A change in ability status can happen at any moment and cancer certainly changes who you are.
Cancer equals loss.
There is a loss of control.
It robs you of your identity, you become poorer and it diminishes you.
Cancer subtracts, puts you in a minus and depletes you.
Your world becomes one of vulnerability, full of ‘needs’ and enormous challenges. Cancer engulfs you and you define yourself in term of your illness.
Cancer and a great quality of life rarely appear in the same sentence.
And that’s the problem.
The deficit model of cancer talks about all the things you can’t do. It is a narrative that is overwhelmingly negative and colours the perceptions and attitudes of others. It stigmatises your identity.
It uses an identity-first language where people are referred to as ‘Cancer patient’ or ‘Cancer survivor’ and lowers expectations by expecting less of you. It promotes the false idea that you cannot advocate for yourself or that you can’t offer valid ideas and opinions.
But cancer can also equal gain.
The asset model of cancer talks about what we can do, our strengths, our contributions, our ambitions and our potential. It seeks to put us in control.
It also acknowledges that in some cases, the experience of cancer can lead us into a better quality of life than the one we had before. It can enrich, lead to positive changes and enable you to grow as a person.
The asset model does not see you as inferior or on the margins and won’t abandon you. It uses a person-first language, focusing on your personhood above your cancer label and advocates for you not to be defined by your disability.
You are not devalued but valued.
Here’s the bottom-line – cancer does debilitate you and it can disable you but it doesn’t mean you have to lead your life on the back-foot and on the perimeter of life. I don’t have the ability to communicate as I once did, my jaw is breaking down and I struggle to eat and swallow. But there’s a heck of a lot I can still do!
The asset model of cancer as I see it means you can be active and proactive, you can be gutsy and feisty, you can be militantly optimistic and fight hopelessness and you can be right in the thick of it still able to enjoy life. It gives you agency.
Cancer is a part of you but you are not cancer. It is not your master status. We are a collection of identities.
Ditching the deficit model to honour the wealth you still possess is vital. Cancer can take a lot away but it can also multiply your strengths, knowledge and assets. You have a positive core of assets.
The asset model of cancer is forward-looking and imagines possible futures, it’s a strengths-based approach to living. Don’t focus on the problems, needs and deficiencies. You are not half-empty, you are half-full.
You are more than worthy.