Guiding others towards a healthier understanding of your condition
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Guiding others towards a healthier understanding of your condition

Healthier interactions start with the recognition that you are, indeed, human too. Just because you have some form of disabling condition or identity doesn’t make you more(or less) of a person than you were prior to your symptoms or diagnosis. Unfortunately, both you as the person managing your condition, and your family and friends need…

Recognizing and countering ablism from friends or family

Recognizing and countering ablism from friends or family

Something both Al and I have had to manage is different responses by different family and friends to our conditions and situations. I think most people with disabling and/or chronic conditions have experienced these stresses: family members or friends who may insist that it’s nothing or that you are making up your health problem, other…

Keeping yourself balanced while helping a friend
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Keeping yourself balanced while helping a friend

I’ve been writing a lot lately about my own struggle to stay balanced while managing a migraine, my Functional Neurological Disorder(FND) symptoms, my cat Rorschach’s health, and my own emotional response to the threat of losing BiRequest, one of my primary social supports and resources. While all of this has been going on, a friend…

four people participating in the disability pride parade - an invisibly disabled black woman holding a sign reading 'Yes, and...", me, holding a sign that reads 'include disabled people in activism', a white woman in a wheelchair holding a sign reading 'the future is accessible, and another white woman beside her wearing a zebra-striped cap.
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Advocating for disability rights as a member of the community

So often, people with disabilities are pretty much automatically ignored, put down, or ostracized by our communities. There are a lot of contributing factors, but I want to talk about some of those factors here today, as well as discuss what we can do(as individuals) to help the greater disabled community. People with disabilities are…

Alison(white woman with brown hair pulled back and glasses) poses with Kawa(Asian woman with shoulder-length black hair wearing reflective sunglasses). They are both smiling and wearing pink shirts. Alison has a bi flag(blue visible, purple and pink) around her shoulders.
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My intersectional identity: bi and disabled

Once more, I am participating in A Chronic Voice’s monthly linkup. Wondering, Repeating, turning, desiring, getting Wondering As a bi person with a chronic and likely life-long condition, I have put time into wondering what informs my partner selection, and wondering about the values others who share either or both identities express. You may be…

shadowed image of a woman and her daughter sitting on the beach together
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Emotional expectations: recognizing the patterns

Once more, I am participating in A Chronic Voice’s monthly linkup. words: Regrouping, Investigating, Boosting, Setting & Reviving Today, I want to talk about how very strongly we can be affected by other people and other people’s emotions.  I want to talk about boundaries and expectations, and how multigenerational trauma can work. I am using…

two women, one using a walker, under an umbrella together
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Friends in need: protecting yourself while helping others

There are times when your friends may call on you for help or support. This may be a time of crisis for them, or during a time of extra stress. Usually, when asked, people on some level want to say yes, it’s part of how humans are socialized. Now that you are living with a…

me, sitting and looking at a pond
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Functional Neurological Disorder(Are you #FNDaware?)

Once more, I am participating in A Chronic Voice’s monthly linkup. words: Tiring, Educating, Receiving, Giving & Quieting FND Awareness week begins on Sunday April 7, so I wanted to get things off to a good start. Reading over these words, I immediately thought about my experience with FND and as a disability rights advocate(as…

five different hands, each holding a different-colored leaf
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Making new friends despite disabling conditions

Many types of disabling conditions can make it difficult to make and keep friends!  Today, let’s talk about what we can do to increase our options in terms of making friends!   Challenges to connecting with others when you have a visible disability My symptoms are not generally visible, but I have noticed that I…