For the past seven to eight years I have been dealing with chronic lower back pain. Though this has been an ongoing epidemic in my life for a long time I have never viewed myself as disabled. About a year or so after the pain started I was at my doctor’s office to get a physical done so that I could continue swimming for my high school team. I mentioned to my doctor that I was having pretty intense pain in my lower back and wasn’t exactly sure what was causing it. Without doing any type of further examination he simply suggested that I “work on my posture.” Years go by and the pain increases as well as others starting to notice more and more that I am in pain. I was stretching and slouching more at work and laying on a heating pad more often at home. I am thankful that I have an unreasonably high pain tolerance otherwise the pain I was experiencing would have had a much more negative effect on me and my life. Finally, my mom made me another doctor’s appointment, without my knowledge, and the doctor suggested that I have x-rays done on my back. After the x-rays it turns out that I have scoliosis in my lower back and that has been the cause of my pain. The doctor then suggested that I should try out physical therapy to help with the pain, which I have been doing and has been helping. When I found out that I have scoliosis I was extremely frustrated by this because it is something that I could’ve been working on if the first doctor would’ve taken the time to help me and not just brush off the issue. This has been a lesson for me that people, including medical professionals, can all be guilty of not paying attention to a problem in someone else’s life if it is not physically visible to them and that I need to not let myself be dismissed so easily. It is my body and no one knows better than myself the difference between needing actual medical assistance and simply “working on my posture.”