A personal Facebook post of mine from 6th May 2021: I know some people like that NSW doesn’t do lockdowns, and my personal dislike of their Premier aside, what I wish people understood about the value of lockdowns is that it protects at risk people. If the government says it’s safe, the at risk […]
Health
Work isn’t everything
People are so into “work is the only valid way of humaning” that they overlook how much jobs can disable you / make things worse / put you into constant flares and so on. It can be healthier for some people to not work. Work has been bad for me in the past. […]
Assing Upmtions
Assumptions, that’s what this headline is saying. I just really wanted to focus on the ASS bit because this is all about a divide which I think is bullshit. The divide between “disabled” and “disabling health condition” has been growing and I feel like it’s about to escalate wildly. There are so many […]
Who gets to talk about energy?
I’m beginning to really dislike it when famous or rich people talk about saving energy, because when those of us who are genuinely limited in energy talk about it, we don’t receive the praise the famous and rich receive. When I talk about things like needing a trip out of the house to go […]
The media only shares best case ME/CFS stories
In April 2025 a story about ME/CFS was in the mainstream media. You can read it here. It was a good, relatable story. One quote that stuck with me was “a graceless manager who refused her request to work some days from home because it would be ‘unfair’ to her team”. Because OOOOOF […]
The palatability problem
The charity model of disability relies heavily on the palatability of those in the front and centre. (A lot of disability organisations and disability focused products and services also focus on palatability.) This marginalises those who can’t perform things such as: wellness gratefulness prettiness skinniness whiteness The effect of marginalising people who fall […]
The Done List (Chronic Illness Edition)
The Done List (Chronic Illness Edition) What is a done list? The first time I came across the concept of a done list was on Twitter: I could use a “have done” list right now. Small steps are so easy to ignore. https://t.co/ENjToBZH5x — Vanessa Smith (@normal_ness) March 1, 2022 Image description: Me […]
The state will take care of that
The problem is, the state won’t. You’ve seen the issues I’ve had trying to get non NDIS supports. Others I know have been told even more ridiculous things by the same supposed support services. The problem with the shuffling that’s not going on to save the federal government money is that there’s an […]
Ticking the box
It turns out a week of really shitty insomnia and the flares insomnia caused are great for reading government announcements and turning them into mini dystopian stories. Pleasant Robot Voice: Please state disability type. Person: Mental health condition. BUZZER Pleasant Robot Voice: Rejected, this is considered a moral weakness. *** Pleasant Robot […]
Accessing the automaton
She sighed, and flipped the automaton switch again, checking if the credits had loaded. Still missing ten credits. It was three days since she’d been able to shower. Fifty credits per shower wasn’t where it had started, of course. Initially, automaton supported showers had been installed free of charge for those who needed assistance. Then […]