Dr. Laura Pratesi, Au.D.
Hard of Hearing, Doctor of Audiology, Hearing Aid User 🤟🦻, Mobility Aid User, Wheelchair User 🦽
- Apple has some pretty significant accessibility updates in the pipeline. Here’s where I breakdown the ones that will help deaf and hard of hearing users: www.instagram.com/reel/DJmk2ln... #TechUpdates #DeafAppleUser #AccessibilityUpdates
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- Almost always contracted it about 6mo after the last vaccine dose. We need to have more open conversations about how our preventative measures just aren’t super effective.
- Got every recommended vaccine, still ended up with Covid 5+ times. The last time, I end up hospitalized for 5 days in Sept 2024. 🙃
- Struggling with depression and melancholy after my sudden paralysis. It’s been since March 13th, but I just can’t seem to shake myself out of this funk. #MentalHealth #SuddenParalysis
- [Not loaded yet]
- But what were they testing? The playdoh, or your patience? 🫣🤣
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- I’m on driving restrictions right now and having to rely on others to take me to and from appts (which means loss of wages)…and like you said, it takes me about 2 days to recover from the outing!
- My sweet little 94 year old grandmother offering to mail me her walker. 🥹 I told her thank you so much but I could order one online very easily without needing to take hers (which she needs and uses). #DisabledLife
- Impressed with the native Health app on iPhone. Has really helped me keep track of all my new meds, and symptoms. #WearableTech #Healthable #DisabledLife
- Telehealth has been such a game changer for me and my patients. We PROVED it could work during Covid. It’s ridiculous.
- B/c it was suggested by one of the providers I recently saw, my cyst was not because I received Covid vaccines. It (the meningeal cyst) was a birth defect (similar to spina bifida) that formed in utero, and was likely exacerbated by several injuries I sustained to my tailbone throughout the years.
- All the subsequent issues I’m having were 1) b/c of the cyst, or 2) b/c of other Genetic conditions we’re now finding because of the extensive testing I have undergone (to rule out other conditions besides the cyst that could have been contributing to symptoms). #TheMoreYouKnow #KnowledgeIsPower
- Meningeal cysts are a super rare condition, and most people don’t know about it or what it is. I felt it was really irresponsible for the provider (who is not a neurosurgeon or an expert in spine health) to suggest that the Covid vaccine caused my cyst. #MeningealCyst #BirthDefect #Disability
- My iWatch warned me my “gait” was unsteady and suggested I’m at an increased fall risk for the next 12mo. I mean…it’s not wrong, but who’s going to tell her I’m in a wheelchair now? #DisabilityLife #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain
- When you become chronically ill, your world shrinks. You can’t do a lot of the things you used to. People disappear. It can be an isolating existence. That said, you learn to slow down, simplify your life & reject rampant consumerism. These skills will be invaluable when facing what’s to come
- Idk, I’m ordering a lot of stuff online that I otherwise wouldn’t have had time to look at! 🤣 #RetailTherapy
- Women and minorities weren’t necessarily included in clinical studies prior to 1993. In 1977, the FDA actually restricted the use of women of childbearing age in clinical studies. We have to make up this disparity and start caring better for women, NOT based on research that didn’t include them!
- Star Wars is really just a saga of how every man ever let down Leia Organa… #MayTheFourth #StarWars
- Another day, another specialist visit. Being disabled is a fully time job. #DisabilityLife #Disability #Disabled
- Love on the Spectrum is part of what gets me through the day. #LoveOnTheSpectrum #Autism #Netflix #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain
- Have follow up with urology tomorrow. They will catheter me, empty my bladder, then inflate it, then track my control. Sounds horrible. Wish me luck. #Urology #Paralysis #Bladder #ChronicIllness #Disability
- The massive, 8.8cm meningeal cyst that caused my sudden paralysis on March 13th, 2025. Grateful for Dr. Frank Feigenbaum who removed it on March 28th, and gave me a chance at recovery. #MeningealCyst #SuddenParalysis #ChronicPain #SemiParesis #RareDisease #Disability
- [Not loaded yet]
- The learning curve has been steep.
- “Chronic illness and the erosion of identity”. Sounds like the title of the worst Harry Potter novel (a rank previously held by Cursed Child).
- [Not loaded yet]
- I have hoped BlueSky might replace the other social medias, but it still largely feels empty compared to the communities I’d built on other platforms (so far). Working on it!
