Thread by @DisInHigherEd

My #DisabledInHigherEd fam, Hiiiiiii 🥰. I'm Mani-Jade Garcia (@manijadegarcia) & I have the honor of taking over this sacred page today 🙏🏾❤️. Thank you all for trusting me to share space with you.

Below is a photo of me smiling at all of you from my heart, as I am always!

1/

I went by Mani for most of my life. Then last November I opened-up about being a two-spirit person. I began using "he/they" pronouns until that didn't feel natural, then I switched to "they/them," which I am most comfortable with. So I now go by Mani-Jade or "MJ" for short.

2/

So please call me "Mani-Jade" or "MJ" for short. BOTH energies are very strong in me and really love to be acknowledged 🙏🏾❤️.

Today I'm going to share ideas I have been contemplating for managing stress; cultivating joy; & healing as disabled people. I hope we can discuss.

3/

It is #InvisibleDisabilitiesWeek so my takeover is timely, as I have had paralyzing levels of PTSD, anxiety, & depression (related to the PTSD) my whole life. I spent many years dealing w/ psychogenic nonepilectic seizures any time I was stressed.

epilepsy.com/article/2014/3…

4/

Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES) strike randomly, since they are stressed induced & my existence as a disabled Black-Indigenous-Latinx two-spirit person can be QUITE stressful at times. The seizures were so strong as an undergrad that I was on BOTH Lyrica & Lamictal.

5/

The Lyrica (pregabalin) was also used to treat mania symptoms. It is hard to "diagnose" me using DSM critera, so I have been diagnosed w/ atypical bipolar disorder(s) by different people at different times.

I am a diagnostic soup of DSM labels, depending on the version 🙄

6/

My lovely partner @AngelinaF_Gomez (follow her ❤️) is helping me recognize & come to terms with all of what I have described; especially being two-spirit & recognizing/managing mania symptoms.

@nolan_syreeta & @LindaCCor helped me recognize myself as disabled, thankfully ❤️

7/

Mental health is not always linked with disability, so though I have known throughout my life that I was not often functioning at a level other people were (& frankly don't want to); & though I LIVED in the disability accommodations office as an undergrad (it was lifesaving)

8/

I didn't conceptualize myself as a disabled person until VERY RECENTLY, largely due to a life-changing conversation with @nolan_syreeta & Black trans woman therapist Abigail Skinner during a @BlackInMH #BIMHWeek session hosted by @BranJJohnson1 ⬇️.



9/

So I am NEW to this community, have A LOT to learn, & am therefore nervous about taking over this page. I will do my best & am open to feedback & correcting any mistakes I make.

The fist thing I want to do is respond to the twitter chat yesterday. So I'll move to that 🥰.

/end