chronic-leigh

[chronic-leigh]

Needing a little help while healing

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Got my shoulder surgery to help stabilize the joints and take away scar tissue. Got four anchors put in. I’ve been off work for a month and disability still hasn’t kicked in so I’m stressed as fuck. I hate chronically ill. 

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Ok so at this point I've had two people roll up to me in manual wheelchairs, well, one of them was somebody pushing somebody who was nonverbal at the time, but it still counts. They asked me why I had zip ties around my tires.

It's winter where I'm living and we have really bad snow. And the snow plow people are really bad at their jobs probably because there aren't snow plow people who clean sidewalks. As a solution I got to thinking about how I could increase the traction on my wheels. And the most redneck thing I could think of was taking a bunch of zip ties and tying them around my wheels. They last surprisingly long, and work surprisingly well. It's basically the same premise as chains for your tires during the winter.

I chose to space them out pretty evenly so there's about one for every spoke. You could probably do more or less depending on how many you want and how much traction you get but I wouldn't go more than three per spoke. I realize that it's a bit later in the winter, and I probably should have made a post about this sooner, but I came up with it about a week ago. So please share this, even if you're not disabled, because there are tons of people I know who are stuck in their houses because they can't get around in the snow. A pack of zip ties costs about $5, which compared to $200 knobby snow tires is a big save, and if you want to invest you could get colored zip ties.

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US SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE IS CHANGING ITS NUMBER

Taking effect July 2022, the US Suicide Prevention Hotline will change from 800-273-8255 to the three digit code of 988. Especially with families and communities reeling from back to back tragedies, it is super important to share this information!

Repeat: Starting July 2022, the US Suicide Prevention Hotline will be 988

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I’m tired of people telling me “no wheelchairs are bad bc your muscles will atrophy!!!”

Do they not realize that like…my muscles are going to atrophy anyway if I don’t get a wheelchair??

I am less likely to leave my bed during a flare up if I know I will have to walk. This causes me to miss out on a lot of things. I will end up not moving at all and my muscles will become weaker.

At least with a wheelchair I can actually go out and do things during a flare up instead of staying in bed. I will have more energy to keep my body healthy in the long run.

Mobility devices mean freedom, not chains.

[chronic-leigh]

may your next ibuprofen take effect swiftly and noticeably

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When people say "you don't look disabled", look them in the eyes and ask them "what does disabled look like" then watch their faces change.

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Stop telling disabled people to just use "mind over matter". No, I can't tell my body to keep going if it has an energy crash and wants me to stop. No, I can't make my pain go away with positive thoughts. Stop that ableist shit. Stop acting like it's our fault.

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Reminder that you can have low support needs and still be disabled. You can have low support needs that aren't being met. You can have low support needs and experience trauma from lack of support.

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oh wow it's like I'm in pain all the time... chronically, even

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A meme about my current situation because this is how I cope

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You know, I'm not even personally offended by the use of sp*z in Lizzo's song even though it's been used against me more than once. What I do care about though, is people's reactions to the situation. So much nastiness and dismissing of disabled people. It just is a huge reminder of how badly people view disability and treat us disabled people.

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*experiences symptoms when no one is around to see me* I have got to stop faking for attention

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I want every disabled person who can't work or study to know that their existence is just as valuable and important as everyone else's. Your value as a person is not something you have to earn, it's something you're born with.

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We can't ibuprofen our way outta this one boys

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Not every disability is visible. That does not make us less disabled.

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