Laura Elliott Profile picture
Writer, maker, chronic illness incubator. Former @VisibilityToday host. Disabled journo. Words in @guardian, @MetroUK, @theipaper, @TheUnwrittenPub etc
Feb 10 6 tweets 2 min read
one day we’re all going to have to have a serious conversation about the differences between someone who’s disabled but whose body is otherwise healthy (amputation etc) and people who are disabled systemically through chronic illness & degenerative conditions this is what i mean when i say disability isn’t a monolith: & why i both respect paralympians & know the paralympics can do a lot of harm to disabled people who have systemic conditions in terms of public perceptions of disability and the concept of the Super Crip
Feb 10 5 tweets 2 min read
honestly one of the prime tells of whether a leftist knows anything about disability imo is whether they’re aware of the decades of institutional abuse that’s led to them believing CFS (really ME, a neuro-immune illness that kills people) is nothing to be bothered about like, arguably the treatment of this patient group is one of the biggest medical human rights scandals since the AIDS crisis - patients have fought and died for recognition & treatment since well before AIDS happened, yet too many supposed revolutionaries know sweet FA about it
Feb 5 13 tweets 3 min read
CFS is the rebranded name of ME - a devastating neurological condition that was first described by Infectious Diseases Consultant Melvin Ramsay following a viral outbreak at the Royal Free Hospital in 1955 (🧵) Melvin’s tests at the time of the nearly 300 people who became violently unwell revealed major immune dysfunction, and damage to the nervous system. he would spend the rest of his life working on post-viral disease until his death in 1990