“The world can be unkind, but we don’t have to reflect that cruelty. We can choose.”

For many of us, especially within the disability community, this choice isn’t abstract. It’s personal, and most of the time, it isn’t easy.

Dreaming is often framed as something optional, but for people with disabilities, dreaming can be an act of power. Not the kind of dreaming that ignores barriers or pretends everything is possible if you “try hard enough,” but the kind that says:

I still get to imagine a life rooted in dignity, joy, and self-determination.

Choosing to dream doesn’t mean ignoring the systems that fail us, nor does it minimize pain, access issues, fatigue, or grief. It means refusing to let cruelty be the loudest voice shaping your future.

For young people, especially, this matters. When the world sends constant messages about limits, worth, or productivity, dreaming becomes a way to stay connected to yourself. It’s a reminder that you are allowed to hope. You are allowed to care about community and joy on your own terms.

None of this happens all at once. It shows up in ordinary days, in choices that do not make headlines, in moments that do not feel brave or inspiring while you are living them.

The world may still be unkind, but you are allowed to leave some of it behind.

Dream anyway.