Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

damnit I hate to share a LinkedIn post but Mark nailed it

Everything is just on fire isn't it?
Like, everything.
And I'm here trying not to dissociate which feels like the smallest non important thing right now given everything in the world.

Just the public opinions around both of these very clear welfare benefits for vulnerable people being treated so so differently and I just don't understand.
I mean I do understand. Everyone assumes they will get old, but most people don't believe they will get ill or disabled. No compassion.

So for winter fuel allowance it's fine if some rich or something who 'don't need it' get it. The assumption is most people do need it.
But for health related benefits the assumption is that no one needs it, everyone is a fraud and that it's better to abolish them than allow one 'fraudster'

I hate the rhetoric around welfare.
But what I don't understand at all is that there is so much about the winter fuel allowance for pensioners but then not the same compassion for those on PIP or other health related benefits.
BOTH OF THESE THINGS ARE WELFARE
A STATE PENSION IS AN ASPECT OF WELFARE.

Screenshot of a Dallas express article. There’s a man sitting in a hospital gown. Text reads Man With Disabilities Begs Hospital To Stop Pushing Suicide LOGAN WASHBURN - STAFF WRITER HEALTH & SCIENCE MAY 29, 2025 Roger Foley | Image by Roger Foley @rogerfoley/X Hospital staff have repeatedly pushed a Canadian man with disabilities to accept euthanasia. Now, he says, they are repeatedly asking him about suicide while cutting off basic needs like food and

Screenshot of a Dallas examiner article which reads Brother Of Disabled Man To Canadian Hospital: He Is 'Dying In Front Of You' LOGAN WASHBURN - STAFF WRITER HEALTH & SCIENCE JUN 11, 2025 Roger Foley | Image by Roger Foley @rogerfoley/X The brother of a disabled Canadian man is pleading with his hospital - which pushed euthanasia and cut off food and water nearly one month ago - to stop him from "dying in front of you." Instead of helping, The Dallas Express has learned, hospital officials told his brother to stop contacting them. There’s a photo of a man laying in a hospital bed

Whatever your personal beliefs on Assisted Dying, we should all be able to agree on 2 fundamentals:

No means no. If a patient doesn’t want it, end of discussion.

It should never be offered in lieu of care or social supports.

If it is, it’s not compassion.

It’s eugenics 🧵

Yes I hate getting hair done
Last few times I've had to, we've had someone who comes to our house so it minimises the stress

Yeah I like massage too
I think getting nails done is just so busy and loud and smells strong.

Why does my partner think going to get my nails done is 'self care'?
It's loud and it smells and people are touching me and talking to me and it's just so overwhelming.
Ick.
Not self care.
Just something that has to be done very rarely (sisters wedding on Saturday so needed to get something proper)

Corrections accepted
We are a Dr and we are graduating next month!!!!!

Paid employment isn’t a universal healthcare outcome.

It might be a priority for some people… but it should never be prioritised over the person’s health and life.

And for some, it shouldn’t even be considered.

Omg yes!!!

Having DID is so weird. Like we were a six year old doing drawings and then we drove a car as an adult. And we still have like a six year old inside us who is separate from me (the one writing this post) and it's actually like the actual way our brain works but it still makes like no sense. ♿

Millions of people are worried about paying their rent, feeding their kids or losing vital disability benefits.

If the government cared about people's security, it would reverse cruel cuts, end child poverty and pursue an agenda for peace.

Let's fund welfare, not warfare.

No one ever says sorry.
No one ever wants to believe they are complicit in the suffering of others.
It's all personal choice and stop living in fear...

Those who treat disabled people the worst are often the first to ask us for help when they become chronically ill.

They say some variation of “I had no idea it was this bad!”

They almost never say “sorry”.

They ask for our help without even admitting to how badly they treated us.

this is literally fraud. You did not sign authors with the promise to pay their due if you made a profit, you committed to pay them for their work that they delivered and has sold. At the very least this publisher needs to be blacklisted, but hope there are also legal consequences somehow

Oh I'm sorry

It is true that most people who claim PIP are unable to work.

But that's because to be eligible for PIP you need to have significant health conditions that need a lot of care & support.

So it's predictable most won't be able to work.

But its still not an out-of-work benefit.

I've just gone through the questionnaire and sent it all back. So waiting on the next steps but sounds like really exciting research. Maybe they'll be able to 'see' the dissociative barriers in our brain

Research opportunity for dissociative Identity disorder poster. Do you have a diagnosis of DID? We are seeking individuals to take part in research at the MRC Cambridge cognition and brain sciences unit in Cambridge What do I do? Questionnaires An interview Computer tests Two brain scans Am I eligible? If you Are 16 or over Are native English speaker Have DID and amnesia between identities Have never experienced neurological conditions If you are interested please contact Julia beker Julia.beker@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk 01223769461

My #dissociated friends in the UK. Please consider getting involved with this research at @mrccbu.bsky.social !!
♿
@didwewrite.bsky.social @chloeapter.bsky.social

If your in the UK I use the national migraine centre and they charge about £500 a session. But you get a proper consultation etc too and they may not think Botox is appropriate for you but there are a few options

Yeah, ikr. Turns out I can figure out how to exercise the right muscles around my hip?? Or I'm just lucky today?

Summary from Strava of our jog - 5.05km in 40:15 minutes

Selfie of Nicole looking sweaty chilling by a brick wall. They are in a grey running tank top and blue over ear headphones.

Photo of Nicole's legs on a stone bench. Nicole is wearing black leggings and black/pink running trainers.

Selfie of Nicole just after finishing the run. There are trees in the background. Nicole looks very warm and sweaty.

Went for a jog and no subluxations and we are like omg it's going to be okay. The exercises are working and we are getting our mobility back

I actually think many disabled people try harder and do more than an abled person does.

Like… when I’m feeling bad I tend to go into overdrive. It’s a form of distraction plus my brain’s self-destruct mode.

No just why iPhones need to be made in China and not the US

bsky.app/profile/jool...

Property rights would kill the industry. Does that tell you what the industry is, finally??

the bit about Africans being active in the slave trade is telling. it’s something that is only relevant if you think the point of discussing slavery is to disburse racial blame rather than understanding history.

What does China offer that the United States doesn't? Small hands, a massive, seasonal work force and millions of engineers. Young Chinese women have small fingers, and that has made them a valuable contributor to iPhone production because they are more nimble at installing screws and other miniature parts in the small device, supply chain experts said. In a recent analysis the company did to explore the feasibility of moving production to the United States, the company determined that it couldn't find people with those skills in the United States, said two people familiar with the analysis who spoke on the condition of anonymity. China has millions of people who migrate around the country to work in factories as Apple revs up production around a new iPhone. They often work from the summer until Chinese New Year, when production slows down, so Apple's suppliers don't have to pay them for a full year of work. They live in dormitories connected to factories

In the year of our lord two thousand twenty-five, guys named Tripp Mickle still write racialized nimble finger stereotypes into the pages of the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/t...

The NYT is also out there happily claiming that 'young Chinese women have small hands' without any actual evidence. They just love being weird and racist at the moment