Britney Spears being held under a 13-year conservatorship and being forced to keep her IUD in despite the fact that she wants another child is where disability rights and reproductive rights intertwine.
Arya, rejecting Gendry’s proposal: “You’ll be a wonderful lord. And any lady would be lucky to have you. But I’m not a lady. I never have been. That’s not me.”
Arya, Season 1 to her dad:
#GameOfThrones
I still remember when the CDC told vaccinated people they didn’t have to mask anymore and the folks who pushed back were called “pandemic addicts.” Then that strawman wE cAn’T sTaY iNsIdE fOrEvEr.
So yeah the government has failed us. But y’all need to listen to disabled people.
There were 43 *new* claims of sexual misconduct against the president of the United States yesterday, and it feels like that barely registered in the news cycle.
Polls continue to show white people are far less likely to take COVID precautions.
% who have changed behavior due to news of increases of COVID (inc. wearing a mask or avoiding high risk spaces):
Black 59%
Hispanic 52%
White 29%
Source:
HashtagNotAllDoctors but if you interact with the medical system regularly, then you KNOW how much contempt far too many have for patients. Especially if you’re part of one or more marginalized groups.
Every day, doctors will log onto this site & confirm that “do no harm” is BS.
I love all the articles that are like “remote work shows that people are able to cut down on commute time, be more flexible with their schedules, and actually accommodate chronically ill/disabled people BUT CEOS HATE IT”
May I remind Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic leadership that one reason why 2018 was a wave election is because voters wanted them to hold Donald Trump accountable in the strongest terms possible?
When you romanticize a man murdering his sick wife, you make misogynistic violence within intimate partner relationships between men and women acceptable. This is Exhibit A of how intertwined ableism and patriarchy is.
.
@AOC
: “I am tired of people saying, ‘I’m gonna vote the same way as bigots, but I don’t share the ideology of bigots.’ Well, you share the action and the agenda of bigots. We need to hold that accountable.”
Yes I’m having a ball with my [checks notes] 24/7 chronic pain and [checks notes again] being gaslit/not taken seriously enough by doctors, all the while [checks notes once more] ableists conclude that my incurable illness is [squints at notes for a final time] an “addiction.”
The
@MTA
's message has gone from "I take care of you, You take care of me" to "You do you!"
This is a reckless abandonment of public health by
@GovKathyHochul
and New York that makes our state less safe and accessible to everyone.
One way I know that ableds do not take Long Covid as seriously as they should is because even some of the smartest, most well-meaning people in my life still cannot comprehend the concept of being severely sick for 4 years and counting.
No amount of therapy, meditation, mindfulness, etc will bandaid over the fact that the defacto position in this country is to carry on like “normal” and let more people get sick, die, and become disabled by COVID.
Sometimes I don’t know where to put all this grief.
Still thinking about the 17-year-old who called into yesterday’s
@SF_DPH
meeting begging for indoor mask mandates to be reinstated because they were terrified of going back to school and possibly passing COVID along to an immunocompromised family member / contracting Long COVID.
Employers favor men not because they are prejudiced against women, but because they have the perception that men perform better on average at certain tasks.
It’s not too much to require masks in hospitals.
It’s not too much to require masks in pharmacies.
It’s not too much to require masks on transit, in grocery stores, etc.
There’s a concerted effort to shut out disabled people from society/endanger us further & I remain furious.
Wearing a mask at the grocery store, on transit, at protests, etc is pro-science & community care.
Wearing a mask is in opposition to the surveillance state.
Wearing a mask is in alignment with anti-eugenics, anti-racist, and anti-colonialist values.
I’ve run out of ways to communicate that the government, through their words and actions, sees disabled people as “acceptable” losses to COVID in their quest to “return to normal.”
But when we’re tossed aside, everyone loses. That’s what folks really need to understand.
Haven’t stopped thinking about this: “The average American would not know that we get fired for going to the doctor…We have guys who were punished for taking time off for a heart attack and COVID. It’s inhumane.”
Workers demanded 15 paid sick days. Biden's deal gives them one. One single paid day off a year. You don't get to call yourself the champion of unions and paid leave while forcing unionized workers into a deal with a single paid day off.
Biden’s chief of staff linking to a Leana Wen op-ed where she’s setting the stage for normalizing yearly COVID infections is both revealing & not shocking at all.
The WH is trying to get us to accept their massive pandemic/public health failures. Don’t let them.
it’s always fascinating to me when i see posts that are like I CAN’T BELIEVE *DOCTORS* ARE GOING TO LARGE INDOOR CONFERENCES UNMASKED
i can
the medical system is baked in ableism, babes
One of the most insidious aspects about the ever-loosening public health guidelines around COVID is that it makes the “well, we’re all gonna get it anyway” and “it’s here to stay, so why bother” narratives a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
Chris Matthews: “Executive privilege is like virginity… Once you’ve given it up you can’t grab it back.”
Kamala Harris: “I’m not gonna go with you on that metaphor, Chris.”
Thinking about what a massive disappointment it was for Colbert & Fauci to not mask while promoting the bivalent booster & how the actual reality of pharmacies full of maskless people is a huge hurdle — especially for medically vulnerable groups — in getting the shot.
Trump falsely claims Democrats support murdering babies.
"The baby is born, the mother meets w/the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully. Then the doctor and mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby."
The crowd respond w/angry boos
.
@AOC
: “The folks who are saying we should move on, we shouldn’t have accountability, etc., are saying: ‘Can you just forget about this so that we can do it again?’”
seeing “is it just me or is everyone sick right now” for the eleventy billionth time while you get called “crazy” for continuously advocating for robust public health measures against a highly transmissible, deadly, and disabling virus that never went away
A woman won the popular vote by 3 million in 2016. Women candidates powered the Democratic takeover of the House in 2018 and state houses across the country. Women are “electable.”
