#homegrown health literacy

[crippleprophet]

homegrown health literacy part 1.2: WTF is CRP?

hello and welcome back to my series about knowing when your doctors are full of shit! part 1 is about interpreting bloodwork results.

disclaimer: i’m Just Some Guy

CRP is a blood test that measures inflammation. it’s a general test, so it can’t say what chronic or acute condition is causing the inflammation, just that it’s there.

CRP stands for C-reactive protein, a type of protein in your blood. the amount of protein increases during (chronic or acute) inflammation, so a higher CRP indicates more inflammation. this could indicate an infection or an autoimmune disease, but CRP is also elevated during pregnancy. the average CRP for US Americans is estimated to be somewhere between 1 and 2 mg/L.

note: i use the units mg/L throughout this post, which is how CRP results are reported by Labcorp and Quest. some other providers report results in mg/dL, which would change the “normal” range by a factor of 10 (i.e., 0-1.0 rather than 0-10).

when used for cardiac disease screening, CRP results are interpreted as follows:

0-1 lower risk

1-3 average risk

3+ higher risk

a CRP greater than around 5 or 6 may indicate an underlying inflammatory condition. this should generally be followed by repeating the test about a month later, then conducting further screening if the result is still elevated.

while the reference range for CRP is often listed as 0-10 mg/L, meaning a lab report may not flag your result as abnormal unless it’s higher than 10, values lower than 10 can still indicate active autoimmune disease. my CRP was used in diagnosing me with ankylosing spondylitis when it was 8.0, and a range of values above 7 were consistently considered indicative of active disease.

additionally, a lower CRP should not be used to rule out autoimmune disease; as always, there is no one blood test and your doctor should consider the full clinical picture, particularly your symptoms, not just the test results. it’s relatively common to rerun ESR and CRP tests about 3 months later if they didn’t originally indicate inflammation but your symptoms still indicate you might have an autoimmune disease.

[bethestaryouareradio]

Do You Believe in the Gift of Abundance?

https://smoothsale.net/do-you-believe-in-the-gift-of-abundance/

Attract the Right Job Or Clientele:

NOTE: Cynthia Brian, Be the Star You Are! Founder and Executive Director, provides today’s post, The Gift of Abundance.

  The Gift of Abundance Excerpted from Be the Star You Are! 99 Gifts for Living, Loving, Laughing, and Learning to Make a Difference By Cynthia Brian. is available at .

  Cynthia is a New York Times best-selling author of several books, TV/Radio personality/producer, lecturer, and enrichment coach specializing in acting, media, writing, speaking, and life success.

Cynthia is the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® The mission is to empower women, families, and youth through increased literacy, improved positive media messages, and skills for living. Since 1998 she has produced and hosted the weekly upbeat, lifestyle international radio broadcast, StarStyle® (www.StarStyleradio.com and she produces the young adult radio show, Express Yourself!™ for the Voice America Network, Empowerment Channel. Cynthia writes for magazines, newspapers, and on-line sites. In her spare time, Cynthia can be found working in her garden or playing with her barnyard of adopted animals.

___________

Cynthia’s Story: Do You Believe In The Gift Of Abundance?

I grew up on a farm, the eldest of five children. Our parents taught us specific values: hard work, loyalty to family and friends, responsibility, and keeping our word. We learned to be independent and self-sufficient. Although we had few possessions and even less money, we were content in our simple, natural surroundings. I can’t imagine a better upbringing for a child.

Our playground was vineyards, hills, and dales. Our companions were horses, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs, and cats. As we hiked the mountains and paddled the creeks, we pretended we were explorers discovering new worlds. We had caves in which to hide. The mustard fields were our dollhouses. We drove tractors, plowed fields, and picked fruit until our hands were raw. The nearest neighbor children lived two miles away, so our life was mostly within our family. Without much money, we believed we were living the gift of abundance.

Work hard, dream hard, laugh hard, live abundantly.

