We don't owe you.

By Athira Elssa Johnson -
People undergoing traumitizing medication, handling its sideffects and keeping up with the medication despite all the mental, physical, other difficulties are not obliged in any way to give  eye-opening health study classes and 'did you know' facts about their health condition to anyone!!! 

Even if they are vocal about their conditions on social media, they do not owe you their time or labour to enlighten you further on this in your personal chat logs. Unless they chose to detail it to you without any doubt or on a full on consent or when they are fully ready. 
Why do you think I am somehow supposed to brief you about my illness!  The energy you take to pop up in my inbox and type "What is drug resistant tuberculosis , send a voice note", use the same energy and find the answers online on your own, find it on authentic websites where its made available, stop expecting us to serve you with the info to your privileged heads. 

I am no educator nor I claim to have any medical knowledge of the illness other than my own experience with it and if you want to initiate a conversation,  asking me to give a long essay on drug resistant tb is definitely not okay. Initiating talks on tuberculosis does not mean every tb patient out there is at your service to educate you on the same. We are well aware of how this subtly operated stigma works here. 

Last week someone msged asking me to elaborate on how TB and COVID19 are related, yesterday someone else came up with the same old question 'elaborate on your illness', and this is happening online,  from those using internet and the ones not associated with my illness but here to LEARN coz they find it ummm pretty FASCINATING area , intriguing and curious!!!! 

All I am asking is to type the  exact same words on any search engines out there if at all to learn other than coming into our inboxes. With such  arrogance someone replied to me " If I had to find it online or google why would I come to your inbox and ask you". We are  not here battling this illness to provide an emotional motivational inspirational whatsoever story for you to listen to with popcorn. NOPE.
" I believe in the power of lived experiences and documenting stories . I try to survive amidst the stigma, hate and act against any means / system of oppression. Considers intersectionality as to be the most important in politics and elsewhere. Trying to learn, relearn and unlearn as a journalist. My beat is health and I pursue it with understanding of communities "

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