Eric J. Korpela @SETIEric@qoto.org

“If you were REALLY that sick then it won’t matter if you get set back.”

I’m begging non disabled people to stop acting like we can’t possibly have a quality of life while severely ill. Like our baseline isn’t the most important thing to us.

My baseline is EVERYTHING.
Sometimes people believe that if you’re severely ill - you must not have any quality of life and therefore you should be willing to push yourself. Willing to risk a setback.

They don’t understand the devastation setbacks cause or the realities of chronic illness.
I AM severe. I’m housebound & most days I’m bedbound. I need help to shower and sometimes to get to & from the bathroom. I can’t cook for myself and eating & swallowing is a challenge. To most people it would appear I have no quality of life.

But I still have joy. I have my writing. I have the community here who I value & cherish and who’ve helped me find a purpose again. I’ve got people who see me as I am & love me anyways. It doesn’t look like the life I planned - but it’s mine & I’m making the most of it.

Writing is incredibly hard. I’ve got carpal tunnel and tendonitis in both wrists. Hypermobile fingers which dislocate frequently. Hypoxia from low BP which means I have to lay upside down to form a coherent thought. It doesn’t come as naturally or easily as it did before.

Despite those challenges - it brings me more joy now than it did when I was writing professionally. My heart soars when I complete a thread or an article. When I read comments that say my experiences helped someone. These things light a fire in me that keeps me going.

That joy is so important to me - because much of my day to day life is suffering. Until you’ve experienced losing your health, your independence, your autonomy & the ability to trust your own body… you won’t ever truly understand. It’s a grief that never fully goes away.

If you manage to carve out a way to have joy - you won’t do anything to risk it. If you manage to find a way to gain some function back (for me it’s getting to the bathroom unassisted and regaining a few foods to eat)… you won’t do anything that might cause you to lose it.

People won’t understand this. They will push you to do things that WILL risk your baseline. Often under the guise of “well you’re sick anyways so what difference does it make if you’re sicker?” It shows how little people understand the unrelenting & chronic nature of chronic illness.

We see this in people’s attitudes about masking and covid as well. This idea that since we’re already disabled - we should throw caution to the wind and not “worry so much” about covid. We don’t have that luxury. A Covid infection could rip whatever baseline we have from us.

I’m growing tired of the judgement. Of being pushed to do things by people who won’t be around to deal with the fallout. Of being put down by people who have the privilege of good health - and as a result can’t possibly fathom what losing one’s baseline does to a person.

I’ve worked really hard to maintain the small amount of independence I have left. I’ve made great personal sacrifices to avoid Covid and other infections that might put my baseline in jeopardy. Yet despite my efforts - things can and do destroy it. 1/2

#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare #SevereMEAwarenessDay

@tuban_muzuru @dougiec3
Spying and proactive digital intrusion aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Waiting for the Russians to takedown a hydroelectric plant seems unwise?

The United States has dropped to fifty-fifth place on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, the country's lowest-ever rank.

https://progressive.org/magazine/the-way-democracy-crumbles-whitney-20240807/

Via @lolgop:

Take a moment to remember #Trump is giving a press conference from a business where he charges anonymous freaks $200,000 for access to him, the most corrupt thing any ex or current president has ever done in American history by miles. And it never gets mentioned.

Mainstream journalists right now: “Can we say ‘rambling’? ‘Disjointed’? ‘Incoherent’? ‘Confused’? ‘Nonsensical’? ‘Delusional’?

“Can we say “lies”?

LIES. LIES. LIES
GOP Nominee: I went down in a helicopter with Willie Brown!

Willie Brown: That never happened.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/donald-trump-willie-brown-helicopter-19629432.php

Within 48 hours, Ukraine is said to have taken more than 300 square kilometers of Russian land in the Kursk Oblast.

That is how fast you can move, when raping women and stealing washing machines is NOT part of your method of operation.

Dear Media - Noah Lyles running the 200m final after a confirmed Covid test 2 days ago isn't 'gutsy' - it's mind blowingly stupid - he had to be wheeled off the track

Stop normalizing infections, stop with the 'just fight through it' narrative - you are complicit in fueling mass disability and death

#Covid #Covid19 #LongCovid #Olympics2024 #Olympics

#FactCheck

#Trump: “We should have paper ballots, we should have voter ID & we should have proof of citizenship.”

Trump is (again) implying that #undocumented #immigrants are #voting.

FALSE

Every single federal election voter, in every state, in every district is required to be a citizen of the United States.

It is the law.

The Illegal Immigration Reform & Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. It

#TrumpLies

American conservatism is the idea that the state delivering free lunches to your school kids is an overreach, but the state burning your kid's school books is just fine.

"The toxic amalgamation of dark money, technology platforms, unaccountable hard-right-wing billionaires, and far-right criminal gangs has pushed us to a global political tipping point."

https://bylinetimes.com/2024/08/08/exposing-the-real-uk-race-riot-instigators-the-key-players-and-transatlantic-network-around-tommy-robinson/

#UKRiots #USPolitics #UKPolitics #FarageRiots

@JonChevreau

"This is the kind of performance from Trump that, if the Republican party was still a functioning institution, would have a lot of people panicked and wondering about how to get him to drop out."

@benroyce @randahl

I disagree with “degenerated.”

Conservatism, in my lifetime, has always been about cruelty (and lies, and power) they were simply more skillful with language.

As time went by they dropped their pretense, and Trump was the logical result.

@tuban_muzuru @dougiec3

Given his newly-granted immunity, why isn’t removing DeJoy a Biden priority?

Folks in Georgia have been complaining about delayed federal mail service for months, as if that isn’t a precursor for later, ballot-related shenanigans.

Get Ready Now: Republicans Will Refuse to Certify a Harris Win

I am reminded of an old Al Franken slogan, "If it's not close, they can't steal it."

Get out there and vote.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/republicans-will-refuse-certify-harris-election

#HarrisWalz #Harris #Harris2024 #KamalaHarris2024

Republicans Ask US Supreme Court To Reinstate Arizona Voter Suppression Laws - Democracy Docket https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-court-strikes-down-provisions-of-arizona-voter-suppression-laws/

I'd let Kamala Harris and Tim Walz babysit my kids.

I wouldn't let trump or the JD anywhere near my kids.

#HarrisWalz2024

"That is: when you read a New York Times headline that, say, reads “Trump and Harris Agree to September Debate” you have both an error in fact (Harris had long ago confirmed her attendence at the debate. Trump had ducked it and is now surrendering on this one), and a journalistic sin of omission–leaving out the entire tenor of the press conference and the fact that it was mostly a tissue of lies."

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/08/08/yes-virginia-the-media-does-put-thumbs-on-scales-with-headlines/