I have been profoundly deaf since birth and grew up in the hearing world. I was taught how to speak without being taught any sign language and I got by through lip-reading. I can lip-read up to a point. I can't lip-read people who talk too fast or won't make the effort to speak more plain for me understand what they're saying. Most people people talk too fast for me, heh.
My left eye has been blind since birth, so for me to function, I have my right eye be my "ears." I'm so thankful that PsychCentral exists. Many professionals don't know how to deal with a deaf person with depression. I started having depression when I was 20 years and in college. I studying to become a scientist, a biologist. I tried to manage living with my depression as best as I could. It changed me and I lost my passion in becoming a biologist. I tried holding down jobs where I kept having physical and energy breakdowns, despite successful management of depression.
I got married and was doing well until I was 33 when I had a stroke that turned my life upside down. I spiralled deeper into depression. None of the meds worked. I tried so many meds. I was offered ECT treatments, but I refused because I already have brain damage and didn't want to add more. I had to fight with my insurance company to get them to cover for my VNS therapy on top of my depression. It took me a year and 3 appeals, but I won. I got my VNS and it's really helping a lot. It's not a cure and it's not perfect. It's a management tool in addition to the meds.
I still battle fatigue and hypersomnia, but my moods are so much better. I'm happy to take this relief. I just pray that it will last.
I don't believe that my disability caused my depression. I was doing OK in college. It just came out of the blue. Sure I went through stuff in my life that were really hard, but I got through them. Sure, my disability can be very frustrating, but I work through them. Who's to say that disability causes depression? Sure it can, if it's a sudden event that took something away from you or you focus on what you don't have. There can be advantages. Like, for example, you can sleep like a log when a trash truck comes rumbling through your neighborhood in the middle of the night. Yep, it happens in my neighborhood in the middle of the night in the summertime, for real. LOL! And everyone else is awakened by the noise they make when they load the trash in the compactor.
Despite my disability, I'm actually grateful for so many things in life. I wish the best for you. I know that life with disabilities can be quite difficult. Life is hard, by itself. We just have it harder, which can make us prone to depression.
Disabilities doesn't always cause depression. They just make us prone to it. Do I make sense? I hope so. I just focus on what I have or can do, not on what I don't have or cannot do.



No, it's not wrong to want to do the things you want to do. Some people keep expectations lowered. That's what the ADA law is for, if you're in the U.S., to help with equality and our rights to accomodations.