Every season brought new adventures and excitement—preparing the vegetable garden in spring, going on camping trips in the summer, hayrides and harvest festivals in the fall.  I have fond memories of enjoying the warming fires and holiday magic of winter. Life on the farm was fun, challenging, hard work, and full of promise.

We didn’t have fancy clothes.  We did have a pair of Levis, a pair of boots, a couple of shirts, a school uniform, and a Sunday church outfit. Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, our Auntie Cleo would take us shopping and buy us a new outfit. These were thrilling excursions. I learned to sew in high school so that I could have a bigger wardrobe. Since I was the oldest, my sisters inherited my hand-me-downs. We always felt another gift of abundance; our family.  We were surrounded by delicious, homegrown food, a close-knit family, plenty of trees, and land to roam. We were truly rich in spirit, if not in money. 

The Power Of Belief

From my first awareness, I knew I was important. I grew up believing that I had the power to achieve anything I ever wanted.  Of course, it meant I was willing to work diligently to get it. It never occurred to me that I could or should be handed something free simply because I wanted it.

Yes, I am an optimist. My glass is always half full, even when it’s filled with bitter medicine. My life has been a rose garden, albeit with lots of thorns and tragedies. As a child, I almost died of encephalitis. Many people I have loved died at an early age from accidents or illnesses. My youngest brother was crushed and killed when a tractor on our farm turned over on him when he was sixteen. My gentle grandfather was killed while mowing his lawn when a tree toppled over on a windless day. And, my hero, my Dad, died from a rare cancer at a young age.

Because of these experiences and many more, I have learned that our most significant failing is not to follow our dreams, not to sing our song. I admit that living expansively and exuberantly isn’t always easy. Sorrow and pain make us want to contract and withdraw, not expand and excel. We live well only when we embrace the following fact.  The very fragility, pathos, and unpredictability of life make every moment precious.

Embrace The Gift Of Abundance

I aim to persuade, push, and compel you to live every minute fully and consciously. We never know how many chances we’ll have to “get it right.” Life is finite. The drive seen in my mission is due to my agony in dealing with loss.  I have learned that pain, suffering, emptiness, and loneliness are an important part of the human experience. Everyone, rich or poor, weak or powerful, endures these emotions. We are here on earth to learn, laugh, cry, feel love and pain, and to be. Most important, we are here to live and make a difference. Part of getting it right is getting it wrong. We are not the same, but we are all one.

Abundance is not about acquiring a luxury house, a fancy car, expensive clothes, and a jet-set lifestyle. Instead, the gift of abundance is about feeling that there is enough in life for everyone. My early years taught me that a sense of abundance goes far beyond material things. It spans our spiritual life, emotional stability, intellectual stimulation, and physical closeness to the earth.

Having abundance means having fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, food in our stomachs, a roof overhead, somewhere to walk, and feel the beauty of nature. It includes someone to love and someone who loves you in return.  Other elements of abundance are laughter, learning, and the wealth of health. As children, the teaching is to be happy for another’s success, and to believe that there is abundance in all things. If someone else can achieve greatness, so can I. So can you.

We rarely lack abundance, just the ability to understand its meaning in the purest form. The world is a place of emotional and spiritual plenty. Abbondanza, as my mother always said in Italian. Notice and be grateful for everything you have. The gift of abundance is everyone, everywhere, everything.

The 3 Step Exercise: Abbondanza

Shut your eyes. Imagine in vivid detail everything you feel you need to have a fulfilled life. Your list will be unique to you. It can include loving relationships, children, animals, a home to live in, food on the table, clothing, a car, enjoyable work, and so forth. Once you see yourself surrounded by everything you need, add some of the things you want.

Open your eyes, get out your pen, and make three columns: “What I need,” “What I want,” and “What I have.”

Every day, write down the things that you give thanks for: sunrises, beautiful gardens, a pillow on which to lay your head. Recognize the gift of abundance around you. Tell yourself frequently, “I have abundance in all things. There is enough to go around.”

