What Is The Difference Though? /Gen

EDUCATE YOURSELVES: chronic illness edition

this is important! chronically ill people get a lot of shit from healthy people and this could be avoided if everyone knew a little more about chronic illnesses in general so i’ve made a list of things healthy people (and newly chronically ill people) can read in order to know more about chronic illness and how it affects our lives!

some general information and must-reads:

the spoon theory (aka: why we call ourselves “spoonies”)

a sudden illness - laura hillenbrand

young and disabled by rachel anne

harmful tropes in literature

13 things people with chronic illnesses want you to know

a blog by people with chronic conditions

brief explanations of some chronic illnesses:

chronic fatigue syndrome (ME)

crohn’s disease

fibromyalgia + AMPS

ehlers-danlos syndrome - hypermobility type

ehlers-danlos syndrome - all types

CRPS/RSD (complex regional pain syndrome

IBD (inflammatory bowel disease)

POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome)

dysautonomia

rheumatoid arthritis

lupus

autoimmune diseases

hashimoto’s disease

addison’s disease

endometriosis

depression (most people with chronic illnesses develop depression)

anxiety

bipolar disorder

and i’m running out of spoons but there are many, many more so spoonies, feel free to reblog add some if you want!

things to keep in mind:

although it says in many descriptions that most people who are diagnosed are over a certain age, anyone at any age can develop a chronic illness, and many are teenagers or even children. don’t tell a chronically ill person that we are “too young to be this sick” because it’s an ignorant thing to say and it’s harmful to us.

many chronic illnesses are invisible illnesses, which means that you cannot tell that a person is sick just by looking at them. never say to a chronically ill person that we “don’t look sick” because it is harmful and annoying, even if you mean well.

some spoonies need to use wheelchairs, canes, or other forms of assistance/ accommodations, so please never express doubt that a person might need this assistance. it’s impolite and insensitive. just because someone looks perfectly fine doesn’t mean that they don’t have a chronic illness that requires the use of a wheelchair or other assistance.

many chronic illnesses aren’t terminal but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a real problem. chronic illnesses are robbing us of their normal lives and we are living in pain because there is so much that doctors still don’t know about chronic illnesses. many spoonies have had doctors look us in the eyes and say “i don’t know how to help you” because there is so much research that needs to be done and there isn’t enough funding! so donate to organizations and hospitals who are raising money for research!

thank you for reading this! please reblog and spread awareness! thank you!

in all seriousness it’s very alienating knowing theres Something Wrong With You. like seeing your mental illness come through in your behaviour and thought processes and knowing it’s irrational and unhealthy, knowing other people are reading you as weird or stupid, and not being able to do anything about it is such a lonely experience

Some disability flags based off of the stripes from the original (@capricorn-0mnikorn) flag! These are intended for each specific/sub community. All colors and such have the same meanings, just narrowed down for each category; The grey stripes were added to represent the grey area of being recognized as disabled, in general society, in a medical sense, or otherwise.

Red - Bodily/Physical Disability

Yellow - Neurodivergent Disability

White - Invisible and/or undiagnosed Disability

Blue - Mental/Emotional Disability

Green - Sensory Disability

Image IDs in captions!

im calling myself out on this one

ADHD moodboard

adulthood really does hit you like a fucking truck when you spent all of your teenage years thinking you were gonna kill yourself eventually,

No truer words ever spoken

I have trouble taking care of my teeth because everything that involves doing that is a sensory nightmare. I decide to do some research to see if there's anything I can do about this. The results?

"How to make your autistic child brush their teeth"

"Autistic Children and Sensory issues relating to tooth brushing"

"How to get your little shit to brush his fucking teeth"

Like, yeah Google, thanks, that really helps. And like, even if I was a child, some of the advice seemed... unhelpful. Like, doing a dance and singing a song while brushing your teeth? Even for a kid, I don't think that would help distract from a sensory experience as intense as brushing your teeth. Like, the extremely intense and unpleasant flavor, the intense feeling of the brush against your teeth scraping across it, even mouthwash has such an intense and disgusting flavor that I have difficulty keeping it in my mouth for more than a few seconds. I wish there was SOMETHING that could be done.

October is ADHD awareness month! 🎉

The memory issues ADHD causes are some of the scarier and more frustrating parts of living with it - so here’s a set of reaction doodles that all my fellow ADHD peeps are welcome to use whenever anybody decides to comment on your forgetfulness ^