Accepting imperfection

There's a purple streak of light, resulting from the lens flare, in the middle of the photo. I spend a lot of time deliberating whether to remove it. Ultimately I decided to leave it in, accepting the photo's imperfection.

One of the lessons I like to reiterate in my work (with people with intellectual disabilities) is that you cannot just look at a person and know that they have any disability. And it's the same in reverse; you cannot assume someone has a disability if they look physically different.

The same goes for other aspects of people and health. Judging people by how they act, look (physically), or communicate is not enough for you to make a decision about their health. This rings even truer for me now, with a recent diagnosis of another chronic disease.

Pain, stress, confusion, sadness, denial, worry, and depression. They can be hidden with something as simple as a smile.