DISABILITY

This blog is meant for every disabled person. Whether your disability is common or rare, whether you have many comorbidities or none, and no matter what type of marginalisation, we aim to include posts and be able to answer questions about your situation. We realise this isnt an easy task, but we will do our best to get there. In order for us to be inclusive, we will try our best to tag, close caption, describe images as well as space and and tl;dr texts. Please let us know if we can make anything more accessible to you. The ones advising the content have many disabilities and marginalisations, listed here. If you want a particular advisor to answer a question, please let us know. I call them advisors since they dont have the spoons to moderate the blog regularly, but are my absolute closest friends and are happy to help in particular cases. Currently looking for moderators, more information on that can be found here. 

[ontologicalevil]

The trick is to be more curious than you're scared.

[thecimmerissystem]

abled people need to get comfortable with disabled people not having the energy to "dress up"

the amount of backhanded comments I'd heard from my irl friends about how they really like the times where I wear things other than sweatpants and hoodies and I should really work on creating my own style is insane

there are some days where I have enough energy to wear the things I want to wear, but those are rare. they need to get used to that.

[ros-sauce]

(bravely) I think body parts should only hurt if something is wrong.

[kangamommynow]

And that something should be fixable

[teaboot]

Ideally with a warm bath and a good night's sleep

[dragon-in-a-fez]

does the body ALWAYS have to keep the score? maybe we could just have a friendly game this time. maybe we can just have fun without putting numbers on it

[neroushalvaus]

Trevor Noah interviewing Judith “Badass” Heumann

x

[neroushalvaus]

I’m glad so many people have discovered Judith “Judy” Heumann through this silly little gif set. I am sorry to say she has died at the age of 75. She was known as the mother of disability rights. In 1970 she sued the Board of Education to become a licensed teacher and she won. In 1977 she was one of the organizers of the 504 Sit-in, a 24 day protest for disability rights. You can learn more about her story from her book Being Heumann, the picture book Fighting for YES! or the documentary Crip Camp.

Judy Heumann believed in the inherent value of each disabled individual and would never back down on what she thought was right. Her friends and fellow activists remember her as a strong leader.

Judy Heumann

December 18, 1947 - March 4, 2023

May her memory be for a blessing.

[succubusboyfriend]

practicing self care less out of self love and more for the sheer logical reasoning of it’d be kinda stupid of me to expect myself to be able to function without proper maintenance

[succubusboyfriend]

“oh i don’t deserve rest and relaxation, i haven’t done enough, i haven’t earned it” and my car’s breaks don’t deserve break fluid because they aren’t breaking well enough to earn it. that’s what you sound like!!!!!

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

"I don't mean to criticize people who are actually disabled, I'm just talking about people who could easily do it but are too lazy to bother-" well you're attacking both in practice because there is no way for you to tell the difference and the first group is a lot bigger than the second

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

"I'm only criticizing the people who are lazy on purpose" is just not the reassurance people think it is when nearly every disabled person has been accused of not really being disabled and just being lazy on purpose

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

"Clearly I wasn't talking about disabled people-" yeah part of the problem is that the existence of disabled people just isn't considered in your worldview like that's the problem we're criticizing not a get out of jail free card

[fucking-relax]

That Fucking Point Between Your Eyebrows. Your Brows As A Whole. Relax Them.

start in the middle and massage away towards your hairline

follow along the brow and above the forehead

rub your temples and cheekbones while you're at it, any sore points

move your neck and body as needed but fucking relax

[beemovieerotica]

it's weird how there's this perception of OCD as the "cleanliness" disorder where people still consider OCD behaviors to be like, rooted in some rational and correct (but overshot) trajectory toward objectively sanitary conditions, if that makes any sense? like there was a reddit post about somebody's roommate who had an extremely biohazardous room and a few commenters mentioned that OCD might be a factor based on her other behaviors, and a bunch of non-OCD-havers were like "what??? but it's objectively not clean??? there's so much bacteria in there???"

like idk how to tell you that the disorder gives you disordered thinking. disordered thinking is not rational. and there are absolutely things that trigger 1 person with OCD but do not matter to another, because your OCD can latch on to literally anything.

[papasyapperia]

I wish able bodied people could understand that being disabled gives you a fundamentally different relationship with hygiene. Would I love to take a shower tonight? Absolutely. But I am deeply exhausted in a way someone without a disability can’t understand. My entire body hurts anytime I do anything. I had to fight just to brush my teeth, and I’m lucky I could even do that. A shower is just not in the cards right now, I just have to hope it’ll be in the cards tomorrow. Most people seem to think that makes me disgusting, but this is just how I have to live. I don’t like it anymore than you do.

