#chronically stella

[stella-and-the-pinks]

if you're disabled and/or chronically ill, i cannot stress enough how much you deserve friendship.

if your conditions make it hard for you to follow through with plans, you deserve friendship anyways.

if you use equipment like mobility aids, aac, ventilators and oxygen, feeding tubes, insulin pumps, etc, you deserve friendship anyways.

if your conditions make you have to cancel last minute a lot, you deserve friendship anyways. if your conditions make you have to leave early a lot, you deserve friendship anyways.

if you're housebound/bedbound, you deserve friendship anyways.

if you need caregiver support to hang out with friends, you deserve friendship anyways AND you deserve the caregiver support you need to enjoy time with them.

if you have a service dog, you deserve friendship anyways.

if your conditions cause "scary" medical episodes like seizures, fainting, meltdowns and shutdowns, etc, you deserve friendship anyways.

if you're disabled and/or chronically ill, i cannot stress enough how much you deserve friendship.

[stella-and-the-pinks]

if you think disability rights and accessibility and healthcare and stuff is super advanced in any country or place right now, you probably haven't spent enough time talking to higher support needs disabled/medically fragile people.

[stella-and-the-pinks]

possibly controversial disability community opinion: long-term caregivers should be considered somewhat part of the disability community and i'm kind of tired of excluding caregivers from discussions about ableism and systemic issues when caregivers also get the short end of the stick right alongside us every. single. time.

"some caregivers are ableist and caregiving doesn't inherently make you a good person" and "caregivers are regularly affected by ableism and systemic issues" are two things that are both true.

[stella-and-the-pinks]

my controversial disability opinion is that care support for recreational activities should be available & funded by the government for disabled people in the exact same way caregivers for basic needs should be. i don't care that they're not "essential" activities, i want disabled people to thrive, not just live.

[stella-and-the-pinks]

i think that some people forget that disabled people are abused at incredibly disturbing rates. and many disabled people cannot escape abuse independently, or at all.

many disabled people cannot escape abuse without putting their health and care needs at risk.

many disabled people cannot escape abuse because they have no money, or they're not allowed to access it independently.

many disabled people cannot escape abuse because they can't talk or otherwise communicate to tell someone they are being abused.

many disabled people cannot escape abuse because they don't understand what abuse is or because they don't understand that they are being abused.

please remember disabled people that cannot escape abuse. please remember that your tips on how to escape abuse don't apply to everyone. please advocate for programs that help disabled people escape abuse. please check in on your disabled friends.

[stella-and-the-pinks]

disabled adults should be allowed to engage in risky behavior if they want to.

disabled adults should be allowed to do recreational drugs, hook up with strangers, go clubbing, get too drunk, pull an all nighter, gamble, etc etc etc, if they want to.

disabled adults should be allowed to do anything abled adults are allowed to do.

and that includes things that the people around them think are mistakes, bad ideas, unhealthy, whatever.

[stella-and-the-pinks]

bystanders are shocked as disabled girl stops pushing her wheelchair just to take a massive rip off her geek bar

[stella-and-the-pinks]

if you rely on highly stigmatized medications to survive and/or function, such as opioids, stimulants, medical marijuana, antiretroviral therapy, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, and more, i cannot stress enough how much you deserve safe and reliable access to the treatment that works for you, to be listened to and understood by all of your providers, and most of all, how much you deserve to live as happy and healthy of a life as you can, whatever that looks like for you.