Kelly Profile picture
Aug 6 16 tweets 3 min read Read on X
When it comes to mask bans - your political affiliation shouldn’t matter. These bans are a serious violation of bodily autonomy. We are STILL in a pandemic. Criminalizing masking WILL kill & disable people.

🧵 on Nassau County decision & why you should care /1
I’ve said it before & I will say it again - mask mandates and mask bans are VERY different things. These bans have support in large part because people are still angry at being forced to wear a mask during the early days of the COVID pandemic. /2
I will agree that mask mandates weren’t handled terribly well - but they were done with the intention of saving lives & were ALWAYS temporary. They were loosely enforced & you couldn’t be arrested for not masking. You could be asked to leave a space & arrested for refusal /3
The mask ban in Nassau County allows people to be arrested for the CRIME of masking in public. They won’t necessarily be given the opportunity to leave a space. Wearing a medical device to protect your health will be punishable with $1000 fine and possible imprisonment /4
This is wrong on every level. These bans are not being enacted to protect anyone’s health. They’re not being done with intention of saving lives. They WILL further isolate disabled & high risk individuals from society & put marginalized ppl at high risk for police profiling /5
If mandates angered you because you thought they were fascist - these bans should infuriate you. The police have been given the right to determine who does & doesn’t have a valid medical exemption. They can arrest you for simply trying to avoid infection while out in public. /6
We can speculate all day as to the real reasons behind these bans - but one thing is glaringly clear - none of them are for the public good. There is no question that these bans WILL cost people their lives. Whether by forced infection or escalating brutality against maskers. /7
If you’re in support of these bans - please ask yourself why. If it’s that you want to “punish” disabled & high risk individuals for being the reason you had to mask… get over it. Lives are at stake. Police & government overreach won’t stop with disabled people. Help us. /8
A person wearing a medical mask in public is NO threat to anyone else. They’re arguably the safest person in the space. So why might a government be interested in making it illegal for them to protect themselves? /9
It’s likely a combination of masking interfering with facial recognition and surveillance (something which should concern everyone), pandering to their political base who loathe masking in all forms & a desire to keep propagating the lie that Covid is over. /10
Masks remind people of the pandemic. They push people out of their denial bubble - even if only for an instant - and the powers that be don’t want that. They’ve got a vested interest in keeping people out shopping, spending & spreading disease. /11
If more people truly understood the harm Covid poses to their long term health - they would rise up and demand more from their governments. They would want clean air, tests, treatments & masks in healthcare. The ruling class doesn’t want that to happen because it costs money /12
If some people “fall by the wayside” in the meantime - they don’t care. We are ALL expendable. Please read that again. We are ALL expendable. This isn’t “just” about disabled & vulnerable people. The sooner you realize that & join us - the better off we will all be. /13
My heart is heavy today. For everyone living in Nassau County and across the U.S. who have to fear for their personal safety in the face of these ugly laws. And they ARE ugly laws. It’s time to speak out before these bans spread to more counties & states. /14
One of the best ways you can send a message is by wearing a mask. If more people mask - it’ll be harder to drum up support to ban them. You can contact lawmakers & inform them you oppose these bans. Tell them you won’t travel anywhere with ugly laws on the books. /15
I don’t know what happens next - but I’m imploring people to stop acting like this is a justified and proportional response to mask mandates. It simply isn’t. We need more people on ALL sides of the political divide speaking out before it’s too late. /end

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More from @broadwaybabyto

Aug 7
It’s been a devastating few weeks. I’ve had injuries & setbacks plus fractured relationships, lost friends and the passing of more mask bans.

There are stories I’ve not shared out of fear …but I feel at a precipice. We must get loud. The time for holding back is over 🧵 /1
When I first began advocating for more Covid mitigations and better disability rights and awareness… I was nervous. My previous social media experience had been as a theatre journalist - so my followers knew me in that context. Seemingly healthy & high functioning /2
I didn’t know HOW to pivot to these new topics - nor did I know how it would be received. I was afraid of being judged, blocked & ridiculed by those who didn’t know I was disabled. Afraid they would walk away from me. /3
Read 20 tweets
Aug 5
Katie Ledscky wins Gold with POTS - and now those of us with POTS are being told we shouldn’t be “so disabled”.

I’m proud of what she’s accomplished while dealing with this dreadful condition - but concerned about how it may impact perception of our level of function 🧵 /1
POTS is a type of dysautonomia - which literally means a malfunction of the autonomic nervous system. This is the system that controls unconscious processes in the body - heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, breathing, digestion, blood flow etc. /2
If it’s something necessary to sustain life - and you don’t have to consciously think about it - it’s controlled by your autonomic nervous system.

When this system malfunctions - it can create profound disability. Some patients are left bedbound or in a wheelchair. /3
Read 18 tweets
Aug 4
My life is turning into a tragic comedy. I cut my thumb a few days ago - no idea how. Very mild cut but thanks to my EDS it wouldn’t stop bleeding.

I bandaged it & began having a mast cell reaction to the bandage.

The reaction became severe so I had to take the bandage off 🧵
It took a huge portion of my skin with it. Caused a cut far worse than the cut I was trying to treat. It also appears to have burned my skin - it’s red and blistered.

I have NO idea how this happened. There’s no way it should have burned me in such a short time
/2
The only thing I can think is because I recently did a 7 day holter - and I’m allergic to that adhesive - my mast cells were extra sensitive to any additional adhesive and attacked the site that had the bandage. /3
Read 10 tweets
Aug 3
When you’re disabled - you’re the canary in the coal mine for many things. We get hit harder & faster by things that non disabled people might find find easier to handle.

A recent emergency left me shaken by the realization of how few options I (and many others) have /1 🧵
We’re in a severe multi day heatwave where I live - with no relief even at night. I’m in a high rise apartment on an upper floor surrounded by glass buildings. There’s no shade or relief from the sun. Even with AC - these units get hot. /2
You’re lucky to maintain a daytime temp of 23 degrees with AC running full blast. If it’s not working or turned off - the apartment becomes dangerously hot very quickly.

Around dinner time - the AC broke for the entire building. /3
Read 20 tweets
Jul 31
Those of us who are still Covid conscious - especially those with disabilities who are trying to keep safe in a world willing to toss them by the wayside - are having a rough time.

It’s important to share the wins when they happen - and I had a healthcare win recently! 🧵 /1
This was my first trip to the hospital since mask mandates were dropped (I’m incredibly fortunate to live in a city that kept them mandated for 4 years) and I was quite worried that I would be judged for still wearing a mask /2
I’m high risk for a multitude of reasons - not the least of which being that I’m immune compromised and mild colds have put me in the hospital. I’m mostly housebound and was isolated even before the pandemic. Which means my highest risk activity is seeking medical care. /3
Read 15 tweets
Jul 30
I’ve had a lightbulb moment about why it bothers me when people say my stories are made up.

I’m a writer. It’s what I always wanted to be. I was fortunate to do it for a living for 15 years.

🧵 on sharing our stories, gumption, never backing down & how writing saved my life /1
Ever since I was old enough to read and write - writing has been my way of processing the world. Whether it be a diary, journal, letters to penpals or professional articles - when something bad would happen I found solace in writing about it. /2
My heroes growing up were almost all writers or literary heroines - strong women with gumption who bucked societal norms and refused to take crap from anyone. Refused to be told how to think, what to feel, who to love or what to do. They inspired me. /3
Read 24 tweets

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