  Sales Tips: The Gift Of Abundance

Assess where you are at and what makes you happy

Expand the areas that bring a smile

Use your knowledge to provide community support

Welcome feedback to improve your endeavors

Each evening analyze what you did well, and what needs improvement 

On a daily basis acknowledge your gift of abundance

Even day revisit your goals to be inspired and move forward

Each week review your accomplishments and set new goals for the following week

Always revise and improve your strategy for tomorrow including upcoming job interviews.

Celebrate Success!

More at

[goddessgardener]

Do You Believe in the Gift of Abundance?

https://smoothsale.net/do-you-believe-in-the-gift-of-abundance/

Attract the Right Job Or Clientele:

NOTE: Cynthia Brian, Be the Star You Are! Founder and Executive Director, provides today’s post, The Gift of Abundance.

  The Gift of Abundance Excerpted from Be the Star You Are! 99 Gifts for Living, Loving, Laughing, and Learning to Make a Difference By Cynthia Brian. is available at .

  Cynthia is a New York Times best-selling author of several books, TV/Radio personality/producer, lecturer, and enrichment coach specializing in acting, media, writing, speaking, and life success.

Cynthia is the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® The mission is to empower women, families, and youth through increased literacy, improved positive media messages, and skills for living. Since 1998 she has produced and hosted the weekly upbeat, lifestyle international radio broadcast, StarStyle® (www.StarStyleradio.com and she produces the young adult radio show, Express Yourself!™ for the Voice America Network, Empowerment Channel. Cynthia writes for magazines, newspapers, and on-line sites. In her spare time, Cynthia can be found working in her garden or playing with her barnyard of adopted animals.

___________

Cynthia’s Story: Do You Believe In The Gift Of Abundance?

I grew up on a farm, the eldest of five children. Our parents taught us specific values: hard work, loyalty to family and friends, responsibility, and keeping our word. We learned to be independent and self-sufficient. Although we had few possessions and even less money, we were content in our simple, natural surroundings. I can’t imagine a better upbringing for a child.

Our playground was vineyards, hills, and dales. Our companions were horses, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs, and cats. As we hiked the mountains and paddled the creeks, we pretended we were explorers discovering new worlds. We had caves in which to hide. The mustard fields were our dollhouses. We drove tractors, plowed fields, and picked fruit until our hands were raw. The nearest neighbor children lived two miles away, so our life was mostly within our family. Without much money, we believed we were living the gift of abundance.

Work hard, dream hard, laugh hard, live abundantly.

Every season brought new adventures and excitement—preparing the vegetable garden in spring, going on camping trips in the summer, hayrides and harvest festivals in the fall.  I have fond memories of enjoying the warming fires and holiday magic of winter. Life on the farm was fun, challenging, hard work, and full of promise.

We didn’t have fancy clothes.  We did have a pair of Levis, a pair of boots, a couple of shirts, a school uniform, and a Sunday church outfit. Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, our Auntie Cleo would take us shopping and buy us a new outfit. These were thrilling excursions. I learned to sew in high school so that I could have a bigger wardrobe. Since I was the oldest, my sisters inherited my hand-me-downs. We always felt another gift of abundance; our family.  We were surrounded by delicious, homegrown food, a close-knit family, plenty of trees, and land to roam. We were truly rich in spirit, if not in money. 

The Power Of Belief

From my first awareness, I knew I was important. I grew up believing that I had the power to achieve anything I ever wanted.  Of course, it meant I was willing to work diligently to get it. It never occurred to me that I could or should be handed something free simply because I wanted it.

Yes, I am an optimist. My glass is always half full, even when it’s filled with bitter medicine. My life has been a rose garden, albeit with lots of thorns and tragedies. As a child, I almost died of encephalitis. Many people I have loved died at an early age from accidents or illnesses. My youngest brother was crushed and killed when a tractor on our farm turned over on him when he was sixteen. My gentle grandfather was killed while mowing his lawn when a tree toppled over on a windless day. And, my hero, my Dad, died from a rare cancer at a young age.

Because of these experiences and many more, I have learned that our most significant failing is not to follow our dreams, not to sing our song. I admit that living expansively and exuberantly isn’t always easy. Sorrow and pain make us want to contract and withdraw, not expand and excel. We live well only when we embrace the following fact.  The very fragility, pathos, and unpredictability of life make every moment precious.

