ELCI Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Chronic Illness Inclusion

Sorry

23 March 2018 Editorialteam CFS, Chronic Illness, ELCI, Energy Limiting Chronic Illness, ME, Social Exclusion

Patricia de Wolfe is tired of saying ‘sorry’ on account of her energy-limiting illness.

I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.

Sorry I can’t make it to your birthday party, your family gathering, your funeral. Sorry, no, I can’t come over for tea on Friday. Why? No, I’m not doing anything else. But I’m going out for lunch the Tuesday before. Yes, I know that gives me Wednesday and Thursday to recover but Friday would still be pushing it. And tea is a bit late in the day for me. Yes, I am sure. Perhaps we could meet next week? Yes, I know I cancelled last time. Yes, of course I understand you’re very busy… Sorry.

I want to stop apologising. I want to stop explaining. For me, inclusion would mean, at the very least, living in a society in which it is generally accepted that some people are ill. Chronically. Perhaps permanently. And in which we are not regarded as freaks, or hypochondriacs, or scroungers, or, for that matter, just “poor things”, but as people valiantly trying to cobble together something that feels like a life in the teeth of gargantuan obstacles.

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Leave a comment Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Illness, Disability, ELCI, Energy Limiting Chronic Illness

Stairs or stares? Obstacles to using a wheelchair with invisible illness

9 January 2018 Editorialteam Chronic Illness, Disability, DWP Benefits, ELCI, Energy Limiting Chronic Illness, Systemic Disbelief, Wheelchair

Ella Sumpter talks about fluctuating mobility levels and reactions to her wheelchair use.

I have been given a power wheelchair that used to belong to my wife’s grandfather. I am very grateful. It will be very useful when I have to go to the local shops, or be somewhere where I am expected to stand around or stay on my feet a long time. It will also mean that I can go to protest rallies which I have so far been left out of.

I have a problem though. I have a very large psychological barrier to actually using it.

So what is the problem stopping me using it? Put simply, fear. Fear of what people will think and say, and embarrassment at people seeing me in it. I’ve already blogged about using a walking stick and my fear of abuse as well as fear of people thinking I use a stick to look more ill and claim extra benefits.

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Leave a comment Chronic Illness, Disability, ELCI, Fluctuating Condition, Invisible Illness

Accessing Support: A system geared toward physical impairments

13 June 2017 Editorialteam Brain Fog, Chronic Illness, Disability, DWP, DWP Benefits, Education, ELCI, Employment, Energy Impairment, Energy Limiting Chronic Illness, Social Care, Wheelchair

Sarah Campbell asks whether chronic illness needs its own set of responses to social security, employment and social care.

I have a combination of both a chronic illness and a progressive muscle condition, offering me insight into both “worlds” of invisible fluctuating illness and visible physical impairment. Some issues are extremely different while others are shared. But so far I’ve found that accessing support is often biased toward purely “traditional” physical impairments.

As a wheelchair user, there are many access barriers ranging from getting an adequate wheelchair in the first place, to housing, transport, social care etc. But the law is generally on our side, precisely because disabled people fought for those rights over the past decades.

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Leave a comment Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Illness, Disability, DWP, ELCI, Employment, Energy Impairment, Invisible Illness

From ‘sick’ to ‘disabled’ – my own journey

13 June 2017 Editorialteam Brain Fog, CFS, Chronic Illness, Disability, DWP Benefits, ELCI, Energy Impairment, Energy Limiting Chronic Illness, Housebound, ME, Social Model of Disability

Catherine Hale considers how half a lifetime of chronic illness has changed her understanding of the term ‘disabled’.

I’ve been sick for nearly 30 years. That’s the whole of my adult life. I always thought of myself as ‘disabled’ in the sense of being very incapacitated. During my bedbound phase I couldn’t wash, feed myself, go to the toilet or write my own name; nor could I read, watch TV or have a conversation.

But I never thought of myself as ‘disabled’ in the political sense used by the disabled people’s movement. That is, I never thought the disadvantages I suffered in not having a job, a career, or a social life were due to an infringement of my rights. It didn’t make sense to blame my profound isolation on other people or organisations excluding me unnecessarily or treating me unfairly.

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