Because she brought this to my attention and it is an awesome thing, on point, and .... needed. Chronic illness and how we approach it in this culture.
Partial quote:
The thing is, I think we are, as a culture, sort of in love with the broken leg model of illness, injury, and disability.
Here's what makes the Hollywood broken leg model so shiny.
With a broken leg, you:
*know what has happened.
*know when it happened AND
*know it right away.
*know what to do to fix it.
*know about how long it will take to heal.
*know that it will not suddenly get less healed for awhile in the middle and then jump back to more healed again.
*can easily predict which things will stress the injury.
*know that it will be completely fixed when treatment is done.
*have at least some theory of where the person experiencing it falls on the continuum of sinner ("What were you doing on top of that water tower at 3 a.m. anyway? You're lucky it wasn't your neck!") to saint ("Hit by a drunk driver while helping an elderly nun across the crosswalk? Let me fluff that pillow for you, you poor baby!").
*do not have any doubt as a casual passerby whether there is something wrong, or what.
From the beginning at the SOURCE
This entry was originally posted at http://pj.dreamwidth.org/319584.html. Please comment here or there there using your LJ ID or OpenID.
Partial quote:
The thing is, I think we are, as a culture, sort of in love with the broken leg model of illness, injury, and disability.
Here's what makes the Hollywood broken leg model so shiny.
With a broken leg, you:
*know what has happened.
*know when it happened AND
*know it right away.
*know what to do to fix it.
*know about how long it will take to heal.
*know that it will not suddenly get less healed for awhile in the middle and then jump back to more healed again.
*can easily predict which things will stress the injury.
*know that it will be completely fixed when treatment is done.
*have at least some theory of where the person experiencing it falls on the continuum of sinner ("What were you doing on top of that water tower at 3 a.m. anyway? You're lucky it wasn't your neck!") to saint ("Hit by a drunk driver while helping an elderly nun across the crosswalk? Let me fluff that pillow for you, you poor baby!").
*do not have any doubt as a casual passerby whether there is something wrong, or what.
From the beginning at the SOURCE
This entry was originally posted at http://pj.dreamwidth.org/319584.html. Please comment here or there there using your LJ ID or OpenID.
