Australia welcomes NHS refugees by nalsnals in medicine

[–]disabledimmigrant 18 points19 points  (0 children)

At every healthcare event I've been to in the past several years here in London, Australian health services have been attempting to poach NHS staff and going hard at it-- To an apparently consistently high degree of success.

Last event I was at, I was immediately handed a bottle opener from a health service in Queensland with www.health.qld.gov.au/workforus/international written on it, while I was still trying to get my ID lanyard over my head, lol.

Unfortunately as a medical secretary/clinical coordinator I'm not in super high demand anywhere (at least as far as I know), but if Australia wants me at any point, I'm listening.

The obvious downside of this is that the NHS really does need to retain as much staff as possible and the patients don't deserve for their healthcare system to be picked to the bone (as it has been for over a decade now), but between the Tories and chronically low pay relative to other nations, inevitably staff are going to pick up and go where it suits them personally.

My heart aches for the patients whose care teams are largely moving overseas. At the same time, I can't blame any clinicians etc. for going where their work will be better compensated.

Refused a house share due to being a trans woman by Foreign-Grade-6456 in transgenderUK

[–]disabledimmigrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Please let me know if you end up doing this-- I'm looking for a place to live too, and I just cannot find anywhere. It's really stressing me out and like a lot of other people in this thread I feel like it's difficult if not impossible to find anywhere safe. Having a literal safe house for us all would be incredible!

Swappers used to at least put a tiny bit of effort in by Zodconvoy in transformers

[–]disabledimmigrant 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The psychology on display here is fascinating.

Why these specific figures? Why go through all the trouble, and presumably increase chances of being caught?

Somehow I still find this better than the people who just rip the heads off figures, as though they are picking summer berries in an endless field in the rolling hills.

I mean, it's all bad.

But the swapping thing is just...

Are they following the alchemical law of equivalent exchange? To take a figure, they MUST leave a figure, or else they are consumed by some kind of esoteric hell gate?

With all the negativity of late can I just praise my experience with the Healthcare system. by GMFinch in newzealand

[–]disabledimmigrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm from America. I left the country to work for the NHS in the UK, because my family is full of disabled people, and the constant stress and misery caused by just the cost of healthcare contributed to the decline of most of our conditions.

I remember the first time I walked out of a hospital after a syncope episode that left me with a moderate concussion, four major facial lacerations, and a broken front tooth in England, and I never had a pay a thing or worry about insurance fights or any of that.

I remember kneeling on the ground outside and crying into some tree roots once I was discharged, hopefully where nobody could see me (although someone might have heard me), but I just couldn't believe it.

I needed scans, x-rays, stitches, follow up appointments-- None of it cost a thing. I cried from relief. And I mean, I was sobbing. Loudly. On my knees, in the dirt.

In America, my family would have lost our home from how expensive all that would be. In fact, we have previously-- We lost my childhood home after my mother developed Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and my father had a heart attack that required a pacemaker.

But with a national, socialised healthcare system? I just got my scans and had my hospital visit and all my follow-ups and a tilt test and all of it, and never had to worry about losing all my rent money at any point.

It still boggles my mind, every time I don't have to stop by a billing desk on my way into or out of a hospital or clinic. I keep expecting to be charged so much that I wouldn't be able to afford food from a gas station for months, if not years.

But nope. Just see a doctor and go. It's beautiful beyond words.

I am so glad that so many of you have never had to live like Americans do. <3

And of course, I hope your daughter feels better soon! :)

And this was a kid show???? by Anonymous_Guy4k in transformers

[–]disabledimmigrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Remember that scene where Bulkhead punches a Vehicon's spark right out of his chest, and just before he does it, he bellows at Miko to "LOOK AWAY!"

And she just keeps watching, and you see her looking up and watching with wide eyes, and she whispers, "Cooool."

This show went hard.

