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  • A black female doctor talks to her white female patient
    Dealing with Doctors | Overcoming Obstacles

    Systemic racism and ableism in healthcare

    ByAlison Hayes November 19, 2021November 19, 2021

    Let’s start with the terms themselves. Systemic racism is a deep-rooted issue in the US, and one that many conservatives don’t want to admit even exists. When it comes to our broken healthcare system, racism is one of many ‘isms’ buried within it. Ableism is also a systemic issue, and one that is deeply entrenched…

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  • Black woman with short, natural hair reads over a document at her desk.
    Overcoming Obstacles | Taking care of yourself

    Health Insurance Plans and the disabled community

    ByAlison Hayes October 29, 2021November 16, 2022

    October through December is Open Enrollment season for the US Health Insurance system. This is the time when people can choose, change, or adjust their healthcare plan. With about 55% of the population covered through private employers, this is when employees have the right to examine their options and select the offered plan that best…

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  • A laptop computer is open on a table. Scattered on the keyboard and table service are glasses, a pen,a nd an open planner, as well as pills and scrabble tiles. The scrabble titles on the planner are aranged to read "Health Insurance"
    Increasing your independence | Strategizing for success

    Demystifying Health Insurance

    ByAlison Hayes October 8, 2021April 19, 2022

    Health insurance is a big scary topic in the US, and one that leads many people to just back away. Coverage tends to be very complicated in this country and feel overwhelming for everyone who could, should, or might get health insurance. For those of us in the disabled community, health insurance tends to be…

    Read More Demystifying Health InsuranceContinue

  • Alison in Bi mask at Poor People's Campaign rally 8/2
    Increasing your independence | Strategizing for success

    Poor and disabled: Participating in the Poor People’s Campaign’s Activism with a Disability

    ByAlison Hayes September 10, 2021September 27, 2021

    I’ve been active during the time I’ve taken off from posting. One of my biggest efforts was a multi-day trip to Washington, DC to join the Poor People’s Campaign in a push for congressional reforms through civil disobedience. We had a simple set of demands for the Senate, which has, of yet, been unfulfilled. Our…

    Read More Poor and disabled: Participating in the Poor People’s Campaign’s Activism with a DisabilityContinue

  • turquoise background, with white text: "I did it my way: Guiding your own medical wellness journey: off label LDN for fibromyalgia). The right side of is a picture of a bottle of prescription medication
    Dealing with Doctors | Overcoming Obstacles

    I Did It My Way! Directing Your Wellness Journey

    ByKatie Clark August 6, 2021August 6, 2021

    I met Katie a year or two ago. As she and I discussed our health experiences, I found myself especially fascinated with how she discovered LDN and how helpful she’d found it. As she shared her experience of negotiating her treatment with her doctor, I thought it would be a great piece of experience to…

    Read More I Did It My Way! Directing Your Wellness JourneyContinue

  • Black and white photo cropped close to focus on the smiling face of Sarah Malm. She has shoulder-length light colored hair, is white, and is wearing plastic-framed glasses.
    Overcoming Obstacles | Taking care of yourself

    Grieving While Chronically Ill and “Childless Not By Choice”

    BySarah Malm July 30, 2021July 30, 2021

    I’ve gotten to know Sarah Malm over the past year or so. She and I are running a Spoonie Coworking Space. She’s a fellow spoonie and an artist who creates lovely greeting cards. We were discussing our experiences of being Childless Not By Choice and I suggested she write this post for me. When it…

    Read More Grieving While Chronically Ill and “Childless Not By Choice”Continue

  • Four disabled people of color gather around a table during a meeting. A Black woman sitting on a couch gestures and speaks while the three others (a South Asian person sitting in a wheelchair, a Black non-binary person sitting in a chair, and a Black non-binary person standing with a clipboard and cane) face her and listen.
    Increasing your independence | Strategizing for success

    Safe at Work: Disclosure and Protection

    ByMichele Harold July 23, 2021July 23, 2021

    This is Michele’s second guest post on my blog – the first also focusing on the disclosure process. She is also part of the Spoonie Entrepreneur School, and is closing out the virtual summit with her talk “Making work work for you” at 12 PM EST today! “Well, I hope you can do the job,”…

    Read More Safe at Work: Disclosure and ProtectionContinue

  • Nicole Neer(white woman with short dirty-blond hair) stands, smiling, with her hands in her pockets. She is wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt and smiling
    Strategizing for success | Taking care of yourself

    Moving Through Medical Trauma

    ByNicole Neer July 16, 2021July 16, 2021

    Nicole interviewed me for her Spooniepreneur podcast a couple of years ago, and we’ve clicked. When she suggested collaborating by cross-posting on one another’s blogs, I jumped at the opportunity. We both wrote about medical trauma from our own personal experiences. My post on her blog came out a few days ago, and Nicole and…

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  • anime style image of an androgenous person with short, light purple hair, wearing pink devil's horns and a white collared shirt with a pink tie. They are waving a bi flag(pink, purple and blue stripes) on a rainbow background
    Dealing with Doctors | Overcoming Obstacles

    Medical Gaslighting

    ByRA Stone July 9, 2021February 7, 2022

     I have known RA Stone for a few years now, and when she offered to write a guest post for me, I jumped at the opportunity. She shares her experiences with medical gaslighting, a cause of medical trauma, in the post below. When I was eight years old, I had one of about a dozen…

    Read More Medical GaslightingContinue

  • three smiling bi people. Alison is on the left(white woman with brown hair and tinted lenses), Godwin upside down in the middle(Asian man with black hair and sunglassess), and Nee on the right(Black woman with her hair natural and up). All three are smiling into the camera. They are lying on their backs, with only their faces visible.
    Social connections | Strategizing for success

    Celebrating Pride Weekend as a Queer Disabled Woman

    ByAlison Hayes July 2, 2021June 5, 2023

    I have been living with Functional Neurological Disorder for the past 20 years. I also realized that I was bisexual about 19 years ago. After I joined BiRequest several years after coming out, I was invited to participate in the Heritage of Pride March in New York City. I loved the experience of marching through…

    Read More Celebrating Pride Weekend as a Queer Disabled WomanContinue

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Meet The Author

Picture of Alison Hayes

Alison Hayes

As a person with a sometimes-invisible illness that straddles neurology and psychiatry (Functional Neurological Disorder), I've dealt with a lot of the stigma surrounding physical and mental illnesses and both visible and invisible illnesses. I want to help other people with disabilities to regain perspective and control over their lives through manageable steps and make their lives better, one step at a time.

Photography courtesy of Terry Manning(terrymakes.com)

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Disclaimer

I am not a doctor, lawyer, or therapist.  I am a person with a disability who has learned a lot about many aspects of living life with a disabling condition.  My posts are intended as jumping off points connected to the best knowledge I could find.  I cannot be held responsible for the decisions you make or the actions you take.  

For your reading pleasure

  • Functional Neurological Disorder(FND) (13)
  • Overcoming Obstacles (83)
    • Dealing with Doctors (31)
    • Getting Government assistance (36)
  • Strategizing for success (137)
    • Fabulous food (4)
    • Increasing your independence (13)
    • Social connections (33)
    • Taking care of yourself (76)
  • Uncategorized (3)

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