The Healthcare System Is Bullshit Because Two Rheumatology Departments Have Refused To See Me/take Me

the healthcare system is bullshit because two rheumatology departments have refused to see me/take me on as a patient for reasons they refuse to disclose.

cripples deserve better

It is absolutely wild to me how Republican news outlets and politicians try to sensationalize things that don't even exist. Yet these fabricated issues are having serious disastrous effects on real-life people's health and safety. B was just talking to one of his old "friends" and he was trying to convince us to donate to the campaign of a governor whose platform rests primarily on anti-trans legislation. And B was like...no?? Are you aware of his platform? And this guy says, with absolute confidence, that this governor's platform is about protecting kids. Because it's ok if an adult wants to mutilate their body, but we shouldn't be allowing doctors to surgically change children's bodies. Which is why gender-affirming care should be illegal.

The mental gymnastics. Except he genuinely thought that "gender-affirming care" was synonymous with "surgical intervention." Gender-affirming care for a 10-year-old is therapy and support and letting them wear the clothes and use the pronouns/name they want. Gender-affirming care for a teenager might also include blockers and/or hormone therapy (or not! I've only known one person who started hormones before they turned 18, and I specifically worked with queer kids when I was a professor/teacher). For some people, gender-affirming care is solely external and doesn't involve physical intervention at all. And it is so, extremely, rare for someone to receive surgery as part of gender-affirming care when they are a minor. Yet this is what so many people seem to think gender-affirming care means. Surgery.

This is not an accident. This is targeted and malicious. This is misdirection by people who know better trying to sway the opinions of people who don't. Listen. I don't know what my point is, here. I just needed to vent. I guess it just goes to show that, now more than ever, if you're going to get into a debate with someone, make sure you understand what they mean when they use certain terminology or you're certain to get nowhere. Because this man was so confident he knew what he was talking about until we did a quick vocabulary backtrack. And when confronted with the fact that maybe he hadn't, actually, been fed the truth, he suddenly had a lot less to say. Ugh.

physically disabled people are allowed to be upset when they experience ableism. they’re allowed to be mad or distressed. physically disabled people don’t owe people endless patience, understanding, and kindness to strangers when they are being hurt. they are allowed to get mad at you

"Doctors and disability advocates should be the ones deciding in the commune who's a Real Disabled and who's faking it because they just don't want to work" has got to be one of the most deranged Abled Leftist™ takes I've ever had the misfortune of reading.

Yes, sure. "Let's spot the Fake Disableds and strip them of any welfare" totally sounds like a classic take any disability advocate has ever stood by.

Like, that system already mostly exists but there's a reason why instead of doctors + disability advocates, it's enacted by doctors + social workers.

It's because:

Anyone with even the mildest interest in disability advocacy knows that trying to spot the Fake Disableds is impossible to do without throwing the very real disabled people with the bath water. Not even in the sense that it might happen sometimes, but in the sense that IT ALREADY HAPPENS ALL THE TIME, and no, having actual disability advocates replace social workers will not stop that from happening because even disability advocates don't know everything about every disability, especially not about the rare and abnormal ways in which some disabilities can present.

Disability advocates literally shout from the rooftops that they much rather a million abled people grift they way into pretending to be disabled (which has literally the most miserable and punishing benefits you can imagine) than have a single actual disabled person be refused care and support. They do Not care about the supposed infestation of Fake Disableds in part because it's as real as an infestation of Fake Trans People or Fake Gay People, in part because that's fucking meaningless even if it was real.

That whole idea focuses on surveilling and controlling disabled people, so fucking no, disability advocates will not sign up for that, but social workers happily will and do. Just like doctors will and do, since they're literally the cops of health and ability, much like social workers are the cops of welfare. If any disability advocate was to accept such a position it wouldn't legitimize it btw, it would only mean that congrats, you found the sellout bootlicker that every oppressed demographic includes. You and your idea are not fucking special because of that.

That shit ass idea makes as much sense as proposing that CEOs and union leaders form a committee to detect which workers should be laid off for ridiculous arbitrary reasons.

No communist context to that bullshit idea makes it any less idiotic and just as oppressive as it already is under capitalism.

reblog this to fix the mental health of the person u rb’d it from pls I BEG

folks hate to see angry disabled people… this is in direct reference to an anon who’s being a cunt.

there’s nothing wrong with your anger, your frustration, or your sadness. yes it’s good to find joy in every day, see the silver lining, all those things. but, being angry with people, institutions, and systems that don’t care for you and others is one of the essentials of punk. and for cripplepunk, it means caring about your fellow cripples and being angry when you don’t get the rights and considerations as ableds.

stay angry stay punk & sparkle on, cripples <3