Rejection by your peers is always difficult to face, but rejection for something over which

you have no control is devastating. As a student with a hidden disability, I can speak to this from
experience. In eighth grade, I was diagnosed with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a rare
life-threatening condition and certified disability. While it is managed by daily medication, in
times of injury, illness, or trauma an immediate injection is needed to prevent death. As a
12-year-old, hearing that you’re “disabled” is difficult to understand and I clung onto the idea
that everything would go back to normal when I turned 18. It wasn’t until five years after my
diagnosis while en route to the hospital following an injury sustained in a water polo game that I
realized that this walking on eggshells ​was​ my normal.

Throughout high school, I faced many setbacks. They came in various forms; ignorant
people making fun of my condition, hospitalizations for a multitude of CAH related reasons,
missed class due to illness, teachers who didn’t understand that I had to miss class because I was
near death, etc. I had to overcome a lot. As I went about my life, I learned how to manage my
doses and my condition to minimize the number of obstacles I’d face. I learned how to be the
person I wanted to be within the constraints of my illness. However, despite all of this personal
growth, I found that I needed an advocate who would stand up for me and help others understand
the complications of this hidden disability. There was no one, and out of necessity, I became my
own advocate. I worked with community leaders to change the treatment of people with
disabilities, particularly in the Merced City School District and Merced Union High School
Distrcit. I’ve spoken at board meetings, helped revise policy, and worked with administrators to
ensure that students with this condition and others are protected in school procedures. I’ve seen
firsthand the positive effects that my work has had on my peers and it makes me happy that I
have made such a lasting difference.

Last year, I developed an international activism platform to spread awareness for people
with CAH and the platform now has a following of more than 200 people. Through this platform,
I’ve been able to connect with people locally, throughout the United States, and around the
world. I’ve learned new things about CAH and have been able to educate people about the
different parts of the disease with which I am familiar. I now make CAH ribbon pins to distribute
not only here at home, but also to global followers so they can raise awareness in their own
communities.

I am proud of the work I do, not only because it’s important to me, but also because it has
made my community a more understanding place for others with hidden disabilities. I hope to
continue this work in college and later as a medical practicioner in the hopes that I can make
advances both in the social areas and the stigma surrounding people with disabilities as well as in
the medical field to further what we know scientifically and move us closer to the age-old goal of
finding a cure.