In this episode, Charlie talks with health equity advocate and systems strategist Austin Puca about living with lupus, chronic illness, and the everyday negotiations of being in a body you’re constantly learning how to live in. From avoiding the sun and navigating flares, to food, fatigue, trust, and care, this is a generous, funny, and free-flowing conversation between two friends. Austin also shares what it means to show up for one another through diagnosis and uncertainty — including being a steady source of care and knowledge when Charlie was first diagnosed with lupus — as together they explore community care, interdependence, and what futures shaped by sick and disabled wisdom can look, sound, and feel like.

Topics we discuss:

- Living with lupus and chronic illness

- Trust, communication, and being believed

- Community care and interdependence

- Food, cooking, and nourishment during flares

- Bodies, time, and change

- Imagining sick-led futures

Learn more about Austin:

Instagram: @likethecityintexas

Find the full episode transcript on our website: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast

Watch the full episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Yk_RtjFWQAA

The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures.

Topics we discuss:

- Chronic illness and diagnosis stories

- Art as language, survival, and care

- Narrative Medicine

- Grief, identity, and crip time

- Community-building and collective imagination

Learn more about Sick Futures Collective:

Website: www.sickfuturescollective.org

Podcast page: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast

To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email stories@sickfuturescollective.org

The future is sick.