- I both want to do things, and want to do nothing. I have no stamina and it’s depressing for things to be so difficult when they used to be so easy. #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #SuddenParalysis
- [Not loaded yet]
- Yes! Cauda Equina was my diagnosis. ER doc realized it right away. All the others delayed my care until I got to the right neurosurgeon on March 27th.
- [Not loaded yet]
- I’m so grateful to the Facebook group. Without it, I’m not sure what would have happened.
- In the past two weeks I’ve lost a high school friend, and my step-father-in-law. This has been a rough season of loss. #Grief #Mourning #Loss #Depression
- [Not loaded yet]
- A season of loss. 😔
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- Yup. It’s insane. Didn’t realize how important public transportation is for wheelchair users, and the U.S. (outside of NYC) basically has none. Why? Racism.
- Followed up with gastro for bloating, constipation and neurogenic bowel. They prescribed me new meds which have been great except now I have bloating, neurogenic bowel, and diarrhea. 🙃 #ChronicIllness #SuddenParalysis #ChronicPain #MeningealCyst
- [Not loaded yet]
- 11 neurosurgeons locally looked at my scans and said “not it”! The power of Facebook and online communities helped me find the 6 surgeons in the world who do the surgery type I needed! Luckily 4 were in the U.S., including Dr. F (who invented the technique)
- [Not loaded yet]
- It’s slow! Surgeon said it will take 6mo-2 years (if ever) for me to recover. PCP said neurosurgery on the spine is like getting hit by a bus. Only difference is surgery is (mostly) planned! 😭
- [Not loaded yet]
- As a doctor (and as a disabled person) I fully agree! Medicine should be collaborative with patients!
- Every day is still a gift. #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #Disability #WheelchairLife #MobilityIssues #MeningealCyst
- Took a shower and now I’m going to need three business days to recover. #ChronicIllness #Fatigue #MeningealCyst #ChronicPain #DisabilitySky #Disability
- Movie you’ve watched more than six times using gifs. (“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)
- What, like it’s hard? Boys do it. 🤷🏻♀️
- “You need to get out of the house more”. Yeah, I’d love to. But I can’t bathe without help and I’m not allowed to drive for 6mo. Sooo…🤷🏻♀️ #ChronicPain #MeningealCyst #ChronicIllness #Disabled #DisabilityLife
- As a hard of hearing person who wears hearing aids, lowering your voice when you have gossip is ableist… 👀 deaf people deserve to know the tea too! 🦻🤣 #Ableism #HearingLoss #HardOfHearing #HearingAids #HearingAidUser #Ableist #Gossip #HotGoss
- Applied for a grant for #TinnitusResearch to see how effective current management tools are. 😳 #Expert #Tinnitus #TinnitusSolution
- I'm looking for ideas for me as a journalist to do for a solutions story at @motherjones.com on how aging people (60+) are staying connected to each other through a cool activity (think slightly quirky). If you have any examples, please get in touch at jmetraux@motherjones.com
- [Not loaded yet]
- Can confirm The Villages is crazy…the loofah signal system alone…👀
- [Not loaded yet]
- And we’re not “unpatriotic” because we’re disabled or sick! 😒🙄
- Even though I have disabilities, I shouldn’t have to justify my existence to anyone. My life has value simply because it’s mine. #Disability #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #HearingLoss #WheelchairUser #HearingAids
- [Not loaded yet]
- I need ATL text and video descriptions to 1) become more common, and 2) become easier! So many people post flyers or articles as a photo, and then having to write out everything in ATL text is time consuming. I do it because it’s important, but we have the tech to make it easier!
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- Kismet. Or just proper planning 🤣
- [Not loaded yet]
- Having to justify my existence to the gov is discussing.
- [Not loaded yet]
- Omg. I didn’t ask to have a meningeal cyst on my spine which has led to chronic pain and mobility aid usage. I was born this way! Same with my hearing loss. And my Long QT syndrome. Feeling like I have to justify my existence to the gov is no good. 🤬
- The FBI director flew this government plane (or one just like it), possibly from Las Vegas, where he still lives, to see a hockey game in Long Island. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/u...
- Rules for thee but not for me! 😒👎
- I LOVE the violet lemonade. 🤤💜🍋
- [Not loaded yet]
- So much more work and effort to do the things now, yet less energy and strength to do them than when I was more abled. 😮💨🙃
