I am joining this disability march because I  was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2014, which is an incredibly painful disease that affects a woman’s reproductive organs. It’s classified as an invisible illness, which means that while I may look healthy on the inside, my body is a complete mess inside. There is no cure and doctors can only treat the symptoms, not the actual disease. Birth control and surgery are the most common treatment options. Most women have to wait 7 years to get an official diagnosis, but I am convinced that it is because the ACA that I was able to get diagnosed and treated in under a year. Without the ACA, I would be booted off my parents’ insurance, would not be able to qualify for insurance of my own due to my pre-existing condition, and would not be able to afford the birth control which makes my pain manageable. Without the ACA I would not be able to work or contribute to society in any meaningful way and would be in constant, intense pain. I’m only 23; I shouldn’t have to be bedridden and living on welfare for the rest of my life simply because the GOP hates women and the disabled. 

I am a professor of English at a local university, and I love instilling a love a writing and reading into the next generation. But I cannot continue to work at this thing I love without adequate healthcare.