What would it mean to view our chronically ill, disabled bodies as inherently valuable? What would it mean for us to center healing and decenter cures? What would it look like, for you, to view your body and mind as a place of knowledge, wisdom, care and not just a broken vessel?

And importantantly, what does it look like for us to collectively acknowledge disabled and chronically ill people as worthy and valuable regardless of productivity?
What does it look like to construct our world with accessibility at the forefront, rather than as an after thought? How has the world been constructed around disability in ways that create isolation, pain, and suffering? And how do we reconsider the oppressive, harmful structures we’ve built?

Over the years and through Lyme, mold illness, psychosis, and MCAS, we (mom and daughter, Stacy and Chaleigh) have been considering these ideas and how to practice them. We have moved further and further from cures and closer towards a more holistic healing, including a healing that centers community and justice. We have found it a more compassionate lens through which to view ourselves and each other–and more truly holistic in that it radically addresses structural and community needs.

We have to do better, for ourselves and for one another.

PS: The book “Care Work” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is wonderful for considering these ideas and seeing how they have already been executed!

Originally shared: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDEl8xojJux/