Embrace The Gift Of Abundance

I aim to persuade, push, and compel you to live every minute fully and consciously. We never know how many chances we’ll have to “get it right.” Life is finite. The drive seen in my mission is due to my agony in dealing with loss.  I have learned that pain, suffering, emptiness, and loneliness are an important part of the human experience. Everyone, rich or poor, weak or powerful, endures these emotions. We are here on earth to learn, laugh, cry, feel love and pain, and to be. Most important, we are here to live and make a difference. Part of getting it right is getting it wrong. We are not the same, but we are all one.

Abundance is not about acquiring a luxury house, a fancy car, expensive clothes, and a jet-set lifestyle. Instead, the gift of abundance is about feeling that there is enough in life for everyone. My early years taught me that a sense of abundance goes far beyond material things. It spans our spiritual life, emotional stability, intellectual stimulation, and physical closeness to the earth.

Having abundance means having fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, food in our stomachs, a roof overhead, somewhere to walk, and feel the beauty of nature. It includes someone to love and someone who loves you in return.  Other elements of abundance are laughter, learning, and the wealth of health. As children, the teaching is to be happy for another’s success, and to believe that there is abundance in all things. If someone else can achieve greatness, so can I. So can you.

We rarely lack abundance, just the ability to understand its meaning in the purest form. The world is a place of emotional and spiritual plenty. Abbondanza, as my mother always said in Italian. Notice and be grateful for everything you have. The gift of abundance is everyone, everywhere, everything.

The 3 Step Exercise: Abbondanza

Shut your eyes. Imagine in vivid detail everything you feel you need to have a fulfilled life. Your list will be unique to you. It can include loving relationships, children, animals, a home to live in, food on the table, clothing, a car, enjoyable work, and so forth. Once you see yourself surrounded by everything you need, add some of the things you want.

Open your eyes, get out your pen, and make three columns: “What I need,” “What I want,” and “What I have.”

Every day, write down the things that you give thanks for: sunrises, beautiful gardens, a pillow on which to lay your head. Recognize the gift of abundance around you. Tell yourself frequently, “I have abundance in all things. There is enough to go around.”

  Sales Tips: The Gift Of Abundance

Assess where you are at and what makes you happy

Expand the areas that bring a smile

Use your knowledge to provide community support

Welcome feedback to improve your endeavors

Each evening analyze what you did well, and what needs improvement 

On a daily basis acknowledge your gift of abundance

Even day revisit your goals to be inspired and move forward

Each week review your accomplishments and set new goals for the following week

Always revise and improve your strategy for tomorrow including upcoming job interviews.

Celebrate Success!

More at

[sallysklar]

Answer Sheet: Kids Need More Than Academics at School to Succeed. Doing It Right is the Trick.

Answer Sheet: Kids Need More Than Academics at School to Succeed. Doing It Right is the Trick.

The education world has long been filled with debate about how to improve troubled schools and help kids succeed academically and otherwise.

Better teachers? Better school resources? Better school buildings (ones that aren’t, for example, crumbling or homes to rodents)? Desegregated schools and neighborhoods? Feeding hungry kids? Providing medical care for kids and their families? Stabilizing communities where kids live and providing parents with adult education, jobs and other supports they need to keep their families functioning?

The obvious answer is all of them and more, though there is no surefire formula that can work everywhere. The New York Times, for example, recently published an article about how New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio may end a program that has cost $773 million to help poor kids in schools that some officials knew were not likely to improve, and it mentions a number of other efforts to do the same thing that were not successful.

Joan Wasser Gish is director of strategic initiatives at the Boston College Lynch School of Education’s Center for Optimized Student Support and is an author of a paper titled “Improving Student Achievement by Meeting Children’s Comprehensive Needs” and the report “Tipping the Scales: How Integrating School and Community Resources Can Improve Student Outcomes and the Commonwealth’s Future.” She also serves on the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care.

