by April Smith | Nov 25, 2025 | Advocacy & Communication
There comes a point in many chronically ill people’s lives when the pace of the world stops feeling fast and starts feeling flat-out incompatible. It rarely arrives in one dramatic moment. More often, it shows up quietly. Maybe it happens when you need another rest...
by April Smith | Oct 28, 2025 | Advocacy & Communication
It took me a long time to realize that exhaustion isn’t always physical. Sometimes it comes from being too available, too agreeable, too afraid to take up space. For years, I mistook compliance for kindness. I believed that being easygoing and agreeable made life...
by April Smith | Sep 16, 2025 | Advocacy & Communication
What happens when people who were never expected to lead become the ones who change history? The story of disability rights isn’t just about laws passed or court cases won. It’s about ordinary people—many of them chronically ill activists—who refused to let exclusion...
by April Smith | Jul 22, 2025 | Advocacy & Communication
There’s a moment that comes quietly, in the background of your day. You catch yourself thinking something cruel. Maybe it’s, “You’re just being dramatic.” Or, “If you really tried, you could push through.” And you don’t question it—because it sounds so familiar. That...
by April Smith | Jun 17, 2025 | Advocacy & Communication
Feeling like you need to push through your illness to prove yourself? You’re not alone. I’ve been there too — and I know how damaging that mindset can be. There was a time when I thought my worth hinged on how well I could hide my illness. When I was first diagnosed...
by April Smith | May 20, 2025 | Advocacy & Communication
If you’ve ever walked out of a doctor’s office feeling more unheard than helped, you’re not alone. Medical self-advocacy isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a survival skill for those of us living with chronic illness. Recently, I had an appointment that reminded me just how...
