It's a very human impulse to reduce things down as simply as possible. But it's also just as human to be irreducible. Which sort of just sums up the human condition, really, doesn't it. *wry*

Most of all, lately I find myself grasping after distinct words for the thousand shades of nuance that exist within "disabled". Medical terminology does not suffice; it's not just that it's frequently used to dehumanise, it's that it doesn't communicate the subtleties I'm thinking of. Each mental strength and weakness, each physical strength and weakness or difficulty, they exist simultaneously; inextricably linked together but still discrete in some ways... much like gender identity and gender performance and sexuality/sexual preference. But we have words for many of the shades of complexity that exist under the umbrella of "queer". I find myself at a loss, so often, when it comes to describing my physical/mental body and self. It takes paragraphs on end to communicate anything actually useful about it. In contrast, while it certainly is still messy and difficult to live and experience and there is a reason my chosen term most of the time IS simply the catch-all umbrella of "queer", I can still actually rather concisely convey my particular queerness in a single sentence. It need not even be a ludicrous run-on. *wry*