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elliespuns · 2 months ago

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how do you think joel would react to his girl having tinnitus and yk having hearing issues.. (bc i have tinnitus since like 2020) i think he would notice she has trouble hearing sometimes and often cries at night. i think he would be so sympathetic and supportive bc he himself has deaf problems ❤️😭

I just got this ask today, but I am compelled to respond to this ask as soon as I can so you know you're not alone.

Like you, I have been dealing with tinnitus myself. For me, it's the "humming" sound in my right ear. I'm 31 years old, healthy lifestyle, no smoking (except weed, lol), no caffeine (wish I could). It started almost 3 years ago. They say that many tinnitus sufferers thinks of commiting a sucide. I don't blame them, because when this phantom ear noise first appeared and I wasn't used to it being my constant companion, I wanted to blow my head off. As it started, I experienced near daily headaches and felt chronically unwell.

I thought it was a hearing issue, so I began seeing an otolaryngologist to determine the cause. Despite conducting every possible test and procedure, they were unable to find anything wrong. In fact, when they measured my hearing acuity, the results showed it to be perfect for someone my age. Paradoxically, the ill ear actually tested with even better hearing than my other ear.

I was at a low point in my life, battling depression and feeling utterly hopeless. Nothing brought me joy anymore. The constant hum in my ear was ever-present, except for when I listened to loud music. Only then, with my earphones on or in a noisy environment, could I temporarily escape the frustrating sound. The worst were nights and being in a quiet place.

But as I was also experiencing problems with my cervical spine, someone suggested I consult a specialist, as it could potentially be linked to my tinnitus. So I was referred to a physiatrist and neurologist who performed various physical manipulations to correct my alignment. I also underwent electrotherapy sessions.

Nothing helped. Eventually, I resigned myself to my fate. Over time, the sounds faded into the background and became less noticeable, blending in with the ambient noise of everyday life, unless I was focusing on it. Then, 6 months into physical therapy a miraculous change occurred—the tinnitus, while not vanishing entirely, greatly subsided in intensity. I still experience it to this day, but now it only bothers me when my back is acting up, during a killer migraine, or when I'm exhausted to the point of feeling utterly spent.

So let me tell you, I totally understand you and I'm sending you a big hug, honey. Tinnitus is truly an awful thing to experience. From what I've heard, even those who are completely deaf can still hear tinnitus—can you imagine not being able to perceive any sounds, yet still having a constant ringing, humming or buzzing noise in your ear? Life has a fucked up sense of humor.

And when it comes to Joel...

Joel would likely be very sympathetic and understanding if his girlfriend was experiencing tinnitus and hearing issues. As someone who is also hard of hearing in one ear, he would have a personal connection to the challenges and frustrations that come with hearing loss. I imagine he would be extremely supportive and patient, always making sure to face her when speaking so she can read his lips. He would put a lot of thought into communicating in ways that work for her—speaking clearly, finding quiet spaces for discussions, being mindful of background noise, maybe even learning a bit of sign language. He would want her to feel seen and heard, like she's still 100% connected to him. If she expressed anxiety or hopelessness about her condition, Joel would probably share some of his own struggles and how he's learned to adapt. He'd reassure her that she's still the same person, and that a hearing loss doesn't define her worth. His gentle, steady presence would be a source of comfort and strength for her to lean on. Joel's also the type to help research treatment options and go with her to appointments. He'd be her rock through the whole process—whatever it takes to help her feel better. His love is unconditional like that. He'd find ways to make her smile even on the tough days, like bringing home her favorite comfort food or just cuddling up on the couch watching a movie. In his quiet, steadfast way, Joel would be her biggest advocate and most loyal ally through this journey with hearing issues. He'd show her that even with a different way of experiencing the world, nothing would change the love and bond they share. His girlfriend would feel so cared for and lucky to have a partner like him.

#the last of us #tlou #joel miller #joel tlou #the last of us game #elliespuns answers

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butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway · 3 months ago

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hey! i really resonate with the stuff you say about community building and shared responsibility and activism and resistance... it really vibes with something in me. you also espouse values of sympathy and meeting people where they're at to a degree a lot of people in my experience just aren't willing to try, at least with my particular situation, because it gets called "impossible" or just written off as a "lost cause" a lot, i was wondering if you would potentially have any advice for this? (please feel free to not engage if this is too long, i know i am... A lot.)

basically, i can't leave my house, as in, i can't make it out the front door (i go to medical appointments sometimes but they're an all-day affair that basically wipes me out for the next 24 hours). i've been... REALLY struggling to build community like this, especially since my roomates don't want other people in the house without them wearing masks and doing tests first (we all have severe chronic postviral illness and can't isolate from each other if we get sick), and i've tried to meet people on apps and such, but none of them have been willing to do any of that before coming to my house, and usually they bow out once they realize i don't have my own bedroom anyway (none of us do, two room basement apartment babyyyy lol, one bedroom one dual-use common area/kitchen). i feel, like, really brutally isolated and like i'm not able to resist, but more than that, like i'm not even able to build my own community to survive whats oncoming. i keep trying social media, but it keeps making me want to explode, everyone on every single platform i've tried is so combative and the culture is just awful, and i haven't made inroads into a single group in years at this point despite regularly posting and replying to people on tumblr, instagram, and recently, also bluesky.

asking for advice often gets me advice on how to get over social anxiety and leave the house, but i dont know how to tell people that i just can't leave, i don't have the fortune to live in an accessible building so getting me out of the building can take over an hour on its own and leaves me in so much pain and exhaustion i can barely stay awake for the doctors. and i can't move at this point because like the entire hud department got laid off and the social worker i talked to last week basically said if she was giving it straight to me she was pretty sure subsidized housing wouldn't open again for at least this presidential term, probably longer. we get to live here for only $100 a month each because we got a shady under the table deal and theres just nowhere else in my city i can live at this point because the minimum rent for a studio apartment is nearly twice as much as the ssi limit. really i just feel like i lack imagination, i can't wrap my head around how to build community and solidarity, i can't figure out how to get people to pay attention and welcome me into their community with these limitations.

no pressure to respond, i know this is a complicated and really personal situation and i'm not expecting you to have advice, i just thought if anyone would, it'd be you. none of this is really helped by having no privacy and no windows (so rarely getting any sun) and seeing the same 4 walls all day every day making me really, deeply depressed. it's hard to untangle what's a real barrier and what's depression making it hard for me to imagine possibilities.

I need you (and the audience that will see this post) to understand that I am giving you a difficult answer with love.

You said something at the end here that I'm gonna contextualize a little for you. "It's hard to untangle what's a real barrier and what's depression making it hard for me to imagine possibilities."

Can you do me a favor anon? Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and then please read back through your ask. Mark down for me the number of times you named a "can't do", and mark down in a separate tally the number of times you named a "can do". As in, the things you named that are not available or accessible to you or that you cannot do or obtain vs the things you named that you do have access to or resources to do/obtain/etc. Next, read through once more and mark down for me the number of times you criticised yourself and/or apologized for yourself, regardless of whether or not you believe it was necessary/relevant to do so. And lastly, I would like you to read back over this post [link here and below] and tell me how many of the things named (e.g. taking photos or digitizing/preserving old records, making conversation in a shared digital or in person space, planting wildflowers somewhere, making art or sharing your thoughts in a discussion space, etc) are things that are RARELY or SOMETIMES or OFTEN a thing that is accessible for you.

This is a big ask on my part, but an important one for the following reasons:

I do not know who you are. You are literally an anonymous text message on social media to me. So the only context and knowledge I have of you is what is in this ask right here right now. Even if you reply and give me more context, I will never know for certainty that this next anonymous response is the same person (will I be fairly sure if it is? Maybe! But that's not the same thing as being able to know confidently enough to make inferences about this ask or future ones by assuming they were made by the same person. That's not a very responsible way to interact with anonymity.)

And unfortunately you have given me VERY little to work with here. You are asking me for advice to help you build community, but all I know about you is that you are ashamed of your presence in my space, you are feeling hopeless and frightened, and you believe you are not capable of surviving this moment in your life as things stand. Anon, this is not just a description of depression. This is a description of a trauma response associated with escalated depressive symptoms and associated with a risk in suicidal behavior and erosion of psycho-social-emotional resilience to intrusive suicidal ideation. [Follow the citation Daisy Chain and explore this idea further yourself please!

