Reminder: comments due TODAY. More info and templates here: dredf.org/action-alert... This is a tangible way to fight this administration’s attacks on the disability community.

Want to keep the energy going from this weekend? Take this tangible action! Submit comments by Monday, June 16, at 11:59 pm ET to oppose DOE's attack on Section 504 and accessibility in the built environment. dredf.org/action-alert...

Grateful to Sen Bill Cassidy for keeping the pressure on during Wed's HELP hearing on FY26 HHS budget! Those in Louisiana: please take a min to thank him for his work to make Long COVID the very first topic of the hearing! Call: 202-224-5824 Message: cassidy.senate.gov/contact/get-in-touch

TX anti-mask bill SB 2595 got pushed thru to a committee overnight bc the session is close to ending & they bend the rules. 🚨 Leave a public comment‼️ comments.house.texas.gov/home TX Mask Bills Toolkit: sordid-accordion-7ef.notion.site/TX-H-B-No-30... @ancirabecky.bsky.social

Sending our best to Ben HsuBorger, Terri Wilder #MEAction MN state lead, & other #MECFS #LongCovid advocates heading to Minnesota state capitol tomorrow. House budget is proposing eliminating ALL appropriations for Long COVID grants & health dept staffing! SOS moment for #MillionsMissing in MN.

Minnesota House legislators have proposed budget cuts that could end Long COVID research, communications, and grants in Minnesota, which has been a leader in state-level public health responses to the crisis. bit.ly/43lOjKM

EDS Awareness Month Day 4: Flare day. Cancel plans I had been looking forward to for weeks day. Rest day. @ehlersdanlos.bsky.social

Reminder: There's still time to get the anti-mask policy out of the New York state budget. Call your state senator first thing Monday. bit.ly/no-mask-ban

EDS Awareness Month Day 3: In 2023, @ehlersdanlos.bsky.social invited me to share my diagnostic journey with reps from @fda.gov. Part of that talk included my own baseball-style diagnosis stats.

EDS Awareness Month Day 2: Boarded my flight home from DC (more about my trip to come). My ReadiMask caught the eye of a woman wearing a surgical. She asked me about it & shared that she works in a hospital & many provided masks don't fit her. I gave her a ReadiMask & thanked her for still masking❤️💪

Don’t underestimate the impact of choosing to wear a mask (ideally an N95) You’re telling disabled & marginalized people they’re not expendable. You’re telling government you don’t believe that COVID is over. You’re fighting for social justice & against ableism. You’re protecting your health.

EDS/HSD Awareness Month Day 1: Starting things off by resharing a picture from yesterday, when I had the opportunity to represent @lccampaign.bsky.social & join LC advocates in attending Senator Collins & @murray.senate.gov's bipartisan appropriations hearing on biomedical research. 1/x

Meaningful morning with fellow #LongCovid advocates at Sen Collins & @pattymurray.bsky.social's bipartisan biomedical research hearing. Heartening to hear Senate Approps GOP & @senateapprops.bsky.social's questions & bipartisan support for biomedical research. @lccampaign.bsky.social

⚠️ URGENT ACTION 4/29: The budget is NOT final. We need MASSIVE opposition while there's still time. ➡️ Call your reps to get anti-mask language OUT before a vote. ➡️ Ask 3 friends to call too! Full toolkit + contacts: bit.ly/no-mask-ban Use the new script below ⬇️

For anyone in the DC area, join @lccampaign.bsky.social tomorrow (Apr 30) at Senator Collins & @murray.senate.gov's bipartisan medical research hearing at 10:30 am! Let us know if you plan to join—we have LC teal tshirts👕 www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/bio...

🚨 Hochul announced a budget deal that criminalizes masks — but IT’S NOT FINAL. Even she admits there are still details to work out. She’s hoping we’ll give up. We’re not going to. This is putting vulnerable New Yorkers at risk. KEEP CALLING. #NoNYMaskBan

It is not okay such a controversial policy such as criminalizing masks is being done behind closed doors in the state budget. This policy should be done through legislation where the public has more of an opportunity to weigh in. New Yorkers, budget is not final. Keep calling! #NoNYMaskBan

It's not a done deal. The ink is not signed. They want us to stop complaining but its held upon this long for a reason: your calls. Keep calling. The fact we've moved Hochul so far already is a sign to keep going, not a sign to give up.

Please reach out to your senators and assembly members and governor to ask them not to have anti-mask legislation. Any mask restrictions will embolden anti-masking. We are tired of getting bullied for wearing a mask! #NoNYMaskBan @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social @jews4maskrights.bsky.social

“The new charge would be a class B misdemeanor and apply if someone wears a mask or covers their face with the intent of concealing their identity while committing a class A misdemeanor or felony or immediately fleeing the scene” They’re, of course, hanging this on Jews (WHO DO NOT WANT THIS)

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that in the midst of hundreds of people still dying weekly from COVID-19, millions disabled by #LongCOVID, measles spreading, wildfire smoke, & more our Democratic @governor.ny.gov wants to **restrict** masks, an essential public health tool! #NoNYMaskBan

Call tonight and leave a message. Call again tomorrow. Make it clear that we don't want anti-mask policies in the state budget!

