chronic illness, disability awareness, disability studies

The Spoon Theory: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Written by Sarah Blake LaRose on . Leave a comment

Apparently there is a new trendy term for people living with chronic pain.

It comes from the spoon theory, which proposes that there is a limited amount of resources a person has for coping in a day and any number of things can exhaust those resources. Anything can “use up spoons”. It might be a trip to the doctor, a trip to the grocery store, or (if one is feeling especially badly) even getting out of bed. At some point, a person just “has no more spoons”.

People with chronic pain are now referring to themselves as Spoonies.

I feel about this term the same way as I do about “blindy”. It defines a person by their illness–and not in a positive light. I would go throw up, but it would use up some of my spoons. 😉

On a serious note, who is it who doles out the spoon allotment at the beginning of the day? And what is supposed to happen if, say, one has the flu and one is the only one home, one needs something but one has declared, “I’m out of spoons!”

I have lived this way. I will tell you what happens.

You use a spork. And I am not, and never shall be, a “sporkie”.

I am simply a person who knows how to rise to the challenge and do what needs to be done, whatever the reason. It doesn’t matter if it is because I needed a book in a format I can read and I am blind, so I scanned it into my computer, or because I am hurting and the cat box still needs to be scooped, so I did it.

Why do I need to be labeled a blindy or a Spoonie, or anything at all? Why can’t I just be a person? What a wonderful world it would be if in an appropriate context we might mention blindness or chronic illness the same way we might mention my need for help reaching something up high because I am also under 5 feet tall.

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About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose teaches Biblical Hebrew and Greek at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry in Anderson, Indiana. She is one of three blind academic scholars who received the Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind in 2016 in recognition of innovative work in the field of access to biblical language texts and tools for people who are blind. In addition to her work as a professor, she provides braille transcription services specializing in ancient languages. Her research interests concern the intersection of disability, poverty, and biblical studies.
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About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose teaches Biblical Hebrew and Greek at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry in Anderson, Indiana. She is one of three blind academic scholars who received the Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind in 2016 in recognition of innovative work in the field of access to biblical language texts and tools for people who are blind. In addition to her work as a professor, she provides braille transcription services specializing in ancient languages. Her research interests concern the intersection of disability, poverty, and biblical studies.

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