Jacob Brittain

BBC Politics North: Long Covid patients ‘being forgotten’ YouTube video by Broken Battery

Full video (8 mins)

BBC Politics North - Long Covid patients being forgotten as the last NHS clinic is set to close in the North East and Cumbria. Features former GP Susannah Thompson, Dr Margaret O’Hara, Dr Rae Duncan, alongside a number of MPs.

youtu.be/ay_2M9fI3z8?...

New School Guidance announces:

Full bathroom ban.
Full PE ban.
Full school trip accommodation ban.

Trans kids will not go to the bathroom, do PE or go on any school trips. 1/

Disabilities in education review: 5 key insights A recent government report revealed a raft of ways pupils with disabilities feel education settings don’t always work for their needs – here is what you need to know

Deputy head Luke Ramsden highlights essential findings from a recent government report that points to how disabled pupils can be supported more effectively in schools

Bluesky Blowup How the ME/CFS patient community is reading Invisible Illness

1/ In response to Emily Mendenhall’s recent Substack on critiques of her book Invisible Illness by the community & Wessely's legal threats.

Anthropology is often open to dialogue & critique, so let’s situate this moment historically & structurally. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/emilymen...

Long COVID: a long road ahead Abstract. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused an estimated 400 million people worldwide to experience Long COVID and post-COVID complications leading to signifi

University at Buffalo neurologists report at least 400 million people worldwide may have Long COVID, with half meeting criteria for ME/CFS.

Most therapies remain only partially effective, leaving many patients disabled and without relief.

academic.oup.com/ooim/article...

There is no such thing as SEND - The Autistic Advocate In this article Kieran Rose looks at why there is no such thing as SEND in UK Education and addresses the harm casued by SEND narratives.

New from @kieranrose.bsky.social

There is no such thing as SEND

theautisticadvocate.com/there-is-no-...

(1/5) Long Covid: Latest Evidence-based Pathophysiology Clues Infographic 🧩

On this day, exactly 5 years ago I tested positive for a Covid infection that triggered the onset of my Long Covid and its devastating symptoms, which still debilitate me to this day.

Inclusion Needs Recognition, Not Erasure: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach | Autistic Realms When headlines claim that autism and ADHD are “invented labels,” it’s more than rhetoric, it’s erasure. A explores why removing neurodiversity from educatio ...

Inclusion can’t come from erasure.
Removing neurodiversity and diagnosis from education doesn’t create belonging—it silences it.
True inclusion means recognising difference, not pretending it isn’t there.
autisticrealms.com/inclusion-ne...

Who decides (professionals or individuals) if fear of X is unreasonable/unfounded and therefore a person is anxious?

Gold standard anxiety treatment is CBT graded exposure. Will more of X make a person feel better?

Or is it a stress reaction or a trauma response?

Treatments vary a lot.

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

🔬Interesting new brainstem and cerebellum study in Long COVID - new imaging findings

A new brain imaging study of Long COVID patients reveals major damage in key parts of the brain responsible for movement, balance, and automatic body functions like heart rate and sleep

Let’s break it down🧵

Profiles of Individuals With Long COVID Reporting Persistent Cognitive Complaints AbstractObjective. A subset of COVID-19 patients continues to experience cognitive difficulties 24 months post-infection. The factors driving these symptom

1. The most important point in this article is the 20% study group prevalence of anosognosia: having cognitive dysfunction but not being aware of it.

academic.oup.com/acn/advance-...

Incredibly powerful watch about the government plan on ME from @binitakane.bsky.social and Sarah, whose daughter Maeve died from ME.

NHS urgently needs to commission specialist services for the 100,000s people living with this debilitating condition.

watch here
youtu.be/GZbSrdtiA9k?...

A slide showing boxes with multiple symptoms and traits commonly seen in post-viral conditions eg allergies, ADHD, sleep problems.

I did my safeguarding level 3 mandatory training this week on FII (Fabricated or induced illness - seen as a form of child abuse) and PP (perplexing presentations) i.e. symptoms that don’t make sense to paediatricians.

Look at the symptoms that these ‘abusive’ parents may report.

A black and white image features Dr. Francis Ryan, a journalist, seated and looking forward with a somber expression. She has long, light-colored hair and is wearing a dark, off-the-shoulder top. Below her image, a quote is displayed in white text against a dark purple background: "When we are healthy, we tend to believe doctors fix you... Within a few months of getting sick, I knew this was a lie. It wasn't simply that medics didn't know how to treat me, it was how they treated me." In the bottom left corner, there's a logo for "LONG COVID ADVOCACY" with a hand icon. In the bottom right corner, it says "- DR FRANCIS RYAN, JOURNALIST". Two large, pink quotation marks are in the top left corner of the image.

📚💙 This quote will resonate & reach out to so many women with chronic illness. We know the system is broken but it impacts our lives in profound & traumatic ways.

It's from the Healthcare chpt in 'Who Wants Normal?' by @francesryan.bsky.social

Powerful & validating.

#pedanticzebra

Patients with severe ME/CFS need hope in the form of evidence-based interventions, not opinions.

Our evidence-based rebuttal to *that* BMJ opinion piece published last week.
This has been authored by a coalition of 19 doctors, scientists and patient advocates from around the world, with now 80+ signatures of support from the scientific community.

www.bmj.com/content/389/...

An illustration to help differentiate inequality, equality, equity and justice. It is justice we are ultimately striving to achieve and it’s important to remember that.

#autism #autistic #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #neurodivergence #AutisticExperience #inequality #equality #equity #justice

Thanks Sadžida.

Thanks Pippa

Hello #edpsychs! I wondered whether I could ask for some advice.

Excitingly, I’ve been invited to interview for a DEdPsych course. I have long covid though, and I’m worried whether I could do it. Does anyone have any advice for how to manage this work/training/interview with a long-term condition?

Feels like a good time for a thread about all things exercise for people living with infection (and exposure)-associated complex chronic illnesses (IACCs) such as #MECFS, #LongCOVID and chronic #Lyme /tick- and vector-borne illness. Let’s start with a trip down memory lane.
1/

I have been running a non-fiction book club in our bookshop since 2017.

Here are 10 books that we’ve read that have inspired the best and most memorable discussions and left the most lasting impact.

Some are stone cold classics, and some are more recent less well-known offerings 👇

📌

Investigating the role of mental imagery use in the assessment of anhedonia Anhedonia, or a deficit in the liking, wanting, and seeking of rewards, is typically assessed via self-reported “in-the-moment” emotional and motivational responses to reward stimuli and activities...

Mental imagery is increasingly being used to tackle anhedonia in depression, because imagining reward can boost anticipatory pleasure & motivation.

But does mental imagery use influence the self-reporting of anhedonia symptoms?🤔

Yes. A🧵on our new open access 🗞️: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....