To be clear -I give zero fucks about Muller.

What I do care about is how easily people will slip into ableism and saneism when it suits to score political points, and the harm that does to others who experience mental distress, and how it perpetuates ableist capitalism.

Disabled folks are out here struggling to push our bodies beyond their capacities because we are forced to participate in an extra five capitalist economy just to survive. We are taught that needing to have breaks is weak and not okay, and it kills us.

We are taught that our self worth is inherently tied to our ability to participate in capitalist production and produce work, and when we can’t produce work we are taught that we are failures and less worthy.

This is MASSIVELY tied to the disgusting narratives about beneficiaries and the working class that National perpetuates - but Labour, the Greens, and other progressives are also not immune to that rhetoric.

I couldn’t care less about Muller. But I do give an awful lot of fucks about what these narratives do to my disabled and chronically ill community. I spend hours every week supporting people who have new (and old!) diagnoses of Fibromyalgia to understand that their productivity

should not = their self worth, and that they are worthy of love, respect, and security regardless of whether they have to stay in bed all day, or whether they’re able to function at work.

Literally 90% of my work and activism comes down to dismantling ableist and racist and colonialist capitalism. And I’ve spent years of my body suffering so I could “push through” because I didn’t think I was worthy of rest. Because others suffered more & they didn’t take breaks.

So yeah, it hurts like hell seeing people who should know better feed into this narrative because it’s Muller. Not because I am worried about Muller, but because I’m worried about everyone else who now sees people they admire and look up to equating taking breaks with being bad.

Or trying to debate whether someone is deserving of rest.

We do not get to determine whether someone needs rest or is deserving of time off. THAT is the capitalist and ableist trick they’ve been selling us in the first place!

#AbleismIsTrash - always.

Like I’ve literally cried my eyes out multiple times this week because I’ve been too ill to do things, & bc it’s been terrifying to email people and say “sorry I can’t do the thing” because my body is breaking down. You never know whether that’s going to be met with understanding

Or whether people will think you’re slack or not good at your job or tell other people, or end up creating even more work for you because they expect you to perform at all costs.

I lead a team of people who are amazing and understanding and are committed to disability and indigenous rights & are actively anti capitalist and even then it’s hard to say hey I’m actually having a really shit time and I haven’t done any of the things I said I would.

It’s hard bc we have internalised the capitalist toxic productivity discourse our entire lives - and it just gets packaged up as something new each time. Grind culture. Hustle culture. And now only people we deem “good and nice” deserve rest and self care?

Sounds capitalist as hell to me.