Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. FARGO — People with disabilities all have unique lived experiences, but when it comes to their mental health, three people with disabilities told The Forum that members of the disabled community often face additional challenges and barriers that bind them together. A former mayor, a middle school student and a dedicated volunteer told The Forum how everyday mental health struggles are compounded by the realities of their disabilities and the systemic obstacles they face as a result.
Twelve-year-old Nora Abrams keeps a busy schedule between her writing seminars, coursework and extracurriculars. She dreams of being a biologist and just finished sixth grade at her Fargo middle school. Nora was born with a sensory processing condition, her mother Sara Abrams told The Forum, and needed to use mobility aids for several years.
“If you’re born with a disability, or if you’ve lived with a disability for so long, you don't think of it as being not normal,” Nora said. “You think of it as just being yourself. “I really think that people with disabilities, people with mental health (challenges), over time they learn to grow from what they’ve been given,” she added.
Fargo resident Dave Shove, 43, has had a physical disability since he was a baby. Now, he uses a wheelchair. “Some days it will both.
