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February 4, 2022

We aim to remember what we choose to forget

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I’m feeling pinchy this morning. The ableds are terrifying me with their dismissal of reality, especially the ableds in public health. Add to that companies only doing Black History Month-adjacent things to check off some tickbox…

No wonder this song is stuck in my head:

Anyway, let’s crack into this week’s threads.

#GiveUsThisDayOurDailyThread

I yelled at Leana Wen yesterday:

Twitter avatar for @GraysonGoal
Grayson (he/him) @GraysonGoal
Um, we #HighRiskCovid19 folks don't have a 'choice' here, @DrLeanaWen. Could I point you back to your book titled "When Doctors Don't Listen" and remind you that health care providers and public health folks exist to keep us safe, not murder us?
Twitter avatar for @DrLeanaWen
Leana Wen, M.D. @DrLeanaWen
To be sure, I am not advising that we throw all caution out the window. There will be many who cannot let their guard down, including the immunocompromised and parents of young children. They will still choose to be careful and voluntarily limit their activities. /6
6:04 PM ∙ Feb 3, 2022
55Likes14Retweets

I also yelled about a Harvard professor today who thinks we’re ‘ignoring the economy.’

Twitter avatar for @GraysonGoal
Grayson (he/him) @GraysonGoal
"Pandemic protocols that ignore the economy are a 'big mistake,' says Harvard's Stefanos Kales." WHAT FUCKING PROTOCOLS THAT IGNORE THE ECONOMY DO YOU THINK EXIST MY DUDE?? We are being sacrificed on the altar of capitalism.
cnbc.comIt’s time to ‘move on’ from the pandemic, says Harvard medical professorMany pandemic protocols are ineffective public health measures and the risk perception among the vaccinated is “way off,” said Harvard’s Dr. Stefanos Kales.
1:26 PM ∙ Feb 4, 2022
5Likes1Retweet

I’m very tired of people getting so much wrong about neurodivergence.

Twitter avatar for @GraysonGoal
Grayson (he/him) @GraysonGoal
I wanted this article to be good. It is not. #GiveUsThisDayOurDailyThread
additudemag.comThe Science of Fear: Probing the Brain Circuits That Link ADHD and PTSDResearch increasingly reveals a strong relationship — and reciprocal risk factors — between ADHD and PTSD. What explains this mutual comorbidity? PTSD is associated with dysfunction in areas of the brain implicated in fear extinction learning. New studies reveal that individuals with ADHD have simil…
4:34 PM ∙ Jan 30, 2022

I now have access to MMJ and wrote a little about it:

Twitter avatar for @GraysonGoal
Grayson (he/him) @GraysonGoal
I want to talk about this, ableism, and more. As always, not an attack on OP at all. Sharing what's coming up for me with this. #GiveUsThisDayOurDailyThread
Twitter avatar for @cannabisbutch
Mean Cripple♿⚧️ @cannabisbutch
Enjoying your pain medication is not wrong, no matter what the medication is. Pleasure is so important, especially if you rarely feel it because of chronic pain https://t.co/TenYEhdGES
1:09 PM ∙ Jan 31, 2022
5Likes1Retweet

It’s been a lifesaver, especially when our giant winter storm moved in last night.

Also, for those interested in movies, I could not finish Don’t Look Up. The ableism, antisemitism, and transphobia was… a lot.


Today’s ‘Duh’ Moment

Study finds high levels of depression, anxiety among disabled people during COVID-19 pandemic

People with disabilities are often immunocompromised or have comorbidities that would cause more severe infection from COVID-19, requiring more strict isolation at home to avoid exposure to the virus.

The study, published in Rehabilitation Psychology, examined survey responses from 441 adults between October and December 2020 who self-identified as having a disability. In total, 61% of participants met the criteria for probable major depressive disorder and 50% for probable generalized anxiety disorder.

That's much higher than the pre-pandemic baseline among people with and without disabilities, Bogart said. Previous research in the field has found that about 22% of people with disabilities are diagnosed with depression during their lifetime. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, in an average year, roughly 7% of all U.S. adults have major depressive disorder and 3% have generalized anxiety disorder.

Stigma was also a major predictor for depression and anxiety, particularly from conversations and policies around medical rationing where disabled people were essentially deemed a low priority for life-saving COVID resources. This translated into greater fear of catching the virus and needing medical care that might not be available, and therefore more social isolation, Bogart said.

I’m not sure I appreciate linking our symptoms to clinical diagnoses when they’re a sign of systemic discrimination and don’t need to be pathologized.