By Joan Wasser Gish

Nature or nurture … which is more influential? A recent study on genetics and education illuminates this age-old question and adds to our understanding of how schools can release potential of students no matter what the circumstances of their birth.

The study by Nicholas W. Papageorge and Kevin Thom published by the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at the correlation between genetic endowments and socioeconomic status on educational success.

As The Washington Post reported, it showed that while the genetic distribution of markers associated with educational attainment was evenly distributed across the population, “the least gifted children of high-income parents graduate from college at higher rates than the most gifted children of low-income parents.” In short, our best and brightest born into contexts with limited resources are rarely able to cultivate and contribute their natural-born potential.

[It’s better to be born rich than gifted]

Is anyone surprised? I could have told you this when I graduated from my hometown high school and was one of the few to leave for college. Now, there’s scientific proof.

We’ve understood the dimensions of this challenge to our meritocracy for a while. Since the 1966 report titled Equality of Educational Opportunity, known as the Coleman Report, we’ve noted the tight correlation between Zip code and educational attainment.

And more recent developmental science helps us to understand why. Students who are exposed to poverty and adversities such as trauma, experience “toxic stress.” The consequences of toxic stress include impairments in working memory, organizing information, regulating behavior, and forming positive relationships. It can also slow recovery and resilience against physical health problems and mental illness.

Students’ families often don’t know where to turn for help, and if they do, bureaucratic hurdles can be difficult to navigate. Existing health and social services meant to help children may never reach them. Impacts on a child’s development and readiness to learn can be profound.

Many schools have formal and homegrown efforts responding to the impacts of poverty and other adversities on learning. The Universal School Breakfast Program feeds over 14 million students in schools across the country. The Jennings School District in Missouri opened a food pantry, homeless shelter and health clinic for its students. Programs such as Communities in Schools, Community Schools, City Connects, and BARR Center are addressing students’ comprehensive needs by connecting them to community resources.

This real-world laboratory is proving that when schools systematically broker access to “nonacademic” resources, relationships, and opportunities, then all students — not only the wealthy — are better able to express their potential, academically and beyond.

A new book, “Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students' Networks,” by Julia Freeland Fisher of the Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, explores this frontier. “[Schools] that are beginning to integrate social supports and deepen students’ networks are producing breakthrough results that have long eluded schools, especially those serving low-income and minority students."

A chapter in her book is dedicated to City Connects, an intervention program that proves her point, and is housed in Boston College’s Lynch School of Education, where I work.

Within each school partnered with City Connects, a trained coordinator engages in a practice that results in connecting each student to a network of school- and community-based supports and opportunities that is customized to fit his or her unique strengths and needs.

For one student, that means a winter coat, a vision check, literacy support, and an after-school soccer program. For another, whose family is homeless, that means connecting the family to food, clothing and job training, and helping Sophia to develop closer relationships with school staff and peers through a social-emotional skills group.

City Connects students significantly outperform peers on statewide tests for English Language Arts and mathematics. Throughout their years in school, students who experienced City Connects demonstrate lower rates of grade retention, chronic absenteeism, and high school dropout. Low-income students, including immigrant students and English language learners, are narrowing achievement gaps, and students, including black and Latino boys, are more likely to finish high school.

As researchers and educators better understand how to deliver integrated student support effectively, policymakers are stepping in to spread what works. Several states like Washington and Nevada have passed, or are considering, legislation to enable evidence-based approaches to integrated student support. Massachusetts and Indiana are providing assistance to schools and districts wanting to learn more about effective practices.

One day, getting connected to academic and nonacademic resources by schools may be enough to cultivate the potential of every student in every community. One day, we might ask whether it’s better to be born smart, rich or connected — and find a better answer.

elaine November 28, 2018

Source

Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet: Kids Need More Than Academics at School to Succeed. Doing It Right is the Trick. published first on https://buyessayscheapservice.tumblr.com/

[kuyarexdelsdiaries]

KRD Reports: The Road to DTV (Light Network)

February 28, 2017 at 10:00pm (supposedly 11:00pm) [2:00pm GMT], Light Network officially bid goodbye on Analog TV at the press of the transmission button for the last time. Led by Engr. Antionio T. Soriano, VP for Technical Operations and the entire ZBNI engineers and technicians team, a historic upgrading was made. The day after, March 1 (the birth of Light Network, orginally known as Light TV), 8:00am (12:00am GMT], Light Network made a historic switch to DTV after a test broadcast happened early in the morning, receiving the channel through digiboxes and TV sets w/ DTV tuners.

