Learning to Find Joy In Myself

Club IDIC - A Short-Lived Safe Space written by Heather Leigh Cameron It's Disability Pride Month and and I believe the whole concept of Pride is to bring attention to struggles faced by a marginalized community in hopes of inviting positive changes. One of the challenges faced by people with disabilities is finding safe spaces where they can truly feel safe.  It's a struggle to find that safe space more often than not, so many who are able to create a safe space for themselves will often do so, but there is a struggle involved in that because not everyone believes that everyone has a right to a space that they can consider safe. I am a person with neurodevelopmental disabilities, specifically ADHD and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, which is on the autism spectrum and it's always been hard to find spaces where I am welcome, as a lot of people find it hard to love me as I am enough to want me around, so I get asked to leave a lot of spaces.  And that brings me to my story a...

Tolerance Is Not Love written by Heather Leigh Cameron It's Disability Pride Month and I believe the whole concept of Pride is to bring attention to struggles faced by a marginalized community in hopes of inviting positive changes. A struggle that I strongly believe is that people with disabilities often mistake tolerance for love and think that people tolerating them means that love exists. I also strongly believe that people without disabilities tend to believe that it is good enough to simply tolerate someone who is different rather than put in the work to learn to love them. Tolerance is Not Love. Tolerance is nothing more than a hot mess based on fear that can cause chaos and hurt while love is patient, kind, and meant to encourage growth and happiness. There is and will always be a difference between tolerance and love. Even in the era of Star Trek, where Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations is supposed to be wholeheartedly embraced, living beings still struggle to und...

Living In A Mask Written by Heather Leigh Cameron It's Disability Pride Month. I believe the whole concept of Pride is to bring attention to struggles faced by a marginalized community in hopes of inviting positive changes. One of the struggles I believe people with disabilities face is constantly feeling pressure to minimize themselves so they can fit in with the rest of society. This 'minimization' is otherwise known as masking and more often than not, people with disabilties basically live in masks because they are too afraid to be themselves and risk being bullied, ostracized, dehumanized, or even demonized for it.  The problem with that is that people with disabilities are quite literally incapable of masking 24/7 without taking a break even if they try their very best, so they often get overwhelmed by the constant stress associated with masking and end up masking at the worst time, which creates chaos and pain for them and their lives. I believe this heavy, neverendin...

It's Disability Pride Month, but how many people actually care about it or those within the disability community who struggle daily just to be seen, treated, and loved as human beings? The world is full of indifference and many suffer because society as a whole has forgotten how to care!  I believe the whole concept of Pride is to bring attention to struggles faced by a marginalized community in hopes of inviting positive changes, so I am speaking about the grief I feel over indifference. Motivated by the grief I felt over the world's lack of care for one another and the many personal experiences that I have endured with my social disabilities, I wrote an essay titled 'Star Trek Teaches That We Must Not Forget to Care.' It was published in the Fall 2021 Issue of Star Trek: Quarterly. Anyone who is interested in reading it can find it here:  https://startrekquarterly.wordpress.com/2021/09/27/fall-2021/ I also had it published on Treksphere.com in December 2021, as I beli...

IDIC Includes Me written by Heather Leigh Cameron It's Disability Pride Month and I believe whole concept of Pride is to bring attention to struggles faced by a marginalized community in hopes of inviting positive changes. I am a person with neurodevelopmental disabilities, specifically ADHD and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, which is on the autism spectrum. I am working towards bringing to life awareness about who I am and how I am so others can come to understand that I too am worthy of inclusion in the realm of happiness that others seek so valiantly. My awareness campaign includes writing many essays. In February 2021, I had an essay published on Star Trek's website in February 2021 titled 'IDIC Includes Me And That's Why Star Trek Matters.'  It talks about experiences I have had as a Neurodivergent individual. The idea for this essay came to life in late 2020 after I encountered difficulties trying to find a virtual space where my neurodivergent self could be em...

Back in August 2025, I spent a week in the backwoods of British Columbia playing a 21-person live-reality game called Marooned - Live Reality Game , a season that had a theme of 'Cursed Kingdom,' and it was really a meaningful adventure that involved meaningful people. It was an adventure I put a lot of preparation into. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to actually do the adventure, as I wasn't sure if I could manage it, but then the Spirit of God nudged me and gently encouraged me to do it and let me know that I was needed there, so I decided to trust in God and go forth to do whatever I was needed to do there. Like, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and it's a fact that I'm not gonna hide. I like to talk about God. I'm also neurodivergent in that I have ADHD and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, so that, among other things, is a special interest of mine that I like to share a fascination with. I don't mean to annoy peop...