Trauma responses make it legitimately difficult and sometimes even impossible to adequately call upon the executive functioning skills we depend on higher brain function for, including problem solving, emotional regulation, and risk/safety assessment. Additionally, when these reactions become persistent/chronic and pervasive in our lives, it can affect our long term physiological health. Many people may have heard of the ACE Study conducted many years ago by Kaiswr Permanente, and while the ACE survey [link here and below] remains a standardizeable assessment that can help predict the level of trauma assessment and care a person may need, our understanding of the role of trauma in damaging long term physical and mental health when it is un-/under-managed has only grown since KP published their initial results. We understand that trauma can affect the brain, not just procedurally, but in cognitive and physiological structuring. We know these effects can heal with time, care, and safe environments. We know that chronic and traumatic stress significantly impact the autonomic nervous system and that the secondary dysautonomia that can result from trauma-related parasympathetic nervous system deconditioning is a major part of the physiological changes that can follow, such as changes to embodied processes of endocrine production, blood pressure and circulation, immune function, reproductive health, sexual satisfaction and comofrt, and so much more.

I cannot stress enough anon that while I do not know you, nor do I know enough about you to understand exactly how and why you have found yourself in this conversation, I strongly suspect that you need to have a serious conversation with yourself and possibly a trusted friend, loved one, or community aid worker, about how many of your basic needs are actually being met right now and what can be done to build a functional and safe floor under you. I cannot stress enough that you should not be pushing yourself to "community build" right now, but to "resource seek". This will still (likely) lead to community building in the end! But the order of operations here in how you prioritize your energy could really matter right now.

I talk a lot, and quite openly in tense dialectics that rarely 100% mesh with each other despite all being authentic and true, about my role in this work and its impact on my mental health. I do not necessarily talk about what has gone into making that feasible for me to do. This is partly a responsibility thing. I would absolutely hate for someone to read me talk about this stuff, treat it like a checklist, and get hurt because what was right for me wasn't right for them, but they trusted me more than they trusted their own pain as it was happening. This would be the worst case scenario for me in ways I truly can't describe, it's why I try more and more to acknowledge when I am and am not able to comment on certain things or make certain assertions, etc.

For now tho, lets suspend that and demonstrate EXACTLY what the work I do takes for me personally to sustain:

I see my therapist weekly.

I see my psychiatrist monthly

I meet AT LEAST weekly with my supervisor to go over skills, work that needs doing, policy work, ethical issues, resource navigation, growth, etc. Ever since the inauguration, my supervisor and I have never met for less than FIVE HOURS A WEEK to discuss these need areas.

I meet monthly with my entire department for a peer support program that we alternate facilitating. It can function as additional supervision and feedback, but often is just us making space for ourselves in a closed environment where we all understand each others contexts

I run 3 separate group chats, 1) a space for clinical, legal, and advocacy knowledge sharing, 2) a space for "open processing hours" where any of my department may pop in at any time to express they need to talk through something with someone, offer a brief description, and receive consultation and support from myself or a peer, and 3) a space for me and a couple of my staff who came up in the organization with me and are friends to cope together with the impact of our various de-radicalization works

I have a LOT of people I share this work with. For one, I there's all my direct reports at work in my day job, but ALSO there are people I have met and known over the years who I regularly or intermittently check in with and seek support from/offer help to. Not all of these people are what I would call "friends" but they are absolutely all "community". Understanding the difference between these two terms for me has been critical in not burning myself out or harming myself trying to be friends with everyone I need to be in community with while still allowing me to be **friendly** with everyone I'm in community with.

I am fortunate enough to be working for a person and organization who shares my values and priorities, and pays me well enough to allow me to devote most of my time to work through this org while still regularly calling on the tools of the organization to support the work I do outside of it, including material resources, aid referrals, human contribution, etc. Many of my staff do the same with me. One of my department staff (not direct report) has used the credentials our organization allows them to acheive to facilitate intra-communal mental health and community welfare initiatives on the reservation where they grew up. Another routinely sources emergency resource/aid requests that they receive in their community safety work with survivors of domestic violence. Another of my former direct reports has been volunteering in Palestine because they had an existing background in refugee support and had discussed with me heavily the role of our work in genocide prevention and response. None of these people are doing everything, but together, we are doing so much more than any of us ever imagined.

Because of the work I do, and the skills myself and my wife have, my wife currently manages our household while I work. This can get dicey at times and we are often deeply cash poor, but resource wise, together we have created a system that guarantees (as much as anything can) the following floor: 1) we will always have a roof over our head, 2) we will always have food to eat, 3) we will always have something to do for fun or relaxation, 4) we will always have somewhere we can go/something we can do if one of the first three things changes.

I have people in my life who help me walk away from these things when need be. Partners, friends, family, whatever the case may be, and while not every one of these people will be the right person to call every time, every one of them is the right person to call SOME of the time, and across the spectrum there are very few times when I have no one to turn to for space to have my feelings or let go of the stress

Despite ALL of this, the stress of what I do, compounded with my medical and mental health disabilities means that I have been in severe malnutrition for a very long time, and have been in slow rolling organ failure for at least a year (had my first surgical intervention exactly 12 months as of February in fact). I receive weekly injections and monthly infusions to keep my upright, walking, and talking at this point (fingers crossed this program takes and I can be done in April lmfao). My wife works from home in part because we can afford for her to, but also in part because we can't afford for her NOT to. My health requires semi-constant supervision and honestly I should have gotten a PCA years ago now to help me shower and manage my meds and other such things, but ee can't afford private pay and insurance says because I'm married I don't need it 🙃

I don't say any of this as inspiration porn. This isn't AT ALL me seeing "oh look how brave I am, if I can do it so can you." It is the opposite. I mean it when I say I want no one in the world to ever have to live the way I do. No matter how just the cause for doing this to yourself. But I **can**. I know how. I have been doing it my whole life. The balancing act is fragile but it persists and I survive to fight another day. Not everyone will be able to say the same. Every single pair of feet on the path will matter. So mine will be there.

This is now an incredibly long non-answer, so I'm gonna try and tidy up the threads of it here:

The golden rule of any support work is that you can't help anybody if you're fucking dead. So you need to know what it means to meet your needs, before anything else, and you need to know how much wiggle room you have to push that before it does more harm (to you AND your work) than good. Anon, I really hope you find community because it can mean so desperately much to each and every one of us. But I hope you find safety first. Because it can be deeply painful and counter-productive to try and find the former without first having at least some semblance of the other.

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peacephotography · 2 years ago

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Four Lessons for the Long Haul - What Long Covid has taught me on resilience

When the paramedics came for me in the sweltering days of May 2020 it didn’t feel real. I had just passed out in the heat and collapsed headfirst into a radiator. I’d seen paramedics attend to friends and relatives, but in my feverish state, it didn’t sink in that they would come for me. My youthful sense of invincibility quickly faded. I found myself unable to lift my limbs or produce full sentences, and interminable headaches left me in despair. The after-effects are still with me today, in the form of Long Covid.

Now that I have regained some energy, I would like to share some of the lessons that illness has taught me about enduring difficulty in the climate and ecological crisis.

Lesson One: We need courage, not hope

Let the pain be your fuel. Let your total rejection of the status quo give you the courage to transform your life, to stand out from the crowd, and demand transformative action.

Margaret Klein Salamon, Facing the Climate Emergency

For the first few months of my illness, I woke up every morning hoping that I would suddenly recover and have “my life back”. Rather than letting go of what I could no longer do, I kept trying to live as before. But this detachment from the reality of my situation only brought me more pain.

Once I had the courage to face the uncertainty of illness, I let go of anxiously awaiting a miraculous recovery, and relaxed into my situation. In facing my pain and isolation I was able to accept them. They are a state of exile and vulnerability that can be a source of strength for navigating our bittersweet world.

