When I was newer to being chronically ill, I used the "suffer from" to describe my conditions. But I started changing it on my own in time because it just didn't feel right. "I have..." or "I've been diagnosed with..." or even "struggle with" or "cope with". Suffering from something makes it seem like my whole entire life is nothing but misery and pain. And you know? Some days it feels like that. But it's not my reality most of the time. And it's definitely not how I want to portray myself to the world.
I agree with trying to change that kind of language all around. If someone wants to use that phrase for themselves to reflect how they feel about their situation, it can be very descriptive and good in those cases. But don't inflict it on all of us automatically, you know?!
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-09-12 10:26 pm (UTC)When I was newer to being chronically ill, I used the "suffer from" to describe my conditions. But I started changing it on my own in time because it just didn't feel right. "I have..." or "I've been diagnosed with..." or even "struggle with" or "cope with". Suffering from something makes it seem like my whole entire life is nothing but misery and pain. And you know? Some days it feels like that. But it's not my reality most of the time. And it's definitely not how I want to portray myself to the world.
I agree with trying to change that kind of language all around. If someone wants to use that phrase for themselves to reflect how they feel about their situation, it can be very descriptive and good in those cases. But don't inflict it on all of us automatically, you know?!