Let’s end the stigma around mental health and start a conversation to support ourselves and each other. We recently connected with former Easter Seals Provincial Ambassador Sydney Weaver to find out how she has learned to manage her mental health as a full-time student with a disability during the pandemic. This is what she had to say:
I am passionate about increasing mental health support and advocating to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health. I continuously strive to do so while working to understand and improve my mental health.
Being a full-time student, learning to prioritize my mental health has come with a learning curve. A first step in learning to understand my mental health was acknowledging that in some circumstances, my disability may influence my mental health — and that is okay.
The learning curve has been made more challenging by the pandemic. Having a disability and relying on others for my basic everyday needs contrasts the pandemic messaging to “stay six feet apart” because my needs demand that I have close contact with people, and it is unavoidable. However, the pandemic has also negatively impacted my mental health.
In late March of 2020, the pandemic forced my university to close and switch to remote learning. As a result, I had to return to living with my parents to have my needs met. I love my parents, but returning home also meant leaving my friends, peers and the social atmosphere of attending university lectures. Returning to living with my parents also meant losing my sense of independence. It was an adjustment that filled me with frustration and negatively impacted my mental health. I felt isolated. The loss of socialization also took its toll on my mental health. Phone calls, exchanging messages via social media, and Zoom meet-ups only eased my feelings to a limited degree. While my feelings are not exclusive to having a disability, the needs I have that are created by me having a disability was a factor in why I had to return to living with my parents.
However, I am generally a positive person and chose not to focus on the downfalls of being home, but rather focused on the benefits of being at home. Concentrating on the positives also made me realize something that changed my perspective on living life in a pandemic with disability. This realization has empowered me as the pandemic continues to evolve. I realized my experiences of having a disability have given me the skills to navigate. Facing adversity is something I am familiar with. So, during the periods of strict lockdown and general adversity created by the pandemic, I continue to hold on to the knowledge I can overcome the adversity because I have overcome all of the adversity I have previously experienced.
Similarly, growing up (with a disability), I learned to adapt to different situations. This made it easier to adapt to my changed circumstances because I reminded myself that I could adapt to different situations. Lastly, it reminded me how resilient I am. This is not to undermine the struggles I experienced, but I knew that I had to reframe how I saw this pandemic for my mental health.
When it comes to mental health, overall, I have learned three key things: (1) Surrounding yourself with supportive and inspiring people who can motivate you is key. I am fortunate to have many of these people in my life, and they keep going and know to help when I am struggling with my Mental Health. (2) It is important to know the ways or things that positively impact your Mental Health. Those include dancing to my favourite songs, wearing my favourite cozy sweater and my favourite pair of lounge pants and enjoying a hot chocolate. (3) Finally, the most important thing I have learned is that talking about mental health makes it less overwhelming because by talking about mental health, we create compassion and understanding. That is a powerful thing and is needed to positively impact mental health for everyone.
Sydney Weaver is a former Easter Seals Provincial Ambassador who is currently studying Communications and Media at Carleton University.