I’m gonna be honest: talking to Dem NH voters, I’m encountering a lot of concerns about whether the country would vote for a woman in the fall that I don’t think are terribly based in reality/evidence.
Nevertheless, it’s affecting primary vote choice.
Critics called Hillary Clinton “shrill” and “unlikable.” It’s no coincidence that the same words are being used against Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris.
@MaggieAstor
on how sexism plays out on the campaign trail.
In summary:
—It’s not realistic or kind to tell disabled people to “just stay inside”
—We deserve to feel COVID safe in public places we need or want to go
—Leaving it up to “individual risk assessment” isn’t sound public health policy & it negatively affects the most vulnerable
It feels like the pandemic has pushed us very close to a major reckoning on ableism, but we’re not quite there yet cuz that would require society at-large to look in the mirror that is being reflected back at them. Some of my thoughts/observations:
@KristinBingham
jfc i’m so sorry, glad you were able to get that mri ordered for your mom but it shouldn’t have had to come to that in order for it to happen!
Banning/criminalizing mask-wearing is where it’s been headed for a while. Disabled people tried to warn everyone, we really did 😩
All while being called “cops” for pleading with folks to continue masking amidst an ongoing pandemic when the literal police hate masks & spread 🦠
The way Warren started with the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and connected it to corruption in government / major issues the country faces today was really compelling. One of her best speeches.
One of the most painful betrayals throughout this pandemic has been fellow liberal/progressive/leftist folks signaling through words and/or actions that they’re completely fine with leaving disabled folks in the dust instead of joining us in solidarity.
Videos of HCWs who are gleefully cheering on the removal of masking in health care settings are creepy & bleak as hell. Cuz not only will this harm patients, but it will harm them, too. No one wins.
#KeepMasksInHealthcare
#KeepMasksInCA
One of the biggest problems with COVID messaging & policies is that they reinforce the idea that if you’re *not* medically vulnerable, you’ll be fine! No need to worry! Just move on!
It’s dangerous and doesn’t adequately inform folks of very real, potentially harmful outcomes.
“COVID no longer controls our lives” is an absolutely wild thing to say when:
—100 million COVID infections could occur this fall/winter
—200,000+ people have died of COVID thus far in 2022
—4 million people are out of work due to Long COVID
We’ve come a long way. COVID no longer controls our lives, there are a record number of Americans working, businesses are growing, and our schools are open.
Even in the face of unrelenting attacks from the most powerful special interests in the country, we got it done.
.
@ewarren
: “So when you’ve got a government that works great for a thin slice at the top, works fabulously for those with money, and isn’t working well for much of anyone else, that’s corruption pure and simple, and you need to call it out for what it is.”
This country is so hellbent on “returning to normal” that it’s doing everything possible to ensure that “normal” will continue to be further and further out of reach.
For example, there’s a medication that isn’t eligible for delivery; it needs to be picked up at the pharmacy itself. This means without mask mandates that even with my N95, I’m inside a crowded store with people who don’t have to/choose not to mask.
With the mask mandates, I felt safer. Without them, it makes me uneasy to pick up meds *at my pharmacy* that manage a very difficult chronic illness symptom.
I’ll be checking in for a 5-day in-patient treatment for my chronic migraines tomorrow. I mostly feel ready, but I’m still a little nervous since it’s my first hospital stay.
Any good vibes / cat / dog pics you can send my way would be much appreciated.
Really don’t think I can handle the 37th cycle of “everything’s fine now we can go back to ‘normal’! Umm, well, except you disabled people — you should probably just keep staying home.”
I place most of the COVID crisis blame on government failures, but I’m not giving certain folks a free pass for the role they’ve also played.
Shaming people who consistently took the pandemic seriously. Signaling that disabled people are acceptable collateral damage. Etc, etc.
Which segues into what happened this past week. I played my favorite game again!
It’s called ✨WHICH ONE IS IT✨
—A cold/bug?
—Symptoms from one of my chronic conditions?
—Side effects from a new med I’m trying?
—COVID?!
I’m really intentional about the language I use re: COVID.
Masks, ventilation, testing, etc are PROTECTIONS not “restrictions.”
Masks, ventilation, testing, etc are COMMUNITY CARE not “restrictions.”
Masks, ventilation, testing, etc are ACCESS, FREEDOM, SCIENCE-BASED.
.
@AOC
on sexist double standards: “When the president says that he has sexually assaulted women, they just shrug their shoulders, but when there’s a rumor that a woman may have had the audacity to take a photo of herself, they’re up in arms.”
If chronically ill/disabled/immunocompromised folks’ criticisms & pushback on the way we’ve been thrown to the wolves throughout the pandemic makes *you* uncomfortable, that’s a call for self-reflection.
We’ve constantly been made to feel “disposable” & we’re not gonna be quiet.
I ended up being COVID negative, so 🙏🏻 for dodging it once more. Two years into a deadly/disabling pandemic, and the government is still having us play roulette with this dangerous virus. Ridiculous.
An important nugget on the potential rail strike: “The average American would not know that we get fired for going to the doctor. We have guys who were punished for taking time off for a heart attack and covid. It’s inhumane.”:
Delaying health care during the pandemic is not an uncommon phenomenon if you’re chronically ill/disabled. In my case, my life isn’t at immediate risk if I wait it out, but my health isn’t given the chance it could to potentially improve. It’s beyond frustrating.
I’ve figured out why the proposition of masking “forever” doesn’t bother me: I live with a debilitating chronic illness 24/7, 365.
Wearing a simple piece of fabric on my face to protect my already precarious health & those around me is nothing compared to what I deal with daily.