Blogging about chronic health conditions can be very rewarding because doctors don’t fully understand disabilities they have never experienced and sometimes are helpful. Health bloggers can help people all over the world without leaving their homes because we are actually living with a disability and can help people in ways that doctors can’t. Anyone can blog about chronic health conditions, and you don’t need a doctorate to be able to do it well because there are no rules that say you can’t blog about your health experiences unless you are a doctor. When you blog about health there are some things that health bloggers have to think that someone who doesn’t blog about health would have to because anytime you publicly share information that could be considered as medical advice and don’t have the proper legal statements you run the risk of being sued. It is possible to write about your health experiences without ever getting in any legal trouble and a lot of people do. How do you blog about health and not get into any legal trouble? In this post, I am going to talk about things that all health advocates should think about before writing about health.
Get your legal statements up immediately– Many of my readers are family and would not sue me if they thought my constipation advice was lousy but you can’t assume that everyone reading is family because the more you grow the more readers you will have that is not family. I am not concerned with my family suing me because they didn’t like my advice and usually family members will ask me to take things down if they are offended by something that was posted but they won’t threaten me with a lawsuit. The very first thing that all health bloggers should do before writing any posts is get their legal statements up that clearly state you are not a doctor because you are running risk by not having them even though most people probably won’t sue you. The legal statements that a blogger should have will vary from person to person because not everyone will run ads and need the same types of policies but at the bare minimum, you should have a disclaimer and privacy policy.
Do your research- If you truly want to help people it’s so important that you do your research and do your absolute best not to post incorrect medical facts. Most people who seek out health bloggers are those who have been dismissed by medical professionals who are looking for support because if you post incorrect information, it could harm someone. It takes a little more time to create a well-researched post and not all health bloggers take the time to do that but it’s so important because you never know who is taking your advice. If you don’t know something, it’s better to not post than to guess and be wrong. There are going to be times when a health blogger is going to be wrong because most advocates aren’t doctors and sometimes Google doesn’t give us correct information, but you do want to try to do your research and if you aren’t confident your medical facts are correct it is a sign you should be writing about something else.
Add a disclaimer to every post that could be taken as medical advice– Whenever I write a post about constipation that could be taken as medical advice, I always put a disclaimer in the beginning of the post to make it very clear that I am not a doctor and that this is not medical advice. I have a disclaimer clearly displayed on my blog and on individual posts sometimes that way no one can ever say that they didn’t see my disclaimer and come after me for it. I sometimes even add a disclaimer to some of my social media posts that could be taken as medical advice because as an advocate you are responsible for every single thing you post, and you want to make sure people know you aren’t a doctor and that sometimes you could be wrong.
Be a well-educated advocate– As a disabled person, I know a lot about my disability but despite popular belief, disabled people are not experts on every disability and we are only experts on our own disability. A good health advocate is always educating themselves and learning from other disabled people who have different disabilities from them. I am always reading articles from other disabled people and learning about different medical conditions, because when you take it upon yourself to learn about the stigmas other disabled people face, you will be more understanding which will make you a better advocate.
Blogging about health can be very rewarding because you can help people in a different way than doctors can, but if you aren’t careful about what type of information you put online, it can get you in a lot of legal trouble. As an online health advocate, I am here to share my experiences while living with a disability, but I don’t ever try to diagnose someone, and I don’t know why you have a strange rash because I didn’t go to medical school. When you are disabled and live with many chronic health conditions, sometimes it can be difficult to manage, and advocating online not only can help other people, but you can also learn how to better manage your health from other advocates, because you can’t know it all. If you live with a chronic health condition and feel comfortable sharing it with the world, I encourage you do so because we need more people who validate pain rather than dismiss it. Blogging was something I never pictured myself doing, but I am glad that I decided to try it because you can get support from people in the community that your family can’t provide. If you are comfortable blogging about your health, please do but don’t procrastinate your legal statements and do it right. Do you blog about health? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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