Tag: CHRONIC PAIN

Chronic Pain, Lived Experience and Academia: An Interactive Journey by Tayla Barber 

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When I first started working as a criminologist, my mom encouraged me to not disclose my disability to my colleagues or any potential employer. At this time in my life, I was 19 and I had suffered from Chronic Migraines for 5 years. This was advice I ultimately decided to ignore. While the advice came from a place of love, experiencing chronic pain is a core part of who I am and not something I can change. Pain is part of my life every day. Now, at 26, I have suffered from chronic pain for over a decade and have developed four other ongoing health conditions. 

Since working in academia, I have had a variety of experiences and responses related to my condition. This has included working with wonderfully supportive people on projects that have impacted state and national policy, as well as experiences of ableism. Balancing working in academia, completing my undergraduate and PhD studies, and managing my ongoing medical conditions has been challenging. Despite these challenges, working in Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) research has helped me understand my own medical experiences better, and reflecting on my lived experience of disability and addiction has fundamentally altered my own research practice. Through this blog post, I hope to share some of the experiences and lessons I have learnt as a person living with disability working in academia and discuss the value of incorporating lived and living experiences into research practice.

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Navigating the Labyrinth: On Chronic Illness, Graduate School, and Finding Wholeness by Laura Dickey

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Working towards your PhD while grappling with chronic mental and physical health conditions… well, sucks. Graduate school is often depicted as a training ground for intellectual growth, a hallmark of academic rigor providing access to a playground of ivory towers. For many, it’s a demanding but ultimately rewarding journey. However, for those of us navigating graduate school while grappling with chronic health conditions, the experience can be a labyrinth of unexpectedly demanding challenges. 

My own journey as a PhD student in Philosophy has been profoundly shaped by my experiences with Bipolar Type II Disorder and chronic pain. While graduate school has tested my resilience, it has also given me a new perspective on community, self-worth and the journey of coping in the face of adversity. This post explores how these experiences have influenced my academic development, pushing me to redefine success in my own terms. Ultimately, I hope to share a lesson that has been critical to my journey: authentic participation in community can create profound feelings of wholeness and belonging, providing an anchor for stability amidst the demands of academic life.

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Academia in Pain: What I’ve Lost and What I’ve Gained by Sara Villa

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When I learnt about Voices of Academia, I first thought: What an amazing idea! My second thought was: Who would want to hear about me, a postdoc suffering from chronic pain, who is still finding her way through it? But then I realized that often the first slide in my talks shows the percentage of people suffering from chronic pain: 1 in 5! And we still feel ashamed, lost and voiceless in life, never mind in academia. 

So here I am, thinking that since academia is already hard as it is, my experience might resonate with someone, and help in some way if you’re dealing with chronic pain. I am a big believer in people’s own paths and mistakes, but I also believe that you feel less bad about it when shared and understood. I will share here my path in academia, focusing on the good and bad things that a life with pain has given me. Yes, there are some good ones. 

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