Rainbow (plural system) 🏳️‍⚧️

Hi! We’re a plural system. Nearly all memories shared, generally 1 headmate aware at a time, and we love being plural! Multiply-disabled - PTSD, Very Severe ME/CFS, and others; high support needs; cane/wheelchair user.

We share the name Rainbow, and we use they/them pronouns and identify as transmasc collectively. Usually, we’ll start posts/replies with "(Fern:)" etc. to tag who’s speaking.

Avatar ID: a little family of cute knitted opossums. Header ID: a photo we took of pink flowers.

Location: Salem, Oregon, US
[ON HIATUS] Artisans Cooperative shop: https://artisans.coop/pages/seller-profile/rainbow-ravels
Personal blog: https://spectrumofeevee.wordpress.com/
Open to respectful questions on: our gender, plurality, disabilities, and knitting!

Last Notes

2024-09-06 01:00:17 UTC

(Fern:) Can someone help me choose the "best" option here for this poor customer service representative 😭 beach day, right?? Just give me a scale from 1 to 3 or something...
https://files.strangeobject.space/media_attachments/files/113/087/891/513/431/250/original/76727ce9a25e17c4.jpg

2024-09-05 15:00:08 UTC

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(Fern:) I really appreciate the help! 🥺

2024-09-05 14:40:47 UTC

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(Fern:) Oh, thank you so much. I think I have some hang-ups around reporting. 😅 I *have* done it before!

2024-09-05 14:34:49 UTC

Hey um... does anyone know what these are? I feel bad asking if this is a real person, but I also don't want to get a virus, you know? 😅
https://files.strangeobject.space/media_attachments/files/113/085/434/411/037/162/original/29c7ffb275d600eb.png

2024-09-05 14:32:28 UTC

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(Fern:) Thank you so much. Honestly, it would be something we could accept if we could knit and write fiction (which our mental health is preventing), and if we had the care we need. :(

2024-09-05 13:59:05 UTC

(Fern:) I'm still like, "that can't be right" about having *Very Severe* ME/CFS. It feels fake! It especially feels fake when I'm messaging with people online and I'm ending up writing casual essays!
But yeah, the assessment from this study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1369295/full says we are at that level. :'D It specifically says people at this level can write.
(Sorry for the minimal alt text)
#MEcfs #VerySevereME
https://files.strangeobject.space/media_attachments/files/113/085/288/038/359/429/original/8f7d7965432046b8.png

2024-09-04 09:59:05 UTC

(Fern:) If anyone has a recommendation for a HEPA filter on the cheap side that still works... I'm trying to look into getting one since we may be able to start getting home healthcare visits. (If it's more than $100-150, we'd have to wait until we're sure we won't have to pay for a thing coming up in the next couple months.)
I hear square footage is important, so while I don't have numbers, I can say we're in a comfortably large (but not huge) one-bedroom apartment. From looking at pictures of apartment listings online, I would estimate 500 square feet for the whole apartment? Sorry, too bedbound to get up and measure it :(
[Edit: probably going with DIY with help from our family! https://corsirosenthalfoundation.org/instructions/ ]
I'm also interested in "explain to a ten year old/someone with brain fog" level explanations of what I might not know that I need to know! I don't know much at all about HEPA filters.
Boosts are welcome ❤️
#COVIDIsNotOver #Covid #HEPA

2024-09-01 14:13:43 UTC

(Primrose:) I'm so glad for apple pie :D
https://files.strangeobject.space/media_attachments/files/113/062/704/050/591/523/original/34e185e79f1ece82.jpeg

2024-08-25 12:43:38 UTC

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(Fern:) Thank you so much. <3

2024-08-25 12:24:34 UTC

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(Fern:) Yeah, that makes sense! And oh, mood, on forgetting. I think I do okay, but I've been known to edit in a CW a few seconds after posting. 😅

2024-08-25 08:57:49 UTC

(Fern:) You know how there are terms for “Deaf” and “hard of hearing”? I wish there was a widely accepted distinction like that for being housebound/bedbound. I’m hard of walking, I guess? I hope it’s not rude to make that comparison.
I do get up maybe 3-5 times a day for 3-5 minutes at a time (bathroom, food, etc.), so when I say “I’m bedbound” that’s… not accurate, but I don’t know of a better way to say it. I sometimes say I’m “mostly bedbound”.
I can’t even say “housebound” because two weeks ago my caregiver did help me sit outside for a bit, and then pushed me in my wheelchair on a “walk”. Like, I *do* leave my apartment on occasion. It’s just, it’s quite rare.
I think maybe the problem is that we don’t talk about house/bedbound people and our realities very much. It’s “depressing” or maybe makes abled people think too much about the possibilities of their own future? Becoming disabled doesn’t HAVE to be so terrible, though. We could fix that! 🥺
#housebound #bedbound #MEcfs

2024-08-24 22:10:51 UTC

(Fern:) Maybe I should put something about not CWing for physical health stuff in our bio? I see a lot of people doing that, but I'm not really comfortable with it unless it's like, a true vent, which I try to minimize anyway... for me, being like "ugh, guess I'd better get my cane so I don't have to struggle to get up 🙄" is as normal as a person who lives somewhere with shelves too high for them saying "ugh, I'd better get a stool so I don't have to climb on the counter. 🙄"
Like, it's just my daily reality. Some people are disabled! It feels... wrong, to require myself to think, every time I mention how my body naturally moves through space, "is this About Being Disabled(tm) enough that I should add a CW?"
On the other hand, if someone looks at a profile that says "I'm severely disabled" and then is surprised by the person openly being severely disabled, maybe that's on them. 😅 Maybe I'm overthinking it.