April is FND Awareness Month, and April 13 is FND Awareness Day. I’m going all in on that, and I’ll be focusing this post and month on the process of accepting your diagnosis—and illustrating it with my FND experiences (and what I’ve picked up from fellow FNDers inside of discussion groups). I’m also using A…
This post is by a friend of mine, Michele Harold, who holds the subject of disclosure near and dear to her heart. “You’re always sick,” my coworker said to me as I entered the office. I had called in sick the day before due to my disability. My disability causes chronic pain, fatigue, and low-grade…
I am honored that Alison invited me to write a post about filing for disability from an attorney’s perspective. I hope to answer some of the most common questions claimants ask in regards to filing for disability. But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Tatiana Froes. I am a disability attorney practicing disability…
While the term caregiver is bandied about a lot in the disabled community, it’s important to distinguish between paid and unpaid caregiving. Many of us have been caregivers in a less official capacity at various points in our lives—caring for children, parents, siblings, or friends during temporary or long-term health problems. Most of us have…
So it’s once again time for A Chronic Voice’s monthly linkup. This month’s words are incorporating, breathing, smiling, stopping, and relishing. This month is the three-year anniversary of creating this blog! I can’t really believe that it’s been three years. I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve published a new post every single Friday since…
On Tuesday, I had an appointment with a new neurologist. The neurologist I’d been seeing, Dr. Schneider, was on medical leave due to a cancer diagnosis. I’d had a telehealth appointment with Dr. Schneider in June, and he’d been a little pale and skinnier than usual (he was always a pretty slender guy), and during…
I know that using public transit can feel overwhelming, but it can also become empowering to take it—it’s a way to regain at least some longer-distance mobility and allow you to go out on your own to work, play, or get medical care. Understand your transit system’s patterns Once you know where you want to…
When you are managing a disabling condition, taking the bus may be your primary option for independent travel. I feel very lucky, living in New Jersey, that I have a relatively large variety of options for traveling, but I understand that in the South and areas of the Midwest especially, trains are few and far…
So it’s once again time for A Chronic Voice’s monthly linkup. This month’s words are uniting, defining, allocating, educating, saving. I have wanted to create this project for years, and now it’s looking like I may have found the right folks to help me make it a reality. I’m super-excited about it and want to explain…
One of the things you’ll find if you start researching medical conditions is that there are often dietary suggestions made—things to add (or remove) from your diet, suggestions for what you should (or shouldn’t) eat, and suggestions for when and how to eat. It can easily become overwhelming, and it can also put your health…