Sometimes non-disabled people will ask me, ‘what do you do all day?’ If I don’t work, surely I have to do something. And I always find this question difficult to answer because saying “not much” is not true, even though, often, I haven’t ‘achieved’ anything specific. Some days, all I do is lie in bed… More Crip Time, my timey-wimey disabled existence
Chronic Epstein Barr Virus, Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. What do all of these have in common? In fact, they are all names for the same illness. But why does one illness have so many different names? And why does the name of the illness matter? Well, like almost every other… More ME/CFS; a disease with many names
A couple of nights ago, just before I was about to go to bed, I started getting a creeping uneasy feeling, that turned into a fully-fledged paranoia that I was going to get thrombosis, have a blood clot, and then a stroke. It was something that I then spent the next couple of hours obssessing… More Health anxiety – I’m terrified of getting sick
I don’t really believe in laziness. At least, not when the term is used around me, or when I use it myself. It’s not really even used to mean laziness, but rather a plethora of other, very different things, often in the form of unseen barriers. I know that when I call myself lazy, usually… More But are you REALLY lazy?
As someone who lives abroad, with most of my close friends also living internationally, before the corona pandemic, I was quite a frequent traveller. Even during the pandemic I have twice needed to travel back to the UK (safely of course). Long journeys, and travelling in general, are no easy feat when you have an… More The Sunflower Lanyard Scheme and why I love it!
It’s my birthday on Thursday. I am turning 26. I am a really big fan of birthdays, and love making other people’s birthdays special, but when it comes to mine, I have mixed feelings. Chronically ill birthday’s are a little different. Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to having cake, and having something to… More Chronically ill birthday reflections
Today is International (working) women’s day, so what better day to talk about a book that left a huge impression on me: Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbery. When I first became sick, I noticed that a lot more women than men… More Doing Harm by Maya Dusenbery – a review for International Women’s Day
I’ve been putting off writing this blog post for the best part of a year now, because I want to do it right. But two pieces of news that came out of the UK last week made me finally stop procrastinating and write. So, today I am going to tackle something that I have only… More Corona virus, the disabled and eugenics
When I am feeling very sick, or sad and want a bit of escapism, I often dive right back into my old ‘comfort’ books. Some of these books I have reread a hundred times, and it’s like going back to old friends. You know the characters well, you know exactly what will happen, but you… More Comfort books for tough times
I recently asked my good friend Alicia Shearsby to write about her experience of being fat and disabled. I remember very clearly the first time I was confronted with the different treatment that fat and thin people get when Alicia and I went to the doctors together. We were travelling and both had the same… More Fatphobia is a Disability Justice Issue: A personal experience of being fat and disabled in the UK