How Do You Self-Identify?

In the 1990’s I worked at the Ft Myer Library on Ft Myer in Arlington, Virginia. The library was part of Recreation Division, that included Arts & Crafts, Automotive Arts & Crafts, Outdoor Recreation, Gyms, and the Community Center.

Are you old/young or fat/thin or handsome/ugly or
happen to be some of those things?

One of the Arts and Crafts instructors was a marvelous artist. He was also a husband and father, African-American, a civil servant , and US Army vet with a substance abuse problem. He always referred to himself as disabled vet because that was how he saw himself, despite the other terms he could have selected.

Labels can be self-defeating.

Most of us have more than one label we could use to self-identify and other characteristics that we treat as less important such as

a) body size

b) race

c) physical attributes like height or hair color

d) perceived impediments like wealth, opportunity, or physical challenges

e) political or religious affiliation

f) marital and/or parental status

g) profession or lack thereof

h) socio-economic level

How do you self-identify? Are you defined by your race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, political affiliation, profession? How you self-identify may tell us more about how you perceive yourself than anything else.