TW Aids, Death:I read The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai recently and decided that I needed to review it. Today is World Aids Awareness day so seemed like the perfect time to discuss a novel set in the gay scene whilst the AIDS epidemic was on the rise. At the beginning of this novel we… More The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
This post includes ModiBodi affiliate links. I will earn from any qualifying purchases made through these links. I don’t like my period… never have and I doubt I ever will. I have a friend who once told me they liked their period because it made them feel more connected to their body every month. I… More I tried period pants and they are amazing
“There is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.” ― Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna Believe it or not, in many ways I am very thankful for having an illness. Don’t get me wrong, I feel I’ve learnt my lessons now and would certainly not… More Playing the glad game with a chronic illness
In the Netherlands, there seems to be this idea that self-isolating and following precautions and corona regulations is an individual choice. This isn’t such a surprise, when you look at the Netherlands and see how hyper-individualised everything is, but when it comes to responding to a pandemic, it is not such a successful perspective. And… More Ignoring corona risk: privilege or empowering choice?
“She is fighting cancer”! “Such a little warrior!” “She is battling illness”. These sorts of phrases are very common when talking about illness and disability. People often fall back on the metaphor of fighting and battle, or the disability war metaphor. Yet this is something about which the chronic illness community has very mixed opinions:… More Am I an ME warrior? The disability war metaphor
On the way home from my weekly work shift, when I was still well enough to work, I was always exhausted – and often shaking and sweating. I would take the metro, on a very busy line, and would often end up standing the entire way home, despite knowing that I might pass out at… More Do we need more invisible disability awareness?
I was actually midway through writing a different, but very closely connected, blog post (of which I will post an edited version very soon), when I saw the following news, and felt I had to write down my emotional response to that, instead. Sadly, the main takeaway from the original post had been my fear… More Long-covid and ME: what’s in a name?
Today’s post is written by fellow blogger, and an online chronic illness friend of mine, Liv Hamil. I’ve been following Liv’s blog for a while now and love it. We decided it would be fun to write a post for each others blogs. So, as both of us spend a lot of time on social… More Writing my way out of my bedroom
I became sick in January 2015, or potentially earlier if I look back over my health records from the years before that. I did not receive an official diagnosis until September 2018. That is almost four years later. This is by no means unusual – in fact, some would consider it a very quick diagnosis… More A diagnosis is an important part of dealing with disability
When looking through my bookshelves recently, I realised that I had read very few books about people with disabilities, and even less about people with chronic illnesses. I grew up reading books like What Katy Did, and The Secret Garden, where chronic illness is usually treated euphemistically or else there is a miracle cure –… More Chronic illness book recommendations