really appreciated your discussion of how the demand for value production is at the heart of this conservative messaging!
anecdotally, as a teacher and a labor organizer, I think a LOT of the "fake disability" propaganda is specifically about the rise in legally binding workplace/school accommodations. these inevitably have economic and labor costs attached which for-profit entities would like to eliminate.
obviously you know Marta Russell (got that rec from you!) talked a lot about the way the current economic framework for disability displaces the costs of access from capitalists to the so-called disability social net, which has always been as an exclusionary and inadequate system designed to disappear disabled ppl from the workforce.
anyways. much to ponder. thanks for including the masking mechanism figure, I think i will add it to some of my slides for a disability class I am teaching this term 🙂
The accommodation thing at work really seems to rile up the able bodied whiners. Like sorry babe, Ive asked for closed captioning on teams and to wear sunglasses in some meetings because of the lighting. Like Muahahah, im clearly winning over you here. 🤦🏼♀️
“It would require incredibly bad luck indeed for so many of these women to be afflicted by so many completely different illnesses with totally different medical causes.”
How odd to see all these conditions that are medically accepted to have a high comorbidity, together in the same population.
Masking is not simple emotional regulation, it is what I fall back on when I can’t regulate my emotions well. Like right now reading this, trying to hide my angry, ferocious stimming under the table while sitting here at the library because I can’t stop it.
This subject matter is always so difficult for me to read and this essay took me an embarrassingly long time because I needed a lot of breaks (since my emotional regulation is so great).
I loved and really appreciated this article. I’m also very glad to see you mention what is happening in terms of disability welfare in Australia, as someone who is about to be heavily impacted by the cuts to the NDIS. Seeing this as a pattern across countries is truly terrifying but I am grateful to have allies across borders.
the concept of POTS being "a fear of standing up" is so 😂☠️
but re: the atrocious piece in the Telegraph... perhaps small compared to the overall grossness & naked ableism of the piece but, the fact that throughout the piece the author writes POTS as 'Pots' completely ignoring that it's an acronym, should frankly be disqualifying. & doubly so for the editor(s) that let that shit pass & be published uncorrected.
I KNOW RIGHT. And she didn’t interview any experts in autonomic disorders at all. I also just saw a post on IG by one of the creators she interviewed, showing how misleading her interview request and questions were compared to the framing of the final piece. I don’t expect much from the telegraph to be fair but yeah absolutely atrocious journalism
i saw that IG post too. also unsurprising as that is how it seemingly always goes with these things (i can think of many such cases in the rag that is the NYT as well, among others)
Yes to refusing the biomarker fantasy entirely. Frith wants a gene to settle it, but we all understand the category was never medical to begin with. Thank you for naming it what it is: manufacturing consent for denial of need. The masking panic is a budget debate wearing a lab coat. Thanks for connecting all the dots so perfectly. 💚
really appreciated your discussion of how the demand for value production is at the heart of this conservative messaging!
anecdotally, as a teacher and a labor organizer, I think a LOT of the "fake disability" propaganda is specifically about the rise in legally binding workplace/school accommodations. these inevitably have economic and labor costs attached which for-profit entities would like to eliminate.
obviously you know Marta Russell (got that rec from you!) talked a lot about the way the current economic framework for disability displaces the costs of access from capitalists to the so-called disability social net, which has always been as an exclusionary and inadequate system designed to disappear disabled ppl from the workforce.
anyways. much to ponder. thanks for including the masking mechanism figure, I think i will add it to some of my slides for a disability class I am teaching this term 🙂
The accommodation thing at work really seems to rile up the able bodied whiners. Like sorry babe, Ive asked for closed captioning on teams and to wear sunglasses in some meetings because of the lighting. Like Muahahah, im clearly winning over you here. 🤦🏼♀️
Thank you for writing such a brilliant and necessary critique of this bs!! I am full of rage and farts 😂
“It would require incredibly bad luck indeed for so many of these women to be afflicted by so many completely different illnesses with totally different medical causes.”
How odd to see all these conditions that are medically accepted to have a high comorbidity, together in the same population.
Masking is not simple emotional regulation, it is what I fall back on when I can’t regulate my emotions well. Like right now reading this, trying to hide my angry, ferocious stimming under the table while sitting here at the library because I can’t stop it.
This subject matter is always so difficult for me to read and this essay took me an embarrassingly long time because I needed a lot of breaks (since my emotional regulation is so great).
Really great essay, so well done. Thank you.
I loved and really appreciated this article. I’m also very glad to see you mention what is happening in terms of disability welfare in Australia, as someone who is about to be heavily impacted by the cuts to the NDIS. Seeing this as a pattern across countries is truly terrifying but I am grateful to have allies across borders.
the concept of POTS being "a fear of standing up" is so 😂☠️
but re: the atrocious piece in the Telegraph... perhaps small compared to the overall grossness & naked ableism of the piece but, the fact that throughout the piece the author writes POTS as 'Pots' completely ignoring that it's an acronym, should frankly be disqualifying. & doubly so for the editor(s) that let that shit pass & be published uncorrected.
I KNOW RIGHT. And she didn’t interview any experts in autonomic disorders at all. I also just saw a post on IG by one of the creators she interviewed, showing how misleading her interview request and questions were compared to the framing of the final piece. I don’t expect much from the telegraph to be fair but yeah absolutely atrocious journalism
i saw that IG post too. also unsurprising as that is how it seemingly always goes with these things (i can think of many such cases in the rag that is the NYT as well, among others)
Yes to refusing the biomarker fantasy entirely. Frith wants a gene to settle it, but we all understand the category was never medical to begin with. Thank you for naming it what it is: manufacturing consent for denial of need. The masking panic is a budget debate wearing a lab coat. Thanks for connecting all the dots so perfectly. 💚