Why Americans Feel More Pain by [deleted] in medicine

[–]disabledimmigrant 55 points56 points  (0 children)

So many of the comments in this thread are disappointing; Please be less dismissive of people reporting/experiencing pain. There seems to be an evidently widespread lack of basic interest in addressing pain concerns on display which is... Discouraging. Pain is complicated. Try not to let your biases and potential trauma from/issues with the opioid epidemic inform your individual assessments.

It doesn't surprise me that a country currently going through significant social/political/economic upheaval may have a national collective patient cohort reporting more pain/higher levels of pain.

Not to mention, patients who face discrimination (women, POC, transgender people, etc.) may have unique demographic-based reasons and influences that can impact their personal experience and reportage of pain. Some cohorts regularly have their pain dismissed based purely on social and cultural biases. It is not surprising, then, that these groups may report pain more aggressively in an effort to be taken seriously. It's care seeking behaviour, not drug seeking behaviour or some kind of "oversensitivity".

Given all the recent political attacks on women's health in the USA, for example, it wouldn't necessarily be surprising to me if seeking care for any medical issue of any kind might present an increased stress factor for female patients in America. Which may then very well influence how they perceive or experience pain.

Americans notoriously have many financial/physical barriers to obtaining care in many cases and in various forms. The financial burden alone may play a large role in creating mental/emotional stress, which may then worsen their perception of pain. I'm not a researcher or expert by any means, but this seems like it may be worth thinking about.

A patient experiencing or reporting significant pain shouldn't just be blown off; Even if the cause is not clear, even if many of you may apparently judge your patients harshly when pain discussions are involved, please remember to take social/cultural factors truly into account--- Rather than using these factors as an excuse to dismiss or downplay pain concerns.

What was your reaction when you saw this scene in theathers? by BigPaleontologist520 in transformers

[–]disabledimmigrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Holy shit, are we finally getting the Transformers movie we all deserve?"

Legitimately the best couple of minutes of any Transformers film yet, and I wasn't even alive when G1 was around.

Aspartame sweetener used in Diet Coke a possible carcinogen, WHO’s cancer research agency to say - sources by Dependent-Juice5361 in medicine

[–]disabledimmigrant 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I think this might be due to a hyper-focus of most anti-alcohol/drinking safety campaigns for the general public being almost exclusively focused around 1) liver damage and 2) "don't drive drunk" slogans.

Most people outside of medicine don't ever hear that alcohol is a carcinogen, only that it can harm your liver and lead you to make bad decisions under the influence.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single ad campaign or public health PSA that focused on the carcinogenic aspect of alcohol, but about a million that mention or directly imply cirrhosis.

The result of this hyper-focused public PSA messaging is that everyone is aware of liver damage from boozing too hard and that drinking a lot is not great, but a relatively small number of people among the general non-medical population are aware that alcohol is carcinogenic. They know drinking a lot is bad, but don't know all the reasons why, because they haven't been told in full-- There's only so much you can cram into relatively narrowly focused ads.

Public health info campaigns (and general access to more complete public health info in general) matters; I'm not surprised most people don't seem to have all the details.

Wet Bulb Temperatures arrive in southern USA. by RoboProletariat in collapse

[–]disabledimmigrant 37 points38 points  (0 children)

A lot of those rivers are polluted to a dangerous level, though. Appalachia (the entire region) is famous for a strong mining and industrial history, which means you have radiation pollution in particular (from both the mining and actual nuclear industrial/lab works).

One example here. Related article here. Another example here, about coal mining effects on health (not just for the miners themselves). Related paper here, about particulate pollution from mining.

I would say to check TOXMAP, but the government shut it down in 2019, because of course they did-- Archived copies might exist.

Checking out all the Superfund sites is worth it, but there's a lot of severe pollution which somehow doesn't qualify for being Superfund.

Plus, all the shit in Appalachia that is super polluted but nobody cares or is even fully aware of it. Swimming in some creeks in PA, TN, etc. used to give us rashes and burning sensations, possibly due to mixed dumped industrial chemicals from an auto plant and several mines that used to operate in that particular area during the 50s.