The same is true for facing the climate emergency. If we hope that technology will save us or that criminally negligent governments will suddenly act responsibly, we are recklessly gambling our future on very poor odds. This can only bring pain. Once we start to tell ourselves the truth about the situation, we can find pride in our honesty and compassion in our grief. It’s from here that the resolve to take action will emerge.

Lesson Two: Follow your bliss

Joseph Campbell’s saying, “Follow your bliss,” is not an irresponsible phrase that ignores the pain of life but a reminder to receive pleasure and contentment, even in the depths of suffering.

Toko-pa Turner, Belonging

In illness, every day feels like a struggle. When it shows no sign of improving, or worsens, I lose my morale to keep going. It's an exhausting and depressing limbo. In the darkest and weakest hours, I saw my life flash before my eyes and began to dream of people and places I hadn’t seen for a decade. I saw the highs and lows that had shaped me into the man I am today. This gave me some space and perspective to see things from a different angle. From each challenge, there was a learning on how to face hardship. From each joy, an inspiration to live to the full.

Holding on to these feelings helps bring balance to life. In activism, we follow a true passion and through it find our fullest potential. But even this has its limits. Every step along the way we need to find that balance of difficulty and joy for our own wellbeing. Our struggle for climate and ecological action brings many challenges that can lead us to despairing inertia. In my sickness, a joy was as simple as the view from my bedroom window: a falling blossom, a scudding cloud, a wandering snail.

Such joys became my music, my dance, my poetry, my comedy and my sport: ways to relax into whatever challenge chronic pain brought.

Everyday joys can give us the resilience to keep facing what we must face. So as we rebel with all our might against the existential threat posed by the climate and ecological emergency, let’s also cherish what makes our existence so precious. From that reflective space we can find the courage to keep going.

Lesson Three: Words Matter

“The merest schoolgirl, when she falls in love, has Shakespeare or Keats to speak her mind for her; but let a sufferer try to describe a pain in his head to a doctor and language at once runs dry.”

Virginia Woolfe, On Being Ill

As I slowly regained my speech, I struggled to find the words to describe what I was going through. It struck me that there is a serious lack of language on both chronic illness and climate chaos. If you are unable to express a feeling, you are unlikely to find any solace for it.

For our society to be able to come to terms with the emergency we need a language to relate to in films, literature and TV. Some of the best I think we have so far are Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, a piercing portrayal of the rise of sexism and racism in an uninhabitable America; The Road by Cormac McCarthy, for its portrayal of the gritty end-point of mass extinction; and early Studio Ghibli films such as Princess Monoke/Nausicaa, whose heroines champion coexistence with the natural world.

However, the vast majority of current work focuses too much on apocalypse scenarios, produced to scare the shit out of us, instead of relatable everyday stories. How about a climate drama set in water scarce Somalia? Or a northern woman’s heroic adventure to save her hometown from flooding? We need more romances that argue over whether having kids is responsible and comedies that mock the insanity of our toxic system like The Yes Men or Simon Amstell’s Carnage.

Stories are key for an emotional connection to the challenges humanity faces. Our stories of rebellion can be cathartic for climate anxiety and stir a generation of heroes ready to speak out for their futures. Let’s start writing them.

Lesson Four: Belonging

“By reviving a community, built around the places in which we live, and by anchoring ourselves, our politics and parts of our economy in the life of this community, we can recover the best aspects of humanity. We can mobilise our remarkable nature for our own good and the good of our neighbours.”

George Monbiot, Out of the Wreckage

Being housebound and unable to hold conversations without paralysing headaches is extremely isolating. Yet even in the depths of my pain I was able to appreciate the love of our community. Rebels gave me cards, voice-notes, medical advice, paintings and - best of all – cakes, cookies and biscuits fresh from the oven. The feeling of belonging to and being supported by a community of kindhearted and extraordinary people gave me strength every step of the way.

Together we are building a community that can hold us through the dark days with pride, friendship and joy. We are showing not only the best aspects of humanity but also the solid foundations of a successful social movement. The climate and ecological emergency will shape the rest of our lives. So take every opportunity you can to nourish and prepare yourself for the long journey ahead. You’ll not only be more resilient, but you’ll find more joy.

-- Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this or can think of someone who could benefit from these words please do share it. If you'd like to read more, subscribe to my blog :) Peace, Robin

Photograph: Franck Fife

#spilled ink #writing #long covid #disability #covid #climate crisis #robin boardman

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gay-disabled-characters-showdown · 4 months ago

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LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Battle for Fourth

Please be civil in the notes. We will block people if we feel it is necessary. A character being canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included. This is not a competition of who is better representation.

Check out the final poll here.

Eda Clawthorne-The Owl House

Qualifications:

She has a magical chronic disorder which has flare-ups, is mitigated by taking medication (potions), and has similar side effects to many real disorders such as fatigue, greying hair, and physical impairment (drains magic, a natural ability of *most witches). Unlike in other stories however, her condition is NOT ever completely cured. It does evolve and become more manageable over the course of the story, but she still experiences symptoms from it. Eda also loses one of her arms later in the story. She does get a replacement hook, but it is never shown whether she has a functional prosthetic or not. Most likely, she only has one fully functioning arm after this. As for being queer, she is in a relationship with a nonbinary person and is all but confirmed bisexual (has a secret box with the bi flag on it seriously why else would she have this). Also the owl house has a Lot of queer characters in it and I mean. just look at her. I would be surprised if she wasn't queer somehow.

Bisexual, and has a curse that affects her day to day life

Bi & lost arm and has a chronic illness metaphorically

Propaganda:

Has canonically dated both men and a non-binary person. Her curse affects her ability to use magic (and at one point outright stops it), which is very important in witch life. Said curse also causes her body parts to fall off sometimes. Many have said her curse is like a metaphor for depression but really it's more like a magic version of a physical disability (although I wouldn't be surprised if she actually also had depression).

Uuuuh she’s great and stuff idk I can’t propaganda well sorry

Harrowhark Nonagesimus-The Locked Tomb

Qualifications:

She's a lesbian and the author Tamsyn Muir has confirmed she's written as schizophrenic, based on her own experience.

Okay SO Harrow is a necromancer nun who is also a huge lesbian. She spends the books of TLT series being super gay and repressed about her emotions for 1. Butch lesbian Jesus and 2. Human Barbie the death of God. She narrates the second book (Harrow the Ninth) and is author-confirmed schizophrenic. She experiences hallucinations thru the whole book and has since childhood. She’s also WIDELY headcannoned as autistic by the fandom (me too) because. Because she IS SO FUCKING AUTISTIC (source: I am autistic too)

Schizophrenic lesbian with a traumatic brain injury

Schizophrenic and sapphic

canonically a schizophrenic lesbian. neither word is used in series, she isn't in a position to get a diagnosis and queer identities are so normalised in the universe that labels just don't get mentioned, but she is written as both by an author who is also both.

Canon schizophrenia Canon lesbian with canon schizophrenia

She's a schizophrenic lesbian with a traumatic brain injury

Propaganda:

The Locked Tomb is pretty popular on tumblr but I might as well submit her anyway

She’s a lesbian necromancer nun. She’s a saint and also woke up the death of God, who is a human Barbie, who she is in love with, tho she’s also kind of married to lesbian Jesus. She’s schizophrenic. She’s scrungly. She puts bread in a drawer. She’s even autistic

Harrow first started hallucinating (visual and auditory) when she was ten years old! The traumatic brain injury and seizures are much more recent. Unironically gotta love a pov protagonist who makes you struggle along with her in sorting out hallucination and false memory to figure out what's going on. Also while Harrow's disability shapes the narrative, the book isn't at all about her being disabled. It's a fantasy/scifi gothic horror novel about being trapped at a work retreat with God.

so many women want her but she’s determined to be in love with the soul of the dead earth trapped in a 10ft barbie doll instead. she’s a lesbian disaster and is trying to deal with both schizophrenia and over 200 actual ghosts haunting her.

a schizophrenic lesbian, written by a schizophrenic lesbian! she's in love with multiple dead women, but she's also a necromancer so that's not as big of an obstacle as it sounds. weird little bone-obsessed necromancer lesbian. I care about her deeply

Author Tamsyn Muir has discussed how Harrow's schizophrenia is modeled after her own experiences. It matters a lot in her eponymous novel, where her inability to trust what she sees and hears is compounded by her self-inflicted lobotomy to save her girlfriend's soul from getting absorbed into her own.

