Psst hey chronic illness twitter,

I know it's really frustrating when we've been yelling about a thing for ages, and now that people are experiencing it themselves they suddenly get it

But let's maybe not take that frustration out on newbies

I have probably had a chronic illness my entire life, but I just thought it was all normal until my late teens/early twenties when my bodymind basically went "nope, we're not pushing through anymore"

At this point, I was actually taking a college sociology class that covered disability, BUT I had to withdraw from the class before we actually talked about disability

And I remember reading some essays in my textbook and thinking "wow someone gets it", but I also felt like I was not "disabled enough" to actually claim the word for myself

I also felt profoundly betrayed that there was so much ableism I just...didn't know about

And at this point I actually had multiple disabled friends/family members who were helping guide me through relearning how to live with my bodymind and how to deal with the medical establishment

(Which was so good and why I try to pay it forward when I can)

But even still, none of the disabled people I knew were really talking about ableism as a systemic issue

We just, purely coincidentally, all had heaps of issues getting doctors to believe us or actually help

I remember when I first got migraines. My mom has had them my whole life, and I thought I understood because I had chronic pain

But then I got a migraine and was like "oh, this is completely different and disabling in new and unique ways"

Even if you've been disabled (and known it) your whole life, there is always more to learn about disability and ableism because there are so many different ways of being disabled (and so many different intersecting identities that affect our experiences)

I've known I was disabled for a decade or two, and I'm always humbled by how much I'm still learning

And I'm grateful when people take the time to help me learn, or explain their experiences with systemic ableism or access needs or how to cope or

So I know it's hard because suddenly there's a bunch of new people with long COVID, and maybe the media is sometimes paying (not enough) attention, and it feels so frustrating because we've been yelling about all this for ages omg

And honestly it's not wrong to have those feelings

But maybe take a moment to think about if you want to direct them at the systemic issues affecting us all, or people who are hurting and probably scared about how they're going to survive

I can't speak for everyone disabled, but I think many of us are taught ableism and then if we're lucky, we have a chance to unlearn it

And I think many of us remember how difficult and often lonely that was

So anyway, if you don't have the energy to help newly disabled people adjust or find resources, that's totally understandable

But let's try to focus our anger on an ableist society, not on people who are starting to realize just how much ableism there is and how much it sucks

Note: I'm not sub tweeting some new recent drama or anything, I've just seen these attitudes and frustrations pop up enough that I've noticed a pattern

Sometimes we have feelings that aren't particularly charitable, and it's better to save them for a group chat or DMs https://twitter.com/UntoNuggan/status/1310712884243189760?s=19