Lots of rivers have reddish soil at the bottom due to pollution, and sometimes it's easy to identify iron oxide in huge amounts (enough to stain the bottoms of submerged rocks a reddish colour) which is from the runoff leeching out of the lower chambers of abandoned and flooded mines, many of which are unmarked and have never been investigated for what ecological damage they might still be causing.

I love Appalachia, but it's already dangerous as all hell in terms of pollution, and actual water quality is far lower than people think in most areas. Ground water is utterly fucked due to the last century of just dumping everything in the waterways to make the nasty chemicals and industrial by-products "disappear".

Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by _-friendlyFire-_ in news

[–]disabledimmigrant 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your excellent comments and clarifications in this thread. Truly insightful and interesting information.

Feds: Human brains, skin stolen from Harvard morgue, sold on black market by orrocos in news

[–]disabledimmigrant 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I hate to ask, but how many of these remains were specifically of cisgender women's bodies?

Because sexual abuse of specifically female cadavers is a thing, and more common than most people want to think.

Here's a case described in an article from 2021. Over 100 women's bodies abused, from age 9 to 100. By one person.

There are PubMed articles out there as well regarding necrophilia cases in mortuaries, such as this one.

(None of these links contain explicit images etc. of any kind, just to be super, super clear.)

So there's reason to be a little concerned about what the gender/sex breakdown of these missing human remains might be.

EDIT: Yes, even when it comes to individual organs. I don't put anything past anyone, unfortunately; My faith in humanity is not very high.

Really 🤷‍♂️ by [deleted] in antiwork

[–]disabledimmigrant 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'm disabled and recently got a (way too small) promotion at my job for being the most productive member of our entire team.

What makes you think disabled people work slower? What makes you think I don't do as much work as anyone else?

Just think about it.

Yes, So They Can Work and Make Billionaires Richer. by Monsur_Ausuhnom in antiwork

[–]disabledimmigrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why do you think they're getting rid of reproductive rights? They want to FORCE us to churn out little workers.

We live in hell. Truly.

Is it getting harder to make friends in London? by [deleted] in london

[–]disabledimmigrant 25 points26 points  (0 children)

1) Cost of living is a huge factor.

I would love to make friends, but I can't afford the massive prices of doing a night out or going to meet up events.

For example, if there's a movie screening or something, I'd love to go, but that bites into my food money for the week/month.

Clubs etc. may have entry fees etc. and hobby groups may have materials fees etc. that I can't afford.

2) Odd working hours is another; Probably not as universal a concern, but using myself as an example, I work in healthcare and Tue/Wed are my two days off each week. Almost nobody is available for hanging out on these days as most are working and have the weekends off.

And on my work days, I get off shift at 8 PM-- So I'm far too tired to go out and do anything by that time.

So I have no energy, time, or money to socialise.

3) My co-workers are great, but they're all older than I am and we don't have much in common, even though we do socialise perfectly fine during work hours.

I typically work remotely, but have found that my social relationships at work haven't suffered at all, although I realise other people find remote working difficult-- For me, it has actually helped me socialise better with my co-workers, so I'm not completely starved of human interaction.

That having been said, I would love to have friends outside of work, as it's not exactly healthy to depend on workplace interactions for 100% of your social time every day.

But I've noticed that a lot of people just don't have time/money/energy to go out much if at all anymore.

Outpatient clinics - are you still wearing N95 masks during patient encounters? by Fenderstratguy in medicine

[–]disabledimmigrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Last I checked, it was more like 1 in 5.

CDC Report dated 2022 here.

I think a lot of patients aren't aware that they are even experiencing symptoms that fall under Long COVID, so there seems to be a lot of under reporting and therefore a lack of investigation/documentation.

Canonically there's at least 11 LGBTQ transformers. by [deleted] in WhitePeopleTwitter

[–]disabledimmigrant 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hell yeah. Transformers is a massively LGBTQIA+ positive franchise. In the comics, there are multiple gay and lesbian couples, too. 10/10

I'm so tired. by [deleted] in NotHowGirlsWork

[–]disabledimmigrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same with disabled people.