Harrow is one of the protagonists of her series & both her lesbianism & her schizophrenia play major parts in the story. The author has spoken about how she wrote Harrow based on her own experiences, and the authenticity comes through strongly. Beyond that, she's a teenage gothic nun in love with a holy corpse & she's the greatest bone magician ever born. What more needs be said.

She's a lesbian, she's psychotic, she has seizures, she faints regularly and can't rely on her own memory worth shit. And the only reason she's not going to kill god is so she and her girl can escape the cycle of violence. Basically, Harrowhark Nonagesimus is the entire package.

Anything Else?:

Listen. Listen. I’m not doing Harrow justice here. I LOVE her (Submitter 2)

The author is also schizophrenic! Which is pretty cool. (Submitter 3)

The author of the series is openly schizophrenic, and has mentioned in interviews that she's drawing on that experience when writing Harrow :) (Submitter 8)

#polls #poll #disability #disabled characters #lgbtq #lgbtq characters #id in alt text #lgbtq dcs final #eda clawthorne #eda the owl lady #the owl house #toh #harrowhark nonagesimus #the locked tomb

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mechs-headcanons · 1 month ago

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HELLO I COME WITH SCHOOL/EDUCATION HEAFCANONS. And also some learning disability/mental illness headcanons

Jonny: started school when he was younger, and got the VERY basics down, like basic reading, writing and math,but due to him having (undiagnosed) dyslexia he had a lot of trouble with writing and reading, and was eventually pulled out of school early anyway bc his dad didnt think it was teaching him actually important skills

Marius: intermittently on school growing up,had to help out a lot at home and with hunting since his parent was chronically ill and couldn't do it anymore. Did manage to get into college and had a lot of promise, probably was in mechanical or biomechanical engineering, but wound up dropping out a couple weeks before starting their PhD courses bc his parent died and he turned all his focus to helping fight in the war. I think he may have had an eating disorder (at least disordered eating patterns) growing up bc of the scarcity of food. And anger issues that he repressed (theres something else going on in his brain but I haven't decided what yet. He is full of unresolved and undiagnosed issues that would make his life So much easier to know abt. currently leaning towards ocd)

Brian: before getting blasted off into space the first time, he went to a very prestigious school/college and was actively pursuing two PhDs, one in medicine and one in some sort of scientific field. He skipped two grades at some point, and I think he came off as a little arrogant so I don't think people liked him very much, but he kept his head down and did all his work so I don't think the teachers cared much. Then he disappesred like a month begore his graduation, anf on the planet with the priest he didnt continue svhool amd just immediately got to doctoring. Autism and depression haver I think. As well as struggling with dissociation and derealization, wich got worse after being mechanized.

Raphaella: Actually has a PhD and was researching cures for fatal sicknesses that hadn't been studied as much at the college she graduated from, before going off the deep end and trying to figure out how to bring people back to life. Insomnia haver.

Nastya: had the Best schooling in her castle, but was homeschooled and isolated from her peers, and compared to her brothers education it was clear that they got to learn and do A Lot more than her. Had to teach herself a lot of things because even though she was the last of her siblings left still at home, her parents never spent much time with her and often kind of brushed her off. Another autistic girlie with the added sprinkle of depression.

Ashes: went to school for maybe a year or two before getting tossed between institutions and orphan houses, Mickey and the sevens taught them everything they needed to know like math and reading, mostly so the could do things like cheat and all that. Not the most thorough education, but it was something

Ivy: never really went to schools, but practically Lived in the massive libraries of her home planet, and the librarians taught her all sorts of things, anything they could when she asked. She had am insatiable curiosity that nothing could ever satisfy. Shes great at reading, but math (pre-mechanization, and even a bit after) was always a bit of a weak spot for her. I saw someone once mention they headcanoned her as dyspraxic and thats so real that its joined my arsenal of headcanons. I also think she has carpal tunnel and (canon) she has memory issues. I think shes got low empathy too. Audhd Queen

Toy Soldier: the widow didn't exactly teach it to read and write, but it did learn through observation when she read to it her husbands favorite books or wrote down grocery lists for it to go out and buy. Most of what the widow taught it was ettiquette and information on how gentlemanly soldiers should act, everything else it had to learn on its own because she expected it to already know these things. Can't do math beyond basic addition and subtraction (and like, the Very basics, adding and subtracting from anything higher than thirty it has no idea wjat to do) because of this. I would also like to raise dyspraxic ts. And I think its got some sort of anxiety disorder that it doesnt believe it has, because it would have to be a person to have one of those

Gunpowder Tim: theres just. Something going on in xyr brain that I can't even fathom. Fae have so many undiagnosed issues and refuses to address any of them except the PTSD. Was in school and finished high school, but was drafted when they were eighteen/nineteen and couldn't go to college. ADHD and seasonal affective disorder/seasonal depression haver. Dyscalculic too I think. I don't think he ever did the Best in school, but they did Try a little bit. She had other things going on. Totally unrelated but she absolutely has a fear of needles

Aurora: I don't think she ever really went to school? I think everything she learned was from her first moon mom, carmilla, and the mechs. Obviously the cyberians never really Taught her anything. Just forced her through a body horror novel. So she knows a decent bit abt science and reading and what the mechs are all interested in, but not much else

I think they've all got a variety of mental illnesses and things going on but I need to like. Actually iron out some of my ideas for them

-✨ who has too much time on their hands and is thinking abt the blorbos

all of this is so yes,,,, dyspraxic ts,,.

#mechcanon #askcanon #the mechanisms #not tagging all of them #✨ anon

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littlelovelunette · 3 months ago

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my phone gets positively blown up with all the likes I get on my work tysm for the support babies i opened Tumblr mainly because I am going through a hard breakup sesh after my first girlfriend broke up with me after 19 days into the relationship and she was so toxic to me too, she tried to breakup every 2 days and i had to beg her to stay, it got bad and i sh-ed a lot and still struggle with chronic depression and bpd so i turned to writing fics to busy myself so i didn't think too much about my ex anymore

thank you for supporting me and my work thru such a rough time babies ill forever be grateful i love u

#mental health #actually mentally ill #mentally fucked #mental illness #positive mental attitude #female writers #writers on tumblr #i need sleep #i need it #i need sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep #im tired #want sleep #sighhhh #send help #please help #pls help #help

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fairytypingg · 10 months ago

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fuck it we're doing this

RAGEON HCS!!!!!

Velvet;

leo(i think thats what i am, idk a lot abt astrology)

7 minutes older and takes it way too seriously

overplans for everything

screams cries crumbles if she doesn't have 100% control over any situation

plays a lot into appearances but is actually a chronic workaholic(gets it from her uncle)

she and veneer were raaised by their uncle actually!!

velvet has a love hate relationship with the music industry, before and after the events of the movie

TRUST. ISSUES.

cannot ever talk about her feelings she'll explode

bottles everything up like im so serious

"i'll keep all my emotions right here. and then one day, i'll die."

she vents frustration by talking mad shit in cs:go lobbies

she's really good at the game

scary good aim because of it, and that DOES transfer to real life

has 97 mental illnesses and is banned from most public spaces/ref

"i inhereted severe generational trauma and all i got was borderline personality disorder"

someone help her

she needs therapy

also autistic <3

Veneer;

also a leo

7 minutes younger but only remembers bcs velvet will not let him forget

he seems chill in comparison because velvet is so high strung but he is the most dramatic bitch ever

says really out of pocket shit without thinking

"yeah that's why your parents dont call you then haha- what why are you looking at me like that what did i say"

he's the epitome of unmedicated adhd

probably needs glasses

the only one of the twins with a drivers license

was very outgoing growing up because velvet hated talking to people, so someone had to do it

doesn't rly understand velvet being depressed and thinks shes a drama queen like him

"im tragically doomed by the narrative" "drink water dumbass"

hes morosexual

"if a man can locate mount rageous on a map that man is not my type"

dumb fucking ass

love him, hes just kinda stupid.

