For Disability Pride Month, one thing I'd love abled bodied people to figure out is how to speak to someone with chronic health issues without implying that if they themselves had the disabled person's health conditions, they would end it all. I promise you life goes on- even with health issues.
I've had people say things like "I'd rather die than do that" about the most "mild" stuff like dietary restrictions.
(Not minimizing the burden of dietary restrictions at ALL, they are huge and emotional and very complicated, but what a weird hill for people to pick is my point.)
yeah!! I have Celiac disease and people tell me all the time that they'd rather die than not be able to eat bread
like okay, lol, sorry to hear that bread is the only good thing in their lives, hope they feel better soon, lol
Right?!
"Not eating dairy is impossible, I'd rather die"
'I mean, no, I do miss it but--'
"I could never stop eating it"
'...do you understand that terrible things happen to me when I do"
"You must have SO MUCH WILLPOWER"
'I really just prefer functional bowels--'
"YOU'RE SO HEALTHY"
@roxiqt.com I truly get this about Celiac b/c my sister has it. Once her grandson kissed her on the cheek after he ate a cookie; she was in bed for two days with vomiting/diarrhea. She has to use GF skin & hair care products. Hope that you are doing okay.
Oh, sounds like she might have more than Celiac going on then. With Celiac disease, you have to consume gluten to get a reaction. Like, you have to swallow it. A kiss on the cheek wouldn't trigger a reaction from Celiac. Eating gluten accidentally would though.
It has always seemed to me that she’s extraordinarily sensitive but doctors haven’t been able to diagnose anything beyond Celiac. I feel terrible for her because of how she has to watch everything so closely.
I have a shellfish allergy and growing up people loved to tell me how great shellfish was and how upset they would be if they were unlucky like me
Well, jokes on them because I went vegan anyways lmao
.....though my cashew allergy is now much more of an obstacle....
This used to happen to my ex. His mom would put his allergen into food and then be like "what? you could barely even taste it" when he reacted badly to it
yeah I do not at all miss people making unsolicited "you eat so healthy!" comments on my lunch in office break rooms from the before times
just because I can't eat gluten
like y'all could eat this way too if you wanted. no? then keep your comments to yourself eh
(I have a bajillion restrictions these days, but you know, back in the glory days when all I had to really avoid was gluten and soy, and limit lactose)
Bread literally causes me to stop breathing, I PROMISE it is not some kind of mythical diet and exercise weight loss based Willpower. I just really don't want to intentionally ingest something my body will treat as poison.
I feel that, I'm lactose intolerant, so I'm okay with some things (cheese, yogurt) but other things like milk will set me off. While it's not do or die like some others, the side effects are horrible and I'd rather avoid them rather than be in pain on the couch for hours
Idk people don't get that when something in your body changes and you have to adapt, you just adapt because most people want to live regardless of the problem (barring like, extreme cancers and other diseases that make any reasonable QoL near impossible)
I'd like to know how they'd explain that to their children/ spouse/ parents/ friends. "Sorry, folks, I'd rather eat a pizza than spend the next few decades with you."
That's a great question, and I'm gonna try to use this the next time it comes up from some well-meaning person. "No really, how would you explain this to your family?" *listens enthusiastically*
Hopefully it'll snap them out of that line of thinking.
