Disability, Medical Conditions & "well intentioned" outsiders.
So, there's a guest blogger at one of the blogs I read regularly, who's been writing some pretty amazing posts about her experience living with disability.
She wrote a post recently criticizing people who, upon learning that another person has a health issue, immediately try to offer suggestions and ideas about what that person should be doing about their condition. She points out that this is incredibly presumptive and often insulting. However, there's some people who just didn't get why that might be, so she has responded wonderfully.
She's writing specifically about her own experience with fibromyalgia, but I think what she says is HIGHLY applicable to other physical and mental health issues concerns. It's a little long, but it's SO good, so well said. As someone who's been on both sides of the interaction (giving and receiving "helpful" comments), I identified with many parts of it, and have learned a thing or two.
I know that more than a few people on here would say "HELL YES" if they were to read it, and that most people would probably come away with with a few new thoughts.
HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended: "Is it worth the risk?"
She wrote a post recently criticizing people who, upon learning that another person has a health issue, immediately try to offer suggestions and ideas about what that person should be doing about their condition. She points out that this is incredibly presumptive and often insulting. However, there's some people who just didn't get why that might be, so she has responded wonderfully.
She's writing specifically about her own experience with fibromyalgia, but I think what she says is HIGHLY applicable to other physical and mental health issues concerns. It's a little long, but it's SO good, so well said. As someone who's been on both sides of the interaction (giving and receiving "helpful" comments), I identified with many parts of it, and have learned a thing or two.
I know that more than a few people on here would say "HELL YES" if they were to read it, and that most people would probably come away with with a few new thoughts.
HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended: "Is it worth the risk?"