Kid Ritz:

idk any other zodiac signs use ur imagination

every personality disorder you can think of

emotional manipulation is a sport and he is bringing home the gold

whats wrong with him

the answer is mommy issues. and rampant childhood neglect. also when you're raised as rich as he was you're gonna come out weird

struggled to understand the concept of lying as a child so when be finally got it he retaliated by lying for sport and then never stopped doing that

prefers machines to people

hes one of those "there is a minimum iq requirement to talk to me" guys

not just a talk show host!!

he's well trained to take over his father's political position when the old man retires

current director of public security

he's known as a purveyor of gossip for a reason

the saying goes that nothing happens in the city without his knowledge

hyperintelligent

like genius iq, reading at a college level by age 5, etc

actual child prodigy in every conceivable way

notorious for being "perfect"

he's the face of Ritzworth Media Corp for a reason

evil genius

also lonely

his father is grossly neglectful and his mother is a deadbeat

did i mention he has mommy issues

never met his mom and has devoted a lot of his energy to forming an intelligence network dedicated to finding her

hates people

like very antisocial

struggles HEAVILY with empathy

his interviews are notoriously difficult since he entertains himself by making his interviewees squirm

casual sadist in every conceivable way

What's Wrong With Him/aff

Orchid;

use ur imagination again im not gonna look it up

rebelling against common characterization here stay with me

secretive about her past but obviously hiding something

a chameleon type of person, can change her behavior, mannerisms, and even accent at the drop of a hat

carries a deep grief with her

distrusting and calculating

she'll "befriend" you but it takes a lot of effort to actually gain her trust

she WILL discard you if she's even slightly suspicious

nobody is sure what her goal is, but she has an agenda

orchid might not be her real name either

very mysterious

generally presents as kind and friendly but it's noticibly fake

cannot stress how much she is hiding something

capable of murder and not afraid to resort to such to protect her secret

dont look in her closet

she has participated in her fair share of underage drinking and can hold her liquor pretty well, but if you manage to get her drunk enough you may be able to pry some answers out of her

has a distaste for celebrities she doesn't see as beneficial to know

gives like. really good advice

identity issues <3

the song Phony is perfect for her

she moves as if she's used to her hair being longer than it is

what is she hiding?

#shut up quill #trolls headcanons #velvet trolls #trolls 3 #velvet and veneer #trolls #velvet trolls nobody understands you like i do #veneer trolls #my art #ig?#kid ritz trolls #orchid trolls

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soupandspoonies · 6 months ago

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To honour me saying I would blog more than I have been I thought I'd talk a little bit about my experience with therapy as a chronically ill person, because there may be people who relate and I think it's good to talk about :)

To start, I have been doing therapy since I was first diagnosed with my first condition (I was about 10 years old at the time) and the therapy I was put in was CBT, as recommended by my neurologist. CBT refers to cognitive behavioural therapy and follows the mindset that if you can reframe your mindset about something it can affect you less.

Beginning this therapy I had very little understanding of my condition and I was struggling a lot with losing my ability to do a lot of the things I had once loved to do. In this aspect, having someone to talk to was very helpful and my counselor reminded me that I still had things to look forward to and all was not lost. Eventually however, this therapy started to influence the mindset that if I don't talk about my pain and suffering with my illness, that it will hurt less and I began to feel my pain was no longer valid.

I believe that this type of therapy can be very helpful given the right circumstances and it did help me in some ways - but it also stifled my ability to talk about my pain seriously and I began to feel like I was weak for letting the pain affect me.

I think talking about your chronic illness and disability is a very helpful tool when you are struggling - which is why I started my blog - but I also feel it is very frustrating trying to talk about it with people who don't understand because they have never experienced it. I have tried my best to make my friends and family understand that I will always be held back by my illnesses and disability, and how it causes me mass amounts of grief at times. I am losing the person I once was, and people generally don't understand what it is like until it happens to them.

I am still in therapy, with a new therapist whom I feel I can really trust with my issues. After being ill for so long, I began struggling with anxiety and depression, and having a therapist has certainly been helpful (along with medication). I was able to highlight with my new therapist how my previous therapy experiences affected me and I am now able to be very open when I don't like the approach she is taking with my problems. She will never understand what I am going through, but she approaches with empathy and lets me talk through my feelings without making me feel as though I need to stifle them to make her or others understand me.

I think that I will always struggle to find people who understand me, I will always have that grief for the person I lost in myself, and this pain isn't going away. I have struggled a lot entering therapy again because I never felt like I could be validated by someone who doesn't understand, but I am slowly coming to realise that even through the frustration of being misunderstood - it is a really useful tool.

I hope any others who are struggling with entering therapy for one reason or another will take what I've said into consideration. There will likely be a lot of frustration because you feel misunderstood and alone, but if you find the right person it can take a big weight off your shoulders.

I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!! :D

Soup

#chronic illness #invisible illness #joint pain #spoonie #pots syndrome #actually disabled #disabled #happy halloweeeeeeen #snoopy

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skyfallscotland · 10 months ago

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Hi! I hope you’re feeling better. 💜

When I’ve heard writers talk about their process, some outline a character before they start writing and outline everything- the charcater’s history, personality, etc. While other writers say the character “talks” to them as they write and they don’t plot a lot out before hand. I’m curious- how much of Remi’s personality did you determine before you started writing? For example, did you know she was wonderfully snarky before you started writing? Did you always know she struggled with depression?

I know you’ve written other OC’s too. Has your process changed since writing Tessa and co?

Hi!

I...am incapable of lying lol. I'm not really, but I appreciate the sentiment 💗 Not looking for sympathy, just keeping it real 💀 The depression be doing some depressing. But hey, *sobs as I smash at my keyboard* it makes for great content!

I don’t hear it. I can’t hear anything but the pounding of my own heart and one memory on repeat. You can love someone and hate them a little at the same time. My mind is stuck on that. I know he loves me, but—he hates me, he hates me, he hates me—I fucked things up.

I never outline an entire character before I start writing. I have an idea in my head, but not a whole profile. I don't even name them until I'm part way through a story, they're "Name" usually until like chapter five-ish and then I hate their names until like chapter ten.

The case of Remi is a little different, honestly I've kind of done things backwards. When I created Tessa I had an idea of what her personality would be, based on what she'd been through living in Illyria and there were small parts of myself I incorporated into her, like her struggle with social settings and relationships. With Stella I was more just having fun, but keeping in mind the (broad overview) history I had planned for her. They do kind of just write themselves, if I'm honest. It's why I like to write ahead, because I only ever have a broad plan in mind.

I don't know that I ever really planned to publish BRV outside of like a little wattpad adventure. It was entirely self-indulgent. I tried very hard with Tessa and Stella to have them be...measured? I guess you'd say. To not pour too much of myself into them.

Remi was cathartic. There's so much of me in her. She was my 'whatever, it's not serious' character and story. I just threw whatever I wanted at the page without worrying about whether things were realistic or too self-indulgent and I guess that worked for a lot of people.

I knew she'd be snarky and a realist and that she wouldn't be as settled as Violet with her chronic illness. I knew she'd be depressed and quick to anger because that's me and my experience and it was a therapeutic process pouring all that out onto the page. So I guess I didn't really need to determine anything, I just wrote from the heart. She's almost self-insert. It's made it really comforting that people relate to her so well, because it feels like they relate to me, when no one else does outside of the internet.

It's funny because I'm trying (and never making time) to plot out the original novel I plan on writing and there's this voice in my head like saying I have to be measured and I have to plot out these characters first and their whole histories and personalities because it's a Serious Thing, but then I'm reminded that the character I wrote who resonated the most with people was just me throwing my unhinged feelings into the void, so???

Also, I had intended my first original fantasy novel (featuring a chronically ill fmc and dragons) to have two main characters—Remi and Caden. Then Fourth Wing came out and I screeched in fury. I used the name for BRV anyway, but... 🙃

And the MMC for my sports romance is named Liam and I wanted to give the FMC a nice tough girl name like Sloane 😭 but I guess the universe said fuck you, again, so that's a nope, so if anyone has suggestions here I am.

