As we battle the ever present “what about personal responsibility?!” healthcare argument, I’m here to tell you: it doesn’t matter.

I’m disabled. I didn’t become that way by my own hand - it was entirely an accident, and I was a child doing child things. But here’s the thing: 1/7 That does not make me more worthy of accessible care.

Whether an illness or injury was caused by genetics, accidents, heroism, alcoholism, drug abuse, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, it literally does not matter.

Human beings deserve to get care when they are ill. 2/7

Okay, I’m gonna give a quick story time.
I feel that some of you are still operating under the pretense that “I’ll probably survive COVID, so I don’t have to worry.”
You do.
Because the fact that fully healthy, abled, young individuals have died as well aside, you are 1/7 forgetting the fact that illnesses don’t leave without leaving things behind.

I know this firsthand.

I had pertussis 8 years ago, when I was 18. My immune system was very poor at the time (and remains so).

Prior to getting pertussis, my lungs were VERY strong. 2/7

Friends, propaganda has sprung to using misleading statistics as per usual, so as an ex-sales associate, let me put it in perspective for you.

My mother in law’s conservative radio show is trying to downplay COVID by stating that the death rate in NYC is ONLY .01% 1/4 Sounds small, right?

NYC has a population of 8,398,748 people.

.01% of that number?

About 840.

That is 840 people, dead. 840 people with families, friends, memories, dreams, futures that were torn from them.

If you hear statistical propaganda, please do the math. 2/4

CN //// drugs
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I live in an area that is pretty much a heroin hot spot. We’ve had 4 (if not more since I last saw reported) overdose deaths during this time. And every single comment from locals on the matter has been nothing short of heartless. 1/6 As a disabled person, I’m not new to the cruelty of human beings. I know exactly how shitty people can and will be to each other in any given circumstance. But this is just too obscene for me to deal with. This is HARD. Quarantine, COVID, this situation is hard for EVERYONE. 2/6

From reading @coffeespoonie’s saga on the inaccessibility of Uber drivers refusing to follow the law, one of the hottest takes I’ve seen so far is “you should have to identify yourself as disabled before using any service.”

No. We are not doing this. Here’s why. 1/6 Abled people enjoy ignorant bliss in the form of “nobody would willingly discriminate against disabled people”, but it happens. Every. Single. Day. This is our lives. Why would you suggest that disabled people sign themselves up to be discriminated against ahead of time? 2/6

CN // Medical Abuse

Just read an extremely disturbing and triggering article about hospital staff creating a miniature “Wall of Shame” based on patients CONFIDENTIAL MEDICAL RECORDS, making fun of disabilities that they found funny for some reason. 1/5 This was triggering because I have an “embarrassing” disability. I’m one of those people. And I already have an extreme aversion to hospitals and medical facilities (to the point where I have almost died because I refused to go in for care due to such extreme anxiety). 2/5

#WhyDisabledPeopleDropout because when I was in 11th grade, I had several bad flare ups of a disease I had gone through most of my school life with. I missed a lot of class and despite my willingness to stay after every day, work during lunch, and constant requests for help- 1/5 -my teachers decided it would be too much work to help me along and set me up to fail. Denying me my work and test retakes from when I was hospitalized, my new school nurse (my old one was a former ER nurse and was familiar with my illness, this one was not) telling me- 2/5

CN: ///// Med abuse, med trauma
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When patients tell you about the importance of compassion from medical professionals and you tell them it’s not a big deal, join the real world, grow up, etc., you imply that these attitudes aren’t harmful. They are. Story time. 1/10 CN: ///// Med abuse, med trauma
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I have a J-Pouch, after having had an ileostomy (which was a bad experience for me due to bad healing and bad operating), after having severe UC. For reference.
A few years ago, I was rushed to the ER because I couldn’t pass, and 2/10

I have a really big problem with the way abled storytellers try to tell stories that don’t belong to them.

And before you hit me with a “writers can write anything they want” and “oh they aren’t a dragon, they can’t write about dragon’s now either?” argument, listen. 1/? You know that these aren’t applicable. You know that it’s not the same. Disabled people face violence and disproportionate poverty and even death as a direct result of this violence, and this violence is perpetuated when our stories are told as fiction and accepted as fact. 2/?

I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t find a whole online community of #JPouch-ers.

Every time I look up some symptom to see if it’s related to my pouch, I find hundreds of others with the same problem, related to their pouch.

And it’s all things doctors never told me. 1/ The thing with a #JPouch is, for those with colitis, it’s seen as a cure. No colon, no problem. They warn you that you can likely develop Crohns later on. They tell you about the occasional inflammatory pouchitis. 2/

Really though, let’s talk about diagnosis for a moment.

We often teeter into dismissive territory when we try to defend our own validity as diagnosed individuals, because that validity is so often questioned. But hear me out. 1/ We are living in a time where for a large majority, seeking healthcare is impossible. Doctors, mental health professionals, specialists, all cost $$. Diagnostic testing isn’t cheap either, and some with rarer or more difficult to prove illnesses or conditions need even more 2/

I just read a comment in which someone told someone else that hard living can’t lead to mental illness

1. It absolutely can. And not just PTSD, but I’m not surprised it’s gone unnoticed again.
2. Some people are predisposed to mental illness. Things like poverty, homelessness,- -general hopelessness, abuse, and suffering can foster illnesses like depression and anxiety to develop and worsen.
3. Mental illnesses can be co-morbid. Suffering in these situations while already living with a mental illness, and likely being unable to treat said illness-

Friends, I need you to remember something.

Being good about one thing does not mean you don’t need to learn to be good about other things.

We are all built to be problematic and we will never be perfect, that much is true. 1/ You will never know everything, and you will make mistakes.

But the thing is, just because you’ve gotten really good at NOT being bad at one thing doesn’t mean you don’t have to at least try to be good with others.

Just because you are GREAT about racial injustice, 2/

Let’s talk for a second about the term “differently abled.”

I’ve been seeing it a lot, it makes me uncomfortable, and I want to address it.

Abled folx; I know that you were likely taught that this was the appropriate way to address a person with a disability. 1/? I know that growing up, you were taught that it was good manners to try to tiptoe around things in order to make them seem better, and on an even more innocent note, to address people in a way that did not negatively address their differences. 2/?

Everyone, here’s the thing.

Sometimes, people don’t know stuff. Sometimes, people make statements that aren’t correct because they don’t know better.
That’s okay.

What’s not okay is continuing inappropriate behavior including language and ideology when you- -have since been educated that such behavior is wrong.

The problem is when you ignore it.

Everyone has been problematic about something in their lives, and it’s okay to understand and accept that. But you need to move on, and do better going forward.

That’s the stipulation. -

I’ve spent over half my life as a sick person.
I was diagnosed with aggressive ulcerative colitis at 11 years old. I had a colectomy that resulted in an ileostomy at 13. I completed my surgeries with a completed J-Pouch at 16. 1/? I have retained all of the side effects of having an autoimmune disorder. I also deal with issues with my pouch on an extremely frequent basis. As is common with inflammatory autoimmune diseases, I have chronic issues with my joints and with pain. 2/?