Does anyone know what happened to Christine Miserandino?

The woman who created "The Spoon Theory".

I'm currently working on a comic explaining what a "Spoonie" is, where it comes from, etc. I planned on the comic having a drawing of her towards the beginning, with words around her like "Awesome person, inspiring advocate. Put on some awesome awareness events. Apparently owns a GIANT SPOON. You can check out her website here!"

Along with depiction of the story from her famous Spoon Theory essay.

I wanted any info to be current or helpful to whatever she may be apart of now, so I started digging, but...

Her website is out of date (normal enough) but ALL her social media post ended around March of 2018. The last being a tweet on being extra tired and depressed. Her more personal Instagram account ended,

Even her Pinterest.

Which I found on accident, but still.

I'm going to guess she got too tired to keep all the social media going/focused on her life. (No shame in that. You go, Glenn Coco , Christine Miserandino).

So, because I'm not sure reaching out to her would be an option (and because "Spoonie" is so widely used I think it's amazing we can trace the word back to a source, so I want to make that source public knowledge. Because in her own way, she really seems to have worked her ass off for chronic illness awareness and positively influenced a massive amount of people in the disabled community)

Does anyone know what happened?

(Is she okay? Can we all chip in a send her flowers? Is the internet mad at her for some reason unknown to me and it drove her away? Should I be worried or let it go? Is she doing what David Bowie did and anonymously spying around the internet, and is reading now this post?)

I'm not trying to make this a big deal or anything. Especially if it's a matter of privacy. She's just important. I hope wherever you are, Christine, that life is treating you with kindness.

EDIT:

We found her

Well @peggydeservesbetter did. And @babyslime (who's tag doesn't work for some reason) added some important info.

She's currently using this facebook

Or rather, her friend Linda is managing most of the post there:

.... I still think we should all chip in and get her flowers....fill her house with flowers.....

(Read notes for more info! I'll be reaching out to Linda to see if there's anything we could do to show Christine some love and appreciation in a non-overwhelming and healthy way.)

Today I'm excited to launch two ways to connect with other #SpooniesofColor. The first is our new FB group (https://facebook.com/groups/1061232377385916)! The second: now that there are more faces on the hashtags on IG, with your permission I'll add your IG posts to my IG Story so followers will get alerts about your post! My hope is that both will encourage discussion, support, virtual meetups, and sharing of resources between like-minded folks. . Please note the group's for adults 18+ and the goal is for this to be safe space for Disabled POC. The group is closed, i.e. no one can see who's in it or any posts until they're approved as a member, for precisely that reason. I'll refer you to public comments made by able-bodied people on #DisabledPoCDay for more reasons why the group's private. . P.S. New members of the group will get a 25% discount in the Black & Brown Spoons shop from now until March 31st! . [Image description: graphic with brown filtered photo featuring a Black and Hispanic woman sitting together with two black boxes with white text layered over them that reads "you are cordially invited to discuss chronic illness and disability in the Black & Brown Spoons Facebook Group. Community | Support | Events | News from POC perspectives. Click the link to request to join. @blackbrownspoon"]

I'm sure everyone and the neighbor's cat has read of, or at least heard of, this article by now. It recently came up in a conversation I was having with my girlfriend, and I felt like posting it here.

Gentle reminder: all forms of love are valid and should be celebrated, and all bodies are deserving of love. This Valentine’s Day, celebrate your version of disabled love, spoonie love, neurodivergent love, and most importantly, self love.

P.S. It's too late to get these in time for Valentine’s Day but if you need a belated gift, click this link for a 10% off flash sale in the Spoonies of Color shop that ends tomorrow!

Black & Brown Spoons on @WeAreDisabled

Just wrapped up a fun week tweeting on @WeAreDisabled. The account invites disabled people to tweet about their lives and experiences with disabilities for 7 days. I signed up for the first week of February in order to speak on disabled black people’s contributions to American history for Black History Month. I used my time to share snapshots in history from my article “Disability History is Black History is American History”, promote my other resources like my list of “Disabled PoC in Literature, Hollywood and Politics” celebrate from amazing disabled WoC creating community on social media for #DisabledPocDay, and spoke on some of my experiences as a #SpoonieofColor. Definitely wish I could’ve shared more. Check out the Wakelet collection below to see my tweets!

The collection was originally posted on Wakelet. Visit wearedisabled.wordpress.com to learn more about how to participate.

[Image description: Graphic with a transparent image of black and brown spoons and a light brown square in the background with grey dashes above white text that reads “#SpooniesofColor 101: Disability Rights and Resources @blackbrownspoon”] Here is a list of links that may help spoonies of any background-- whether newly diagnosed, undiagnosed, possibly misdiagnosed, or life-long spoonies-- with navigating the community with a disability in the US. If you have or know of any additional resources, especially ones specific to PoCs, feel free to reach out! Read more