#amy’s mail ✨💌

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ssruis · 10 months ago

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Idk the treatment of saki’s disability by the writers just irritates me bc like (& full disclosure this is written by someone who’s chronically ill but able to live w/o major symptoms) there’s so little thought put into how her disability specifically intersects with her mental health & overall life beyond a general Inspirational Look At Her Go She Can Overcome Anything type of take.

I dislike fully articulating my thoughts but to sum it up my experience with my own chronic illness was manifestation at 18 -> horrifically managed for 2 years bc doctors/parents did not take it seriously -> in so much pain that I couldn’t really move until i was put on immunosuppressants during peak covid and I watched close friends treat me like a burden for wanting the group to take covid precautions/abandon me because I couldn’t Party Hard anymore (to the point where one friend brought me somewhere where her friend fucking had Covid and sat next to me & then she texted me the next day like whoops heehee) -> severe depression & life ruining ensued. My family had to deny a good insurance opportunity bc my RA was an existing condition & they wouldn’t pay for my meds for two years and I had the fun side effect of my mom implying it was my fault/it was a burden over it. Etc etc. I don’t want to get into the full story because it’s unfun and also lengthy but I want to provide context for why saki’s treatment bugs me.

Her not really caring about honami/shiho not visiting bugs me. I get that life gets in the way but them going (semi?) no contact is a little shitty. Being disabled & not being allowed to be upset about the treatment you receive from your loved ones because you know they don’t see it as a big deal is. So frustrating. She deserves to be upset with them for that and have a conversation about it. There’s so much pressure on people w disabilities to essentially go “yeah I am a burden it’s my fault so I’m grateful you’re even spending time with me” that’s reflected in saki’s story and never challenged.

I’m too tired to articulate the complexity of her dynamic w tsukasa but it also frustrates me that it’s only touched upon that saki feels like she inconveniences him by being sick/she thinks him going out of his way for her is a burden. I love tsukasa and I’m obsessed w how much he cares about his sister but I also think saki deserves to be frustrated with how neurotic he is about an illness that isn’t his own.

So much abt being disabled (especially for those who are more affected than I am - I want to make that clear) is being told by society that you are a burden for needing accommodations/costing your family money/struggling with things able bodied people can do/etc. & saki very clearly feels a lot of that but it never gets challenged. Something that’s always stuck with me was seeing a tiktok where someone was like “actually I AM a burden bc I cost my parents money for antidepressants/adhd meds” which was so…. Buddy as someone on those meds and also 4/5 other drugs to manage the chronic illness I don’t want to hear shit from you abt being a burden. Imagine having panic attacks over career choices & fucking up your schooling permanently because you’re petrified of not having stable insurance to pay for the overpriced meds that keep you from being in agony and your friends/family don’t take it seriously because you look fine even though you can barely move without extreme pain and nobody in your life understands it or attempts to do so and you feel like the doctors don’t care because they give you meds & no diagnosis and you’re still in a pain that defies description. And your disability gets in the way of your passions and you can’t just muscle through it because doing so would fuck your body up even more. & then get back to me. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. Moving on.

I don’t know if the colopale writing team has anyone w a disability but I feel like saki’s chronic illness essentially being a thing of the past & she’s just like “I’m fine now” is shitty. Ig it fits with her character but also she’s a fictional character and the writers are capable of addressing this. and they’re not. I want to see saki being told that she’s allowed to be mad and she’s allowed to feel unwell and she’s allowed to not be inspiration porn and she’s allowed to have ugly feelings and address those & that she’s not a burden and it’s ok to rely on others when you’re struggling.

#more personal so I’d prefer this not be reblogged but you’re more than welcome to share thoughts on anon/in replies.#word vomit. in the bathroom at a party I’ll return after posting. you understand.#mine #also I want saki to interact w someone else who is disabled and still following their goals in a healthy way.#I dislike talking abt it because it impacts me less now that I’m properly medicated but. u know. disability did actually fuck up my life bad #& it’s frustrating that saki isn’t allowed to experience things that I and others who are chronically ill have experienced #¯\_(ツ)_/¯. u know. whatever. idgaf.

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duchessofostergotlands · 8 months ago

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Do you think you could be autistic? No hate just wondered as I am too and I relate to a lot of what you say

Oh my anonymous friend, you don't know the can of worms you have opened haha. I am going to ramble here so just be prepared for that.

When I was little my mum did actually think I might be autistic. Predominantly because I played in an unusual way. I would line my toys up on the window sill and my grandmother's display cabinet thing. I would get furious at people if they moved my toys because they all had their own spot. And the only time I touched the toys was to move them from the cabinet (their home) to the window (the school). The rest of the time I would just stand still, stare at the toys, and wiggle my fingers. They called it "zizzing" - now it's called stimming, I guess - and they knew that was a sign of autism so my mum and my grandmother did wonder about it. But I had two things going against me: I was a girl and I was born in the early 90s. This was during the peak of the idea autism was the "extreme male brain." It was seen as being predominantly a male diagnosis. You probably know that. And there wasn't much understanding so our reference point would be people like our family friend who always looked at the ground, was obsessed with trains, had limited speech and would scream if anyone tried to touch him. Whereas while my family were still thinking about the autism thing I started school and I was academically strong, I had a small group of close friends and at the time - because of the gender disparity - girls only really got diagnosed with autism if they had some kind of very obvious speech delay, they weren't doing well at school, they had no social connections with their peers at all etc. So basically everyone just forgot about it. I got called a drama queen a lot, that was it.

Fast forward to my teens and my mental health was really bad. It got worse at university because I didn't have the routine and structure of school, I didn't have my mum cooking and buying food etc. I was diagnosed initially with depression and anxiety. After a while it was clear that wasn't right so after much fighting I got a diagnosis for Borderline Personality Disorder. Now you may know this but there is an overlap in BPD and autism symptoms and women are often misdiagnosed with BPD later in life because as children their autism wasn't picked up (because diagnostic criteria is still geared towards how it presents in boys and psychologists and psychiatrists don't always delve into motivations and thought processes). I found that out in my mid 20s but thought "nah I probably don't have it, I don't have special interests and I don't struggle with x, y and z." However, my mum became really interested in BPD after I was diagnosed and did loads of research, listened to podcasts on it. And she told she was listening to one podcast where someone was diagnosed with BPD but then they discovered it was actually autism. My mum said to me that the way she described herself in childhood was exactly how I behaved, as if I'd been the one speaking. And so that got me thinking and that's where I have been stuck over the last few years. I debate with myself constantly what's going on in my brain and I truly don't know. I regularly have epiphanies where I think "oh that thing I've done all my life is incredibly autistic." But then I think maybe it's actually BPD. And I just go round and round.

I identify as neurodivergent, regardless of what diagnosis I have. Some neurodivergence paradigms do recognise severe mental illnesses like BPD anyway, but I've realised that if you put aside the BPD I still have chronic problems with ordinary tasks and situations. And I used to think it was just because I was young but I'm 31, almost 32, and it isn't normal to take 3 months to make one phone call because you just can't make yourself do it! Most people don't find it this hard to take basic care of themselves.

#ask #anon #non royal #autism #BPD #personal

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beardedmrbean · 1 year ago

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On Jan. 27, Dutch blogger Lauren Hoeve passed away through assisted suicide. After enduring years of chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, ME/CFS), autism, ADHD, and anxiety, she, at the young age of 28, chose euthanasia to escape a life dominated by pain.

As a Canadian, I am familiar with the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program, which has allowed eligible adults to request assisted death services since the federal legislation passed in June 2016. As of this year, the MAID program was also set to allow those with mental illness to choose euthanasia.

However, a recent development on Feb. 1 proposed legislation to temporarily exclude individuals with a sole underlying medical condition of mental illness until 2027.

This legislation is currently under review by Parliament, and unless it passes, the exclusion will be lifted on March 17, 2024. This means individuals struggling solely with mental health issues may become eligible for assisted death.

A confession: Initially, I welcomed the idea of assisted dying, believing it could be a humane choice for those at the late stages of irreversible illnesses to make choices on their own behalf. However, my growing concern lies in the application of MAID by the Canadian government.