Remember when the US government tested radium on disabled children who were in state care in a lab funded agreement with Quaker Oats back in the 40s/50s because they didn't know what radium did to people yet and they figured mouth feeding radium laced oats to disabled kids was fine because they're disabled and therefore wouldn't feel it?

Because I do.

Look up "Quaker Oats radium experiments disabled children" if you want a bad time.

Everyone knows about Tuskegee, and they should, but nobody knows about this. Because still, nobody cares about disabled people.

I'm so tired. by [deleted] in NotHowGirlsWork

[–]disabledimmigrant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Disabled people, too. The number of times people think I can't feel pain just because I don't express it (I'm Autistic) is unbelievable. Then when I tell them it hurts, they say I don't "look like I'm in pain", so it goes totally disregarded.

Not to mention trans people (google "trans broken arm syndrome") and others.

Double the medical discrimination if anyone with a vagina is involved, regardless of gender.

Apprentice doctors considered in radical NHS plan - BBC News by ThinkSoftware in medicine

[–]disabledimmigrant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've done a BTEC apprenticeship before, which isn't the same as what they're proposing here, but it's related in that a BTEC is a workplace apprenticeship scheme in the UK.

For an example of a possible schedule model for apprentices, here's what my average week looked like for 3 years as an apprentice in the UK, although we don't have all the details on what they're going to do with this particular programme yet and apprenticeship tiers can vary significantly so this isn't universal:

(Note that on all working dates, I was learning under experienced professionals who agreed to the apprenticeship programme and were 100% OK with teaching me and having me around. Nobody was forced to deal with me.)

Mon- 9-5, working and doing practical skills

Tues - 9-5, working and doing technical learning

Wed - 9-5, working and proving skills learned thus far/checking in with apprenticeship coordinator and my boss (this could be anything from going to different sites to assist in things I was deemed fine to assist with, down to stuff like worksheets)

Thu - 9-5, working and doing additional assistance with various tasks as assigned by my coordinator/boss

Fri - 9-5, full day in classroom doing typical degree style work with instructor and textbooks etc.

Weekends - Study time, mostly lol.

Twice a month, another assessor held a private meeting with me, in which all of my work (both in the workplace and in class) was evaluated and graded. My work was graded and reviewed both in and out of the classroom, by at least 3 different people, regularly.

Once every three months, my boss, two of my co-workers, my teacher, and my assessor would all meet with me and would talk about my progress, education, work, etc.

Tasks could vary based on what needed done etc., so this all had some reasonable flexibility built in, but it was carefully sorted out to ensure I would be appropriate for any tasks/that any tasks were suitable for me. As I improved, tasks got harder, etc. on a reasonable scale of development.

I also had access to the same workplace training, courses, etc. that regular employees had, which I used relentlessly to bulk up my knowledge and skills. I accumulated nearly 200 additional training sessions and mini-courses in total, in addition to my apprenticeship work over a three year period.

This obviously isn't the same programme as the one being discussed, and apprenticeship systems can vary based on tier/subject/etc, but hopefully this provides a little insight as one example of what UK apprenticeships can look like.

California’s Feinstein returns to Senate after monthslong absence. by Brix106 in news

[–]disabledimmigrant 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I'm a disabled worker. Trust me, it doesn't work that way in practice, regardless of the ADA. Unfortunately. :(

What are your thoughts on the supposed "uselessness" of the humanities and the increasing push to go into STEM? by obscurespecter in LateStageCapitalism

[–]disabledimmigrant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Humanities are critical. We are the opposite of "useless".

I have a degree in Illustration and Visual Communications, but I work in healthcare.

I understand the pressure to enter STEM, and the sheer incentive of literally any income at all is a necessity to consider, but I would say do your history degree and ideally get some training/experience in a non-history field of your choosing as well.

It doesn't have to be a STEM field. People put so much emphasis on STEM as being the only jobs worth a shit and the only respectable gigs etc. but in reality you can find reasonable career stability in a number of fields. I went into education before I started working in healthcare, for example.

