If you’re trying to find a way to communicate the severity of COVID to people, here’s an example of what I just said to my in laws that might be helpful. It was paired with a message my spouse sent them about this article published yesterday. fortune.com/2023/12/14/cov… “I know this really sucks to hear, but the fact is that the research at the start of the pandemic suggested covid was bad and the government ignored it in favor of a return to normalcy and boosting the economy.

There’s a VERY simple reason that explains at least part of why physicians often gaslight and fail to properly care for complex patients…
It just doesn’t make them feel good. Think about it… many go into a healthcare profession thinking there’s a cure for things and that they can help people.

I love how newly disabled people are SHOCKED to learn that modern-day medicine doesn’t understand that much about the body and has seemingly very few highly effective treatments for most conditions after their first series of useless medical appointments. Sure, we know more than we did when we thought the body had “humors,” but not as much as you’d think.
Almost every time I look for academic articles on a medical subject I find a recent paper that talks about a revolutionary new theory in that field. We’re still learning.

A decade ago I was hit by a car.
They REFUSED to give me anything for the pain until after I took a pregnancy test.
Because I was tied to a board & peed before, they had to double IV me, cut off my clothes, & use a bedpan to get a sample.
I had not had ANY sexual contact in 8 mos This was in a liberal state at one of the only trauma hospitals in a large city.
This is how women are treated: as secondary to any potential life inside of them, even if it does not (rather could not) exist.
That was over a decade ago.
I am terrified for what the future holds.

My spouse has HIV.
He asked his INFECTIOUS DISEASE physician (an expert who works at the hospital associated with the university that fired me for being disabled) if a virtual appointment was possible to decrease COVID exposure risk.
Here’s how he responded: This is not only highly unscientific and ableist, it completely ignores long COVID as well as research suggesting worse outcomes for those w/HIV.
Hell, this provider, an expert in infectious disease, clearly states that he does not usually wear an N95 in an ID clinic! 🤯

My MIL & FIL’s house is a split level. My MIL had a stroke last year & uses a wheelchair. They hired an “aging in place” architect to design an accessible addition after failing to find an accessible home on the market.
The designs he came up with are still inaccessible to her.🧵 I spent hours yesterday creating an alternative floor plan that is actually accessible from a wheelchair and then my architect spouse drew it up formally.
That was the only architect they could find in a large metropolitan area that was at all familiar with accessible design.
2/

It’s official:
After working fully remotely for almost a year, the university is terminating my contract a year early because I requested continued remote work as a reasonable accommodation.

Last day is June 30th.

How is this real?

I will fight. But, for now, I’m heartbroken. @DisInHigherEd @DisabledAcadem @DBetterAcademia @AcademicAbleism @AcademicChatter @OpenAcademics @AbleismAcademia

Throughout this year of nearly constant discrimination (which has been observed by and distressing to the RAs) I did not tell the RAs how much it negatively impacted my health.

I didn’t want to further burden them or negatively impact their perceptions of our boss… 1/ Then, when it became obvious that I needed to take disability leave because my health had declined so much, I decided that the best thing I could do for them as prospective academics was to be honest and to lead by example in prioritizing my well-being. 2/