#severe

Batter Shreyas Iyer overcame a severe spleen injury that caused major weight loss, working hard to regain fitness and return to cricket. Now leading Punjab Kings, he is focused on winning the IPL 2026 title. Emphasising teamwork and bonding, Iyer and Arshdeep Singh remain confident about delivering a strong season. Source link

If I had nothing else to do at all, I could not shower on my own, I could not do my laundry without assistance, I could not clean my room, I could not get up off the floor, I could not have enough energy to transfer as much as I should, and I could not walk AT ALL. These experiences of significant inability would not change in a vacuum, and yes, no one exists in a vacuum, but being able to do anything in a vacuum gives forth to a possibility someone could do something one time (at significant cost) if they really needed to. It begets the possibility of survival in a situation where a severely disabled person would die, so that is why I need severely disabled perspectives because death isn't like anything else.

I respect people's experiences with lower support needs disabilities, and I think that they should have the right to discuss them. I also think that disabled people shouldn't have to appeal to able-bodied people, begging for belonging. I simply wish that, in a world where more privileged perspectives are often overrepresented, severely disabled perspectives would be represented too.

I've spent so much of this post decrying marginalization of severely disabled voices, so now I would like to share a bit of my own, not really related to asking to be heard:

Things I'm excited for as a severely disabled person: moving out of my dorm and into a city with better caregiving infrastructure, not having to rely on informal caregivers like friends to help with laundry and the bare minimum cleaning not to make my space a hazard, having people who can help me get dressed more often, home health that can access my building (instead of me having to fetch them from the lobby), a ceiling lift so I can stop purposefully dehydrating due to my inability to do as many transfers as I need throughout the day, an adjustable hospital bed that allows me to sit up without screaming every morning, better pain management, prescription refills, even one day of sleep that isn't plagued my pain that penetrates its way into my nightmares, a solution for food without dining halls and frozen meals (if possible).

I think of my privilege all the time, maybe even a bit too much, but I think it is important to evaluate the things you look forward to from time to time and think about if what you despise is something someone would wish for. Of course, you are allowed to struggle even if it's not as bad as someone else. I most definitely am not saying that you aren't allowed to struggle or complain or have feelings, but I think it is important to remember, like stated before, that we do not live in a vacuum and to take into account that people may have more extreme struggles than you could imagine.

One of the reasons I would love to hear more severely disabled perspectives and voices and words is because it means that they haven't been killed by systemic ableism yet. Another reason is that I think that people deserve to see the nichest versions of themselves represented in others. Without sharing the most basic experiences, like the taboo needs of severely disabled people, people will never realize there is a whole wide world of people out there who may understand just how extreme things are, just how maddening.

A fish doesn't know it's in water. Until something goes wrong.

The storm had been severe. Some wayward southern hurricane, its remnants roiling over and inundating DC.

Skinner called them the night before, said the Hoover building would be closed.

She'd brought supplies to her mother, then returned home and called him, inviting him over.

Heavens opened, Hephaestus cleaving the dark sky in two.

Swirling in warm sheets, currents eroding the chains of daily routine, floating in the ambrosia of nature's mercy. Swimming abreast, panting, gasping, moaning, alive. Drinking and sinking into one another.

Together, slowly remembering how to breathe.

_______

ao3