It’s hard to avoid the topic of the ‘C’ word right now. There isn’t a person in the World that doesn’t know about it because we are all going through it together. Loss of freedom, money worries, not seeing loved ones, unemployment, loneliness, completely overwhelmed….we are all experiencing similar things.

There are a group of people that know more than most what this is like. And I belong to them. Luckily for me life is nowhere near as bad as what it is for millions. We are the ones that have illness (physical and mental) and disabilities that have made an impact on our everyday lives. The ones that have been living this life for years, silently and without recognition.

We are the ones that have lost jobs, lost friends, some haven’t been outside in years. We empathise with what everyone is going right now because we know what it’s like!! We have and are living it.

And whilst we empathise and absolutely feel pain for what is happening to everyone, there is a side of me that wants to say “you didn’t notice before!” Now this is happening to everyone it’s talked about and realised but there’s still those that don’t. They take up the shopping slots when many cannot get their own food. They tell us they know what it feels like now.

What they are going through is not the same. Many can still work from home, their friends still check on them, and they can still take exercise. They are not really confined indoors like so many are right now. On top of that many get refused disability allowance or it takes months to sort out.

One thing I am hoping when this has ended is that people will think to check on those in their community that will still be at home, unemployed and on lockdown when the rest of the world are back to living freely.