@hospitalglam / hospitalglam.tumblr.com
In light of Tumblr’s recent censorship measures, HospitalGlam will be archived on this platform and moved to another. The tag is in widespread use in Instagram, and a FB community page has also been made available. I’ve loved our time here, but we need to grow.
Also: I’ve gone through the process of trademarking HospitalGlam, so it can’t be co-opted and used to sell goods. It’s for patients to use to take up space and own their experiences, and that’s it.
With gratitude, karolynprg.
Today I asked the nurse if this had a name and she said “medical transformer”. “No, I meant the bed” #HospitalGlam
I don’t think this is glamorous at all but this is me, this is my story. I am a 26 year post liver transplant survivor currently fighting Cryptococcus (fungal infection in my blood and right lung). It’s gone on for four months. The medicine I am on isn’t working so will start a stronger one soon.
Hey new followers! Here’s a short rundown. Enjoy! 💫 What is #HospitalGlam? For those who are new to the project: #HospitalGlam is a social movement that uses site specific selfies to further self advocacy and boost disabled and chronically ill voices. The term #HospitalGlam was coined as a dark nod at the complexities in representing invisible illness. The project started by appropriating fashion imagery and reinserting it into medical environments using bodies that don’t outwardly present as sick or disabled. #HospitalGlam is about contextualizing our full selves inside the clinical environment in order to assert our rights as patients and better our treatment. By taking #HospitalGlam photos and posting them on social media, patients increase awareness of invisible illnesses in their communities and with doctors. It allows us to flip the gaze so we control it. - #HospitalGlam is now a hashtag that gives a visual to the work of thousands of disabled and chronically ill people who advocate for themselves by taking up space in clinical enviornments. #HospitalGlam and it’s participants have been covered in Buzzfeed, HuffPo, The Guardian, Self and more. Below are some brief guidelines for the project, which are explained in greater detail in the Hospitalglam.com/FAQ. I recommend the FAQ. - -You must be in the photo -It must be in a clinical environment. - -Bathrooms, Cars, or other places where you might not need to advocate for yourself with a medical professional do not apply. - -POV shots (needle in arm, or shots of your procedures instead of you) are excluded from this project, because they force the viewer to look through our eyes instead of at us, projecting their feelings into our experiences. -Images of text only, aspirational sayings, etc. -You don’t have to wear a special outfit, or makeup or anything fancy. Just be yourself and push for the treatment you need. It is enough.
Thank you! #disabled #invisibleillness #chronicillness#disabilityfashion #disabledartists#whatishospitalglam #hospitalglamfaq #periodicreminders #tbt [#imagedescription: #tbt self portrait taken prior to an exam. I’m on a medical bed, pushing my hair out of my face]
Going to the hospital is my favorite thing to do >.>
I hate being there too, but I love the composition of this image.
People.
there must be a german word for the particular breed of shame and aggravation that results from being catcalled on the way to the gynecologist’s office.
image description: close-up of a white woman in her thirties lying on an exam table wearing a black t-shirt. her eyes are cast upward, as though she is rolling them, praying for patience, or both. an issue of People magazine lies on a bench next to the exam table, its cover featuring a beaming megan markle and the words “Princess in Training!”
This is my whiteout pain face. It doesn’t look as depicted on the pain scale. #HospitalGlam [#imagedescription: Black & white selfie post-stress test. I’m on my back, in a hospital gown, braided pigtails, with leads attached to my chest.] #chronicillness #disability #invisibleillness #invisibledisability #ehlersdanlossyndrome #painscale
I continue to practice #HospitalGlam at every visit and procedure because my relationship with my body, each clinical space, and each doctor, nurse, or technician evolves as I keep going. We have new conversations, not only about my health, but about the relationships between care providers and patients, what is observable, and how we can be seen. Every discussion is different, even with doctors I’ve now known for years. The process is more revealing than the photos, and is another intimacy shared with the people in those rooms. It is work, for all of us, and it pushes our understanding further. ///// [#imagedescription: I am seated sideways on a clinician’s gurney positioned upright, stretching a leg off the side while the other is tucked under my body, twisting at the waist, chest open to the camera, arms wide. In a magazine rack on the wall behind me, there is a title labeled”Living”] #disability #chronicillness #ehlersdanlos #invisibleillness #process #artistsoninstagram #invisibledisability
Rocking some glamorous eyeshadow at my GP’s office. I have ANOTHER opportunistic infection. One of the many downsides of my immunosuppressants. #rheumatoidarthritis #autoimmunitycommunity #rheumatoiddisease #fibromyalgia #eyebrowsonfleek
Easter morning at the urgent care clinic. No wait. Staff members were courteous, patient, attentive. We joked with each other: quiet Sunday-morning chuckles. The tests were negative. I slid back into the driver’s seat and got back on the road.
We can not simulate freedom. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990 to protect us from discrimination based on ability, and to allow us to move through the world independently. A bill dismantling it, #HR620, sailed through the House of Representatives and will soon be on the Senate floor for a final vote. We need your help to keep our civil rights intact. Contact your senators now and urge them to stop the passage or #HR620, which would make it nearly impossible to enforce our rights under Title III of the #ADA to access public accommodations. Do not let them pass this, or any legislation like it. #HospitalGlam #Disabled #SayTheWord #SaveTheADA #StopHR620 #chronicillness #disability #civilrights #callyourreps [#imagedescription: #HospitalGlam photo in which I am reclining on a medical bed, wearing a black leather skirt and a T-shirt that reads “On ne peut pas simuler la liberté”]
While we mourn, please remember that tragedies create both physical and invisible disabilities. Those impacted by today’s events are likely to have mental health diagnoses which will complicate interactions and treatment for other, unrelated heath concerns that may arise in the future. Additionally, they will have new accessibility needs.
While you are calling to register your feelings about today’s events with your congressional representatives, please make mention of #HR620, a bill that would alter the #ADA, rolling back civil rights for disabled people, present and future. Thank you.
[#imagedescription: #hospitalglam image of me, standing between the curtain and bed in an exam room. I do not appear sick. One of the things discussed this day was the impact of #PTSD on my body.]
#invisibleillness #invisibledisability #handsoffmyada #ableismesq #chronicillness #disabled #disabilityrights #civilrights #guncontrol #fuck #thoughtsandprayers
From this direction my breath photographs as shock #hospitalglam —- [#imagedescription: timed photo of me, a #disabled white blonde woman, during a chest x-ray. I’m wearing a hospital gown over leggings, and the lens is tilted to stabilize the other photo, the X-ray, in the shot.]
So, just before the anesthesia techs got to me I took my hospital glam photo. There’s one of me and Goober making goofy grins too, but this one looks less demented.
In all my no-food-after-dinner, please-wear-this-gown, we’ll-be-back-in-a-minute glory…
Hospital glam ♿️🙇🏻 I’ve been having seizures & we don’t know why yet.
had to wait an hour in the docs office, but at least that was an hour with an accessible mirror for some chair pics (they/them)
