It Shouldn't Be A Controversial Take But:

Time to order your free Covid tests:

http://covidtests.gov

PSA as we go into spooky season and people start using activated charcoal to make foods look spooky.

i have no words

source

Do people know about Vocational Rehab? If you're USAmerican they have this in every state.

It's a program that helps disabled folks access education, training, and employment. For FREE.

You only have to be disabled to qualify (autism, ADHD, mental illness, physical illness, etc) and they cover very broad categories of disability. You do NOT have to be officially diagnosed yet when you walk in - they will even help pay for your diagnosis if you are struggling w disability.

I applied with my suspected autism and fibromyalgia, and they paid for 100% of my formal autism assessment.

Once your disability is established they will give you career counseling to learn about your interests and skills, and depending on the plan you create with your caseworker they will then help with school or finding employment. They paid for 100% of my college tuition and books, and even provided a laptop for me to use.

You do not have to pay anything for this program. If you make above a certain income, you will have to contribute to educational costs but will still receive assistance.

They will also help with the cost of things like mental health counseling while you work towards your goals, clothing for interviews, etc.

They cannot discriminate based on your race, gender, or sexual orientation.

They won't make you do excessive meetings.

They will allow you to do meetings with your caseworker remotely.

They will not drug test you.

They want you to succeed.

I'm sure that individual experiences vary but my caseworker was exceptionally easy to work with and very kind.

Vocational Rehab is a phenomenal resource every disabled person should be aware of. Here is the list of offices in every state:

It's too hot to exist. 🥵

Stay safe, SpoonieStrong fam. 💙🥄

Another free Notion template! This one is a digital medical binder to keep all your medical information in one place, to make the medical system easier to deal with. A minimalist and mobile friendly version coming soon!

Gumroad

Aesthetic Digital Medical Binder Notion Template

This Notion template is meant to help organize all your medical information to help make navigating the medical system easier! It contains t

This site comes recommended by a friend of the blog, and oh boy does it look useful! Since it’s meant for use by doctors as well, the information it will give you doesn’t go through the kinds of “for the patient” filters you’d see on sites like WebMD.

The interface is clean and simple, and once you’ve gotten a list of conditions and selected one to investigate, it opens an on-the-page window for you with the Merck Manual’s entry. There’s in-depth data, a quick-view of the highlights of the condition, and there are even links out to other providers like Mayo Clinic, Medline, WebMD, Google, and more.

What’s particularly nice is that when you’re done looking at one condition, you can click “back to results” to get straight back to the list.

This one seems to do a good job of pulling up the common but quote-unquote rare diseases in the list, which certainly makes it feel a little more trustworthy.

Nonbinary folks, do note that it requires you to enter a binary gender.

April is IBS Awareness Month. If you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you are not alone – IBS is common with prevalence estimated at 10% to 15%. Yet many people remain undiagnosed and unaware that their symptoms indicate a medically recognized disorder.

Having conditions affecting the digestive and excretory systems is just so isolating.

Because even in semi-disability-aware spaces, talking about symptoms relating to the GI and excretory systems is still treated as TMI, as gross.

Even friends and family members are grossed out just seeing us put laxative in our water, or run to the bathroom all the time, or sit weirdly because of an immensely painful gas bubble.

And we internalize this shame so much that when we actually have to describe our symptoms in a medical setting, we hold back, and use euphemisms, because we're so used to having to do so.

It's so so isolating.