Jan 4, 2014
Chronic fatigue syndrome activists launch ‘uprising’ from their beds
My wife was profiled on Al Jazeera America this week about her struggle with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Here’s how she describes the experience:
“I would describe it like being a broken battery, where every time you try to charge me, you know, I maybe fill to 5 percent,” she said. “I think the thing that is really hard to understand about this illness is just how much it takes away from you and how so many of the basic things that make one feel like a human being just become impossible.”
It’s a debilitating disease and a complicated topic. The great thing about Al Jazeera Tonight is that they generally spend 8-9 minutes on a subject as compared the 3-4 minutes typical on regular news shows. As a result, there’s a lot more room to delve in.
See the full article and videos.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley. I received a PhD in African American Studies, an MA in Government and an MA in Statistics from Harvard University. Previously, I co-founded BlackPlanet.com and the Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School. I can be reached at owasow -at- gmail -dot- com.