PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/category/first-person/page/2/)
After being laid off due to the coronavirus and still experiencing some health challenges, the author is finding things to do but she mostly wants to stay focused on staying healthy.
By necessity, I have to pay very close attention to what is going on in the world of infectious disease as the parent of a medically complex child. In the weeks leading up to COVID-19 reaching pandemic status, I began to circle the wagons, knowing that despite whatever measures were taken, we were going to have to go back into isolation.
A look at the lives of those most affected by the spread of illness.
As an Autistic person, change of any magnitude completely devastates me. It prompts a palpable feeling akin to my body free-falling through time and space; a near-immediate fallout of my ability to process words, thoughts, emotions and physical sensations; and the disintegration of all these “easy” tasks into burdensome and draining.
Compelling personal stories
told by the people living them. As a health and development economist, I study how households make decisions under uncertainty. Specifically, I look at how bureaucracy, social stratification and place affect those decisions. The coronavirus pandemic is that sort of uncertainty. And looking at the Pittsburgh region through the lens of my expertise, I worry that our region will be hit especially hard by COVID-19.
“Born without a left hand, the 11-year-old budding musician improvised: He picked up his mother’s right-handed guitar and played it upside down.“
Earlier this month, many Pittsburgh residents were talking about a map Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) published of the campus and surrounding area. On the map, all predominantly Black neighborhoods were made invisible. They were not labeled. There were no outlines showing borders. It’s a sign to mean that these invisible neighborhoods are not spaces or places worth living, visiting or even mentioning. Still, as egregious as CMU’s map faux pas was, it is not outstanding in the context of this city.
Compelling personal stories
told by the people living them. For most people, waking up and getting ready for work is a fairly straightforward routine. You get up, probably drink some coffee, take a shower, get dressed and head out the door. I’d guess it takes you about an hour, maybe two hours at the most?
For me, my morning routine is anything but straightforward. I have spinal muscular atrophy, a neuromuscular disease, and it means that I need help with each and every one of these steps.
My personal income puts me at the federal poverty level, even though I have a graduate degree and more than 30 years of both paid and unpaid work experience. Because I am disabled and no longer able to do most paid work, I receive about $1,000 through Social Security Disability Insurance [SSDI].
Ermias “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom was the man who taught me that when you have a dream or mission, the worst enemy you can have is idle time. That was 2009. Ever since then, I found myself listening to Nipsey Hussle every day. His messages of hope carried me through dark times. He was the voice that inspired for nearly a decade. Not just me, but millions. So when news broke that he was killed in his clothing store in March in Crenshaw, Los Angeles, I was not the only person who cried and mourned for the late great.
