iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 29/06/2025

damnit I hate to share a LinkedIn post but Mark nailed it

Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Everything is just on fire isn't it? Like, everything. And I'm here trying not to dissociate which feels like the smallest non important thing right now given everything in the world.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Just the public opinions around both of these very clear welfare benefits for vulnerable people being treated so so differently and I just don't understand. I mean I do understand. Everyone assumes they will get old, but most people don't believe they will get ill or disabled. No compassion.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

So for winter fuel allowance it's fine if some rich or something who 'don't need it' get it. The assumption is most people do need it. But for health related benefits the assumption is that no one needs it, everyone is a fraud and that it's better to abolish them than allow one 'fraudster'

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

I hate the rhetoric around welfare. But what I don't understand at all is that there is so much about the winter fuel allowance for pensioners but then not the same compassion for those on PIP or other health related benefits. BOTH OF THESE THINGS ARE WELFARE A STATE PENSION IS AN ASPECT OF WELFARE.

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Whatever your personal beliefs on Assisted Dying, we should all be able to agree on 2 fundamentals: No means no. If a patient doesn’t want it, end of discussion. It should never be offered in lieu of care or social supports. If it is, it’s not compassion. It’s eugenics 🧵

Screenshot of a Dallas express article. There’s a man sitting in a hospital gown. Text reads

Man With Disabilities Begs Hospital To Stop
Pushing Suicide
LOGAN WASHBURN - STAFF WRITER
HEALTH & SCIENCE
MAY 29, 2025
Roger Foley | Image by Roger Foley @rogerfoley/X
Hospital staff have repeatedly pushed a Canadian man with disabilities to accept euthanasia. Now, he says, they are repeatedly asking him about suicide while cutting off basic needs like food and

Screenshot of a Dallas examiner article which reads Brother Of Disabled Man To Canadian
Hospital: He Is 'Dying In Front Of You'
LOGAN WASHBURN - STAFF WRITER
HEALTH & SCIENCE
JUN 11, 2025
Roger Foley | Image by Roger Foley @rogerfoley/X
The brother of a disabled Canadian man is pleading with his hospital - which pushed euthanasia and cut off food and water nearly one month ago - to stop him from "dying in front of you."
Instead of helping, The Dallas Express has learned, hospital officials told his brother to stop contacting them.

There’s a photo of a man laying in a hospital bed

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Yes I hate getting hair done Last few times I've had to, we've had someone who comes to our house so it minimises the stress

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Yeah I like massage too I think getting nails done is just so busy and loud and smells strong.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Why does my partner think going to get my nails done is 'self care'? It's loud and it smells and people are touching me and talking to me and it's just so overwhelming. Ick. Not self care. Just something that has to be done very rarely (sisters wedding on Saturday so needed to get something proper)

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Corrections accepted We are a Dr and we are graduating next month!!!!!

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Adam Fare 🖤🤍💜 @adamfare1996.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Paid employment isn’t a universal healthcare outcome. It might be a priority for some people… but it should never be prioritised over the person’s health and life. And for some, it shouldn’t even be considered.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Having DID is so weird. Like we were a six year old doing drawings and then we drove a car as an adult. And we still have like a six year old inside us who is separate from me (the one writing this post) and it's actually like the actual way our brain works but it still makes like no sense. ♿

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Millions of people are worried about paying their rent, feeding their kids or losing vital disability benefits. If the government cared about people's security, it would reverse cruel cuts, end child poverty and pursue an agenda for peace. Let's fund welfare, not warfare.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

No one ever says sorry. No one ever wants to believe they are complicit in the suffering of others. It's all personal choice and stop living in fear...

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Those who treat disabled people the worst are often the first to ask us for help when they become chronically ill. They say some variation of “I had no idea it was this bad!” They almost never say “sorry”. They ask for our help without even admitting to how badly they treated us.

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

this is literally fraud. You did not sign authors with the promise to pay their due if you made a profit, you committed to pay them for their work that they delivered and has sold. At the very least this publisher needs to be blacklisted, but hope there are also legal consequences somehow

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Adam Fare 🖤🤍💜 @adamfare1996.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

It is true that most people who claim PIP are unable to work. But that's because to be eligible for PIP you need to have significant health conditions that need a lot of care & support. So it's predictable most won't be able to work. But its still not an out-of-work benefit.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

I've just gone through the questionnaire and sent it all back. So waiting on the next steps but sounds like really exciting research. Maybe they'll be able to 'see' the dissociative barriers in our brain

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

If your in the UK I use the national migraine centre and they charge about £500 a session. But you get a proper consultation etc too and they may not think Botox is appropriate for you but there are a few options

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Yeah, ikr. Turns out I can figure out how to exercise the right muscles around my hip?? Or I'm just lucky today?

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Went for a jog and no subluxations and we are like omg it's going to be okay. The exercises are working and we are getting our mobility back

Summary from Strava of our jog - 5.05km in 40:15 minutes

Selfie of Nicole looking sweaty chilling by a brick wall. They are in a grey running tank top and blue over ear headphones.

Photo of Nicole's legs on a stone bench. Nicole is wearing black leggings and black/pink running trainers.

Selfie of Nicole just after finishing the run. There are trees in the background. Nicole looks very warm and sweaty.

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Adam Fare 🖤🤍💜 @adamfare1996.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

I actually think many disabled people try harder and do more than an abled person does. Like… when I’m feeling bad I tend to go into overdrive. It’s a form of distraction plus my brain’s self-destruct mode.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

No just why iPhones need to be made in China and not the US bsky.app/profile/jool...

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Property rights would kill the industry. Does that tell you what the industry is, finally??

