it’s crazy how different you get treated in a mask but what really gets me is that when people ask why I’m masking, I’ve stopped saying I’m immunodeficient and started saying I have an immunodeficient family member at home. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this has 100% improved every single encounter I’ve had with anti-maskers. i’m not exaggerating in the slightest.
i used to tell people i’m immunodeficient and they’d ask invasive questions about my diagnosis, whether my parents kept my childhood overly sterile, whether I was vaccinated as a child (with the implication that it would have been bad if I were).
Now that I say I have an immunodeficient family member at home, people smile knowingly and say, “oh, well you do what you have to do,” and “my mom went through chemo. I remember how hard it was to do all the precautions” and “that’s so kind of you.”
if i tell someone i mask because i’m disabled, i’m assumed to be the weak link in our society, a burden to my family.
if i tell someone i mask to protect a disabled family member, i become the burdened, compassionate caretaker deserving of sympathy. how sad that i must limit myself to protect someone i love. how heroic that i choose to do so.
wow, i really deeply hate that but it’s a fascinating insight to have.
fwiw, for those of you who want to do this but are compulsively factually truthful: you are a member of your own family.
ALT
ALT