New Yorkers, keep calling your NY State Senator and Assemblymember and urge them not to include any anti-mask legislation or mask restrictions in the state budget! #NoNYMaskBan

⏰ TIME SENSITIVE: Call today to stop NY's mask ban! Hochul is STILL trying to ban masks. Lawmakers are exhausted. The budget is almost done. That's when bad policies slip through. We’ve made huge progress, we must keep the pressure on to win! Toolkit: bit.ly/no-mask-ban 🧵1/4

📣 #LongCOVIDCommunity: Back after NIH grant reinstatement crash, as time to organize again! Are you in DC area & want to join @lccampaign.bsky.social this Weds April 30 1030am at Sen. Collins & @murray.senate.gov bipartisan medical research hearing? appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/bio... 1/x

New York mask ban update: Our advocacy efforts are working! Gov Hochul is failing at convincing lawmakers to include a proposal that criminalizes masking in the budget, and some legislative officials predict it will be dropped from budget talks as negotiations drag on. Keep calling your electeds!

Just made my calls to Senator Brouk and Assembly Member Lunsford. New Yorkers, please make sure to call TODAY & encourage your state reps to oppose the updated mask restriction language!

Want to fight the proposed New York mask ban? See the steps below for ways you can ensure legislators know to vote “No” on any mask bans. Another way you can fight these bans? Wear a mask. The more of us masking, the more normalized they become. Public health tools should never be criminalized

Had a blast guest facilitating @thewashingtonpost.bsky.social Disability Coalition's first quarterly book club! Yesterday's discussion was about @sfdirewolf.bsky.social's Disability Visibility—the perfect book to kick things off with.

Efforts to ban and criminalize masks discourage and stigmatize masking, an essential public health tool, and can lead to increased harassment of people wearing masks. #NoNYMaskBan

A friendly reminder that Alliant Biotech, who sells ReadiMasks, gave me a reusable 25% off code to share with you all: EMILY251Z4VFO Also, until April 20, @bonafidemasks.bsky.social is having a sitewide 25% off sale using code SPRING25. I love their selection of KN95 colors! #evermasking

Thanks to masking, I was able to hit up our hometown late night spot, Fairport Hots, to get some food to go. Ah, nostalgia. Continue calling your NYS reps to keep anti-mask legislation out of the budget! @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social's toolkit: bit.ly/StopMaskBanNY @jews4maskrights.bsky.social

Today's 2nd hometown outing brought to you by masking: the flagship Pittsford @wegmansofficial.bsky.social! Nowhere like it❤️ Continue calling your NY reps & asking them to keep anti-mask legislation out of the budget: bit.ly/StopMaskBanNY @jews4maskrights.bsky.social @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social

Today's outing brought to you by masking: a local yarn store in Fairport, NY, right by the Erie Canal, where I bought some absolutely gorgeous local yarn! NYers, remember to keep calling your state reps to demand #NoNYMaskBan! @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social's toolkit: bit.ly/StopMaskBanNY

Radical rest IS a form of resistance. Taking care of yourself is a powerful act. It takes courage and strength to do nothing when everyone else is doing something. If you need rest, give yourself permission to let go of the guilt. Protect your baseline so you can fight another day.

With protection of a mask, I'm able to stop by Java's, my fav Rochester cafe. NYSers, make sure we can all continue to frequent our fav indie spots by calling your reps & requesting they oppose anti-mask legislation! bit.ly/StopMaskBanNY @jews4maskrights.bsky.social @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social

Happening today at 1pm! #NoNYMaskBan

✏️Jewish friends, both in & out of New York: Please sign this letter opposing the current New York mask ban legislation. Mask bans make everyone less safe, & Gov. Hochul pursuing a ban in the name of Jewish people will only increase antisemitism. www.jewsformaskrights.com/jews-for-mas...

Heading home to visit family in upstate NY w my ReadiMask & @sipmask.bsky.social to keep me safe & hydrated. Help make sure this isn't the last time I travel to NYS before anti-making legislation passes through the budget: covidadvocacyny.org/stopmaskbanny #NoNYMaskBan @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social

Today, April 5th, marks the anniversary of the beginning of the 1977 Section 504 Sit-in. For 26 days, over 100 activists across different disabled communities staged a sit-in to demand the signing and enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

#NoNYMaskBan I grew up in upstate NY, and I continue to visit my parents frequently in my hometown on the Erie Canal.

NYS extended the budget deadline to Thursday, Apr 3, so keep the calls coming!! Toolkit from @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social to make it super easy to contact your NYS reps: covidadvocacyny.org/stopmaskbanny #NoNYMaskBan

Reminder for those in NYS: contact your reps TODAY to demand #NoNYMaskBan before the Apr 1 budget deadline: covidadvocacyny.org/stopmaskbanny For anyone outside NYS, the toolkit has a section for contacting the tourism board, so take a sec to make your voice heard, too! @covidadvocacyny.bsky.social

🚨THANK YOU #LONGCOVID PATIENT COMMUNITY 🚨 Because of you, NIH RECOVER grant terminations being reversed & restored! This win was only possible due to YOUR advocacy & support from our Hill bipartisan champions! THANK YOU to every person who called, emailed & took action! #NoLongCOVIDCuts

The Sick Times: 'UPDATE: RECOVER Long COVID pathobiology grants restored' Long COVID research grants from the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER program will be restored following news stories about their abrupt cancellations & advocacy to restore the funding thesicktimes.org/2025/03/28/u...

Please join us in calling for #NoLongCovidCuts!