another person on facebook was having trouble getting their family to understand the spoon theory because they couldn’t wrap their head around the metaphor so I wrote up a detailed version of my battery post I made ages ago inspired by my macbook, might as well post it here too.
I’ve never been a big fan of the spoon theory because it’s kind of
abstract and confusing to explain unless you print out and carry the
thing with you and make people read it because it makes NO SENSE out of
context so I made one that most people will be able to understand
easier. (might not help with elderly people but generally they will get
it because their battery might not be defective, but all batteries stop
holding charge when they get old so they are more likely to Get It without a metaphor)
When you get an electronic device, like a laptop or cell phone it comes
with an rechargeable battery. Some people are unlucky and get a dud. Or
maybe there is a recall and the entire line of the product due to a defect.
My battery isn’t any good.
When I’m all charged up I and it says it’s ok to unplug the charger,
I’m not at 100%. I haven’t been able to charge that far up for years. I
am already basically in the yellow when I start my day. If you only have
a half hour of battery life just browsing the internet, how are you
expected to load a flash video to watch that takes up way more juice?
You can maybe do it with the right help, such as a portable charger
(here representing accessibility devices like wheelchairs, or treatment/medication). Sometimes the percentage amount is also inaccurate
to. It says you have 20% battery and 20 minutes left and then your
computer just -shuts off- out of nowhere. Surprise! you crashed! I hope
you were anticipating that risk and saved your work!
In addition
my charger doesn’t always work.
I can plug it in and it just says “not
charging”. So sometimes you leave the computer overnight to charge and
wake up, wait, 30% battery when my 100% is a normal person’s
60%????!!!?? not fair! This is what happens when you combine in the
restfulness or inadequate sleep.
The combination means you are
really working at rationing what you can do with your device. Should I
turn it off most of the day in case I need it later? How many people can
I talk to on my phone for how long before it runs out of juice. How
much work can I get done on my laptop before the battery dies, possibly
taking the work with it?
That’s how are bodies are. We have to
carefully monitor how much energy we (think) we have, what amount of
stuff we should be able to do with it, what must be sacrificed, as well
as try and keep track of charging stations, battery packs etc. to rescue
us if we miscalculate. And if we do we could lose something important
in the power outage.
But batteries aren’t user replaceable and
we don’t have a warranty, we can’t get it fixed, just have to deal with
it as well as we can. The battery does not define us but it effects every part of our lives effecting everything we do and every decision because while most people haven’t experienced a energy crash, they have probably experienced the hell that is the computer shutting down and destroying hours of effort you’ve put into something as punishment for taking that risk.
also some people will have the battery miraculously hold a six hour charge again unexpectedly; it doesn’t mean the battery’s fixed. and sometimes it charges quickly, sometimes it doesn’t charge at all.
I like that you explain that charge and capacity are different. Like. Even if I do get a good nights sleep (100% charge) my capacity is probably only 70% of what people would expect of a healthy person my age.
And. Oh gosh. Not connected to power. This is so incredibly helpful.
And when you get a new treatment it’s like a software update- sometimes it’s way better right away, other times you need to work the bugs out (adjust dosages).
But that’s not just like the performance of the device- some days I have the ability to “play a movie” but then I need to recharge. But. Software updates affect battery. Bc even if I have the working ability to play the movie, the battery might die halfway through.
So you have to pay attention to how your battery works. And your processing capabilities. And you have to plan and make choices.
And viruses are like muggle sicknesses.
I’m sorry if I got too into this. But I really like metaphors.
And don’t get me wrong, I still like the spoon theory. But. It’s nice to have this as well. So. Thank you. 🙂
Ohhhh. And ableism is like the IT department being like “have you tried plugging it in?”
This is absolutely great! I really like this metaphor.
(image description: top image shows a battery status report on an electronic device, with two items – capacity and charge, showing that the battery is at 60% of its charging capacity, but that it can only charge up to 46% of the original design capacity. second image shows an Apple status bar with the battery labeled as “not charging”)
I love this!
I absolutely love this! It makes it all easier to explain to people in terms they can understand and remember
Thoughtfulfangirling 