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Alana

@alanasaltz.bsky.social

1.1K followers 410 following 930 posts

Disability rights activist and writer. Disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent. Currently bedbound. #StillCOVIDing and you should be too. She/they ♿😷🌈 #EDS #psoriaticarthritis #autism #LGBTQIA alanasaltz.com

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · Dec 11

I run a Discord server for disabled folks who are still significantly isolating and taking precautions around COVID. Here's the application for an invite if anyone is interested. tinyurl.com/digitaldisab...

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Reposted by Alana

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 16h

It can harm

There’s many things happening that could leave you disabled and they’re occurring as the regime takes away healthcare & disability support.

This is why wearing a mask is resistance.

Protecting your health is a way to fight back.

Protecting the health of others? That’s community care.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 9h

Before I get the usual "People have good intentions and they just don't understand." Yes I know. That's why I try to help them understand but they don't seem to actually want to most of the time and they're happy to get defensive and lash out if I don't like what they continue to do. That's wrong.

Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 9h

I know that a big part of this is because I'm chronically ill and people don't understand what that means or know how to handle it because society doesn't educate and ableism is so rampant but I can't change what I need and who I am. People can accommodate that or not. I can't accept harm anymore.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 9h

Am I picky? Yes. I can no longer tolerate people giving me unsolicited advice and toxic positivity and minimizing my struggles because of their own discomfort or patterns and then being defensive about it. And that is most people. I would rather have no friends than continue to experience that.

Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 10h

It's especially horrible because chronically ill folks are used to being told these things and that we're overreacting or even faking our pain and people do this stuff to push us away and minimize our struggles (intentionally or not) so please hear us and respect our needs or don't engage at all.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 10h

People can't even see this behavior, the things they do when they feel overwhelmed by somebody's problems and shut them down with advice or platitudes. I know it's the societal default but stop telling me that you can change and accommodate me then get mad when I give feedback that you haven't.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 10h

I really feel like there's no point even telling people that I just want active listening and validation and for them to hold space. Because they always say they'll do it and they never do. And somehow it's always my fault that I'm taking them the wrong way or they're trying and I'm too picky.

Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 10h

I'm pretty sure that nobody would be OK with me saying "Well, everybody's got problems" any time they come to me for support but for some reason when I talk about my struggles with chronic illness suddenly it's fine for people to invalidate me, make generalizations, and give me "perspective."

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 16h

Literally just had another person today say they wanted to learn to hold space for me then the moment I opened up with illness details they tried to give me advice and "perspective" and got defensive when I pointed out they were doing the things they promised they wouldn't. Story of my social life.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 1d

I get that I'm different and that they have certain privilege or lack of experience but I feel like they're often defensive when I try to talk about it and express my needs. The way people live in denial and refuse to offer real support because of their own hang ups really bothers me.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 1d

I know exactly what you mean. I'm always telling people I just need you to be able to hold some space for me and I've been pushed away my whole life. If they can't they should just tell me but I can't deal with how most people can't even sit with it for even a minute and I'm the one living with it.

Reposted by Alana

Sean Mullen, Ph.D. @drseanmullen.bsky.social · 1d

Equivalent? None. All viruses carry risk, but nothing works as fast and extends as far as SARS-CoV-2 except some other BSL-3 viruses and higher, BUT we don’t just let them rip through society. We contain them.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 1d

No one lets me talk about it that way either even though it's probably true. But I'm not technically terminal so I'm just overreacting. As I get sicker and more and more disabled and waste away with nothing helping but ok.

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EmZeeGee @emzeegee.bsky.social · 1d

Perhaps if we had our society organized in a more just and humane way, we wouldn’t be reliant on the care of spouses (mostly women) or adult children (mostly daughters or daughters in law) to care for and manage the logistics of care for the elderly.

Maybe *that’s* the problem.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 1d

More than 15 million people 55 or older don’t have a spouse or biological children; nearly 2 million have no family members at all.

Who will be there for these solo agers as their lives draw to a close? How many of them will die alone?

An age-old fear grows more common: ‘I’m going to die alone’

As families fracture, people are living longer and are more likely to find themselves without close relatives or friends at the end of their lives.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Haunted Owen Meany @notowenmeany.bsky.social · 2d

ReadiMask, a strapless, metal-free N95 mask that uses medical adhesive is available for 75% off from the manufacturer's website. It can be loosened to eat/drink and reattached. Use code "nonsmokingzone" here: alliantbiotech.com/product/read...

ReadiMask® The Only Strapless N95 Respirator - Alliant Biotech

ReadiMask N95s protect against bacteria, viruses, debris, pollution, smoke, and diseases like colds, flus, Coronavirus.

alliantbiotech.com

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DreadwoodGirl @redwoodgirl.bsky.social · 1d

Most Americans don't know that Long COVID is now the most common chronic illness in children in the U.S. After all, who's going to tell them? The CDC isn't, nor their kids' doctors. Only a few public health advocates are trying to make sure people know about it.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

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Bria "tries to write a book" Horses @thevoidencore.bsky.social · 6d

The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem

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BleedingGrey𓅗 @ginzhizhawizi.net · 2d

people that refuse to mask and treat it as just "a difference of opinion", especially when it's in consideration of covid, are the most bougie, idealist and individualist people

like thanks for the THC cream but don't give me that 'herd immunity' bullshit

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Zan (ze/they) 🇵🇸 | THE BLOOD DIVIDE out now! @zanwrites.bsky.social · 2d

how your email finds me

Photo of a tire swing hanging so low it’s nearly touching the ground with a fake skeleton fallen out of it, all four limbs flailing in the air

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 2d

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 2d

Mostly just stuff like gray rocking. There need to be more resources around that for sure. A lot of advice doesn't apply to people like disabled folks who don't always have the ability to chose who helps and interacts with them.

Reposted by Alana

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 2d

They have fired the staff of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, who are disease detectives that respond to outbreaks around the world.

I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous it is to dismantle our disease surveillance infrastructure.

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BJ 🏳️‍⚧️ @bellamyj.blacksky.app · 2d

It is not too late for you to start wearing a mask in public.

It is not too late for you to start advocating clean air.

It is not too late for you to learn how to build your own air filters or to tap in with folks already doing so.

They want you sick. They want your neighbors sick. Tell them no.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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chuck @whatexactlyisup.bsky.social · 3d

prescription drug commercials uphold ableism. MANY of them contain a line about how, “i won’t let my diagnosis stop me,” which is simply not how complex diagnoses or medications work (especially bc the 2nd half of the ad is just horrific side effects)

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Jolisa Gracewood @nzdodo.bsky.social · 3d

“I really want people to know that no one is immune to this, anyone can get long Covid. I didn't think it would happen to me.” Read it and weep:
www.1news.co.nz/2025/10/10/o...

Offered rest home care at 24: the lonely plight of young Kiwis with long Covid

A group of young Kiwis prove what international studies show: that long Covid has a particularly debilitating effect on young people. But how much medical support is there for them?

www.1news.co.nz

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