Michelle Wilkinson
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mlw117.bsky.social
Michelle Wilkinson
@mlw117.bsky.social
130 followers 190 following 1 posts
Nonprofit worker, Toastmaster, lifelong learner, and dog mom. Doing the best I can now and always trying to do better and better.
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Reposted by Michelle Wilkinson
longcovidsos.bsky.social
@DrFrancesRyan on the backlash against disabled people & the clinically vulnerable #cev as well as mentioning the life-changing nature of #LongCovid
Since the last legal Covid protections were removed in 2022, clinically vulnerable people have been left with the "choice" of in effect shielding indefinitely or risking our lives each time we go out. Many disabled readers have told me they no longer feel able to do simple things like have a pint with a friend. Others with long Covid have lost jobs and relationships. The "return to normal" did not include everyone. It isn't simply that the things that helped clinically vulnerable people to stay safe have gone - there's pushback to the idea that we even deserve them. Simply wearing a mask ourselves in 2025 - let alone asking someone else to - is enough to get yelled at by a stranger in Tesco. It feels at times as if the pandemic unmasked (no pun intended) a blend of denial and resentment towards disabled people, as if our needs are simultaneously a reminder of a time society would rather forget, and evidence of a sense of entitlement from an uppity minority. As one district nurse told me last year when I asked if she would mind testing for Covid before she came to my home if I gave her a lateral flow test: "It isn't for people like you to tell us what to do."
March 1, 2025 at 10:57 AM