I am now skeptical about the true autonomy of individuals opting for assisted death, especially in a country with socialized health care. The risk of medical practitioners recommending MAID as a cost-cutting measure to alleviate strain on the health care system is unsettling, as suggested by a 2020 analysis estimating potential annual savings of save $66 million annually in health care costs.

Individuals considering MAID are already vulnerable due to physical or mental suffering, making them susceptible to external pressures. Reflecting on my own past struggles, I recognize the unpredictability of emotions and circumstances. What seems unbearable one day may change with time and support—yet the choice to end life is a permanent one.

Like many others, I've lived with chronic pain for much of my life. I can recall many days where I've wondered what the point was of continuing to suffer. And then, a miracle drug had come along. Will it continue to work indefinitely? I don't know, but for now, I feel like I have my life back.

And that's the thing, there's an unpredictable nature to health care. What one experiences one day, can change tomorrow.

There are exceptions. I recall reading about Canadian journalist John Scully, an 82-year-old man dealing with severe depression. He was hospitalized many times, had 19 treatments with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and takes up to 30 pills a day to manage his chronic pain and health issue. Shouldn't he have a choice?

And yet, I was struck by something in the statement put out by Lauren Hoeve's parents. "Millions of people are affect by ME/CFS, with no established treatment pathways and no cure," they wrote on X on Feb. 2. "Why is their suffering acknowledged enough for euthanasia but not enough to fund clinical research?"

And herein lies the rub. Why is euthanasia offered as a viable solution to a potentially non-permanent problem, when other options are possible?

Mental health services in Canada (and elsewhere) are scarce. Psychologists are expensive and out of reach for many. Psychiatric services are free of charge, but the wait lists are even longer than those for psychologists and few people can get access. The wait to get help is usually over a year. Family physicians just end up prescribing medications based on a checklist and see what sticks.

Those living with chronic pain and disability have been put at the front of the line for MAID. Readily being presented with assisted dying services—instead of treatments or alternatives—can create a sense of being undervalued or marginalized. It implies that end-of-life choices should be prioritized over efforts to provide care, support, or treatments that could improve one's quality of life or extend their lifespan.

Moreover, individuals feeling like a burden on their families may be easily swayed.

I've heard of least one case where a woman decided to end her life because she couldn't get access to opioids for pain management. And while opioids are far from ideal, when it's a choice between life and death—perhaps her doctors should have considered giving her another chance at life.

For me, the troubling part of all of this is that instead of enhancing life-staining systems—whether for people with mental health concerns, chronic pain, or disabilities—our government is opting for permanent exit plans that alleviate strain on the health care system, instead of improving it.

People deserve to have choices—and the choice to end their life should only be considered once every other possible option has been exhausted.

An estimated 836,000 to 2.5 million Americans and more than 580,000 Canadians suffer from ME/CFS. Their lives are inherently valuable.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

#nunyas news

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theshortolivia · 1 year ago

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Get to Know me tag :)

Was tagged for a get to know me tag game by @deerlisteners and these are fun so thought I’d do it for the like two people who will see it, even though, they are both childhood friends and know all this…

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yeah! My moms named me after the character Olivia Benson from law and order because she was a ‘strong independent woman’ like they wanted me to be and they also both had a crush on her/the actress who plays her. Bonus fact I’m p sure if I’d been born male they woulda named me Josiah

2. When was the last time you cried?

Uhhh, I got emotional and ALMOST cried at the ‘shoe scene’ (can’t be any more specific cause Huge spoilers) when rewatching Jojo Rabbit, I DID cry when I saw it in theatres and I HIGHLY recommend it as a comedy satire but also a harrowing reminder of history we should never forget (and for taika waititi of course). Um last time I actually cried I don’t remember cause recently my mental health has been depression apathy and not anxiety tears but it was Probably out of frustration at my chronic illness limiting what I can do, not a fun anecdote unfortunately but sometimes it be like that

3. Do you have kids?

I do not and I don’t plan on having any anytime soon for economic, chronic illness, and age reasons (I’m 22 lol I am Not settled in life I don’t even live alone). I would like to have kids when I’m older and more settled health and money wise, I love kids and feel I have so much love and care to give, i think I’d both enjoy and be a good mother. Also, I’d like to have them ‘traditionally’ because I’d like to experience pregnancy and I have some good genes lol. I think I’d like to have 3, partially because I do think I will love to raise and love children but also largely because I want my kids to have multiple siblings and to have a bigger (I know that’s not large in the grand scheme but for like, this day and age and economy and etc) family and for their kids to have multiple aunts/uncles. I love having a brother and wish I had more siblings, I wish I had a sibling closer in age that I could relate to, but I do still enjoy taking care of him and him being my baby brother. I also used to have 5 aunts and uncles (well 10 since they were all married ig) and many many cousins of all ages before we stopped talking to that side of my family, and I have two uncles (and my aunts their wives) and only see a few of my cousins due to where they live, and I am so glad I have family gatherings that big but I do miss the giant ones too, therefore I want for my kids what I have and love.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I am NOT a sports girlie. Up until I was 12 ish I was a very into ballet and modern dancing (would’ve continued but alas anxiety struck) and after that I did musical theatre which is its own style of dancing, incorporating all different types. I’d love to go back but since I stopped dancing due to a steady string of anxiety, anxiety medication side effects, foot problems, and then finally chronic fatigue syndrome, I’ve become out of shape, have really bad feet, and REALLY struggle to find time to take care of myself. I do want to start exercising again in ways that don’t require me to have functional feet like weight lifting, aerial dancing (those fabric strip things) etc. But I am Not good at sports nor do I like it, sorry. I remember basketball in elementary being the most frustrating and volleyball being,,,ok

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Hm in general i don’t think I do actually, I’m a pretty earnest and straightforward person myself and idk using sarcasm feels negative? For me? And I strive to be as positive to others as I can be. (Not that sarcasm is always mean I just feel like it don’t my Vibe ykwim) but I’m also somewhat socially and subtextually dense so I think it makes sense I don’t use something I may not be the best at understanding unless it’s obvious

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hmm, I think that varies a Lot, it’s probably usually either makeup, clothing, hairstyle, or tattoos if they stand out or if they’re something I’d want myself or am attracted too or like aesthetically. I always try to get up the courage to compliment people on things I notice because I feel good when I get complimented so I want other people to feel like that too :) also actually since I’m a cashier and people hand over cash and point cards often I usually notice nails. Oh I also notice extremes in height immediately, I’m short so people shorter than me are like woah! And people super duper tall are also like Woah!

7. What’s your eye colour?

Dark brown

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

TLDR happy endings, I’m a sucker for happily ever after to the point where if it didn’t end happily I’ll probably write or st least daydream a fan fiction ending where it does. ESPECIALLY romance it Always gets me. I do like scary movies though, especially psychological horror, although,,,In The Tall Grass FUCKED ME UP (the movie, I don’t read stephen king books cause his writing style makes me uncomfy but man does he have some fucked up terrifying horrible ideas for for him)

9. Any talents?

Ig that’s kinda complicated cause I’d probably call myself a jack of all trades (but master of none). I was one of those kids that was praised for being good at like everything the first time I tried it and now as an adult has to learn how to study and have a huge issue of getting frustrated and stopping anything I try that I’m not immediately good at therefore never being able to improve because I’m not practicing. But I’ve been Told by teachers, professors, and other people that I’m quite talented at singing. I starred in some musicals in elementary school and studied vocals in high school, in choirs the whole time too, so I’d say I’m like, sort of trained in musical theatre and opera and I Have worked to improve my voice. But I was also told that apparently when I was 3 ish I grabbed a mic and went on a stage (probably at play group or smth idk) and belted twinkle twinkle little star and parents laughed and said I’d be a star one day so idk maybe I just have that star quality lol. Oh I’ve also been commended for my acting skills back before I did acting? But I haven’t done much of late and wouldn’t consider myself exceptionally skilled, I want to be though! I uh also had a period in high school where I discovered I liked (and was good at) academics and excelled in science and math and focused Heavily on that, getting awards and whatnot. I’m not gifted but my mom and grandfather are (were, granddad is not alive) and I definitely did get their big brains.

