RadicalRNAdvocate

How many times have you heard, “Oh, did you diagnose yourself on TikTok?” and felt so trivialized? If your experience is like mine, you had to endure it more times than you should have. Social media, Reddit, podcasts, blogs, and support groups are our lifelines. They provide us with facts, lived experiences, community, understanding, and validation. Yes, sometimes we even help each other figure out what’s going on.

I long for the day when I don’t have to prepare for a specialist appointment as if I am going into a courtroom. I dream of a world where all humans get the care they deserve. That BIPOC individuals get the same care as I (white chick). I mean, I get gaslit and treated horribly, but I know that they often still have it worse.

This is why the internet is not a luxury for Disabled folx. Yet more often than not, they cannot afford to have it at home and pay their bills. Not to mention the fact that accessibility isn’t even an afterthought in web design. Or even the design of laptops, phones, etc., none of it is made for us.

The next time you want to criticize someone for spending the time figuring out their health, don’t. I do not care if you a doctor with 10 years experience, “Dr. Google” should not intimidate your, nor should it make you dismiss a patient.

When someone inevitably says how social media is just a place full of people showing off. Remind them they are wrong it is far more complex. I am not denying that social media can be a disaster. Just that it can serve a completely different purpose for the disability community.

When a disabled person states an access issue regarding a website, how an individual posted something, or anything. Listen, then do something, if it is something you are in charge of or can change.

I know when I am scared, or when I can’t figure something out, I go to Reddit now. Look up a posting board for the topic and ask for help. Before the day is even over, I have so many people commenting. A of them offering support, information, and even tangible resource options.

Without the internet, without these social platforms. I would literally have no one in my life who understands what I am experiencing. The internet is a necessity and not a luxury in this disabled baddie’s world.

This is not meant to be an in-depth analysis or even the full scope of why the internet is a necessity. Just a beginning glance into its importance, with some anecdotal evidence from my own life.