Light Network is a Christian TV network broadcasts homegrown programs that focuses Christian values, current events, music, children, youth, health issues, financial literacy, travel & lifestyle, and some blocktime programs & selected movies. Some of its shows will continue on ZBNI’s flagship GMA News TV (under GMA Network) on weekdays from 5-6am, weekends at 6-8am, and daily at midnight;  and on GMA-7 on Saturdays at 4:30-5:30am and Sundays at 5:00am-6:00am and at midnight.

Broadcasting 15 hours daily from its studios at Strata 2000 Building (the headquarters of ZBNI since 1998) in Pasig City, Light Network broadcasts nationwide through Cignal TV and in various cable operators aside from DWDZ-TV 33 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

Those who can receive Light Network on DTV may rescan your DTV tuners or digiboxes (manually enter 587143kHz on the frequency if you are into manual search mode). The channels are: Light Network HD, Light Network SD1, Light Network SD2 (Currently airs Japan MIC Info videos), and Light Network OneSeg.

Keep updated with the DTV developments here on KRD Reports.

[crippleprophet]

homegrown health literacy part 1.1: WTF is ESR?

hello and welcome to the first post in my series about knowing when your doctors are full of shit! part 1 will be about interpreting bloodwork results.

disclaimer: i’m Just Some Guy

ESR is a blood test that measures inflammation. it’s a general test, so it can’t say what chronic or acute condition is causing the inflammation, just that it’s there.

ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate. it may also be listed on bloodwork reports as a Westergren test, and may be referred to as “sed rate.” the test essentially measures how quickly your red blood cells settle to the bottom of a container; sinking faster means you’re more inflamed.

normal results for ESR are classified by “sex.” current medical science is not transparent about what factors obscured under the label of “sex” actually affect test results – hormones? organs? body size? social factors? – so it’s unclear what variables are at play here. most likely, the average higher results in people classified as “female” are due to a combination of body size, hormones, and menstruation. however, many autoimmune conditions that cause inflammation are more common in people considered “female” by mainstream medicine, so i maintain some skepticism about whether the people considered healthy when constructing these averages actually were.

personally, as a tall, fat person who takes testosterone and does not menstruate, i compare my results to the “male” category. use your best judgement when evaluating your own results.

results considered “normal” for an ESR would be as follows, measured in mm/hr:

children before puberty: less than 10

“females” age puberty through 50: less than 20

“males” age puberty through 50: less than 15

“females” over 50: less than 30

“males” over 50: less than 20

results on the high end of normal would often merit redoing the test a few weeks or months later, or conducting other tests for inflammation such as CRP. as a point of reference, my ESR was 40 when it was used to help diagnose me with ankylosing spondylitis at age 22.

ESR increases with age, so a thirteen-year-old cisgender perisex girl who’s going through puberty would be expected to have a lower ESR than a 49-year-old cisgender perisex woman, even though their results are classified within the same category. it is also common for ESR to be elevated during pregnancy.

keep in mind:

averages are just that; ideally, comparing results from the same person over time gives the best clinical picture.

similarly, age 50 is not a magic number; an ESR of 30 in a cisgender perisex woman at age 49 might not indicate an underlying condition, and an ESR of 30 in a different cisgender perisex woman at age 51 might.

no one blood test can rule most conditions in or out; a negative/normal ESR does not mean you don’t have an autoimmune disease.

