Thanks so much, Alice! I needed to read this today. I have several chronic health issues and the pandemic has been really hard on me. I spent two years avoiding covid - and kept trying to convince myself that I was maybe being too paranoid - only to finally get it this April and to still be sick 25 days later.
The hard thing is not just having privilege as a white woman but also having privilege in that at this point I still have the ability to work full time. It sucks because it doesn't feel like a privilege in a country that doesn't care about even mildly disabled people. I often have to go to work sick and have to be conscientious about trying to bank what little leave time I can. I'm now in the position once again where I have zero leave left and it's only the 11th of the month so I'm at work feeling like garbage and have to pray that I don't get too sick before the 1st, when I earn one more sick day and "vacation" day (because more likely than not that vacation day will be used as a sick day).
Able-bodied people don't get it at all. I didn't get it, either - before my chronic health issues, I maybe used one sick day a year. Pre-covid, I used about 24 a year. Now I have no idea what I'll need with covid - am I going to get this sick every time? Am I even going to fully recover this time?
Sorry to hear you are still sick! I live overseas in Asia in a place that has been heavily criticized for its restrictive Covid policies. It’s true that we have suffered a lot from the effects of these policies, but an immunocompromised person would find it to be safe here, unlike anywhere in the US or Europe right now...and in Europe you would get health care and adequate sick/other leave unlike in the US. Sending virtual hugs
And this feels like it could apply to so much of so many people's lives: "use whatever rage you have toward the systems and institutions that abandoned you and throw it into collective care–the relationships you have that help you feel safe and whole." YES. Thank you.
I loved this interview so much! I developed chronic pain and fatigue last year and we are still trying to pinpoint the cause. May be an underlying autoimmune disease, may be a post-viral condition, or both. At any rate, I’m still in a position where caring for myself and my family has taken up all of my energy, plus sharing what little I can from that experience to help inform others about keeping their own vulnerable loved ones safe. But in discovering the disability community and my privilege as a white woman within that community, and still facing medical misogyny and gaslighting, has helped me create a recovery/remission goal around advocacy and volunteerism in service of community care. Thank you so much for this piece and introducing me to both books!
Great piece. I have made it a goal to engage more fully with disability discourse, after working on my severe internal fatphobia. Just read “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Dr Devon Price and it just really blew my mind about how your worth is tied to your productivity in ways that undermine healthy functioning, and also makes you feel horrible as you become older and less “functional” in productivity culture. We all need to rethink these narratives!
This is SO GOOD, "High-risk people know the importance of masking and vaccination while recognizing not everyone can do both. High-risk people know that living and surviving COVID-19 may not result in a full recovery. High-risk people know that they can’t rely on the state to get them the help they need, which is why mutual aid has kept so many people alive."
Thanks so much, Alice! I needed to read this today. I have several chronic health issues and the pandemic has been really hard on me. I spent two years avoiding covid - and kept trying to convince myself that I was maybe being too paranoid - only to finally get it this April and to still be sick 25 days later.
The hard thing is not just having privilege as a white woman but also having privilege in that at this point I still have the ability to work full time. It sucks because it doesn't feel like a privilege in a country that doesn't care about even mildly disabled people. I often have to go to work sick and have to be conscientious about trying to bank what little leave time I can. I'm now in the position once again where I have zero leave left and it's only the 11th of the month so I'm at work feeling like garbage and have to pray that I don't get too sick before the 1st, when I earn one more sick day and "vacation" day (because more likely than not that vacation day will be used as a sick day).
Able-bodied people don't get it at all. I didn't get it, either - before my chronic health issues, I maybe used one sick day a year. Pre-covid, I used about 24 a year. Now I have no idea what I'll need with covid - am I going to get this sick every time? Am I even going to fully recover this time?
Sorry to hear you are still sick! I live overseas in Asia in a place that has been heavily criticized for its restrictive Covid policies. It’s true that we have suffered a lot from the effects of these policies, but an immunocompromised person would find it to be safe here, unlike anywhere in the US or Europe right now...and in Europe you would get health care and adequate sick/other leave unlike in the US. Sending virtual hugs
I love all of this so much! Echoed a lot of what Death Panel host Beatrice Adler-Bolton said in this interview: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/beatrice-adler-bolton
And this feels like it could apply to so much of so many people's lives: "use whatever rage you have toward the systems and institutions that abandoned you and throw it into collective care–the relationships you have that help you feel safe and whole." YES. Thank you.
I loved this interview so much! I developed chronic pain and fatigue last year and we are still trying to pinpoint the cause. May be an underlying autoimmune disease, may be a post-viral condition, or both. At any rate, I’m still in a position where caring for myself and my family has taken up all of my energy, plus sharing what little I can from that experience to help inform others about keeping their own vulnerable loved ones safe. But in discovering the disability community and my privilege as a white woman within that community, and still facing medical misogyny and gaslighting, has helped me create a recovery/remission goal around advocacy and volunteerism in service of community care. Thank you so much for this piece and introducing me to both books!
Great piece. I have made it a goal to engage more fully with disability discourse, after working on my severe internal fatphobia. Just read “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Dr Devon Price and it just really blew my mind about how your worth is tied to your productivity in ways that undermine healthy functioning, and also makes you feel horrible as you become older and less “functional” in productivity culture. We all need to rethink these narratives!
This is SO GOOD, "High-risk people know the importance of masking and vaccination while recognizing not everyone can do both. High-risk people know that living and surviving COVID-19 may not result in a full recovery. High-risk people know that they can’t rely on the state to get them the help they need, which is why mutual aid has kept so many people alive."