FAQ

I don’t know if these are actually frequently asked questions, but this is what I might want to know about #HospitalGlam if I were looking at it for the first time.

This will be updated and kept on a permanent FAQ.

What is #HospitalGlam?
#HospitalGlam is a movement for and by people with invisible disabilities that started by appropriating fashion imagery and reinserting it into medical environments using bodies that don’t outwardly present as sick or disabled. #HospitalGlam is about contextualizing ourselves inside an often alienating medical environment in order to assert our rights as patients and better our treatment. By taking #HospitalGlam photos and posting them on social media, patients increase awareness of invisible illnesses in their communities and with doctors.
Here’s some press stuff. Here are some posts that might help round it out. Here’s an academic piece about #HospitalGlam, Selfies of Ill Health: Online Autopathographic Photography and the Dramaturgy of the Everyday Selfies of Ill Health: Online Autopathographic Photography and the Dramaturgy of the Everyday, by Tamar Tembeck.

Who are you?
I’m Karolyn Gehrig, a queer disabled artist and writer. Sometimes I talk on stage. My personal tumblr is @karolynprg and I’m on twitter + instagram. You can contact me using Hospitalglam-at-gmail. You can find my #HospitalGlam images and writing here.

What counts as a HospitalGlam photo?
Again, #HospitalGlam is about contextualizing ourselves inside an often alienating medical environment in order to assert our rights as patients and better our treatment. The focus should be on you in the space.
For badass photos of yourselves that are not taken in a medical setting, check out the fantastic #medaesthetic or #cripplepunk blogs, which each have their own criteria. Please refrain from posting photos of the outside environments or just pictures of the procedures you’re having. Bonus points for photos that mimic those we see in media, although dressing up is not necessary for #HospitalGlam. Here are some shots I think work well for the project.

Illness isn’t Glamorous.

Agreed! #HospitalGlam is a dark wink at the way poses of illness are often used to sell us health, beauty and fashion in the media. We are often taxed for the efficacy of these efforts during our appointments. Representing myself as a disabled person, using the same conventions placed in a clinical environment, and labeling it #HospitalGlam is, in part, an effort to examine the bias that makes it harder to access care.

Can I Participate?

Absolutely. Go here to submit, or read further and just hashtag on instagram, twitter or tumblr.

Blocking policy: Zero tolerance on removing my words from my image posts. If you spam the tag you may also be blocked.

Why aren’t photos of procedures #HospitalGlam?

#HospitalGlam is about you, not the procedure. In photos like needle-in-arm shots, the body is overtaken by the medical procedure being experienced. Compositionally, it’s a photo about the needle, not the person. #HospitalGlam is about contextualizing oneself in the medical environment, not being dominated by it.

I took a photo because I was all dressed up on the way to my appointment. Is that HospitalGlam?
Nope. It wasn’t taken in a medical environment.

How about the photo I took in the bathroom at the hospital?
Nope. It’s a bathroom selfie.

What else doesn’t count as a HospitalGlam photo?

Photos taken at home, in cars, in bathrooms (even hospital bathrooms); basically anyplace that is not a medical facility.
Photos of just the outfit you wore to the doctor’s office.
Photos of just the makeup you wore to the doctor’s office.
Photos of your medical procedure, including imaging scans.
Photos of a needle in your arm.
Photos with text on them.
Photos of the environment without you in them.
Photos that are composed mostly of the medical environment, accoutrements, or medical ephemera. If your identity is edged out of the frame, it does not keep with the spirit of the project.
Seriously, check out the work Medaesthetic + Cripplepunk are doing. It’s great. You will find something that works for you.

Why didn’t you reblog my photo?
I don’t post or reblog things that don’t fit the above criteria. I also don’t reblog stuff that’s posted with the intention of triggering people or making them feel bad about the work they’re doing. This includes you, meaning if you talk shit about yourself in your post, it’s not going on here. Sometimes posts have multiple photos, and only one of the photos fits the criteria. Single image posts are your best bet. There is no limit on the amount of awesome photos I will post from one person, so just go for it.

That said, sometimes I just don’t see things because hashtag searching isn’t perfect. If you don’t think the above applies, drop a line and I will address whatever it was.

Do mental illnesses count as disabilities?
Mental Illness is Invisible Illness.

I am visibly disabled and I’d still like to participate.
If you can find a way for it to empower you and better your relationship with your doctors and other communities, go for it.

What are your diagnoses, Karolyn? I’ve got several, but the ones I reference most often are Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and PTSD. I consider those my primary disabilities, which make all of my comorbid conditions more complicated to treat. I have been out as a disabled person since 2003.

Why won’t you tell us the others? Being disabled in public doesn’t override my bodily autonomy.

What’s your PTSD from? You’re kidding with this.

Can I ask you for advice?

It depends on what you’re looking for. I’m not a medical professional and won’t give out medical advice. I am happy to respond to questions when I can, but because it’s my personal opinion, I’m more comfortable doing so through the askbox on my personal tumblr.

How do you take your photos?

I use an iphone app that allows a repeating self timer, set at 10 second intervals. Then I filter the photos (usually using VSCOcam) and post them. I try to keep it as quick and dirty as possible. I’ve posted more about it here and here. I use the back camera, not the selfie one, so I am not looking at myself and am focusing on being present. The rear camera has a better lens than the front-facing selfie one and your images will turn out better. This method usually gets good results, both photographically and from the appointments, and I recommend it.

What do you mean by “taking the shame out of being in treatment one selfie at a time”?

It’s a quippy tagline for the tumblr, not an explanation of the project. If you’d like more exposition, I wrote a little bit about disability shame + beauty here.

I want to help out!

Great! There’s a lot you can do. The easiest is to like, reblog and follow the images and writing of people who participate in the project. Boosting disabled voices is important.

It helps a lot to participate in the project, and use the photos to bridge the gap in understanding what our lives are like. This means that we are the same people whether in or out of the doctor’s office. Our lives are no less valuable or interesting than people who live lives in office parks or restaurants. We are all on the internet. Use it.

I could use some help captioning images and making the Tumblr more accessible. This is important. Since this is a project about self representation in a clinical environment, captions must include the fact that you are in a clinical environment. A good baseline for #Hospitalglam images is [photo: an image of me in a doctor’s office/hospital/clinic. Then however else you want to describe your image.]

I could also use some help with maintaining the queue.

If you are interested in working on the caption backlog, accessibility, or queue maintenance, please get in touch.