If you believe the right wing press, being disabled or chronically ill is the latest trend. About a month ago Kathleen Stock (notable anti trans activist) wrote a piece for The Times titled ‘Why are so many young women using walking sticks?’. Her complaints about the use of mobility aids clearly chimed with Poppy Coburn, who, this month penned ‘How having a disability became cool’ in The Telegraph. Both pieces rely on the same prejudice and ignorance. Ultimately, they also support the same agenda.

Stock & Coburn both proclaim there to be more disabled people than ever before. They specify that these disabilities are mostly amorphous and hard to prove. Coburn in particular takes aim at PoTS. Both writers conveniently ignore that we have all lived through a global pandemic, which experts have long warned would be a mass disabling event. With this in mind, PoTS is particularly relevant. Covid has resulted in a huge increase in PoTS diagnoses. PoTS is one the acknowledged conditions that Covid19 can induce. I myself, was left with PoTS after contracting Covid. I was intially diagnosed with Long Covid, but Drs quickly noticed that my symptoms mirrored those of PoTS. Far from Coburn’s claim that Pots is hard to quantify and diagnose, there are actually very clear markers and tests. Tachycardia , Dizziness & Syncope, Breathlessness and Air Hunger. There are of course many more symptoms, but these are usually the red flags for PoTS. All of which can and are quantified and recorded with standard medical tests. Media like this supports the notion that chronic illnesses are so indistinct as to be easily faked. This is of course nonsense. Equating many people struggling to get a diagnosis with a condition being difficult to diagnose is absolute bullshit. This narrative increases stigma and ultimately makes accessing appropriate support harder. Which is of course, kind of the point.

The cool factor, they insist, is intrinsic to the rise in chronic illness. Coburn posits that chronic illness & disability are in fact a lifestyle. The appeal of which is fame, fortune and the easy life. Conditions like PoTS, EDS, MCAS & Fibromyalgia are, she says, used as an excuse to avoid adult responsibilities. Thus unencumbered the sick & disabled are free to pursue their chosen lifestyle. Longterm sickness is absolutely a choice to Coburn & her ilk. By her telling, there are no years of debilitating symptoms, no ever increasing medical visits, no fighting for diagnosis nor any battle for relief. Nope; one simply decides that they are chronically ill. Perhaps this is accompanied by sharing one’s experience on social media and voila, a new identity is born. Of course, everyone who has a chronic illness or disability is automatically granted vast amounts of disability benefits. Those Instagram posts always turn into large follower counts and lucrative brand deals. People share their experiences not for catharsis or in an attempt to help others. Their true motivation is profit and clout. Both of which are abundantly available. Disability is of course, very glamorous and society is famously eager to endlessly accommodate. Sickness becomes an entire identity. A victim mentality is encouraged, nay, embraced by the communities that have emerged. Thus, people seek to display their disability with customised mobility aids to up their cache. It is not unnoticed that Coburn and Stock critically align the disabled community with other marginalised groups. Just the latest ridiculous fad among the loony lefties. Life as ‘sickfluencer’ is all health updates on social media, sparkly mobility aids and raking in the PIP.

The reality of chronic illness is a far cry from Poppy’s ‘cool kids club’. Both writers focus on young women, the inference being that this a group that is not to be trusted. The misogyny echoes the bias women often face when seeking medical help. Women routinely receive subpar medical treatment. We are less likely to have our symptoms believed or investigated. Diagnosis takes far longer for women, than men. Conditions that mainly or solely affect AFAB people are not well researched. Even our access to pain relief is severely limited. Medical misogyny has been well established. The activism of women has been a pivotal factor in changing this. These articles ignore the battle that has been fought for the recognition of these conditions. There has been a rise in diagnosis of ‘invisible’ illness. This is not because people are faking, but due to wider recognition of those conditions. These conditions – and the suffering they cause – have always existed. The only difference is they are now officially accepted.

Diagnosis obtained, the next step is not, as suggested, to collect disability limits and live a life leisure. To begin with, the main disability payment PIP (Adp in Scotland) is not an out of work benefit. It designed to cover the extra costs that occur due to being chronically ill and or disabled. Many people in receipt of these benefits are working. Those who do not are unable to. Claiming disability benefit is not easy. Infact, the system is designed to discourage applicants. The intial paperwork is exhaustive. Each condition, treatment, medication and medical professional seen must be detailed. Furthermore, each symptom and how they impact daily life must thoroughly described. Medical evidence is required for every claim. This process is followed by DWP assesment. These are carried out by ‘medically trained’ assesors, but that medical training is rarely relevant to the claimants being assessed. Assessments consist of being questioned about every aspect of life, often being forced to disclose the most private and distressing details to a stranger. That assessor will then decide if/what you are awarded. Unfortunately these assessors rarely accurately represent what occurred in their reports. There have been countless examples of proven lies and cases of severely ill people being denied. From there one must undertaken a stressful appeal process that often seriously impacts the claimants health. The fact the majority of people who appeal will succeed underlines the fact this system is not fit for purpose. Having been through the process, I do not believe it is possible to be falsely awarded disability benefits. The DWP’s own research put fraudulent claims at less than 1%. The people who are awarded these benefits are significantly disabled by their conditions. The hate mongering that these pieces indulge in serves only to goad the public into accepting the withdrawal of support to some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

The truth of chronic illness is much bleaker than Coburn or Stock would have you believe. There’s no choice about the constant pain, fatigue, nausea or passing out. There symptoms cannot be switched off. There’s no magic wand to improve one’s mobility or rework our genetics. It’s a continuous battle to function in a world that refuses to accommodate us. We’re not chilling at home eating lollipops. We’re stuck there, physically unable to take part in our lives. Sharing these stories online isn’t a popularity contest and I can tell you from personal experience, the odd PR product does not a rich girl make. I was actually gifted some of those ‘designer’ compression socks that Coburn mocked (value Aprox £25). They’re just compression socks that aren’t ugly. I need compression socks and if I can offer a genuine review to others I will. Being disabled doesn’t stop people having style or a personality. A pink walking stick is no different to pink glasses. No one accuses people of wearing funky glasses because poor eye sight is the latest trend. Content on this topic is usually about awareness and connection. These articles are evidence of the stigma that abounds. Information is the best tonic for ignorance. We disabled/chronically ill have to advocate for ourselves. We are forced to gather information and insist on second opinions or we suffer in silence. Debunking misinformation is essential to prevent our rights being further eroded. There is also solace to be found in shared understanding. Being too sick to partake in a social life can be very isolating. Even being the person that cancels has an impact on relationships. Finding others who understand your experience is powerful. If a very few people can parle that into a career why should that be problem? Aren’t hard work, entrepreneurship and self sufficiency hallmarks of the right?

It scares me it that these vile attacks now pass for mainstream journalism. These articles are clear propaganda. They are filled with untruths and snide judgements. The agenda of these pieces is blatant. Yes, they represent another skirmish in the culture wars, but they’re also a signal. A beaming light that directs hate. The disabled and chronically ill community are the latest target of the right’s misdirection. If the populace can be convinced that immigrants, trans and disabled people are the cause of all their woes, they won’t pay attention to the elite who are in charge. Like clockwork, a few days after The Telegraph piece we get details of Reform’s planned cuts to PIP. Politicians who choose to make deeper cuts to the welfare state, sell of you public services and rile up facist thugs are not your in your corner. Neither are the minions who spread their propaganda. Don’t be fooled by it.