Author | Lightnews

Alex Haagaard (they/them)

@alexhaagaard.bsky.social

5.2K followers 350 following 280 posts

Opinions = mine Shouting into the void about chronic illness, philosophy of medicine and design. If I want advice, I'll ask for it. If I want to hear about the merits of a biopsychosocial framework, my account has been hacked.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Nov 14

I guess I should share this here too now.

pxphub.org/what-social-...

What social determinants of health actually do within the scope of a person’s life - PxP

By Alex Haagaard A society is a group of people living together in a way that is organized by certain […]

pxphub.org

6 18

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Krystal Kavita Jagoo, MSW (She/Her/Hers) 🇹🇹👊🏽✍️🏾♊️♊️♏️ @equitableforall.com · Mar 23

"He pulled out an intake form...
Through clenched teeth I hissed, “I am having 12/10 pain, sir.”
He wrote 2/3 priority category"

Please read this from @chisaraokwu.bsky.social who recounts her experience as a Black patient & physician with undiagnosed pain: www.midnightandindigo.com/brief-histor...

A Brief History of Pain | .CHISARAOKWU.

This essay by Black woman writer .CHISARAOKWU. recounts her experience as a patient and physician dealing with undiagnosed pain.

www.midnightandindigo.com

8 12

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Katie @looktogod.bsky.social · Mar 24

If they only knew how complicated our lives were/ are with all the lifestyle changes we've adopted in order to ease and improve our lives of chronic illness. But they tend to get annoyed every time they do get a glimpse bc we need their help with it.

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 24

Everyone: you know, if you just made some lifestyle changes you'd feel a lot better

Chronically ill person *starts using fragrance-free products, going to bed before 9pm and getting groceries delivered*

Everyone: not like that

4 14

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 24

3 22 90

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 23

tfw you start adding a review cycle to your emails and chat messages to add contractions and minor grammar errors so people don't interpret your autism as condescension

1 11

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 20

Also like...if you ever need to understand what literally all social communication while Autistic is like, just know that I spent about 5 minutes trying to decide whether to describe it as "one piece," "two pieces" or "one piece sliced in two" and I still chose wrong lmao

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 19

Post a ficitional character who you think would be an antivaxxer.

Hard mode: No villains

3 2 18

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 19

*my friend has also just explained to me that most people would call one piece of chicken that has been sliced in half "two pieces of chicken," even though that is absolutely wild to me because the relevant quantity in question should really be discrete instances of rot / tissue lesion

1 8

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 19

Moral of the story, kids?

Say "the chicken in my sandwich is rotten"

Not, apparently, "one piece* of the chicken in my sandwich has a large greyish-green patch and I am unsure whether it's safe to eat."

1 10

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 19

and because, ironically, we are constantly playing 4d chess trying to ensure we aren't misunderstood.

(Why's that ironic, you ask?

Glad you asked!!!

Because the harder we try to make ourselves understood, the less allistic, non-ADHD people seem to understand us 🥲)

1 13

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 19

How is that algorithmic ableism, you ask?

Glad you asked!!!

See, those of us who are Autistic or ADHD tend to be...very precise when we describe things.

Both because we tend to process the world in a fundamentally different way than most people,

1 10

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 19

Today in wild algorithmic ableism:

did you know that if you request a refund through certain food delivery apps, they use an algorithm to decide how much you're entitled to based on your initial description of the problem, and the agent can't adjust that to account for basic human logic?

3 4 34

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Hetty Mulhall @hettymulhall.bsky.social · Mar 17

⏰Free, virtual session on March 20th for all members of the #HealthResearch team.

Learn about writing an effective narrative CV, how to apply #OpenScience principles, and frameworks to measure #ResearchImpact.

Panelist biographies: cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54201.html

✅Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Research Impact and Open science virtual half day. Photos of six panelists.

1 4 5

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Sparrow / Liz @untonuggan.bsky.social · Mar 10

[Food, food intolerances]

Follow up post on how I make homemade fermented mustard

Plus techniques I'm using that ~may~ be reducing the histamine content

#NEISvoid
#MCAS

1 4 15

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

🪲johnny🪲 [recovery mode] @gatorpond.bsky.social · Mar 10

these are the names of young Black men who were "found dead" after the Ferguson uprising following the murder of Michael Brown in 2014. Edward Crawford Jr. is in the famous image below. his death was ruled a suicide.

our gov't is not new to silencing activists. the least we can do is remember them.

photo of a young Black man in a US flag shirt throwing a can of tear gas that is burning and sprouting gas in his hand. he has stated in interviews he was throwing it not at the police but away from children who were in the vicinity.

19 3.1K 5.6K

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Gwen Snyder is undead @gwensnyder.bsky.social · Mar 10

This is why you should never, ever follow some random people suggesting the march/protest split up.

I've heard plenty of stories of cop infiltrators doing this and then leading their splinter directly into a kettle.

talia jane ❤️‍🔥 @taliajane.bsky.social · Mar 10

Anyway, some info that’s kinda useful but not 100%. NYPD and cops in general will jump and grab people for stupid shit and provoke needless chaos regardless, but in terms of being able to control a mass of bodies, as long as they stick together, NYPD is pretty much useless.

7 180 480

Reposted by Alex Haagaard (they/them)

Emily M-H @aislinglady.bsky.social · Mar 10

I’m not familiar with the influencer realm, but I’ve certainly gotten all that from people in the medical system who really fucking ought to know better.

1 4

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

Or, "Why I never ask for help and let people walk all over me except for the times when I do fight back and then l'm a scary mean Autistic who flies off the handle suddenly for no reason but we'll just set that can of worms aside for now, shall we"

Venn diagram titled "The Impossible Math of Invisible Disability." The circles are labeled Help-seeking, Pacing and Self-advocating. The center is labeled "This doesn't exist."

1 2 26

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

We need a chronically ill version of that 90s photocopier meme where you can choose only 2 of good, fast and cheap.

But it's asking for help, not letting people treat you like shit, and managing your energy.

1 7 33

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

And like no, you've just set chronically ill people a literally impossible math equation.

1 22

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

It just seems to me like there's a whole lot of "internalized ableism" rhetoric aimed at individualizing the responsibility for coping with systemic ableism and specifically the forms of systemic ableism that tend to be weaponized predominantly against invisibly disabled people 🙃

1 5 35

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

Chronic illness influencers: you have to learn 😌 pacing 😌

1 25

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

Chronic illness influencers: you have to get comfortable 🌈 advocating for yourself 🌈

Average chronically ill person: advocates for themself

Average chronically ill person: puts themself into a flare because they expended too much energy self-advocating

1 36

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Mar 10

Chronic illness influencers: you have to get comfortable ✨️ asking for help ✨️

Average chronically ill person: asks for help

Abled people: Who the fuck do you think you are, you attention-seeking piece of shit???

6 31 150

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Feb 19

Extremely fucking weird to have your scapula go out and feel like, "oh hey, welcome back you old bastard!"

Alex Haagaard (they/them) @alexhaagaard.bsky.social · Feb 19

ngl though i will take the hypermobility pain over the inflammatory pain every. fucking. time.

1 6