Open Letters | Speak Truth To Power

LETTERS TO SEND

Speak Truth to Power

The people you need to speak to usually have more institutional power than you do in that moment. The doctor has the chart. The coach has the roster. The gate agent controls the door. Women with lipedema have been dismissed by all of them, and the dismissal compounds. This page exists because you shouldn't have to find the words alone, and because the right words said clearly can change what happens next.

Use what's here. Adjust what doesn't fit. And if the form in front of you doesn't have a checkbox for what you need to say — write in the margin. Make one.

BEFORE YOU WALK IN

Most intake forms have a notes field at the bottom. Use it. Copy any of these directly. What's in the chart before the doctor walks in is harder to ignore than anything you say out loud. If there is no notes field, write in the margin.

What to write in the additional notes field on your intake form

IN THE MOMENT

Your doctor

When the history needs to be named

Your nurse

Refusing the scale

A PE teacher

A coach

A teacher or counselor

A gate agent

A peer

You don't need a diagnosis to speak up.

Choose the letter that fits your situation, click to open it, copy it, and make it yours.

Add your name, adjust any details, and send it.

Every person who receives one of these letters learns something they probably didn't know before.

TO:

Your Doctor

TO:

Your nurse

TO:

A PE teacher

TO:

A coach

TO:

A teacher/ counselor

TO:

A local official

TO:

Anyone

TO:

Your Doctor

TO:

A PE teacher

TO:

A teacher/ counselor

TO:

Anyone

TO:

Your nurse

TO:

A coach

TO:

A local official