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Just A SpoonfulJust A Spoonful is a conversation podcast where e Author: Kaitlyn Blythe
Just A Spoonful is a conversation podcast where everyone you hear speaking is a young person living with chronic illness and/or disability. Each episode I interview a new guest. This is how we live, and what we live for. Hosted by Kaitlyn Blythe. Language: en Genres: Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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ME/CFS Advocate Kolt
Sunday, 11 May, 2025
JASP is back! For ME/CFS Awareness Day, Kaitlyn sits down for Just A Spoonful with disability advocate Kolt to chat about life with ME/CFS, the pressures on people with ME/CFS to seek 'cures', and the benefits and pitfalls of online chronic illness 'influencer' culture. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, disabling disease that affects multiple systems in the body, and is classified by the World Health Organisation as a neurological disorder. There are estimated to be up to 250,000 Australians with ME/CFS, and around 25% of people with the condition have Severe ME, leaving them bedbound or housebound. Emerge Australia has more information and resources. Kolt is a neurodivergent and chronically ill disability advocate whose advocacy is most focused on Energy Limiting Conditions like ME/CFS (which we both have); they seek to continually push the boundaries of non-disabled and privileged folks' understanding of disability and oppression. Kolt is queer, trans, and a white third-culture immigrant living on the stolen lands of the Yorta Yorta Nation. We have a great, wide-ranging discussion about finding each other online, trying to do ME/CFS advocacy when it's hard to talk about your illness, and the explosion of chronic illness 'influencers' in the COVID era. We also get into the lure of magical thinking when you're desperate, 'cures', navigating egotistical doctors, and how fascism and ableism are 'hand-in-hand emoji'. Some ME/CFS resources: - www.Emerge.org.au - www.MEAction.net - www.ME-pedia.org - ME Advocacy Network Australia (MEANA), www.MEANA.me - A short audio doco I made about ME/CFS in 2016, 'May the 12th Be With You', in the Just A Spoonful podcast feed Just A Spoonful merch from RedBubble! Search 'BlytheByName' To support this podcast and access bonus content (including a bonus chat with Kolt), you can join Kaitlyn's Patreon! Patreon.com/BlytheByName This episode was published on 12 May 2025. Podcast artwork by Erin Michelle Just A Spoonful's theme music is 'Sleepless' by Anna O This podcast is created on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People and I extend my respect to elders past and present.
