How My Disabilities Affect my Work (And why blog posts are sometimes late)

Good evening, Nooklings, and happy disability pride month!

Today I'd like to talk to you about how my disabilities affect me as a student, researcher, historian, and writer. Hopefully this will explain why even when I plan to have scenting posts out by a specific time, there are often delays.

Let's start there, with blog posts and other things for the website. I am visually impaired, dyslexic, autistic, and I have fibromyalgia and a few mental health disorders. Each of these on its own would create difficulties, but combined? They are a nightmare to try to manage. Research takes me much longer because I'm a slow reader or have to track down something in an accessible format. I can't sit in the same position for long periods because of the chronic pain caused by my fibro, and depression sometimes doesn't want me to do a damn thing. So, while I am aiming to write one part of the Odyssey a day, my body and mind don't always want to cooperate.

I could bulk write some, and I do intend to when I have the energy, but I can't bulk write 2 or more posts on the day I've done something else. Energy is a rare and precious thing to someone with a chronic illness, and because of my other disabilities, reading and writing are both very energy-heavy. What may take you an hour to do can easily take me two to three hours and use twice as much energy.

I think then it goes without saying that this also impacts my university studies and any other research or work I want to do. I do have things to help, like low vision aids and screen readers, but they don't make things as easy as they would be for someone who doesn't have to rely on them; they just make things less difficult than they'd be without them.

I'm writing this post on my phone in bed, because I suddenly felt very tired and needed to lie down. Being able to write on a mobile device is great, but I don't have the software that helps my dyslexia, so my grammar and spelling won't be as good, and the smaller screen means I can't spot any mistakes as easily as I can on PC. I will go over it tomorrow and fix any mistakes, but for now? I'm going to rest.