Roi Shternin

The Silent Crack in Our Advocacy: Why Separating Chronic Illness from Disability Rights Hurts Everyone

I still remember the exact moment I realized something was deeply broken in our advocacy landscape. I was sitting in a conference hall where the morning session had been devoted to patient advocacy strategies, while the afternoon focused on disability inclusion. As someone navigating both worlds, I kept thinking: why the hell are these conversations happening separately?

Is it Our Job to State Our Disabilities?

I have a chronic illness that affects my energy levels and ability to focus. On a good day, I can go about my day like anyone else. But on a bad day, I can barely get out of bed. The problem is, there's no way to tell from looking at me how I'm feeling. I could be having a great day or a terrible day, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Rural Health: The Masterclass in Healthcare Innovation We've Been Ignoring

Picture this: A nurse practitioner in rural Montana knows her diabetic patient's granddaughter by name, remembers that harvest season means missed appointments, and can predict when her patient will show up in the ER just by checking the weather forecast. She uses an iPad to connect with a cardiologist 400 miles away, preventing an unnecessary ambulance ride that would cost more than most families make in a month.

The Rise and Fall of Patient Perspective

I can still feel the cold of that examination table against my skin, the paper crinkling beneath my trembling body as the doctor spoke over me, around me, through me—never to me. His clipboard—a sacred text I wasn't permitted to read—contained translations of my suffering into clinical terminology that stripped away the humanity of my experience. This was healthcare in the 1980s: a one-way conversation where my voice remained trapped within the prison of my aching body.

Health Literacy: The First Step to Empowered Self-Management

Health literacy, defined as the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions, has become an important concept in healthcare over the past few decades. However, the current approach to health literacy focuses too heavily on functionally evaluating a patient's reading, writing, and numeracy skills. This overly simplistic view of health literacy fails to account for the complex sociocultural factors that affect a patient's ability to truly understand their health and make empowered healthcare choices.

The Importance of Having Your Own Resiliency Toolkit

That's where a resiliency toolkit comes in. A resiliency toolkit is a collection of tools and practices that help you bounce back from adversity. It's something that you can build over time, and it will become your go-to resource when you're facing a challenge.