I know what we’re all going through is hard, and that there are financial limitations, family obligations, and other reasons that make it harder for some than others.

I’ve posted several opinion pieces on this topic to my friends on facebook, but I want to say it in my own words: If you’re struggling with the difficulty of being homebound or not knowing when these restrictions are going to lift, remember that your disabled friends whose lives were like this before and will be like this after are in the audience.

I don’t say that to discourage expressing one’s frustrations but to say that if you can, please take this moment as an opportunity to figure out 1. ways to find meaning and purpose and enjoyment in a changed life and 2. ways in which the world could be better adapted to such changed lives.

Those of us who are disabled are old pros at versions of this, and have something to teach on how to cope when life goes on under massively altered circumstances.

We still have value, and we have special expertise here, and I’d encourage looking to such people as examples and the information compiled by the disabled community as a useful resource as you try to find your way through this time.

However, not all the challenges we’ve experienced as disabled people and knowledge we’ve gained thereby need to exist. Now that many others are going through an analogous experience, “pandemic rules” mean adaptions and opportunities are being made available that weren’t before and that have removed some barriers.

But some barriers will remain, and now that many people are having congruous issues, my hope is that those barriers will become more visible and the will and means of dismantling them might follow.

Because while there will be an end to this pandemic and the conditions it’s imposing, most of us, if we live long enough, will be disabled at some time – or eventually. Think of this as a trial period, which you can cancel, for that future date, and consider how you might make the days after that future date better – for yourself in that eventuality and for everyone else who must live it.