Disabled & Dealing with It

Meg, 22, USA. I am an autistic Native American with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia, ADHD-PI, and more. Feel free to ask me any questions!

[depeshemode]

[risingphoenix87]

Word. Love ya, @patchworkheart​! 

[mindyourownmadness]

[oxygeninhale-deactivated2017102]

[myalgicencephalomyelitiscfstom]

From here: https://twitter.com/mermhart/status/1238125817420537857

[crazy-little-angel-deactivated2]

Beautiful artworks by the recently departed Qing Han @qinniart 🌟 I’ve rewritten this post several times and it never seems good enough. It always feels too emotional, too cheesy, too personal, not personal and honest enough, too angry, too sad, too everything. So screw it. Even after having a month to process, it’s still a lot. But no matter how long I wait or how many times I try, it won’t help. I’m just gonna speak from the heart. . . It’s been barely over a month since the world lost an amazing artist and I lost something I don’t know how to put into words. @qinniart didn’t just inspire me, she kind of changed my life at a time when my life had been stripped down to nothing but illness and loss. . . My artistic side had been pushed to the side, deemed unworthy by everyone around me who demanded I become something that had fancy degrees and made lots of money. Chasing good grades, a career, and approval while trying to survive relentless abuse and a mountain trauma was no life. But when my physical illnesses got worse to the point that I couldn’t chase anything anymore, I felt like an amazing life had been ripped away from me. Now I was just this girl I didn’t recognize anymore who was a disappointment to everyone, and who was in so much pain and felt like she had nothing to live for. I was frankly losing my mind. . . So how did I get through? Turns out being a complete failure and coming to terms with it can come with freedom. A freedom to find me, the real me, the me that makes me happy, the me I actually like and want to be. That me turned out to share a lot with the creative, artistic me I’d left behind. You know what made me want to find her and embrace her? Qinni. . . (CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS)… https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rnOXIgEOR/?igshid=6a5l7s9kqexe

[autctopus]

them: why are you so quiet? why do you do those repetitive motions? why are you so obsessed with certain things? why can’t you stand certain textures? why do you hate loud noises? why can’t you make eye contact? why are you so awkward? why don’t you understand sarcasm? why do you stick to a routine? why don’t you like being touched?

 me: i’m autistic

them: what?! i never would have guessed! you don’t display any of the symptoms!

[entitledrichpeople]

Things like the US’s absolutely dismal healthcare system, massive homeless population, unparalleled harsh and huge prison system (where prisoners are being prohibited hand sanitizer and denied soap), high numbers of people with asthma and lung damage from pollution and environmental racism, etc. are pretty much going to ensure that US covid-19 deaths will be sky high compared to most areas already reporting numbers.  It’s going to spread like wildfire, and a ton of people will be denied treatments that could save their life, or have those treatments delayed so long it’s deadly.

Mild cases can include things like pneumonia, and those with conditions like asthma are at particular risk.

The US is also ensuring higher death rates abroad too, through things like sanctions on Iran that are denying access to medical supplies.

[entitledrichpeople]

And the US is still trying to use starvation as a threat to force over 700,000 people to be made to work shitty service jobs, even when sick (an extremely high proportion of these people are disabled too-most disabled people do not qualify as disabled under these rules-including groups like people with severe asthma who are at heightened risk of death).  Because of course.

[disabled-and-dealing-with-it]

I’m disabled and I’ve had to repeatedly fight with my caseworker (who should be fighting for me!) in order to keep my food stamps. I’ve been kicked off twice, even though I have a genetic condition and have provided multiple letters from my doctors.

Things are crazy here.

