Raising awareness of, and supporting, young people with long-term health conditions
When I hear loss and gain I think more about sacrifices I have to make and how my experiences have changed my personality. When I was first diagnosed, it was all a bit dramatic and it wasn’t clear what my life would be like so at that stage, I hadn’t gained or lost anything. However, … Continue reading Lost and Gained: Kitty
Jenny, 22 Jenny: When I got diagnosed it felt like I had gained this huge weight of responsibility, like I had this massive load to carry around with me at all times. Luckily with Type One diabetes the advancement of the medication meant that it can fit in a little case, so the weight was … Continue reading Jenny: Lost and Gained
Hospital stays are a seemingly inevitable part of having a long term health condition, and can be difficult for lots of different reasons. There’s the isolation, stress, worry, missing out on things and the fact that you usually feel completely rubbish. We are writing this, Beth and Ally as both patients and visitors, and Ross … Continue reading Managing a Hospital Stay
The loneliness that came with epilepsy is one of the things that has taken me most by surprise and that I have found the hardest to manage. I feel we all know the difference between emotionally and physically alone, but it feels an important difference to emphasise. Especially because I would be doing an injustice … Continue reading In the Same Boat: Ally’s Perspective
Hi! I’m Mirren, I’m 19 years old and I’m a Gaelic student at the University of Glasgow. I suffer from seizures, usually a few times a day, and while my doctors believe they’re caused by epilepsy they are still not sure. It’s been a year and a half since I was first hospitalised, and back … Continue reading In the Same Boat: Mirren’s Perspective
Loneliness is something that we tend to talk about purely in relation to elderly people, but it is something that can affect young people too. All young people experience feelings of loneliness; growing up involves lots of challenges: moving from school to university, changes in your support system, and new experiences that can be isolating. … Continue reading Loneliness; perspectives over time.
I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) at the age of 16 after falling ill with my first flare. UC is a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and is an inflammatory condition that causes ulcers, which can bleed and produce mucus, to form in the large intestine. It is currently incurable but can be … Continue reading IBD: Conversations with Friends
Last weeks post touched upon just how big a problem accessibility is, and how isolating and demoralising it can be for individuals up against it, and how widespread a problem it is in a way you may never have noticed. This makes having friends who both support you with this and share the anger and … Continue reading Accessibility: Being Part of The Solution (2/2)
So, what is accessibility. The dictionary definition of accessibility is ... ‘The quality of being able to be reached or entered’ However, accessibility can often be defined by what ‘inaccessibility’ means. Inaccessibility means being unable to go out alone due to cobbles, kerbs with no drop downs and degrading pavement stones. Inaccessibility is saying that … Continue reading Accessibility: A conversation we need to have. (1/2)
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