My Book is Officially Published!
My book can’t mean everything to everybody, but it can mean everything to me. And now it does.
healthcare
Life Without an IV
It’s hard to say exactly why I’ve been able to sustain my recovery without IV fluids.
Advocacy and Acrimony in the ME/CFS Community
I’ve never disagreed with anyone on the fact that our illness needs more research funding and more treatments. These basic needs will never be disagreed upon within the community, and it is especially important to remind ourselves of that when things get heated.
How to Ruin a Mattress . . . And Other Things I’m Good At
I’ve been on a hunt for the best mattress for a disabled person, like me, ever since I ruined my last several mattresses. How exactly does one ruin a mattress? The obvious guess might be to have lots and lots and LOTS of sex. And as fun as that would be, I’m not convinced it …
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All Work and No Quarantine
It’s hard for me to fault people like this, people who try to go about their jobs and daily lives, unfazed by the reality of a deadly virus. It’s hard for me to fault them because, once upon a time, I did the same thing.
Fear and Social Distancing in Quarantine
I hope everyone remembers what it was like, how it felt to live in this strange alternative universe of fear and social distancing. I hope everyone remembers it because some people will have to keep living it.
A Veiled Attack on Disability Rights
My first job was working the front desk at a gym for minimum wage, long before disability rights were on my mind. I scanned member ID cards, re-racked weights, and cleaned the entire gym — wiping up people’s saliva from the sinks and their sweat off the treadmills, sanitizing the toilets and showers, and picking …
Talking Without Speaking and Dreams of Old Friends
The need to speak my mind, and the heartache of not being able to, has only made the moment more palpable, more intense and full of emotion. But no amount of emotion is going to change my circumstances. No matter how hard I try, I can’t speak the words I want to say.
In an Emergency, Disabled People Are on Their Own
Each fall, for the last few years, I’ve lived on edge, hoping a major wildfire doesn’t strike where I live and force me to choose between the lesser of two evils–stay and risk dying in my home or evacuate and risk making myself sicker and getting injured.
Living With an Illness: A New Kind of Normal
When chronic illness becomes a new kind of normal, it also becomes a cruel existence, one in which pain is a constant torture and exhaustion is as frequent as breathing.