chronicillnessmemes

[chronicillnessmemes]

im tired of disabled people being sacrificed on the altar of "eco friendliness"

[chronicillnessmemes]

wheelchair users deserve a minimum of three wheelchairs to meet different needs. like, bare minimum of indoor chair, outdoor chair, and off road chair. chairs that meet different needs for transport, activity, positioning needs, energy levels, etc.

there is not "one chair" that can meet every need. wheelchair users deserve to have multiple chairs that meet specific needs, no matter how complex their seating/positioning needs. we deserve to at least have a backup if our chair breaks that is just as suited to our needs.

[chronicillnessmemes]

a while back a friend asked me to do an encouragement card around a grieving a new diagnosis, and it felt like something that deserved a bit more thought than my usual thing. so i made this mini-comic about new diagnosis and difficult feelings! for anyone having complicated feelings after a diagnosis, i am sending you a lot of love <3

[ID copied from Alt: a seven panel comic, each featuring handwritten text and a marker drawn barnyard animal over a white background.

One - text beside art of a white chicken reads "I heard you got a new diagnosis. And sometimes that brings joy and relief - but sometimes it brings the opposite."

Two - art of a white and brown spotted duck with text reading "There's no right or wrong way to feel about a new diagnosis, so be gentle with yourself as emotions come and go."

Three - art of a brown cow lying in grass with text reading "It's okay to feel overwhelmed, and to grieve the idea of what your life would have been like without this."

Four - text beside art of a black goat with long grey ears and white stockings on three feet. It reads "Whatever this leads to - medication, or therapy, or simply a better understanding of yourself -"

Five - art of a white sheep with pink ears with text reading "I hope that someday down the line, it all feels a bit lighter."

Six - text beside art of a brown donkey with a white nose reading "I'm proud of you for facing this, even when it's hard."

Seven - art of a fat orange cat sitting with its tail wrapped around it and looking earnestly upwards. Text reads "I love all of you - and that includes the messy bits (heart shape)."

The signature on each panel reads @ watercolour critters. End ID.]

[chronicillnessmemes]

i just wanna say that even if you have degenerative diseases, life can still get better with age. i don't know how long i have left and i just seem to keep getting sicker, but im steadier and happier and more secure in myself than ever.

i started my 20s healthy and my 30s deathly ill and i'm much happier now. i wouldn't even trade health for everything else i've gained since.

contrary to the popular misconception, health isn't everything or even the most important thing. it's good to have! but you can make a happy life as a sick person, in whatever time you have

[chronicillnessmemes]

cant wait to see how the curse will distort and twist to afflict me next

[chronicillnessmemes]

Shoutout to disabled people whose pain management can’t make up for their pain level. Shoutout to disabled people who can’t afford to treat it adequately. Shoutout to disabled people who don’t have much pain management, and not because they don’t have chronic pain

[chronicillnessmemes]

You do not have the right to touch someone's disability aid without asking, whether that aid be a wheelchair or an AAC device.

"It's just a tablet, though." No, it is not. It is my voice. Touching or moving my device without my permission is like touching my mouth without permission, it's weird, gross, invasive, and rude. Stop.

Pushing someone's wheelchair without permission is like picking them up and moving them out of the way eithout permission, its weird, invasive, gross, and weird. Stop.

[chronicillnessmemes]

people are so stunned when I tell them that saying stuff like “oh, you have a real medical issue but these other people are faking it” doesn’t make me feel safe or comfortable at all. I have just as easily been considered “those other people.” The rhetoric around “those other people” is just ableism and it always has been, you are just adding an exception because it makes you feel better about being cruel.

[chronicillnessmemes]

i don’t know who needs to hear this but learning about disability justice will make you love yourself more. even if you don’t have a disability. training yourself with ideas of radical acceptance and celebration of all ability levels will help you treat yourself with patience and compassion because at the end of the day everyone has limitations. a rising tide lifts all boats

also, even if you don’t consider yourself disabled now, you can acquire a disability at any time in your life. you could develop arthritis in 40 years or you could get a concussion tomorrow. doing the work now to uplift and support disabled people around you and fight for disability justice will make you feel less helpless if you do acquire a disability later. fighting for disability justice is not only a moral human imperative, it’s so good for your soul and inner peace as well

[chronicillnessmemes]

one thing i wish ableds would remember is that, unfortunately disability doesn't magically pause for holidays, special events, or celebrations. just because it happens only once a year or you saved up for it doesn't mean that people are not disabled. the fact that a member of your group is disabled should have been included in the planning in the very first place because we can't just wing it or push through.

[chronicillnessmemes]

I think if you’re disabled you don’t get to call yourself lazy. No. You are facing a real ass problem, big or small, you shouldn’t morally judge yourself for it.

[chronicillnessmemes]

got a good grade in physical therapy because i ordered a sex toy life is fun

[chronicillnessmemes]

Your act of protest today:

Take your meds. Drink some water. Listen to one of your favorite songs and don't doom scroll for a few minutes while you do it. Find a funny meme that reminds you of a friend and send it to them, so they know you were thinking about them.

I am incredibly serious when I tell you that continuing to exist and finding joy in spite of people who want you to suffer is important. It won't solve things, but it will keep you alive in important ways.

[chronicillnessmemes]

"In recent years, there has been a rush on the internet to supply image descriptions and to call out those who don’t. This may be an example of community accountability at work, but it’s striking to observe that those doing the most fierce calling out or correcting are sighted people. Such efforts are largely self-defeating. I cannot count the times I’ve stopped reading a video transcript because it started with a dense word picture. Even if a description is short and well done, I often wish there were no description at all. Get to the point, already! How ironic that striving after access can actually create a barrier. When I pointed this out during one of my seminars, a participant made us all laugh by doing a parody: “Mary is wearing a green, blue, and red striped shirt; every fourth stripe also has a purple dot the size of a pea in it, and there are forty-seven stripes—”

“You’re killing me,” I said. “I can’t take any more of that!”

Now serious, she said it was clear to her that none of that stuff about Mary’s clothes mattered, at least if her clothes weren’t the point. What mattered most about the image was that Mary was holding her diploma and smiling. “But,” she wondered, “do I say, Mary has a huge smile on her face as she shows her diploma or Mary has an exuberant smile or showing her teeth in a smile and her eyes are crinkled at the edges?”

It’s simple. Mary has a huge smile on her face is the best one. It’s the don’t-second-guess-yourself option."

--Against Access, by John Lee Clark, a DeafBlind educator

[chronicillnessmemes]

When you do a big stretch and your hypermobile body just goes

[ID: A road sign with several arrows twisting over and around each other in all different directions. /end ID]

[chronicillnessmemes]

Call now to recieve help with the inability to make phone calls!

Fill out this forum to receive assistance with your difficulty filling out forms

Come on down to our center thats two hours away so we can give assistance with your inability to walk or drive

There's help out there! You're just not trying hard enough!

[chronicillnessmemes]

homeboundedness is much like disability at large in that people assume reaching a certain threshold means receiving resources dedicated to that experience/need, rather than the other way around, that the medical & welfare systems gatekeep us out of resources. this post brought to you by someone not understanding why i have to go to the doctor in person if i’m homebound