Thread by @broadwaybabyto

Had a discussion with a friend on CDC isolation guidelines & how we’re fostering a culture of eugenics & forced infection. Their response? “More like we’re just finally going to stop paying people to sit at home.” This is someone who had been a kind & logical person. Thread 🧵/1

This type of personality shift is one of the aspects of the pandemic that bothers me the most. This person was kind & considerate and never opposed paid time off. Now they’ve become angry, intolerant & spew right wing rhetoric despite claiming to not belong to any “side” /2

It started with the stay at home orders in 2020. Despite having negligible impact on my friend (no children, work was not impacted, not a big socializer) they started becoming angry. Then the mask mandates spurred that anger on. /3

In their mind they were young & healthy and therefore had no reason to worry and felt no responsibility to protect others (despite being close friends with a severely vulnerable person - me). Slowly they started listening to right wing podcasts & influencers. /4

We fell out of contact when the vaccine mandates rolled out because they didn’t want any reminder of the vulnerable people “forcing” decisions on them. I tried to explain that people like me were not the ones dictating mandates - but it didn’t matter. /5

Once mandates were dropped they got back in touch - because now their life was “back to normal”. Suddenly they could tolerate me again. Meanwhile I’m still isolated because of my risk factors & the fact that most people won’t take any precautions to keep me safe. /6

I attempted to mend fences and we plodded along for awhile - until the CDC isolation decision last week. I was shocked when my friend expressed it was a good thing so people stopped being paid to stay home and “coddled.” /7

The lack of compassion they showed for people who are genuinely sick & need to be able to stay home & recover was upsetting. This is what pandemic division has created. 4 years of listening to right wing propaganda has turned my previously kind friend into an uncaring person /8

A person who sees the worst in people and only cares about those they see as similar to them. If you’re not actively contributing to the economy, if you’re not healthy, if you aren’t financially well off … you’re “less than” in their eyes. /9

I tell this story because this is not an unusual situation. Many disabled people have lost friends & family members in much the same way over the last 4 years. Being disabled can be incredibly isolating at the best of times- and we are NOT in the best of times. /10

This is why we push back against hateful rhetoric that disabled people are less than or don’t deserve safe access to healthcare & public spaces. This is why we are being loud about the CDC decision to reduce isolation requirements to one day. /11

It’s not because it’s fun for us - we want the pandemic to be over as much as everyone else (probably more). But we also recognize that if people who love us are turning on us because they blame us for losing their sense of “normal” - we aren’t safe anywhere. /12

How can we possibly get strangers to care enough to do the right thing when people who supposedly love us are unwilling? /13

So please - be kinder to disabled people speaking up for their safety. You’re just one infection or accident away from becoming like us and you won’t be treated any better when that happens. If we protect our MOST vulnerable we will ALL benefit. /14

The division & anger and constant “othering” of people needs to stop. Covid doesn’t care if you’re left or right leaning - healthy or unhealthy. We all share the air and until we start working together things are never going to improve. /15

We can choose to be more compassionate. We can choose to support clean air initiatives, masking in healthcare and paid sick time so people CAN isolate when ill. We don’t need to accept constant sickness as our new normal. We can fight back. /end