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

the bit about Africans being active in the slave trade is telling. it’s something that is only relevant if you think the point of discussing slavery is to disburse racial blame rather than understanding history.

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

In the year of our lord two thousand twenty-five, guys named Tripp Mickle still write racialized nimble finger stereotypes into the pages of the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/t...

What does China offer that the United States doesn't?
Small hands, a massive, seasonal work force and millions of engineers.
Young Chinese women have small fingers, and that has made them a valuable contributor to iPhone production because they are more nimble at installing screws and other miniature parts in the small device, supply chain experts said. In a recent analysis the company did to explore the feasibility of moving production to the United States, the company determined that it couldn't find people with those skills in the United States, said two people familiar with the analysis who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
China has millions of people who migrate around the country to work in factories as Apple revs up production around a new iPhone. They often work from the summer until Chinese New Year, when production slows down, so Apple's suppliers don't have to pay them for a full year of work. They live in dormitories connected to factories

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

The NYT is also out there happily claiming that 'young Chinese women have small hands' without any actual evidence. They just love being weird and racist at the moment

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

I sent another email

Julia Wong 1:34 PM
to Charlie, tripp.mickle v
Hi Charlie,
The Times's story does not in fact make clear what the source of the information about the supposed size and dexterity of young Chinese women's fingers are, which is why I had so many follow up questions. What kind of generalization is "Young Chinese women have small fingers" if not racial or genetic? Can we at least agree that it is a generalization about a physical trait (often genetic) related to a group identified by their sex and nationality? Can we not also agree that making such a claim about any demographic group should require some actual evidence? The inclusion of unsubstantiated race science in an article is an unfortunate error, but it is also easily amended. I would suggest that rather than attempting to scare up sources for a ridiculous, unfounded and blatantly racist claim, you consider simply correcting it.
Best,
Julia Wong

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

like I dunno maybe if you are going to state something weird and racial about half the population of a country of 1.4 billion people you should have… a (?) source ? ??

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Harriet Cannon @harrietcannon.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

"Throughout the collection, coroners pointed to universities’ failure to act when a student went quiet. Whether it was a string of missed lectures, unanswered emails, or failure to submit coursework, many institutions saw disengagement as the student’s problem rather than a potential warning sign."

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

IndiaWilloughby @indiawilloughby.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

There are no trans MPs in the UK, and nobody trans is going to subject themselves to this kind of public humiliation and degradation. I’m told that TWO UNIONS SUPPORTED this shocking decision - one being the Public and Commercial Services Union. No surprise, given the head seems to be a terf.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Oh... I have to be honest that doesn't make any sense to me. Do they mean disabled kids?

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

A reminder that more people are employed in the yoga industry than there are registered fishers working in the UK.

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Adam Fare 🖤🤍💜 @adamfare1996.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Reminder for anyone in PIP assessments. They key words are: - Reliably - Repeatedly - Safely - More than half the days. - Support/prompting/assistance.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

This is one of the things that makes me less willing to do a 5k or try and get back into jogging. Not that I might have worse symptoms the next day.. that I look like I'm faking so much if I can jog unaided one day and then need a crutch the next...

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Dr Noor Bari @njbbari3.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Erm…. (Post by @1goodtern.bsky.social )

And so, from the point at which Covid was allowed to totally run rampant, diseases of the respiratory system became a factor in an astonishing 30% or more of deaths.

Then a graph that shows the data doing that.

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Talk about dynamic disability. Walked 5k unaided yesterday Hip subluxated as I got out of bed this morning... So crutch it is today! Ouch #hEDS ♿

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Pregnancy is considered a disability. Adriana Smith was a black, disabled woman in need of medical care. The hospital dismissed her & she died. Because she was 9 weeks pregnant, they’re keeping her body alive against the family’s wishes. Misogyny, ableism & discrimination harm in life and death

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Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them) @nmelzack.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Did parkrun this morning. Well Park walk But managed without our crutch and without any subluxations. Are we cured? Are the muscle stability exercises working?? But obviously can't do anything else today. So there's that. #disability #hEDS

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

♾️Clear Autism♾️ @clearautism.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

I'm reminded of "underlying conditions" at the beginning of Covid. Like it was inevitable that people already sick or disabled would die, so what could we do?

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

BuDS Disability Service @buds-disability.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

If Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Suicide Bill is passed, it will be a serious criminal offence to encourage someone to take their life by overdosing on medication, but perfectly legal to encourage someone to take their life by asking a doctor to give them an overdose of medication.

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Reposted by Dr Nicole Melzack (they/them)

Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

He's a eugenicist.

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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Guardian writers campaigned against puberty-blockers because they were prescribed "off label". Now the Guardian is celebrating Ozempic, a drug being used off label for obesity. The difference...? Puberty-blockers have been used for trans kids for 30+ years, Ozempic for obesity only for 4 years.

Gamechanger for more than just obesity
First developed to help lower blood sugar levels as a diabetes treatment, it was quickly apparent that Novo Nordisk’s drug semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy jabs) has a dramatic effect on weight. The drug works by mimicking a hormone, GLP-1, which is released in the gut when we eat and acts on receptors around the body, including the brain.

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Katy Montgomerie 🦗 @katymontgomerie.com · 17/05/2025

Wes Streeting is suppressing the publication of a report that would show that what he's doing to trans kids has increased the suicide rate Scandal upon scandal

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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

New: Rachel Reeves’ own constituency Labour party will call for the chancellor to abandon her plans to cut disability benefits. The embarrassment comes as rebellion among MPs over the policy grows. My @theguardian.com story: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Rachel Reeves faces anger from her own constituency over plans to cut disability benefits

Labour members from Leeds West and Pudsey to write letter to chancellor over proposed plans to reduce Pip payments

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