Sleeping Beauty as a Disability Story

I've always loved Sleeping Beauty.  And I hear grumbling about her passive-heroine storyline, and how sad that she's stuck waiting for rescue.  And modern writers empower her to sieze her own fate.  She gets common sense, or a loophole, or a trick up her sleeve so she can save herself.  Because the best heroines save themselves. And I'm not saying that she has a disability (though perhaps sleeping for 100 years is a bit disabling).  No, I saw her today as a metaphor for the disability experience.

Because I am sleeping in a castle.  I am far from help.  I am surrounded by thorns, and walls, and stealthy dragons.  I am stuck.  And I cannot rescue myself.

My 'princes' are the scientists working towards a cure.  They are the fund-raisers and activists and good people trying to understand this rare disease.  And until we unravel the mystery of this "magical spell" in my genetics, I must wait.  I cannot fix myself.  I find the beauty in thorns and befriend the dragons.  And I hope my stories are obsolete one day.  I hope I become a 'once upon a time' story.

Until then, I understand her.  Sleeping.  Waiting.  Dreaming.