It's been some hectic weeks lately!
Sweden has just held elections for parliament, regional and town governments.
For the past 8 years, our government has been led by the blue right (our right and left have opposite colors compared to America) which has been pretty disastrous for those in the country who are considered "weak" such as the unemployed, disabled, retired or low income workers.
Today, 8 years of tyranny has ended and Sweden has elected a new prime minister who has a past working as a welder and many years of experience as a leader of a big workers union. He's leading the political party I'm active in, the Social democrats which is a party where solidarity plays a big role and where you generally think that "just because it hasn't happened to me yet, doesn't mean it won't, so it's better to be safe than sorry" A strong welfare and social safety nets plays a big role, and everyone's equal value.
The right wing government has left quite a mess now, they sold out a lot of government owned businesses and lowered the taxes for the richest people, all while retired or disabled people even with a low pension or disability payment got hit by higher or unchanged taxes, and disability payment levels that hasn't been increased for many years!
I am one of very many in Sweden who has suffered under the blue government, even though I was approved for disability on my first attempt, my disability payments are not very high and I still pay as much tax as someone who's working full time- all while rich people get subsidized cleaning services in the nice neighborhoods. Sure, I could get subsidized cleaning services as well, but even with the tax cut on the service, I wouldn't be able to afford using the services regularly...
Anyway, we now have a prime minister from a left side, red party which is a whole lot better for those who aren't able to work due to illness, or who happen to be between jobs, or people who have worked their entire life on a job which doesn't have the highest wages.
I feel relief now! Next year I'll turn 30 which means I'll have to file for permanent disability. I haven't been able to work at all for over 3 years now due to my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, so I don't see how another year can magically give me any work ability back. With a blue government, I'd be very likely to face pure hell, I know many who have, many who have lost their sick leave payments, been denied disability despite being even worse off than I am and so on. The red government is a lot more humane, it's still difficult to be approved for permanent disability, but at least not as difficult. I feel a bit less worried about next year now than I would have if we had gotten another 4 years with the blue government!
And believe me, I would work if I could! I still miss working, but my health just has to have my highest priority! I'm still young and my body has to last for many years still, it does that best by being able to take each day as it is, and engage in activities just every once in a while, not with a daily schedule or a lot of must-do's.
While I do miss working, and do need a lot of rest, I don't just bum around in bed all day unless my body tells me to. I go places, do things, I'm into some politics these days- though not on a list to be elected anywhere. I'm an accessibility activist, I try to make changes both in my town and in nearby cities for better accessibility, be it by Instagram while being somewhere, or just let people know that something is a problem for someone who's in a wheelchair or having mobility difficulties in general. Oftentimes, people who don't have any kind of disability don't know it's a problem, they just don't have the perspective. If people with a disability starts letting others know if there's a problem with accessibility, then it truly shines a light onto the issue and others will know. If we keep silent, then nothing happens, because it's only us knowing about the issue...
