I’m just curious about this. As someone with a chronic illness, I pretty much never hear anyone talk about things related to the sorts of difficulties and discrimination I and others might face within society. I’m not aware of companies or governments doing anything special to bring awareness on the same scale of say, pride month for instance. In fact certain aspects of accessibility were only normalized during the pandemic when healthy people needed them and now they’re being gradually rescinded now that they don’t. It’s annoying for those who’ve come to prefer those accommodations. It’s cruel for those who rely on them.
And just to be clear, I’m not suggesting this is an either or sort of thing. I’m just wondering why it’s not a that and this sort of thing. It’s possible I’m not considering the whole picture here, and I don’t mean for this to be controversial.
For those asking for something that needs help/awareness, chronic pain sufferers (and disabled, but speaking from chronic pain myself) pretty much always have diminished mental clarity due to being in pain or stressed all the time. We can be seen as lazy when we don’t have a job or have a hard time contributing, but I think people don’t realize that getting medical shit done in america is like a full time job. The amount of hoops you need to jump through, repeat appointments to get your doctor to actually listen to your concerns, dealing with administration of doctors, insurance, and government because THEY STILL COMMUNICATE THROUGH FAXES, and just being dead tired of being a broken human being. You have to shout and scream basically or you will be pushed to the wayside.
So basically, please be aware of invisible illnesses and have patience. We may have the physical capability to do a task on a good day, but shit can get so beaten down. Also medically insurance covered, like, managers/secretaries that help you navigate this bullshit would be great. A real job as a medical advocate for a person should exist.
There could also be more awareness spread against the stigma/stereotype of people coasting off disability. (Often it’s snuffed when it’s mental) It’s not really enough to live on, it can be taken away extremely easily, you have to resign yourself to poverty because if you can make some money you aren’t truly disabled. That and disability submission takes 6 months to process, in which most people are denied first just cause. so they then have to get a lawyer to appeal, which takes months+. It’s hard to get disability, and it gives you scraps.