I don’t watch Ru Paul’s Drag Race but after reading about the comments that were made about stoma bags I had to search out the clip.
I’m sure to Ru Paul and Michelle Visage it was just a throwaway comment and they’ve thought no more about it. But to those in the Crohns and Colitis community it’s a big deal. Could you imagine the outrage if somebody made an inappropriate comments about being trans or gay? There would be uproar. But these kind of ableist ‘jokes’ are what disabled people have to put up with all the time.
I had a stoma bag for 5 years so let me dispel some common myths:
Stoma bags smell.
They don’t. They have special charcoal filters in them to stop smells emerging. The only time you would smell anything was if it leaked (which shouldn’t happen often) or when it was emptied in the loo. But everyones shit stinks when you go to the toilet.
Stoma bags are awful.
They’re not. In my case I ended up with a bag after my large bowel perforated and I needed emergency surgery. Without my stoma I would have died. So stomas save lives. The reason I ended up having my stoma reversed was because I had problems with it and the reversal surgery was what my medical team recommended at the time. However, looking back now the years I had my bag were the years I was most well.
Everyone knows you’ve got a stoma.
Unless you choose to tell people that you’ve got a stoma then nobody knows. You can’t see them through your clothes and the last I knew nobody has X-ray vision! Sometimes they can be a bit noisy but they sound just like a tummy rumbling.
I think it’s important to address these comments
because someone could be watching the programme who is grappling with the choice of having a stoma to relieve their bowel disease or may be the friend or family of someone who has just undergone the surgery. Ignorance spreads ignorance and I would hate for someone to decide against surgery as a result of this show. The number of people suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease increases year on year and it’s estimated that there are 300,000 sufferers although there’s probably a lot more because they are too frightened or embarrassed to go to the doctor. Talking about bowels and poo and bums has become second nature to me and if I can reduce the stigma associated with these illnesses then I’ve achieved something.
If you are an IBD warrior or are experiencing symptoms please know you can get support from the charity Crohns and Colitis UK.
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