The Project, and The Pitch.
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
When I tell people to prepare for the inevitable negative thing on the horizon, I usually get a lot of ostriches promptly and firmly planting their heads in the sand. It is IMPOSSIBLE for them to prepare for a negative thing. It is TOO MUCH.
This video came up on my feed immediately after a tarot reader with a message about living wills the other day.
It's been a little over two weeks now since I was discharged from the ER with heavily bleeding uterine fibroids and a very strong matrilineal history of this being cancer, yes, this young, I even held out 10 years longer than my mother and grandmother. Why was I discharged? Excellent nutritional health, and a neurodivergent pain reaction.
I started bleeding again today. Perfect day to chill out and solidify the designs I made for info cards, as suggested by pretty much everyone in the video comments above.
Step One: Collect Underpants. I kid in Millennial. Step one is to acquire a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard.
Step two: Head on over to Canva.com, and use my free account to design personalized information cards. They look like this:
Font is Inclusive Sans, 3.37 X 2.13" was the perfect size for the 5 X 3" card size, though I did have to retool the designs a bit from my original concepts, around the hole punch at the top of the badge.
I also went ahead and designed myself a new name & pronouns badge, while I was at it:
The QR code goes to the contact page on this website, if you were curious, but not so curious as to scan it. The Pride flags are, l-r: asexuality, aromanticism, disability, autism, and ADHD. Let 'em know who they're dealing with right off the bat.
Step 3: I took the whole shebang over to Zazzle.com, and used a new customer discount and free trial of their premium membership to print it all on two 5 X 3" blank employee ID badges, and one 3 X 1.5" employee name badge blank.
Total cost, for the lanyard, two ID badges, and one name badge? $30 even.
Things I already had, that are now hanging from the lanyard - a small RFID blocker wallet with my critical ID cards and migraine rescue meds, a pair of earplugs, a lip balm holder, and a Little Ouchies mini grippie stim toy. I also have one of those watertight phone sleeves that you wear on a lanyard, that will likely be added to the mix... though I got the version with the breakaway clasp on the back of the neck, as a grown woman with a dangly thing problem it might get Gorilla Glued shut 😅😅
So now, no matter what state I'm brought into the hospital in, all of my most critical information and self-advocacy is hanging around my neck, professionally printed on a durable surface, and suspended from an internationally recognized symbol for neurodivergency and hidden disabilities. Will it help? I don't know. But it certainly won't hurt.
Are you a neurodivergent chronic illness patient who understands why the sharing of pronouns is important, too? Does this kind of a set-up sound amazing for you or someone you love, but designing it is not your thing, even if you just crib the language I used (which I am happy for anyone to do, for personal use)? May I direct you to that aforementioned Contact page, where you can send me a message and we can discuss my putting together a PNG file with your customized information for a very reasonable price, that you can then take to Zazzle or anywhere to print, no restrictions. What price? Let's talk!
Why would you want to hire me to do this design work for you? I mean, I am kinda pioneering the whole concept here. And I am obviously a thoughtful designer and communicator, as evidenced by my personal work above. And I have a LOT of rest and recovery time ahead of me, this is something I can do from my Chromebook and the hospital wifi. I did the above from my own bed, after all. Like I do everything, including writing this blog 😅😅
Canva has also been one of my favorite hyperfixations since I was introduced to it by my Water Protector partner back in 2016. I have genuinely enjoyed putting together the designs above, and get completely lost in perfecting them, to the point of complete time blindness. Now, what would I rather do right now, hyperfixate on a design that will improve someone's life, or worry about what may or may not be happening in my uterus right now? I'll take The Fun Option for $500, Alex.
And I get that any AI program could design this for you with the paid account you already have, but if you are pro-human creativity and ingenuity, I would hope you would rather support a flesh-and-blood person with a neurodivergent brain, who could use some serious financial help at this point in their life.
Stay tuned for the finished product, whenever Zazzle mails it to me!
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