Thread by @broadwaybabyto

Where has empathy gone & why being chronically ill is painful & exhausting in Covid times 🧵. For everyone screaming that Covid is mild and we should stop living in fear and go back to “normal”… some of us don’t have that choice. Some of us didn’t have your version of /1

Normal even before Covid came along. I was immune compromised & mostly housebound due to cardiac issues before the pandemic. It was lonely and isolating but I did the best I could. I masked in high risk healthcare settings because even the tiniest infection could be deadly. /2

And guess what? HCWs masked around me as well. It was never a contentious issue. Getting healthcare was much simpler because hospitals weren’t anywhere near as stretched as they are now nor were they overrun with an incredibly contagious virus. Sure I had to be extra /3

Careful during cold/flu season - but Covid changed the game. There’s outbreaks year round in hospitals making them fundamentally unsafe for people like me. Even in facilities that have mask mandates - you still get the odd HCW who won’t mask or rolls /4

Their eyes & accuses you of being “anxious”. Each time that happens it stings a little more. No one ever accused me of being “anxious” for masking in the before times - nor did they think it was odd I was mostly housebound. These are the limitations imposed upon me by my /5

Disability and the overwhelming majority of people understood and were empathetic. In this mad rush to return to a “normal” (which was never as inclusive to the disabled as it should have been) people have dug in their heels and cast aside the sick and vulnerable /6

At an alarming rate. They’ve decided that anyone who needs accommodations is weak & living in fear. They’ve told us to be quiet. We get trolled on social media and mocked in real life. The people tearing down the vulnerable haven’t realized what we already know - we’re ALL /7

Vulnerable. Covid can disable anyone - even the strong and healthy. Many people have pre-existing conditions that are silent. The only difference between us and them is that we KNOW we are vulnerable and behave accordingly. We’ve also accepted that this virus doesn’t care what /8

We want to do. It will continue mutating and infecting if given the chance. We have to change and adapt if we are going to stop it and far too many people are unwilling to make even mild adjustments to their way of life. Covid is infecting at an alarming rate and no one /9

Is spared - so we are literally all in this together. Regardless of whether you’re able bodied or not, left or right leaning, we are all humans. We will either succeed or fail together. So I implore you to consider those less fortunate and listen to us when we tell you how /10

Much the pandemic has altered our lives. How it’s made day to day activities nearly impossible, made accessing healthcare more challenging and left many of us a shell of the people we once were. We are stuck in the inbetween - forgotten by society yet still very /11

Much here and aware of what’s happening around us. We warn people because we care. We don’t want more people joining our ranks. We see how we could collectively limit the devastating effects of Covid. So let’s start today. Mask up, clean the air, ventilate… protect others. /end