#Medium readers expect new angles. I built this one for you.

They called it treatment.

Felt like a funhouse with a Horror theme. 23 mirrored rooms. Pay at the window.

Room 1 has a guy with a blowtorch. That smile. Thin. Cold. Professional.

"Trust me. Sure as hell gonna change your life."

Then he starts. At my feet.

22 rooms left. Everybody talks about the Meds Room.
Fragment 1 of my memoir.

On Medium now. Link below.

https://medium.com/artfullyautistic/my-autistic-life-is-my-art-fragment-1-0a7c5b429261

#ActuallyAutistic #AutisticElder #LateDiagnosis #MedicalTrauma #Neurodivergent

How MAHA Fucked Up My Surgery
by Matthew Cortland
at the excellent
Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer
(well worth the free subscription!)

#MedicalTrauma
#Maha
#CapitalismKills

https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-maha-fucked-156109934

What's the worst medical advice you've ever been given?

Mine ties between three.

"You should start eating everything you're allergic to and it will all work out in the end."
- An Internist

"You should quit being lazy and get a job, then you will stop being so tired and depressed." - A Rheumatologist (I have MECFS)

"Why would you bother to get an EDS diagnosis, there's nothing you can do about it if you have it?" - Yet another rheumatologist

I'm fucking tired and scared of specialist appointments these days.

#chronicIllness #mecfs #medicalTrauma

I carry many traumas, religious conditioning, family abuse, and the weight of workplace injustice. For years, I feared my own queerness, trapped by a world that told me who to be.

It took a near fatal illness to break that shell. Facing death did not just change my health, it shifted my soul. It moved me from a world of self-concern to one of deep empathy. I went back to school, unlearned old patterns, and found my voice.

I have known the cruelty of a "wallet biopsy" and the sting of being judged by doctors who didn’t see my humanity. I have stood in line for expired food and felt the bone deep cold of poverty. I know that poverty is a trauma that kills, I have lived it.

But today, I am no longer afraid. I will shout in the face of the oppressors. I will continue to speak truth to power.

#Queer #Survivor #MutualAid #SocialJustice #PovertyAwareness #MedicalJustice #PovertyTrauma #SpeakTruthtoPower #ReligiousTrauma #QueerJoy #MedicalTrauma #PovertyTrauma #SocialJustice #Resilience #ClassWar #EatTheRich #EconomicJustice #LivedExperience #Deconstruction #Exvangelical #PostReligious #PoliticalEvolution #LateBloomerQueer #Pride #LGBT #LGBTQIA #UniversalHealthcare #HealthcareIaHumanRight

As someone who has worked very very hard to learn how to cope with uncertainty,

the absolute worst part of American medical care is how needlessly long absolutely everything takes

closely followed by how many layers of gaslighting you have to punch thru to get to even understanding whats happening

and thats even when the docs are actively trying to help you

#medical #neglect #gaslighting #chronicillness #ableism #doctor #undiagnosed #medicaltrauma

Let the record show:

I made the dr appt
I remembered the dr appt
I went to the dr appt
I scheduled the follow-up

I was v scared but also brave

Go me 🎖️🎉

#medicaltrauma #traumahealing #trauma #traumarecovery #mentalhealth #doctor

Most disabled and chronically ill people have had at least one bad experience in a healthcare setting.

Those of us who rely on the system to survive have likely had many bad experiences.

When we share these stories with others, we’re invariably told to ‘just’ lodge a complaint.

Non disabled people don’t understand the spoons required to go through the formal complaint process, nor do they grasp the risk of retaliation.

If you’re labeled ‘difficult’ or ‘non compliant’, your healthcare will suffer.

My latest looks at the problems with the complaint process, reasons we may not file a complaint as well as ways we can help support people who’ve experienced trauma in a healthcare setting.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/why-dont-you-just-lodge-a-complaint

#disability #ableism #discrimination #eugenics #longcovid #chronicillness #MedicalTrauma #ptsd