Recently, I was skyping some friends and one of them mentioned they were picking up a brand new, 2020 plate car. After sharing the required excitement, I told them about my new and exciting vehicle: a wheelchair! A few days later, in another skype call, someone started a discussion by saying “now that we all… More The Peter Pan effect and chronic illness
A while back I texted my mum at 22:00 to see if she would be interested in writing a short something about having a child with a chronic illness. The next morning I woke up and mum had already sent me this article! I had to take some of the excessive praise out, but besides… More Dealing with chronic illness: a mum’s perspective
Chronic illness is hidden. I guess they call it an invisible illness for a reason, and whilst it isn’t entirely accurate to say my illness is entirely invisible, at a glance I do seem like a healthy young woman. If you knew me better, you might see the huge bags under my eyes, the slightly… More Coming out as disabled
One of the biggest problems facing ME/CFS is the lack of research going into it. At the moment, there is no cure. And any possibility of a cure is far into the future. But it is still something that I want and dream about. However, in discussions about Disability Pride, it sometimes seems that, in… More Can I have Disability Pride yet still want a cure for my illness?
Did you know that July is Disability Pride month? To be honest with you, I didn’t know for a long time. In fact, I only discovered it last year, and really only engaged with it this year. But what is Disability Pride? And what is there to be proud about when you are disabled? These… More Disability Pride: an introduction
One of the first questions you get asked when you are getting to know new people is “so what do you do?” If you have a chronic illness and, like me, are unable to do very much, this becomes a very difficult question to answer. Our self-identity is very often made up of the things… More Chronic illness and the loss of identity
The Corona virus has been on the loose for seven months now and, in that time, has infected millions of people. Throughout the pandemic, certain key statistics have been reported, around the numbers of deaths and the numbers of recoveries. However, these statistics miss out a large group of people, who after months of having… More Post Corona illness and medical gaslighting
In light of the ongoing anti-racist protests around the world, I wanted to take the chance to share some recommendations of books written by Black authors that centre around a Black experience of the world. In literature, as with other aspects of culture, we too often read and see books that centre around white experience of the… More Five books by Black authors
Does my chronic illness make a me a burden in my relationship? In a recent New York Times advice article, a reader sent in the question, “Is it okay to dump him because he has a medical condition?” And the answer given was that yes, this is okay. In fact, they said, if you are… More Chronically ill people are not a burden in a relationship
Since 1st June, a considerable number of countries in Europe have been loosening their regulations around the corona virus. Lock down is ending! I have heard friends planning holidays within Europe, and seen pictures on social media of people drinking wine on the terraces. But not for me. As I mentioned before, since the beginning of… More Corona lock down is ending, but not for me…