their fragile floppiness, I choose one now because, unlike an Obitsu, the neck width of a Volks will make Michaela's head look in proportion. Hooray!