MARCY ROSE / AL

18, a thing. I’m nothing and everything. I exist beyond the scope of your imagination. I exist beneath your comprehension. I’m a therian paradox.I’m lightskinned “racially ambiguous” and mixed black. This is why I label myself this way. I am moderately physically disabled and mildly cognitively disabled. This is what I mean by that.I have a speech impediment that affects my articulation and fluency. Don’t make fun of typos in my writing. Friends get a warning. Strangers will be blocked.

People do not “discover” your race outside the internet. They treat you based on what they see. What your parents or siblings look like does not affect how people view you when they see you on the street, and it does not affect the amount of or lack of privilege you have.People treat me, when they see me, like they don’t know what I am. They note my racialized hair and facial features, but when it comes to skintone, I benefit from a large amount of color privilege. Whether or not I am seen as black depends on the perspective of the other person— and so I describe myself as “racially ambiguous.” This grants me privilege other black people do not have. I specify this as to be transparent.

My mobility is limited. I have the ability to walk, but not for long periods of time. Doing so causes me extreme fatigue, soreness for an extended period of time, and in a lot of cases, immediate pain in my joints. Even resting I experience these symptoms. This affects my physical activity.I have mild cognitive disability, which affects things like my memory, judgement, attention, language comprehension, and mood. This can affect my ability to participate in a conversation. Sometimes I’ll leave one or take a break from one because of this.