Jacinta Parsons

Stop us if you’ve heard this one: a chronically ill person walks into work after an extended flare-up. Their coworker asks, grinning, ‘Where have you been?’, to which they reply: ‘I’ve been at home in bed’. The coworker’s eyes grow wide and the grin gets bigger. ‘Oooh!’ they exclaim, ‘I’d just love some time off!’

Jacinta Parsons is a broadcaster, radio maker, writer and public speaker who currently hosts the Afternoons programme on ABC Local Radio Melbourne. In this episode of Pill Pop, she talks to hosts Izzie and Silvi about what it’s like to be working while chronically ill.

Jacinta is an ambassador for the Crohn’s and Colitis Association, and speaks and writes about the impact of living with chronic illness. She has also been an active member of the arts and music community, and is a board member for Melbourne disability theatre company, Rollercoaster.

She has written a book, Unseen – on living with invisible chronic illness – that will be published in September 2020.

Content warning: this episode includes discussions of severe physical and mental illness, hospitals, medical trauma.

Further reading

• Jacinta Parsons at ABC Radio
• ‘Illness can morph you without your consent’ by Jacinta Parsons, Sydney Morning Herald, accessed 15 July 2020
  

Get in touch

We want to hear from our listeners! Tweet us your stories of working while chronically ill at @PillPopCast, or send us an email at [email protected].

In this episode

Hosted, produced and edited by Silvi Vann-Wall and Izzie Austin. Radio maker, writer and Crohn’s ambassador Jacinta Parsons is our guest.

Recorded at Studio 757, Melbourne. This series is produced in partnership with the Wheeler Centre's Signal Boost programme. Mentorship and production support from Bec Fary.

Music: 'Dip Dop' by Barrie Gledden; 'Sad Marimba Planet' and 'More on That Later' by Lee Rosevere. Sound effects sourced from freesound.org.

Transcript

Download a transcript of this episode here (Adobe PDF format).