Pull up a chair.
It is already a little awkward. That is the point.
How this started
We are not a charity. We are not a support group, even though some support happens here.
Schwami & Me started because one person got tired of being the only one at the table who looked different, and got tired of everyone else pretending not to notice. Turns out, a lot of people feel that way.
Some of us have schwannoma. Some of us have facial paralysis, scars, tremors, or something else entirely that makes a room go quiet for half a second before people remember their manners.
We are here for the stares, the bad dates, the coworkers who don’t know where to look, the 3 am googling, and the jokes that get us through it all. No inspiration rhetoric. No brave warrior speeches. Just people having a normal Tuesday, with something visible along for the ride.
A room goes quiet for half a second before people remember their manners. We know that half-second. We built something in it.
What we are, and what we are firmly not
What we are
- A table. Open seating, no reservations, no diagnosis at the door.
- A place where humour about your own body is allowed and encouraged.
- Peer-led. People who have been there, not professionals talking down.
- Honest about the bad days without treating them as a personality.
What we are not
- Inspiration porn. Nobody here is your reminder to be grateful.
- A brave warrior pep rally.
- Medical advice. We are peers, not clinicians.
- A competition over who has had it worse.
- A place where you have to explain your face before you are allowed to speak.
Still reading? Then you are one of us.
Come see what a normal Tuesday looks like in here.