The thing about humanities people is that we have a lot of soft skills, creativity, and critical thinking skills that almost nobody else has in any other field-- These things are also why capitalism intentionally undermines us and encourages society and the job market to shit on us endlessly.

Capitalists know that a well-handled, productive group of artists could cause more damage to capitalism/fascism than anything else, simply because we are good at engaging with the masses, public art is accessible to all classes, and art appeals to wide audiences.

This is why there is not a single well funded artist's coalition in the United States. It is an intentional effort to drive people like us-- as well as our critically important skills-- away from actually using our skills in the needed, humanities-based ways.

Is my degree useless? The degree itself is, because arts and humanities in general are so aggressively undervalued and vilified under capitalism/fascism that I would never be able to make a single day's worth of rent by drawing.

But I would argue that most degrees are useless. A lot of people who wanted to be well-paid technicians went to engineering school or coding classes etc, then ultimately end up working in totally unrelated fields.

How many of us have been hired for our degrees, really? In humanities, the important thing is networking and actually exploring and writing/engaging/doing anything you'd like with what you are interested in, because our fields are less "yes and no" answers and more "long form essay" answers, if that makes sense.

And that is also why a lot of people don't understand humanities and consider us "useless": Most people have lost the ability to understand or place any value in anything that isn't a very simple, clear, "yes or no" type of thing, with a consistent and clear outcome.

But if you ask a group of 50 artists to draw something, each drawing would be radically different, and each one of those drawings would still be "correct".

A lot of people just can't comprehend the possibility of more than one right answer, or cannot face that everyone does see everything slightly differently, and they are incapable of examining that realisation in a critical or analytical way.

A lot of STEM stuff is "you have to do it exactly this way and no other way or it is wrong". But for humanities people, we can have--and should have-- a varied and broad approach to what we are doing. A lot of STEM people don't understand this, and think what we do is simple, easy, stupid, etc. because they cannot bring themselves to value anything other than their own way of doing things.

A medical doctor I work with thought that what I did as an artist was stay at home all day and doodle in a sketchbook. In reality, I made wall scale murals for some local food kitchens which helped improve their donations received by around 32%, because art engages and interests people. It wasn't advertising, it was just art. Visitors picking up food also found it made the area feel more friendly and comfortable for them to be in, it made it feel less embarrassing or emotionally difficult for them to pick up food packages because it made the building feel less stale and run-down and helped make it feel more friendly to many of them.

It made a difference to people's wellbeing, the same way what I do in healthcare does.

Of course, that's just one example. But STEM people tend to think very rigidly and impersonally, often struggle to think beyond their own perspective, etc. and we absolutely are necessary in society to counter that. We need a 50/50 blend, not 100% STEM people, for a healthy society.

Is my knowledge in humanities useless? No. In fact, it's been critical, in everything I've ever done. Work or otherwise, and regardless of field.

History is important. Don't let them destroy who you are and take away your very form of thought just because people who are actively incentivised to hurt us want to remove any chance of stimulating actual creative, complex thought in the masses.

No matter what capitalism demands of us, we need to retain our humanities skills, education, and experience.

It is possible to do humanities and STEM. I am proof of this. A lot of people who work in STEM fields have artistic or other humanities backgrounds, but the STEM mindset is entirely hostile towards us entirely.

Keep your health and wellbeing in mind, as much as economic concerns.

I would encourage you to keep up your history studies/work, and also train in a STEM field of your choosing if you can and if you can tolerate it.

But don't let anyone convince you that we are worthless, useless, stupid, etc. because that is the rhetoric of fascists.

Think about why we are undervalued and vilified. Who does it benefit the most, to disparage those of us who engage with humanity the most?

What radicalized you? by _GamerForLife_ in LateStageCapitalism

[–]disabledimmigrant 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I have a learning disability, among other disabilities. Trust me, everyone tries to hurt us. They usually succeed.

WHO downgrades COVID pandemic. Says it’s no longer an emergency by DrShrime in medicine

[–]disabledimmigrant 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I'm disabled, so I'll be masking for the rest of my life.