[myjourneywithfnd]

I saw a video today from a chronically ill woman about the fact you can feel so guilty when doing fun things.

She talks about how, as a kid, you learn to finish work before you can play and that you take this with you into adulthood. So you keep the mindset of having to finish 'have to' tasks/chores before being allowed to 'play'.

But when you're chronically ill, this is literally impossible! If you'd do that it would be all work and never play. That wouldn't be healthy at all. We need to remind ourselves of this. We don't need to feel guilty for doing something fun!

[the-kneecap-god]

Normalize not using full sentences using aac.

Normalize using small words with aac.

Normalize not bullying or making fun of someone who is verbose when able to speak but isn't when using aac.

Normalize being patient for an aac speaker to type.

Normalize aac users in general.

[lightning-rambles]

Hey I'm a University AAC User: Involve Me In Your Conversation

One thing I'm noticing with back to school is how hard conversations are, especially with people who aren't familiar with my way of communicating, so I wanted to share a bit how you can support your AAC-using peers.

Acknowledge My Needs

You might think it's best practice not to mention I'm communicating differently, but for most of my classmates I find the opposite is true. Classmates don't know how to talk to me, or make assumptions that I won't need modifications in a conversation made, and then I get talked over and left out. Something you can do is politely ask about best practices. Phrases like "Hey, can I do anything to support your communication?" and "Do you need anything from me?" go a long way. Remember that these questions are not to sate your curiosity, but to provide me with an equitable space to communicate.

Give Me Time

In the fast-paced setting of university this is huge. The most common way I get left out of conversations is my peers talking too fast and moving on from subjects and topics before I can participate. Actively involve me! Ask me if I have anything to add. If you see me typing/selecting symbols, take your moment to wrap up your thought, and then glance over at me and wait for me to add on or shake my head to allow you to move on. If I don't have something to say once, don't assume that goes for every time. Regularly pause in conversations and create space for my input. I find I worry about slowing people down in conversations and the more you continuously make space the more I know I'm allowed to participate as an equal.

Involve My Contributions

Sometimes when I share something, it just gets ignored or not acknowledged. I have things to add to a conversation. Acknowledge what I share and build off of it. Have a conversation with me instead of letting me just say dead sentences that go nowhere. In return, I'll do my best to respond in turn and keep the conversation going.

Don't Interact With My Screen

Don't look at it, don't touch, don't move it. If it's in the way, ask if it's really in the way or if you can work around it. If it's in the way still, politely tell me. Unless I invite you to look at or interact with my screen, it should be for me only. Think of it as a brain and my thinking process.

Ask How I Want to Share

Sometimes when sharing with the class I prefer to write, sometimes I prefer to use AAC. If we are sharing back as a class, don't just say you will be the one to share back. Offer and include me in the discussion for options to share back. Understand when I say I don't want to, and if you're someone who's comfortable sharing feel free to volunteer to share for me if I want. Most importantly, respect what I say and listen to if I do or do not want to share back.

Let Me Have the Big Desk

If there's a larger desk in the classroom, let me use it. I need to have my AAC and my notebook and depending on the class sometimes a computer as well. I take up space and if there's extra room you don't need in a class, let me use it.

Go With the Flow

Sometimes I will vocally talk. Go with it. Don't question my ability or inability to talk sometimes. I am not here to sate your curiosity. Communicate with me at my level, how I choose to.

These are just a few things you can do to make me more comfortable and included in class. Please note that this follows my experience as a part time AAC user and does not represent every users experience.

[creekfiend]

there's also this cycle that keeps disabled people isolated socially:

my needs are higher than it is socially appropriate to ask someone to meet when you dont know them well -> i don't know the people running any given organization or program or class at all; i am a stranger to them -> asking for what i need is punished bc it is seen as rude, bossy, or entitled -> this is so aversive to me that i simply stop trying to participate in anything.

like

we've all been there! this physical and social isolation is IMPOSED BY ABLEISM

[bebsi-cola]

there's something about how people talk about ableism online that feels somewhat divorced from the reality that ableism is a form of violent oppression that gets disabled people killed, assaulted, and brutalised in real life. that it causes medical neglect, abuse, and structural inequality. that disabled people are, on the whole disenfranchised. and it's not like verbal interpersonal ableism "doesn't matter" in the face of the "real stuff" because all forms of ableism contribute towards dehumanising and isolating disabled people, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to the violence i mentioned. but it's like, do you guys remember the violence exists? that it's not just people being upset over words "for no reason"? there's a glaring reason right in front of us if you bother to look