I'm immunocompromised and I've been wearing face masks in public for 12 months, a step I took to try to minimise the infections I was catching on public transport/in waiting rooms. I was nervous abt wearing a mask because visible signs of disability attract unwanted attention. 1/

Then, about six months ago, Melbourne had a face mask shortage because of the bushfire smoke. Suddenly I wasn't the only one wearing a mask in public. Sure, mine had unicorns on it and everyone else got a plain white one from Bunnings, but there was a sense of camaraderie. 2/

Now, within six months, face masks in public have gone from a curiosity, to a bushfire crisis necessity, to a pandemic necessity, except the pandemic has made my mask extremely political. People sneer at me, drift closer to me on purpose, I assume thinking I'm "overreacting". 3/

Probably the same kind of people who bump into me on purpose when I'm using my cane, to "test" my fragility I guess? The sort of people who think everyone else needs to toughen up. 4/

Yesterday I was parking in an accessible spot (with my placard clearly displayed) and I had my mask on inside the car because (a) after you leave the house it's best to just leave it on, (b) it was a shared car. Anyway, a woman standing nearby was staring at me. 5/

She had that vicious triumphant sneer of a Karen who's caught someone out. I was wearing a mask AND parking in a disabled spot. She was gonna get me! I was sitting in the car for a couple of minutes, organising myself, and she never took her beady eyes off me. 6/

Luckily, I realised I'd left something at home and would have to do that errand I'd driven over for, so I didn't get out of my car and ended up driving away. Annoying to not be able to run my errand, but a relief to avoid a confrontation with that staring woman. 7/

It's just a mask. It's so exhausting that it means so many different things to people. It's just a mask. I'm just disabled. So many people in my neighbourhood seem to think it signals some kind of political stance, brainwashed by a "hoax pandemic", fragile snowflake etc etc. 8/

It's easy to think this kind of attitude is only happening in the US, but I see it here in Melb, in the inner fucking north. Australian exceptionalism is real. This national myth of being tough, self-sufficient, brawny and healthy, making us superior. Well I'm sick, dickheads. 9/

I'm so tired of having to navigate this bullshit on top of the usual ableism and just being a woman in public, while trying to manage my pain and fatigue while running errands in an inaccessible world. I'm so tired! End of thread! 10/