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Searching for a Cause: Navigating Medical Gaslighting and Disability as a Non-Binary Neurodivergent Individual





Everything went wrong after Long Covid

I was relatively healthy until I got long COVID in 2022, several months after a relatively mild initial case. I never knew what it was like to be chronically ill or live with severe, debilitating chronic pain before that. Now I do and I have so much more empathy for other individuals who live with those conditions! I also had no idea I was neurodivergent until I was an adult, and that makes a lot of things make sense in retrospect. I really want to draw attention to the medical gaslighting that happens especially to young and AFAB individuals (assigned female at birth)! I am basically an 85-year-old in a 30-year-old body. :)

“Do You Actually Have That Diagnosis?”

I get asked this question all the time, by people who probably can't fathom what I am going through. I rarely tell the full extent of my health problems in one sitting with anyone ever because I know it might overwhelm people (I've even been told it does sometimes) and it's sad I constantly have to worry about this, even with my own family sometimes! I have found that you don't get taken as seriously when you are dealing with chronic pain/illness if something acute happens because people will be less likely to accommodate you when you're "always sick." I feel like people only treat you seriously if you are basically dying with cancer, or close to death. It's very performative, like why can't we all just love and support each other while we are still on this planet and why must I always justify my diagnoses and how I got them, especially when you are going to say you're too overwhelmed to listen to my response!?! I am NOT a hypochondriac and don't ask questions you aren't prepared to receive a response to. :) It's lonely enough navigating complex illness and pain as it is... I am very grateful for the opportunity to post here, thanks!!!

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Searching for a Cause: Navigating Medical Gaslighting and Disability as a Non-Binary Neurodivergent Individual

Searching for a Cause: Navigating Medical Gaslighting and Disability as a Non-Binary Neurodivergent Individual
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