Tag: Disabled
The Mystery Blogger Award.
I’d like to thank blogger Unwanted Life, who has kindly nominated me for the Mystery Blogger Award. This award was designed by Okoto Enigma to give bloggers the recognition they deserve, & for the community to show their appreciation of each other’s work, motivating them to keep writing.
Like many blogger awards, to accept the award after being nominated there are a few rules you need to follow:
- Display the logo (check).
- List the rules (ongoing check).
- Thank whoever nominated you (check).
- Mention Okoto Enigma as the creator of the award (check).
- Answer the questions given by the person who nominated you (uh oh).
- Tell readers 3 things about yourself (definitely uh oh).
- Share a link to your best posts (how to choose!).
- Nominate some others for the award (recommended 10 – 20).
- Ask your nominees 5 questions with at least 1 question being funny (evil laugh).
Let’s get this very introverted party started!
Questions from Unwanted Life:
- What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
This may seem mundane, but one of the best pieces of advice ever given to me was to apply for the position of Data Management Assistant at a clinical trials unit. Having read the job description & requirements I felt that I was unqualified for the role, & I wouldn’t have even applied without the encouragement of my husband (then fiancé). It goes without saying that I got the job, & almost a year later I’m definitely one of the few people who is lucky enough not to hate their job. Also, the pay is good.
- What’s the most out-of-character thing you’ve ever done?
I once had a very heated row with a woman using the one disabled changing room available as she was taking an exceptionally long time. I had just climbed out of the swimming pool & was dripping wet, getting colder & colder, & conscious that time was marching on. As she eventually came out of the changing room I accused her of being a fake, when in reality she had an invisible condition. There was definitely no need to take as long as she did, especially with the other disabled cubicle out of order, but I shouldn’t have judged whether she should be using a disabled changing room in the first place. I definitely regret how I handled that situation, & wish that I’d realised how horrible I’d been in time to say sorry.
- What one historical event would you love to be there to witness?
I would almost certainly have wanted to be a part in the suffragist movement, possibly even the suffragette movement. Every single woman that participated in that movement is a hero in my opinion.
- What one thing would you love to become an expert in, if you could wake up tomorrow & suddenly be an expert in it?
Kung Fu, purely so I could sit up & go “whoa, I know Kung Fu”, like Neo in The Matrix.
- Would you rather be rich or famous, & why?
Definitely famous. I’m like a cat in that I’ll pretend not to like the attention, but in reality I’m basking in it.
This isn’t because I belong to the “money can’t buy happiness” school-of-thought either; at the end of the day, you’re never going to be happy if you can’t afford a roof over your head, food, & other basic necessities.
Some Facts About Me:
- I’m terrified of spiders, but I like spider-man.
- The 5 ladybirds on my latest tattoo have names; Asuka, Becky, Charlotte, Lita, & Mae, after 5 iconic women in WWE.
- The skull also has a name, Fred, courtesy of my colleague.
My Favourite Blog Posts:
All Creatures Great & Small: how animals react to disabled people.
More Than Ramps & Lifts: how accessibility is more than physical requirements.
Wheels Ahoy: a short story about a wheelchair-using pirate.
My Nominees:
A Backpack, A Chair, and A Beard.
My Questions for Nominees:
- What’s the most bizarre piece of advice, wanted or otherwise, that you’ve ever been given?
- What’s the weirdest instance of Deja Vu you’ve ever experienced?
- How did you get into blogging?
- What is the strangest thing you’ve ever been asked & how did you answer it?
- What’s for tea?
Once again, I’d like to thank Unwanted Life for their very kind nomination, & congratulations to all my nominees!
Watch “Under the Knife.” on YouTube
Brand new vlog: https://youtu.be/5xGkSP8HMSg
YouTube Channel.
Some of you might have noticed that some videos have disappeared from my blog; I’m currently in the process of moving them across to my blog, where you can now view them on my new YouTube channel. This should mean my website runs faster & smoother, improving your experience!
Make sure you like & subscribe on YouTube for those videos & for future content!
Bad Medicine.
Back in April the internet was blessed with this little anecdote about a woman who has suffered from migraines since her teenage years. Experience taught her to react to the signs of an oncoming migraine & take her prescribed painkillers before it fully took hold, & providing she did this, she didn’t suffer the symptoms any more. Her boyfriend, having never seen one of these migraines as she always nipped them in the bud, decided that she no longer suffered from migraines. He got it into his head that she had some kind of psychological dependence on her drugs.
One night, when staying over at his place, she felt a migraine coming on. She went for her painkillers but couldn’t find them, so crawled to bed in a vague attempt to sleep it off. It wasn’t until several hours had passed that her boyfriend admitted he’d taken her medication to prove that she no longer had migraines, & only returned it to her after having seen her struggle for several hours. He was, apparently, remorseful.
Words cannot sum up how angry I was after reading this post. I was appalled. Disgusted. Enraged.
Those of us who suffer from invisible chronic illnesses such as migraines, fibromyalgia, or ME, or mental illnesses like depression & anxiety, are constantly being told that we don’t need the medicines prescribed to us by a doctor. In fact, many of us have great difficulty accessing the medication in the first place, so the thought of it being swiped away by some know-it-all with a homeopathic kale enema is beyond terrifying.
Even if it transpired that we didn’t need the medication, removing it completely without warning is straight-up dangerous. Many medicines require a weaning-off period where the dose is gradually reduced. For conditions like asthma & allergies, removal of the medication could easily result in death.
Even those who work in the medical profession themselves seem not to understand the need to nip symptoms in the bud before they escalate. When staying in hospital multiple nurses seemingly objected to the volume of pills I was taking. One temporary prescription I had been given the week before was even removed without my knowledge, let alone consent, & once the pain had escalated beyond control the doctor refused to come to the ward or give me anything to help, claiming without having seen me that I was faking it.
If even inside a hospital, our access to effective medication cannot be depended upon, it is no wonder so many of us guard our medicines so fiercely. They are often kept under lock & key, & it is rare that we let anyone but those who we trust most anywhere near them.
Had Jarred ever tried to wean me off the medication on the pre-tense that I don’t need it, & all I really need is spinach & happy vibes, the relationship would have been destroyed right there & then. Every day I trust him not to meddle with my medication, & after reading this anecdote I realised that I take his reliability for granted.
Unless you are a doctor with knowledge of the patient’s medical history, illness, & prescriptions, you are in no position to make these decisions. Even then you need to listen to the patient, and properly address any concerns they have. No one knows a patient’s illness better than the patient themselves, yet often our needs go ignored.
Think. You wouldn’t take away an ex-smoker’s nicotine patches because you’d never seen them smoke, & you wouldn’t take away a cancer patient’s chemotherapy because it’s essentially a deadly concoction of poisons & therefore you believe it won’t do any good. If you want someone with a chronic illness to trust you, you must prove that you can be trusted.
Stop the Straw Ban.
The plastic Straw Ban is killing disabled people. There is NO viable alternative,
We are denied them in restaurants, & how can we take our own or drink at home if shops ban them too? Dehydration kills!
Reality check: plastic straws make up 0.025% of plastic waste. Banning them will not have a significant impact on plastic waste in the ocean.
This is comparable to America rampaging against video games instead of guns. You’re laughing at how stupid that is, right? Then you’re a hypocrite as well as being party to, quite frankly, murder.
Diary of a Disabled Person: the YouTube Channel!
