There are many surgery prep documents out there that focus on the physical and material aspects of...
Category: Caring for a Friend
Who Will Care for ‘Kinless’ Seniors?
When her sister died three years ago, Ms. Ingersoll joined the ranks of older Americans considered...
Sex and disability
Scarleteen has a fantastic collection of articles on sex and disability. While I typically only...
How to Talk About Disability With A Disabled Partner When You’re a Nondisabled Person
New relationships - whether romantic, sexual, or both - are almost always exciting, no matter who...
The Caregivers
A few years into the illness, Janie could sense it worsening. Buzz, who had never yelled at her,...
The “Chosen Family” Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be
I was in my twenties the first time I heard the concept of the “chosen family,” and it’s hard to...
Some young adults with disabilities are stuck in long-term care. They say that’s discrimination.
For the past decade, [Victoria] Levack has lived, reluctantly, at the Arborstone Enhanced Care...
Beyond Britney: Abuse, Exploitation, And Death Inside America’s Guardianship Industry
BuzzFeed News has scoured hundreds of thousands of court documents, obtained confidential mental...
The surprising relationships we carry
I received a disturbing phone call last week just as I sat down to write the latest newsletter. An...
He Couldn’t Remember That We Broke Up
To break up with someone is to lose the imagined future you would create together, but you would...
Don’t Let a Loved One’s Health Problems Come Between You
I’ve seen people with difficult-to-manage physical and mental health conditions (or hard-to-break...
A Deep Dive into Deep Kindness: What It Really Means to Be Kind
One of the most dangerous narratives we have in our culture currently is this idea that kindness...
We need a queer and trans revolution in care for older adults
I’ve spent the past decade and a half feeling afraid of where I might end up living when I get...
On Becoming Friends With a Non-Disabled Person
It helps to be friendly, considering that I’m stared at almost everywhere I go. I was born with...
On Alternative Forms of Communal Care and Expanded Kinship Circles
We need not look far to find cultures where caring kinships have been arranged differently....
As a queer person, COVID-19 made me realize I need to start end-of-life planning
On the freezer door in my kitchen, there’s an index card held in place with a bright red magnet....
Supporting someone who self harms
Is someone you care about cutting themselves? This guide to supporting someone who’s engaged in non-suicidal self harm helps you understand their behavior, how to support them, and how to support yourself.
The Perks of Roommates With a 50-Year Age Difference
From their first conversation, Nellie Goodwin knew that she and Sarah would make great roommates....
What to Do When Everyone Needs Support but You’re Only One Person
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people need a lot of interpersonal support. A year...
How to Help Comfort a Loved One During a Hospital Stay
Follow these tips to make their hospital stay as easy as possible.
What Real Friendship Looks Like When You’re Chronically Ill
As someone with multiple chronic illnesses—including ankylosing spondylitis, fibromyalgia, ME/CFS,...
The girl I didn’t save
No one ever uses the word dying, even if it’s the correct word to use. We think this denial of the...
The Lingering of Loss
She’d found out she had leukemia right about when I started trying to get pregnant. Her cells...
When you give a friend a kidney
Brandon and Scott met as adversaries in a union negotiation and somehow became golf buddies....