Share this page!

Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
Twitter logo
19 Apr, 7 tweets, 2 min read
I want everyone to be very, very clear that what is being described here is a blanket and systematic discrimination against disabled people in Canada receiving *any non-emergent healthcare.*

bbc.com/news/disabilit… Text: ‘Gaslighting the patient' Revealingly, Canada Care C
This is why it actively hurts me to see people claim that it is easier to access care here.

I. Have. No. Ongoing. Healthcare.

None.
I am alive right now because I have a background in pathobiology and design which afforded me the expertise to read and analyze clinical literature, and the confidence to realize that if the healthcare system was content to let me die, I needed to find a way to save my own life.
FUCK Canadian healthcare.
(And to be really clear about what the consequences are of doctors systematically discriminating against disabled patients through Care Connect, here’s some context. That + year waitlist in my region? THAT’s Care Connect.)
This is not a situation where it’s, “fuck, this clinic has rejected me, I need to keep searching and my options are narrowing.” (Which FOR THe RECORD is also very bad.)

There is no search.

There is one, years-long waitlist, and you eventually get to the top...
...and then eventually someone has an opening and then *they* get too decide whether you’re too big of a burden to be worth that measly $220k a year they’re pulling in. /s

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @alexhaagaard

Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
5 Apr
I feel like most people assume that my hatred of medicine comes from my experiences as a patient.

But nah, most of it actually comes from the years I spent inside that culture.
Like just on the basis of my experiences as a patient I’ve obviously got a good, solid baseline level of rage.
But it’s knowing how doctors talk about their patients to other “insiders,” how medical students are trained to think about their patients, and what qualities are selected for by the systems that train them that keep me from thinking the clinic is redeemable.
Read 4 tweets
Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
2 Apr
This appointment is going to go SO well Screenshot of a section from a clinical questionnaire, label
They asked if there was anything else I thought they should know about 😃 Text: "I am aware taking herbal medications is risky an
The cool thing about receiving absolutely no goddamn healthcare is that I no longer give a flying fuck what they think of me as a patient because what exactly are they gonna do, give me less than zero care somehow??
Read 4 tweets
Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
1 Apr
Anyway, I'm just gonna go ahead and thread about my experiences with it, because it's hard to describe accurately in general terms.

But this has been one of the biggest factors that has prevented me from doing physio/strength-building exercises over the years.
It resembles Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, which is a common and well-known phenomenon, in that it's highly localized, and involves aching and loss of muscle strength in a particular muscle group, about 24-48 hours after exercising that muscle group.
What I've never been sure about is whether the magnitude of what I experience is "normal."

Because all resources on DOMS are just like "hurting's normal but if it hurts too much you're working too hard and it shouldn't like...immobilize you or anything."
Read 12 tweets
Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
31 Mar
[medical bullshit]

For #TransDayOfVisibility, I want to talk a little about medical transitioning with medical trauma.

I've got medical PTSD from a whole slew of stuff, ranging from medical assault to literally 3 decades of gaslighting me about my embodied reality...
...so for a long time, I didn't even consider medical transition because I didn't feel comfortable allowing medical professionals to get their grimy little violent hands anywhere near my gender.
But over the past year, as my mental health has healed slightly, and I've watched trans friends and acquaintances begin their medical transitions, it was something I became more interested in.

So at the start of January, I called the local gender clinic to make an appointment.
Read 9 tweets
Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
6 Feb
We’re doing social model discourse tonight so here’s some stuff to know:

a) the social model, as originally formulated, explicitly defined disability as the oppression that is experienced by those whose bodies/minds are *perceived* as deviant...
...which, intentionally or not, leaves out a lot of disabled people. While there have been attempts to rehabilitate the model to address the experiences of those with chronic pain, as far as I have been able to find, there has been no attempt to comprehensively resolve...
...the problem that medically invisible disability poses to the model’s assumptions, or to contend with the impact that those assumptions have had on the advocacy and policy shaped by the social model.
Read 10 tweets
Alex Haagaard (they/them) Profile picture
28 Dec 20
Winter’s awesome because literally every time I walk the dog I end up wanting to cry out of exasperation and pain because everything is so goddamn inaccessible #NEISvoid
I just got stuck on a patch of black ice for about five minutes because these assholes who can afford a $500,000 house apparently can’t afford a snow shovel and sand.
Then I got stuck at an intersection because the pedestrian button stops working in subzero temps and the lights won’t change at night without it. So I had to cross the other way and jump a curb cut that’s hazardous when it’s not covered in snow, to try the opposite button.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @alexhaagaard has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @alexhaagaard!

Read all threads by @alexhaagaard