SICK BED
Molweni and welcome. We are Mlindeni Gabela and Sam Pearce from Cape Town.
Mlindeni is the Long Covid Ambassador for the ME CFS Foundation of South Africa and a former LoveLife counsellor. He has been Sick since 2020. Sam is the Foundation’s communications liaison volunteer with a Masters in Diversity Studies. She has been Sick since 1992 and writes a column for the Daily Maverick called Dispatches from Bed. Together, they are the South African representatives to the World ME Alliance.
As a team, we possess a wealth of experience in managing post-viral energy-limiting chronic illness and are keen to raise awareness wherever possible.
People with energy-limiting conditions are suffering similar stigma and neglect to people living with HIV in the 80s and 90s. Like the Treatment Action Campaign did in the 2000s, we aim to counter denial and disdain by promoting Sick Pride and solidarity.
We invite you to join SICK: the Society for the Inclusion of Chronic Knowledge. Although we have to spend most of our time in Bed, we make the most of it, dreaming up solutions for a healthier world for all. Who better than the Sick to motivate people to act wisely to stay Well?
The SICK Manifesto envisions:
- Recognition of energy-limiting chronic illness by government, medical institutions and insurers
- Research funding commensurate with the disease burden to identify mitigating treatment
- Respect for the Sick including making hospitals, schools, churches, shops and public transport accessible for the energy-impaired