Hello disabled comrades! I can’t believe we’re entering a new year… which is year six of the pandemic, hooray. I’m a firm believer that we must always have revolutionary optimism, but I can’t say it hasn’t been hard for the past few years as more and more leftists have abandoned COVID precautions. But as disabled people, we keep agitating, we keep organizing, and we keep going. Solidarity in the face of pandemic eugenics, always.

As always, we ask that in order to participate in the weekly megathread, one self-identifies as some form of disabled, which is broadly defined in the community sidebar:

“Disability” is an umbrella term which encompasses physical disabilities, emotional/psychiatric disabilities, neurodivergence, intellectual/developmental disabilities, sensory disabilities, invisible disabilities, and more. You do not have to have an official diagnosis to consider yourself disabled.

Mask up, love one another, and stay alive for one more week.

  • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    1 day ago

    Update: lifting is pretty exhausting but I do think it helps. I’m doing the fucking ✨ Laundry ✨ today, even! It would be rad if you could just gymrat yourself out of chronic pain, we’ll see. I can still walk around and do stuff for now, though.

  • TheSpectreOfGay [he/him, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    2 days ago

    i was doing such a good job combating my demand avoidance and now something broke that needs to be addressed immediately and im so stressed and feel myself regressing to ignoring everything else boohoo

  • Beetle [hy/hym]@hexbear.net
    9·
    3 days ago

    Was gonna do some cleaning but I’m stuck on the couch now with only like 10% done. At least the mold on my window is gone

  • Blockocheese [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    14·
    4 days ago

    Here’s a life hack for anyone currently suffering from a chronic pain flareup: your body can actually make you experience menstrual cramps a week before you even get your period, and then for the entirety of your period, making you want to die

    big-cool

    • Beetle [hy/hym]@hexbear.net
      10·
      3 days ago

      Thanks for the life hack! Also hope you’re okay 🫂. Menstrual cramps are no joke.

      I usually have to lay in bed with curtains closed and lights off waiting for hours while crying until the pain meds kick in because any kind of overstimulation makes me throw up. I can’t believe we have to live through that.

    • gingerbrat [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      8·
      4 days ago

      Depends. If in a serious conversation, definitely weird. But if I’m talking to someone who loves to disregard the danger, I like to say it actually bc they get so worked up over being reminded that it isn’t over. So yeah, for trolling I use it myself.

  • DisabledAceSocialist [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    6 days ago

    Does anyone else feel that their illness/disability has left them mentally and emotionally stunted? After years of being unable to work or have a social life, I’m noticing more and more how people the same ag as me seem so much older. I feel like I’m mentally and emotionally stuck at a younger age after missing out on so many milestones and experiences in life.

    • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      9·
      5 days ago

      I feel like I’m just waiting for my life to reach the ending. A lot of my friends have moved on with life and I don’t leave the house much anymore. I haven’t been able to work in over a decade.

      • DisabledAceSocialist [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        Same here. I’m just waiting for a chance for assisted suicide, because I’ve tried once myself before and it ended very badly. Unsuccessful and very painful with lasting effects. I’m hoping to go to dignitas. Of course I can’t afford it, but they apparently do discounts or pro bono for people on low incomes. However, you have to be a member of dignitas for this, and it costs a small amount to join. I can’t afford the joining fee right now, but maybe if I get my benefits sorted I can. Or perhaps it will become legal in the UK.

    • whatnots [he/him, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
      14·
      6 days ago

      i feel this a lot. i genuinely don’t really know how to interact with people irl anymore because of it and it seems like it gets worse the more the years go by.

      • DisabledAceSocialist [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        5 days ago

        Same here. Not that I even get to talk to many people in real life any more, but when I do, and they’re the same age as me, I feel like a kid talking to someone decades older. They’ve all had normal lives while I’ve been at home ill for years and missed out on everything. Some of them even talk to me in a tone of voice like they think I have special needs or something, really patronising.

  • Aradina [They/Them]English
    14·
    6 days ago

    Rough holiday period for me. I’m struggling a lot, but I know I can get through it. Love you all comrades, here’s to a better 2025.

  • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    15·
    6 days ago
    just whining again, chronic pain/fatigue

    I am not looking forward to the eventual point when I can’t stand up anymore, but it’s coming someday. I can feel it, getting up even one flight of stairs is exhausting now. I used to skip the elevator at work by speedrunning all ten flights and boy do I miss that now! My sternum just hurts all the fucking time, when I do almost anything that requires even a little upper body exertion. It has NOT got much better since I vomited a week ago.

    Also my wrists/thumbs are too sore from playing a lot of Dragon Quest! I asked my doc about wrist splints a while ago and he said I could buy some lmao.

    • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      13·
      6 days ago

      meow-hug

      commiserating, my own venting

      solidarity comrade. right there with you, been reflecting on this too. I’m like, I’m deteriorating. if I don’t manage to figure out and build the habit of some kinda light exercise/stretching routine that actually slows or offsets this process, I’m gonna be more or less bedridden before very long. and like, it’s a coin flip whether that will even help. I’m very sedentary so i feel pushing for a bit more activity probs can’t hurt in my case. but it’s really fucking hard when I’m depressed and burnt out (and SORE) all the time. still feeling somewhat inspired recently to go for it this year so I’m hoping to achieve at least some change. some days it feels like such an uphill battle tho.

      • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        6 days ago

        meow-hug

        same

        Ah fuck you remind me I’ve gotta be lifting again, but stretching kinda hurts at this point. Blegh…

        I dunno if physical activity will help much but gotta try, I guess. It does feel like an uphill battle, shit fuckin sucks… I hope not to be bedridden…

        • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          10·
          6 days ago

          yeah I’m hoping to start lifting again this year, used to love it when i was younger so hoping it won’t be too intimidating to go back. figure it’s worth a try. i get the stretching horts, i think we suffer from similar sternum pain… i wish you a less body hurting 2025 and hope you can find activities or accommodations that meaningfully help you meow-hug

          • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
            9·
            6 days ago

            i think we suffer from similar sternum pain…

            Wait really? This is news to me, rad. I remember you talking about costochondritis, but of the sternum! We should trade tips about how not to cause ourselves excruciating pain or smth.

            Also yea ur comments inspired me to do a daily lift again today, just now. It kind of sucks but I think I can build muscle mass and it’ll help a bit, exercise feels good at least, runner’s high kinda thing.

            I hope lifting helps when you get back to it too doggirl-hi