Brian (Stuttering Loudly)

When a family member (or friend) tells you “I can’t” or “I need X for safety & accessibility” or “I need you to wear a mask”, you should believe them and validate their experiences

They’re the expert on their own safety, accommodations & disability / medical condition

🧵 1/2

It doesn’t matter if you know 1 or 2 people with the same condition or disability

Everyone is different

🧵 2/2

Here’s a late Happy New Year 🥳

We’re starting the New Year in North America with overwhelmed hospitals & a flu strain that some are calling a “super flu”

We’ve learned nothing from 2020 and 2021

We actually eliminated a strain of the flu thanks to mandatory masking

🧵 1/3

Doctors are saying ERs are overwhelmed

This affects care for accidents, heart attacks, etc

Things would be safer for everyone if we all wore a mask in public spaces & got vaccinated

There have been reports of children dying from this new flu strain (go look it up for yourself)

🧵 2/3

If you care about children, then please protect them from both the flu & COVID by wearing a mask in public and getting your updated vaccines

Elderly people and #immunocompromised adults are also at higher risk of hospitalization and 💀

Please protect us

Our lives matter

🧵 3/3

@lalolajimenez.bsky.social 😷

@princewatercress.bsky.social 😷

Thread 🧵

If you care about children, then please protect them from both the flu & COVID by wearing a mask in public and getting your updated vaccines

Elderly people and #immunocompromised adults are also at higher risk of hospitalization and 💀

Please protect us

Our lives matter

🧵 3/3

Doctors are saying ERs are overwhelmed

This affects care for accidents, heart attacks, etc

Things would be safer for everyone if we all wore a mask in public spaces & got vaccinated

There have been reports of children dying from this new flu strain (go look it up for yourself)

🧵 2/3

Here’s a late Happy New Year 🥳

We’re starting the New Year in North America with overwhelmed hospitals & a flu strain that some are calling a “super flu”

We’ve learned nothing from 2020 and 2021

We actually eliminated a strain of the flu thanks to mandatory masking

🧵 1/3

Things chronically ill / disabled / immunocompromised people go through:

Family members & friends refusing to make gatherings accessible (e.g. refusing to wear a mask & use HEPA air purifiers)

Gaslighting by family & friends

Being told to try harder

Being told you’re looking for attention

It’s long past time for people to confront the realities of our ableist system.

They can no longer be granted the luxury of looking the other way while millions of people suffer.

It’s time for change.

Disabled people are not less than.

If you’re suffering and scared to admit you’re disabled… I get it.

I promise you there’s a huge community waiting to welcome you and provide support.

We must get loud & stay loud and fight for equality.

Fight for medical care

Fight for accommodation

We won’t be left behind

There can be no social justice without disability justice.

Yet too many people, even so called “progressives” are more than willing to leave disabled people behind.

That’s why it’s so important that we take up space.

That we don’t hide our suffering.

When your disabilities are invisible … it’s easy to hide.

To play through the pain and pretend to be fine so you don’t have to face the discrimination & ableism that’s rampant in society.

The problem is, if we hide … nothing changes.

It took me years to identify as disabled

It’s still not too late to wear a mask!

Covid and flu are raging. People are traveling for the holidays & getting sick in the process.

A well fitted respirator like an N95 protects you and those around you.

It’s an investment in your health plus it shows solidarity with the disability community.

Imagine if in 2026 we decided everyone should have access to:

Housing
Food
Clean water
Childcare
Healthcare
Paid time off
Education

We can choose to make it happen.

We can stop blaming people for being sick, poor or marginalized & start demanding more from the elite.

Being told you're 'paranoid', 'have anxiety' and being told to see a psychiatrist to get medicated so you don't object to their actions that can kill you.

Awe, thank you! I hope you’re having a great holiday season too. I’ll try to be more active on here in the new year.

@brianamillslmft.bsky.social I miss your voice around here. 🥹💕 I hope you had some lovely moments this holiday season

The Covid-19 pandemic killed off one strain of the flu, and that will change the next vaccines | CNN For 10 years, Americans have had access to flu shots that protect against four strains of the virus: two A strains and two B strains. Starting this fall, however, all the flu shots distributed in the ...

As we experience a huge surge of flu cases, a reminder that the widespread usage of masks at the start of the COVID pandemic wiped out a strain of the flu.

If you haven’t been masking up lately, now would be a great time to restart.

This is one of the reasons the “Covid is just a flu” narrative always bothered me.

It minimized the risk of COVID while also downplaying the severity of the flu.

The flu is not a joke. It can & does kill. It can & does disable.

Please get vaccinated.

A well fitted mask like an N95 helps too!

Jon, Jon, and Tim, you won. It's been 6 years. There are no mask mandates, only mask bans. Whining, laughing at, and belittling people because they maturely created a new healthy habit isn't very normal, nor is it very joyful

Anti-masking is a project 2025 goal literally written out on page 475

And not once within their judgements do they consider that they might be neglecting us. There is ZERO compassion in the "oh they're just wanting attention", and its gross.

Tell me how I SOBBED when a very distant friend on the other side of the world, studied one of my chronic illnesses & asked for some tests results bc they have specialists in their extended family who may be able to help. Just the studied part got me! 😭

Part of me always wants to ask folks who say we're "attention-seeking" what the last effort they made to provide positive attention or (heaven forefend) practical support just for the good of it was

but more of me wants to not have to listen to their bs excuses when I already know the answer anyway

sometimes i still get a flare of self-consciousness about still masking but then i hear someone coughing their lung out in a grocery store and as someone with no health insurance or a job that gives me paid time off, being perceived as weird in public is okay with me actually

Great list. I would also add this:
Loved ones not making any effort to learn more about our illness(es).

@support.bsky.team 👇

I’m not seeing replies in my notifications

Please fix this

6 Reasons Why Families Create Black Sheep 5. Parents who despise themselves deep down.

I read this article earlier, i suspect it's a similar emotional pattern for disabled people being excluded by family.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/chil...

Top 5 Most-Read "5 Things" Articles of 2025 | AJMC Explore the top 5 insights on managed care, public health policy, and emerging health trends shaping 2025's health care landscape.

The American Journal of Managed Care’s list of 5 most read articles features Long Covid

It says that in 5 years, Long Covid amounts to more than $3.7 trillion in healthcare spending

This is not sustainable

This is what a mass disabling event looks like

Mask up. Get your vaccines. Clean the air.