[crippleprophet]

homegrown health literacy part 0: mac is Just Some Guy, i swear

hello and welcome to my Just Some Guy disclaimer! if you’re seeing this on your dash / my blog / etc organically, the context is i will be delving into more posts on health literacy soon, and want to be transparent about my qualifications and lack thereof, positionality, goals, etc, so i’m creating this post to link back to.

most importantly, i am not trying to misrepresent myself as an authority on healthcare, disability, medical research, or your experiences. rather, i am trying to disrupt the positioning of healthcare professionals as authorities. i absolutely understand that i’m not capable of meeting everyone’s access needs (although please let me know about other people & organizations’ work that i can promote!) but i want to do what i can to empower people to understand their own healthcare in order to better self-advocate or have others advocate for them.

so! as i often say, i am Just Some Guy on the internet - i’m not a healthcare professional and have not been one in the past, i don’t know everything, and i especially don’t know all of the particulars of your situation. i don’t want people to be forced to take their doctors at their word because of inaccessible healthcare information and societal ableism; this doesn’t mean i think every word out of your doctor’s mouth is necessarily a lie.

it’s also important to note that i support & affirm people’s decisions not to learn more about their healthcare, question their doctor’s statements and decisions, etc. rather, i want us to live in a society where such decisions are made from a place of informed consent & genuine desire to limit engagement in one’s healthcare, not from social pressure to defer to medical “authorities” which makes doing otherwise unfathomable.

with all of that being said, if you’re interested in my experience with these topics, i’ll list the info i feel is relevant without doxxing myself lol. i’d like to note that i deeply respect independent researchers and self-taught (or often more accurately, community-taught) community advocates; just because my experience is within academia doesn’t mean that’s the only or the best way to learn these skills, and it often if not always instills biases against disabled people (among many other issues).

bachelor’s of science in biomedical engineering including courses on biomechanics, biomaterials, and other healthcare topics taught by a former medical school professor

half of a master’s degree in biomedical engineering (15/30 credits or 5 classes) before having to drop out for health reasons, including a course on rehabilitation engineering taught by a former medical school professor

research focus on low-cost mobility aids, including for my undergraduate senior project. i received a national undergraduate research award and multiple grants from my university for research projects

National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF REU) participant; i was paid for ten weeks of full-time research on a project related to healthcare and mobility. my boss was a licensed physical therapist and physical therapy professor with a doctorate in neuroscience

master’s degree in disability studies; i conducted individual interviews and focus groups with disabled people for my thesis

my girlfriend of 6 years who i live with is a third-year medical student (as of february 2023) and we regularly discuss (and critique) her course material, in addition to me asking her to review information i’m unsure about

8 years & counting of lived experience with chronic pain, chronic illness, & medical neglect. i’ve spent about 5 ½ years in disability spaces and learning from other disabled people in person & virtually, and my gf & i have dedicated significant time to researching my symptoms and test results for almost two years (in addition to retroactively researching previous procedures & diagnoses while unable to access care for a few years)

you’re welcome to dm me or send an ask if you have any questions! some information that would super indicate my identity i’m not comfortable sharing, but questions about learning particular research skills etc i’m happy to answer

[crippleprophet]

hi, i’m mac! this is my disability blog - note that my main @campgender is 18+, but this blog is open to all ages as long as minors blacklist/filter the “minors dni” tag.

you can check out my creative writing in my tag (link 2) and my gumroad (link 3) [edit: i no longer have a gumroad due to their actions against sex workers in early 2024. will update when i find another home for my chapbooks]. my other original posts are here (link 4).

i am Just Some Guy (link 5) & not an expert on disability, healthcare, or your situation & experiences, but i love to research & write about disability studies, health literacy, & medical research! my pet projects right now are my ankylosing spondylitis info doc (link 6) and my homegrown health literacy series (link 7) with info about interpreting test results, knowing when a doctor is full of shit, & how to do your own research if you want.

i’m homebound & generally busy being sick so it takes me a while to respond sometimes, but i love talking to people & welcome asks and dms! i recommend checking out my faq tag (link 8) before sending an ask if you’re in search of advice because i often direct similar questions to previous asks.

thank you for reading & i hope today is kind to you 💓💓