Forcing the discomfort of ME onto the American public

By: Peggy Munson (the author of Origami Striptease (a novel) and Pathogenesis (poems), and the editor of Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.)

in fact, forcing the discomfort of AIDS onto the American public -- was what won the war for AIDS activists.

ACT-UP realized their victory came in part from culture’s phobic response -- and they capitalized on it, brazenly, exposed it and called it out. They went into every space their queer-infused politic would be unwelcome: Wall Street, Trump Towers, Sloan-Kettering, Northwest Airlines, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the FDA.

They pulled in non-gay members of other disenfranchised groups who were being hit by AIDS and ignored, such as prisoners, IV drug users, people of color. These tactics resulted in fast-tracking of drugs, safer doses of AZT, and cost reductions of overpriced AIDS meds. They never let up on the tone of emergency.

By using an “inside voice” ME/CFS patients and activists have done nothing but reinforce the power of those keeping us down. We too ... Read more>>