Meter Theory

The Meter Theory is a disability metaphor used to describe how a chronic illness or disability can reduce an individual's ability to perform daily tasks. Meters are a metaphor for tasks that need to be completed throughout the day. Each task involved in daily living is assigned its own Meter that must be fed with quarters. Quarters are an intangible unit of measurement used to track the amount of energy that a person has. Quarters can be replaced through rest, eating well, medication and other factors specific to the individual. A person who runs out of quarters must rest or change their lifestyle in order to gain more quarters regardless of how many meters need quarters in order to avoid expiration.
One primary tenant of The Meter Theory is that a chronically ill or disabled person must carefully decided which meters need to be fed in order to maximize the amount of quarters he or she has for the day. Because healthy people tend to have more quarters than they have meters, they do not even recognize that meters exist for mundane activities such as bathing or doing laundry. The secondary tenant of The Meter Theory is that when a chronically ill person suddenly has a drastic reduction in quarters, meters begin to either expire or other family members feed those meters with their quarters which begins to tax their quarter reserves.
The Meter Theory is more widely discussed within the realm of Chronic Lyme Disease communities where it originated, but is used in relation to other autoimmune diseases. The concept of having meters is considered a Neologism.
Origin
The Meter Theory was coined by Jenny Ingles in 2016 in her essay, The Meter Theory, on her website My New Standard. Her essay chronicles a conversation between her and her spouse about how her illness was affecting her ability to complete tasks. She read him The Spoon Theory to help him understand what she was going through. What she didn't expect was that he would take the spoon theory and morph it into a theory that encompasses the impact chronic illness has on an entire family. He explained to her that they both start the day with a bag of quarters and that each of them encountered "parking" meters for each task that needed to be completed for the day. Some of those meters were shared, family meters that she used to feed but was no longer able to do so because of her illness and dwindling supply of daily quarters. Because she was no longer able to feed the meters, he had to feed them which put a strain on his ability to attend to his typical meters.

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