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Category: Journalism

I Have Had PTSD Retriggered And It’s Very Real

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I Have Had PTSD Retriggered And It’s Very Real

Watching Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s explanation of how the Capitol riots impacted her mental well-being and compounded the trauma of a previous sexual assault felt like watching my own life on replay. Not because the Capitol riots personally affected me, but because I am a survivor of multiple traumas and I understand exactly how it feels to have PTSD retriggered.

In response to her raw testimony, many have cast doubts on the validity of Ocasio-Cortez’s retriggered trauma, some even disbelieving her experience of sexual assault outright. Despite what some people may think, retriggered complex post-traumatic stress disorder is very real and sadly not uncommon.

All the Light We Cannot See shows disabled actors are crucial for disabled roles

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All the Light We Cannot See shows disabled actors are crucial for disabled roles

Filmmakers often attempt to tell disabled stories, but few cast disabled actors in disabled roles.

Thankfully, Netflix’s adaptation of the globally renowned novel All the Light We Cannot See rejected that tired option by conducting a worldwide search to find visually impaired actors for the lead role of Marie-Laure Leblanc – and it paid off, big time.

Ginny and Georgia season 2 addresses key unresolved issue

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Ginny and Georgia season 2 addresses key unresolved issue

From teenage sex to unhealthy parent-child dynamics, Ginny & Georgia is a smorgasbord of challenging topics that are seldom depicted sympathetically on-screen.

The Netflix series centres the mother-daughter dynamic between the titular Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and Georgia (Brianne Howey), depicting its high points and moments of great emotional upheaval, one of which is Ginny’s self-harming.

Disability Pride Month: Why disabled actors still need to get more chances

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Disability Pride Month: Why disabled actors still need to get more chances

Representations of disability in the film industry have a long and storied history of being wrong.

It’s undeniable that improving disability inclusion within the industry, including hiring more disabled writers and producers, would enhance the accuracy of portrayals of disability on screen.

How Good Omens season 2 swerved ignorant tropes with its disabled angels

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How Good Omens season 2 swerved ignorant tropes with its disabled angels

Good Omens’ second season nailed disability representation without tokenising a community that rarely gets depicted on screen.

Too many representations of disabled people stray into the objectively bad or dangerously prejudiced categories of filmmaking. Narratives position disabled people as burdens, inspirations, or mistakes of biology that must be fixed. Visual storytelling relies too much on tropes and neglects to explore the full spectrum of disabled lives.

I’m a Digital Nomad: Here are the Highs and Lows

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I’m a Digital Nomad: Here are the Highs and Lows

Travelling the globe is an adventure I will never regret but when you’re taking it on solo, an unwelcome passenger sometimes makes an appearance: loneliness.

While I constantly meet new people travelling full-time as a digital nomad, it is no easy feat to make and keep friends on the road.

I have been lucky enough to meet people that I see staying in my life forever, encountered plenty that left little to no mark and felt incredible joy surrounded by utter strangers who would soon become friends.

Travelling Full-Time Is A Joy, But I Never Anticipated Its Impact On Body Image

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Travelling Full-Time Is A Joy, But I Never Anticipated Its Impact On Body Image

Before departing England to become a digital nomad, my body confidence was at an all-time high.

As a teenager, I developed a distorted relationship with food, bouncing between starvation, binge eating and vomiting, with over-exercising dominating my daily routine. Until my early 20s, I tore my body to shreds every second of the day, hating every scrap of skin.

After discovering the body neutrality and acceptance movements and accessing counseling, I threw off the trappings of diet culture and embraced my body. I still had hang-ups, as we all do, but my self-confidence was stronger and fiercer than ever before. I never anticipated that traveling full-time in South East Asia would threaten that.

Using Music to Manage Chronic Pain

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Using Music to Manage Chronic Pain

“It’s helpful to realize there is no silver bullet treatment or one-size-fits-all therapeutic approach to pain,” says Dr. Jacob Hascalovici, chief medical officer for Clearing. This is one of those nuggets of advice that, for people living with chronic pain, is frustrating and healing in equal measure.

There is no magical cure for chronic pain, with which 50 million people live in the United States, according to a 2022 study. Every day, scores of people are navigating the medical and holistic worlds to figure out how to live with this unwieldy monster.