Oh also I’m like a professional daydreamer at this point I write whole ass stories in my head most of which Never make it to the Google docs and I’m Amazingly talented at oversharing I’m sorry in advance tell me to stop talking I literally won’t mind I promise I ramble Too much

10. Where were you born?

Ontario, Canada

11. What are your hobbies?

Too many. I have this issue where I like too many things so I spread myself too thinly to commit to spending enough time practicing on any one thing to improve, and then on top of that have this thing where I can’t just do something for fun I have to be Good at it (which I think stems from being a Talented Kid™) BUT here’s a list here we go it’s long

Singing

Acting

Dancing

Cooking

Baking

Writing

Makeup

Learning languages (I’m shit at it tho)

Linguistics (how languages WORK is So Cool)

Driving

Drawing

Learning about cool science things namely psychology, genetic, otherwise biology, or nuclear related

I’m not good at this yet but I wanna get into mixology for fun and also as a job

Can’t sew v well yet but I think it would be So Fun and also good to know cause I have to hem every other pair of pants I get

12. Do you have any pets?

I live w my parents still n we have a dog who’s actually my brother’s service dog she’s a huge black lab named Marshmallow and she is full of so much love but not a lot of thoughts, and we recently got a tuxedo kitten i got to name Carmilla (Carmilla is the name of an 1872? gothic lesbian vampire novella that came out before dracula, see my kitten loved to hide n is super duper fast and also play bites, hence, vampire)

13. How tall are you?

5’1 or 152cm

14. Favourite subject in school?

Too many uhh in high school I rlly loved general biology, my vocal classes (which we learned solos in Italian, German, and musical theatre genres and etc it was amazing), my intro to sociology, psychology, and anthropology class, my human development throughout the lifespan class (I wrote a super cool paper on the theory of infantile synesthesia which tbh is probably the best paper I’ve ever written), and my drama classes. In uni so far I’ve enjoyed my year 1 biology class, Especially the second half cause it was like almost All genetics (soooo fascinating!!!), I Loved my Japanese class which was hard as hell but so fascinating and awesome (I love languages and how they work, and Japanese being so different from my native language of English was really interesting, I also really like Japanese food and culture and nature so learning the language was partially because I think it’s a wonderful language but partially so I can go to Japan at some point), my psych intro class was fascinating and I especially enjoyed the parts on sleep and consciousness and on sensory and perception, those parts of our brains are sooo cool I also really liked my Health Psychology (relating our body to our mind was eye opening and very interesting) class. All those classes had super interesting subject matter AND really amazing sweet and helpful professors. Oh my intro data science class was cool cause I got to do shit of coding which was fun and rewarding

15. Dream Job?

Ok so remember the ‘jack of all trades but master of none’ thing? Liking and being somewhat good at many different things is rlly not helpful for deciding on careers, the end of that phrase ‘but better than being a master of one’ I’d say isn’t true cause I do think being good at One thing has its pros and cons, a pro being it’s def easier to decide what to do. I’ve been told I could probably make it in the opera industry, and I would love to act and sing for a living, whether that’s theatre, film, or voice acting, preferably I’d love to do them all tbh. It feels narcissistic to admit but I do like the recognition for performing, I relish the applause I get during curtain calls or after a solo, I wouldn’t say I Live for the applause but I do like it, I think I’d like to be some level of famous. However I know that’s not easy to attain and I also would love to be a teaching and researching professor of psychology and genetics. I love presenting and teaching and am very good at it (my best marks are always on presentations lol) and I love researching concepts that are interesting to me, like for example if I had to write a thesis right now I’d probably write it about the possibility of finding the epigenetic patterns that cause hereditary depression, anxiety, etc, and use CRISPR gene editing technology to correct those thus ending the cycle of hereditary mental illness instead of putting the bandaid of a medication on it. Also I know that coding and computer science is lucrative right now and I did enjoy my taste of coding so I’d also love to look into that. I Do want to make a lot of money so I can afford to take care of those I love (and myself), be more sustainable, and enjoy some extra things in life like fancy and unique or uncommon to my culture food

No pressure but Also tagging @dragonheart1330 :)

I probably didn’t even say One thing @dragonheart1330 and @deerlisteners don’t already know lol as I said I am soooo talented at oversharing

#tag game

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pastel-sweet-jirai · 5 months ago

Text

Introductory post

Hello. You can call me Sugar. Basic info included here, more (extensive DNI, BYF, interests and so on) below the cut.

ꨄ 25 y/o MNDI, may post content inappropriate for minors (ageless blogs are subject to possibly being blocked. I won't block minors that just like my posts in passing (esp reblogs)- but you're on thin ice.)

ꨄ 'Lifestyle jirai' menhera demigirl. They/She pronouns (no he plz)

ꨄ This is a vent blog. Blog content warnings include: discussion of, or artwork depicting- S/H, E/D/dieting, hypochondria/health anxiety, suicidal ideation, OCD/ intrusive thoughts, financial trouble (I won't ask for money or provide avenues for donation or anything- I just want to vent), chronic illness, malingering, alcohol consumption and general sexual content. -- If any of this will be triggering for you, reconsider following or interacting and do what's best for your health. If any of this will be bothersome for you, just block and move on, plz don't report. I need this space. I don't have anywhere else. {Note- I will edit this post to include tags for theses topics so that my posts containing triggering content can be properly avoided. I do not condone unhealthy behavior, and would never encourage others to participate in any of the harmful behavior I may display.}

Interests

♡ Manga. I do not watch anime- I do collect and read a lot of manga. ♡ GL/Yuri (I'm so very gay, I love women) ♡ Alt J-Pop/chiika idol groups and girl bands. -(Faves are Minnanokodomochan, Zenbukiminoseida, Phantom Siita, CARAMEL CANDiD, MAD MEDiCiNE, AdamLilith and Misolade-Edison) ♡ Horror video games -esp classic action like ResEvil and Silent Hill -but also, Outlast, FNAF, Phasmophobia, Homicipher, I'm on Observation Duty, It Moves, and loads more -My alltime fave game ever is Yume Nikki ♡ Visual Novels - Faves include Subahibi, DDLC, 7 Days with the Ghost, Katawa Shoujo, and many more

BYF

♡ I kin spiritually- but I'm largely A-OK with doubles.

♡ I don't concern myself with pro/anti stuff. I don't personally like (or endorse) ships that include things like incest or pedophilia or whatever. But I don't care to censor or abolish that kind of content existing, and I consume content containing taboo subjects often, and with a critical mind. If that stance bothers you, feel free to block.

♡ I'm shy, so sorry if I don't respond to DMs- but I'll probably follow back if you follow me. I will say, while I want to be supportive and be a listening ear, please don't come to me for support when it comes to considering dying. I've had too many horrible past experiences with sui-baiting and I will NOT be in any position to give you the help you need.

♡ I am pro recovery, even if I don't center recovery in my venting. I'm currently in therapy by my own volition. ♡ I do wear the fashion- I like 'dark girly-kei'/'landmine' fashion, medikawa, and many other j-fashion substyles. I don't really know or care to know about discourse having to do with Jirai "fashion" vs. "lifestyle" or whatever. If I say something incorrect feel free to correct me. I like asking clarifying questions, and I never use sarcasm or have the intention to be passive aggressive, and my questions are always genuine.

♡ I have a poor memory (among other issues) due to my physical and mental health, so I might post similar (or the same) things, over and over again. Sorry if it's annoying. Genuinely can't help it right now.

DNI

✗ Bigots (Racist, Transphobic, Homophobic, et cetera.) ✗ Zionists ✗ Pedos (or even just adults who think being 23 and dating a 16 year old is chill.) ✗ Minors (I mean it)

About Me

Wow, you read to the bottom, thanks. I've struggled with S/H for something close to a decade now, and with depression and anxiety much longer than that. My E/D struggles are recent and I'm only coming up on a year of having it. I'm chronically ill and have been my whole life. I find it hard to interact and connect with people. I mask so hard constantly so I think people think I'm a better person than I really am. I literally just need a space where I can speak freely without burdening everyone around me all the time. If anyone wants to talk at me about tips on how to navigate tumblr feel free

#jiraiblogging #jirai #jirai kei #intro post #yamikawaii #menhera

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