The Multiplicative Nature of Disability: Why 1+1 Equals a System Crash
·13 mins
Sourcing Note: The examples in this article are not hypotheticals. They come from my own captured daily logs, technical sessions, and lived experiences. For a plain-language breakdown of the physical mechanics behind my diagnoses, see my Human Terms summary.
The Comfortable Lie of the Sum #
There’s a model of disability that feels mathematically tidy and is almost entirely wrong.
It goes like this: a person has Disability A and Disability B. Their overall difficulty is therefore $A + B$. If we build an accommodation for A, we’ve reduced the total load to just $B$. Progress has been made. The spreadsheet balances. Everyone goes home feeling useful.