The stigma around menstruation continues to make it a hushed topic and if you are a visually impaired person it might be difficult if you are not taught about it properly.
How do you know if you got your period?
The simple answer to this is: You just know.
Any person, sighted or not, can identify the signs that lead up to their period. Cramps, acne, cravings, sensitive breasts, etc. Are some of the physical signs that help us in knowing that our periods are around the corner.
How do you identify period blood from other discharges?
By using other senses like smell or taste. Period blood has a metallic smell and taste due to the presence of iron in blood. White discharge has a salty smell and taste. There is nothing awkward or embarrassing about it since it's not excretion but just blood from the lining of the uterus.
How can one help prepare their loved one with visual impairment for periods?
In reality, explaining about periods to a visually impaired person is the same as explaining it to a sighted person. You might require a little patience and knowledge to guide them. Give them options with respect to the menstrual products so that they choose the one that suits them best. Information about periods is also available in Braille which can be provided. Help and guide the person to be more independent and choose what they want. Using pills is another alternative.
What is helpful?
Tracking your periods especially if your periods are regular is helpful to know when your periods are approaching next month.
It is essential to be educated and be aware of the option one has to deal with it better.
It is important that period and discussion around it normalized so that no person feels embarrassed about periods or staining.
Having a period kit in case one gets their period is also helpful.
people who experience menstruation never compare their period pain and go like "nah mine is worse than you, mine stays longer and my cramps and mood swings are worse than anyone's", like no. they know you are struggling with that time of the month and suddenly everyone is a mom and that's fucking beautiful.
Carência de infraestrutura adequada para o manejo da higiene menstrual
Esses são alguns dos pilares que caracterizam a pobreza menstrual no Brasil e no Mundo.
A menstruação ainda é alvo de tabu nas sociedades, o que resultou na desconsideração desse tema como um problema real. Agora, na Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU), o acesso à higiene e à dignidade menstrual é tido como um direito e deve ser tratado como uma questão de saúde pública e de direitos humanos.
A “Pobreza Menstrual”, na realidade, denuncia uma vulnerabilidade social ainda maior. Estamos falando de miséria, de falta de acesso à água potável, à saneamento básico, à alimentação e outros recursos necessários para uma sobrevivência digna. E estamos falando, também, do fato da precariedade, em todos esses aspectos, afetar mais as mulheres do que os homens.
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Lack of access to menstrual hygiene products
Lack of information about menstruation
Lack of adequate infrastructure for menstrual hygiene management
These are some of the pillars that characterize menstrual poverty in Brazil and in the world.
Menstruation is still a taboo subject in societies, which resulted in the disregard of this issue as a real problem. Now, in the United Nations (UN), access to menstrual hygiene and dignity is considered a right and should be treated as a public health and human rights issue.
Menstrual Poverty", in reality, denounces an even greater social vulnerability. We are talking about misery, lack of access to drinking water, to basic sanitation, to food, and other resources necessary for a dignified survival. And we are also talking about the fact that precariousness, in all these aspects, affects women more than men.
