Let’s not sugarcoat it: Labour has a disability problem, and the way they’ve handled the so-called “welfare reform” bill proves it. Despite over nine months of relentless work by charities, disability organisations, and disabled people themselves, educating MPs, sharing lived experience, and offering real solutions, the bill passed through Parliament with barely a nod to ... Read more The post Labour’s Disability Problem: Cuts, Silencing, and Systemic Bias first appeared on ME Foggy...| ME Foggy Dog
As we navigate the complex realities of energy-limiting conditions like M.E, we can sometimes find ourselves at the crossroads of language and lived experience| ME Foggy Dog
Happy Juneteenth from all of us here at #MEAction! Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865 when slavery of African-Americans was officially enforced. To celebrate we have put together a summer reading list of books by disabled Black authors. Keah Brown is an American author who was born with cerebral palsy. She created the popular hashtag #disabledandcute … Happy Juneteenth + Black Disabled Authors Reading List Read More »| #MEAction Network
Earlier this year, I wrote about a draft academic paper that had attempted to condemn the new NICE guideline for ME/CFS. As regular readers might recall, the paper had claimed that NICE was guilty of “eight major errors” in its guideline reviewing processes. In my blog post I noted that […] The post The cries for help are getting louder. And that’s a good sign appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Colleagues and I have responded to a paper in Der Nervenarzt, the leading German neurology journal, pointing out various reasons why its “overview” of evidence-based approaches to ME/CFS treatment lacked, well, evidence. Our critique can be read in full in English via the following Tweet (kudos to @AnilvanderZee): In summary, […] The post “A science that does not allow opposing opinions abolishes knowledge.” Er, kind of appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Earlier this month, on World ME Awareness Day, I spoke at the Hope 4 ME & Fibro NI conference in Belfast. The event was hosted in the Stormont Parliament Buildings by Alliance Party MLA, Paula Bradshaw. The title of my lecture was Getting it Right: Addressing Myths about the 2021 […] The post Getting it Right: Addressing Myths about the 2021 NICE Guideline for ME/CFS appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Here is what I will be doing today: Translation: Welcome: ME Seminar On International Women’s Day, we draw attention to a disease which affects women to a high extent. Almost 80% of those who fall ill with this disease are women. We are talking about ME which is a serious, […] The post Where I speak to colleagues in the Swedish parliament… appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
“No one comes up here without a damn good reason.” * * * Regular readers will recall that I have previously written about the UK’s new healthcare guidelines for ME/CFS, as published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in 2021. Whereas the old guidance had proposed […] The post Eight (or more) logical fallacies in that paper bemoaning the new NICE guideline for ME/CFS appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Here is a transcript of my recent podcast with the Norwegian ME Association. In the interview, we discuss the medical stigma where post-viral illnesses, such as ME and Long COVID, are falsely characterised as ‘psychological’ due to poorly grounded stereotyping. The discussion touches on how medical opinion has become intertwined […] The post ME, Long Covid, and the History of Medical Stigma (Transcript) appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
I recently had the pleasure of talking with the folks at the Norwegian ME Association for their (excellently produced) podcast series. Arising from my new book, we discussed the medical stigma in which an illness is falsely characterised as ‘psychological’ — post-viral conditions such as ME and Long Covid, for […] The post ME, Long Covid, and the History of Medical Stigma (Podcast) appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Just the other week, I spoke at the annual conference of the RME, the Swedish National Association for ME. In my lecture, I took another look at the new ME/CFS guideline as published by NICE about one year ago. While I covered ground that might be familiar to some, it […] The post Another look at the new NICE guideline for ME/CFS appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Just last week I gave a presentation to the Norgewegian ME Association on how the new treatment guideline for ME/CFS is rooted in scientific evidence and reasoning. The video has now been posted: By way of a teaser, here is the title and background info for the talk: The New […] The post The New NICE Guideline for ME/CFS (2021): Following the Science appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Some examples of comedy are jarringly impactful precisely because they feel so authentic. A personal favourite of mine is the 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap, the legendary mockumentary depicting a fictional English rock band attempting to rescue their dwindling reputations by organising one last big-splash concert tour. It is […] The post Psychogenic ME/CFS: Turning the Nostalgia Up to Eleven appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Whether to laugh or to cry, truly that is the question. Professors of psychology can be a strange breed. While some are blind to their own faults, others are are obsessively self-critical. Perhaps this is why the field of psychology has been described as being “in crisis” since (at least) […] The post “The problem may well be that some of our treatments are too evidence based” appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Having spent years casting their critics as angry anti-science activists, some of our favourite panjandrums have now entered Phase 3 in their own year-long campaign of (a) getting angry, (b) engaging in activism, and, yes, (c) throwing science-based medicine under the bus. Here is what the Royal College of Physicians […] The post Self-styled medical leaders defend “neurolinguistic processing” as legit treatment for ME/CFS appeared first on The Science Bit.| The Science Bit
Tomorrow it will be ten years since the death of my close friend, Emily Collingridge. Can it really be so long? Attaching time to loss often feels strange: it implies distance from an e…| A Life Hidden
This summer I touched the sea for the first time in over thirty years. I sat on the shore and saw waves lap around my wheelchair. I felt the rush of sea air against my face and tasted s…| A Life Hidden