[arrghigiveup]

This is so precious oh my god. There’s more under the cut. Also click HERE for full-sized pics and also a vid of a chicken screaming at the wind XD 

Keep reading

[lynati]

https://twitter.com/Amandycat/status/1232363229264961540

[singerin]

@pangur-and-grim

[justiceleague]

Diana with the Golden Armor in the Wonder Woman 1984 promotional pics

[guccixcucci]

Link to tweet

IMMUNE COMPROMISED PEOPLE IN NEED

Name (Social Media Handle) Where are you located? What products do you need? **Please note, N95 masks are currently short, world-wide; any

Here’s a Google Doc with people able to help

[spoonie-living]

[Image: tweets by @itswalela: “Can we start a thing under this thread where people who are in areas with disinfectant supplies say they are willing to send a couple items out to immune suppressed ppl who don’t have any in their city? Or immune suppressed ppl say what they need? Even though two ppl have helped me out with my disinfectant needs, I keep getting messages and I want other immune compromised people to get the help they need ❤️”]

Here’s a good start to the mutual aid train, above!

And here’s another, similar doc.

If folks know of other mutual aid that’s going on around this crisis, please do let us know so we can post about it. We’ll update this post as appropriate.

We’ll continue to post whatever coronavirus resources hit our desk if they seem useful and accurate. No panic or bad info here if we can help it! Check our Coronavirus tag for what we’ve got so far.

[edxwin-elric]

i would like to point out that sneezing into your elbow and washing your hands (soaping for 20 seconds and rinsing in warm water) is something everyone should be doing all the time as part of basic hygiene and not just when a global pandemic is happening

[pathcend]

Another great graphic from @popsci

[oswildin]

My mum sent me one of these last night, and I said that it’s all good and well WHO releasing this, but what about those of us who get these symptoms daily anyway due to chronic illnesses? It’s so confusing and hard to differentiate. But hopefully this is helpful to the general population!

Keep yourselves safe, if you are suffering from a chronic illness, please don’t feel guilty about taking care of yourself. If you need to take time off work to ensure you don’t get worse, do it. Because your health is more important than a job. And even if you are generally a healthy human, again, don’t hesitate to put yourself first. ❤️

[cryptolocked-deactivated2018081]

a friend

[ichorandpride]

i havent seen an iDog in fucking years let alone online

[annieelainey]

I’ve been thinking about the pressure to perform disability and the prejudice that forces us to do it.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ My body (not my conscious mind, but my BODY) gets so anxious before any medical appointment; because of this nauseating, heart pounding feeling AND because medical appointments are so expensive, I avoid them now as much as I can. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I just deal with all my symptoms untreated and survive each day one day at a time because healthcare is just obstacle after obstacle.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ But the very first obstacle is doctors believing your pain and fluid symptoms in the first place. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ If I make it into a medical appointment, I’m stable enough to get myself there, this means the doctor does not get to see me at my worst… no one ever does tbh.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ When I get ready for a doctor’s appointment I struggle with how put together I should look; I think, “If my hair is neat, my make up is done, and I wear something loud and colorful, they might not be inclined to help me because of the prejudice that I don’t "look” sick. But if I go to my appointment in my pajamas and messy… I might face the prejudice of “not trying hard enough to get better"⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Knowing that doctors have these prejudices and having experienced them makes it so hard for me to even get out the door. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Performing disability in a way that adheres to the prejudice of others often feels necessary in order to be taken seriously. I go back and forth, and often land somewhere that feels in the middle, I am not wearing my pajamas but I’m not wearing anything too loud either. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I can’t wait for the day that general ableist ideas about disability are diluted and instead people understood that disability can look and behave so many different ways. Being fashionable and confident does not negate disability; I’m so tired of the anxiety and feeling like I have to water down my style and personality just for my medical and access needs. Water down ableism instead! #HospitalGlam #TheFutureIsAccessible⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ [Image Description: Annie wearing a colorful face mask, blue jeans, white shirt, and army green jacket in a hospital examination room]⁣ (at Miami, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rf8T_gr2i/?igshid=13wsr6px2a9ci

[amarantheia]

Trying to keep some of the fire within

[jardindefruits]

“Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.”

— Linda Hogan, Indigenous American writer