aerik has benefitted from vital practical and material support.
Transcript
So some of it’s been really like direct like “Let’s get you a laptop, let’s get you online, let’s teach you how to use the internet again because everything has changed in the last five years since you’ve been on it.” So, some of it’s been very material help as —well – bringing in groceries. I was up until very recently in the living situation with another disabled person and when COVID hit we lost a lot of our in-home, in-person accessibility supports and services so we were kind of like on our own trying to make up for those losses, the two of us trying to take care of each other. And that person wasn’t able to go shopping and like do a lot of the things that they had been doing because of COVID, so definitely people like bringing us groceries. Even just like helping us talk through like, “OK, you can’t get this in this way, like can we talk about the other ways that you could get this?” So definitely some like – yeah, help with troubleshooting and then actually just like buying us stuff, bringing us stuff, sharing – you know like I had to move kind of suddenly and I lost my subsidy in the move and this is also in the last year and you know folks fundraised to help me pay for that, so some of it is like very concrete financial and material support as well, yeah.
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- Symptoms of Long COVID – aerikFor aerik, losing the ability to read and write meant the loss of an important way of coping with disability.
- Complementary and Alternative Care – aerikaerik has complex health needs and can't afford private care. They were able to attend a free clinic at a naturopathic college.
- Advice to Policy Makers – aerikaerik thinks disability support systems don't reflect the reality of living with chronic illness.
- Seeking Information About Long COVID – aerikaerik describes how the crowd sourced information about potential treatments.
- Support From Family, Friends, Communities – aerikaerik has benefitted from vital practical and material support.
- Support From Family, Friends, Communities – aerikaerik draws on their longstanding connection with the queer and disabled communities.
- Additional Expenses – aerikaerik lives on low income and tells us how it feels to not have access to many treatment options.
- Coping Strategies and Self Care – aerikaerik appreciates the beauty of slowing down.
- Advice to Healthcare Providers – aerikaerik appreciates healthcare providers who see their patients as partners in care.