Your Normal is not my Normal

"Your Normal is not my Normal" is a collection of art and text pieces meant to bring awareness to invisible chronic illnesses and disabilities, particularly those that affect young people. This project also aims to address stigmas and prejudices against people with disabilities, especially illnesses that appear "invisible" or not immediately recognizable from physical appearance. I want to challenge my readers with the opportunity to reconsider some everyday experiences and interactions from a new perspective. My approach was largely interdisciplinary. I drew significantly from my own knowledge of what it's like to live with a chronic illness. But I also incorporated what I learned from medical research as well as from reading blogs and other resources written by those living with chronic illnesses to ensure I was describing common experiences that many people with disabilities can relate to. I created the artwork by hand using acrylic paint, watercolor, and paper collage. The mixed mediums are intended to represent a collage-journal aesthetic. I scanned the art pieces and added the text digitally using Photoshop which was a challenging new learning experience for me. Whether you yourself are dealing with a chronic illness, you know someone who is, or this is a topic with which you are unfamiliar, I hope you can learn from the following pages.