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March is my awareness month!

I have essential tremors (it's essential tremor awareness month). No, it doesn't hurt.

I'm neurodivergent (March contains neurodiversity celebration week). No, it wasn't caused by vaccines.

I'm disabled (it's disability awareness month). No, I don't LOOK disabled and yes, I'm still young.

I'm non-binary (the last week is LGBTQ+ health awareness week). No, I'm not mentally ill (at least not for this reason).

I have a few days too, some tell you too much about me, so I won't go into it at that level.

As cool as it is to be recognized, I'll be honest. An awareness day or month never did anything for me. My friends ask me about these things all the time. People who seek to understand don't need an awareness month to care.

"How's your tremor lately? Have you seen this recent study? Did you know that there's a new device out?"
"How have you been adjusting since you got your diagnosis? I hope you feel more in alignment now that you understand your context."
"Let me know if you need me to get you some food sometime, I know it can be difficult to go grocery shopping with your sensory inhibitions."
"I know that everything in the world right now is impacting you very negatively. I want to remind you that your strength, compassion, and perspective is contributing positively to others' lives."

These months hit weird for me because suddenly people are creeping out of the woodwork declaring that they care. They want to know more! Suddenly, they want to know how they can help and support... and in my experience it's less about how they can support and more about what I can tell them. "Educate me, I'm not going to look it up myself."

I'm glad there's awareness for essential tremor, disability, LGBTQ+ health, and everything else this month (and other months). Before awareness months no one knew what essential tremor was and people got super uncomfortable around it, often blaming me for that discomfort. "Can you shake somewhere else? Can you hide it? Can I carry this for you instead?" (No, no, and NO I can do it, I just do it differently than you do.) Before awareness weeks and days, it was easy to feel ignored (not invisible, but tucked away from visibility -- what's most important is the comfort of the majority, not the existence of the individual).

I'm not against them, but they hit weird. Opportunists take the moment to look like caring and compassionate people. Those living through it take the moment to educate, but the only people who listen were already listening.