Important Twitter Threads

  • A Twitter thread from Kenyon Farrow on Blackness, COVID, and public health:

    Twitter avatar for @kenyonfarrow
    Kenyon Farrow @kenyonfarrow
    I’m frustrated with some USian leftists who don’t do public health work outraged that COVID may be a long-term reality seem to be operating from a place where they haven’t had to think about a dozen other diseases most ppl in the world also have had to adjust to. 1/
    2:09 AM ∙ Feb 1, 2022
    1,004Likes229Retweets
  • A Twitter thread from Chanda Prescod-Weinstein on Whoopi, race, antisemitism, and the Holocaust:

Twitter avatar for @IBJIYONGI
#JusticeForJulius | Chanda Prescod-Weinstein @IBJIYONGI
So as a Black Jew who studies the history of race in science, I think Whoopi Goldberg is wrong and the Holocaust was a genocide rooted in racialization. But I think we have a framework disagreement, and there’s nothing antisemitic about her words. 1/
3:17 AM ∙ Feb 3, 2022
3,766Likes760Retweets

Pieces From Friends

do it for her poster with photos of carrie fisher
Source
  • i tell the ghost of carrie fisher the world is ending from Kate Horowitz

  • Social Media Safety: How to Protect Yourself Online by Elly Belle

  • Disability activist Alice Wong is interviewed in A Disabled Activist Speaks Out About Feeling ‘Disposable’ by Rachel Scheier

  • When the Political Is Professional: Civil Disobedience in Psychology by Anthony Flynn, Sergio Dominguez Jr., Ree Ae Sumner Jordan, and Rachel Dyer

    • I read this piece a year ago, just as the writing process wrapped up. To see my friends’ hard work come so far as to be published in the APA journal when they’re both still in mid-PhD-dom? Goddamn.


What You Need To Know

  • The Murder Of Harry And Harriette Moore Was Investigated For Decades, But These KKK Members Were Never Truly Punished For Their Crimes by Kelly Martinez and Karlton Jahmal

  • What We Misunderstand About Suicide Among Black Americans by Jamie Ducharme and Janell Ross

  • Moderna starts trial of an omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine by Nicole Wetsman

  • Kids With COVID-Linked MIS-C Have Long-Term Symptoms by Steven Reinberg

  • U.S. diabetes deaths top 100,000 for second straight year by Chad Terhune and Robin Respaut

  • CDC Tells Pharmacies to Give 4th Covid Shots to Immunocompromised Patients by Liz Szabo

  • Light sensors on wearables struggle with dark skin and obesity by Nicole Wetsman

  • Highly infectious variant of HIV identified in Netherlands, researchers say
    by Brian P. Dunleavy

  • In ‘chemo brain,’ researchers see clues to unravel long Covid’s brain fog by Elizabeth Cooney

  • Medicare Patients Win the Right to Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage by Susan Jaffe

  • A Lawsuit Could Accelerate Research On Tear Gas And Menstrual Changes by Nicole Wetsman

  • Prescription video game company goes public via SPAC by Nicole Wetsman

  • Government watchdog says key federal health agency is failing on crises by The Associated Press

    • The Government Accountability Office said “persistent deficiencies” at the Department of Health and Human Services “have hindered the nation’s response" to the pandemic and previous threats.

  • Your Gas Stove Might Make You (and the Planet) Sick by Cara Murez

  • If you’re interested in learning more about epidemics, pandemics, and public health, you should follow Your Local Epidemiologist (Dr. Katelyn Jetelina). She has a Substack in addition to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Articles I Enjoyed/Found Interesting This Week

  • Defining disability justice and celebrating ‘crip-centric liberated zones’ by John O’Brien

  • This doctor is taking aim at our broken medical system, one story at a time by Sigal Samuel

  • Learning to Listen to Patients’ Stories by Richard Schiffman

  • A Billion Years of Time Are Mysteriously Missing. Scientists Think They Know Why. by Becky Ferreira

  • The forgotten queer and Black foundations that built electronic house music by Unathi Nkhoma

  • "The Pinnacle": 6 Black Femme Queen Voguers Who Shaped Ballroom History by Noelle Deleon and Wren Sanders

  • A New Documentary Explores the Legacy of Poly Styrene, Punk Pioneer and Fashion Renegade by Liam Hess

And, if you’re a part of the LGBTQ+ club, remember:

we owe all we have to black trans women - Kendrick Daye @kendrickdaye created the artwork of Marsha P Johnson in the middle of this graphic from an image taken by Hank O’ Neal of Marsha at NYC’s Pride march in 1977
“We owe all we have to Black trans women” with a graphic of Marsha P Johnson in the middle. The middle graphic was created by Kendrick Daye from an image taken by Hank O’ Neal of Marsha at NYC’s Pride march in 1977.

If you’re interested in more trans-centric research and work, make sure to check out the Trans Counseling Advocacy Research and Education (CARE) Collaborative that I’m a part of.

Thanks for reading! If you have feedback or anything you’d like to share, feel free to reach out to me on social media or email (all linked here).

Until next time,
Grayson

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