Freedom From Want

Public benefit stigma causes stress and guilt for people on public benefits and erodes support for the social safety net. We want a public benefits system that meets people where they are at - one that (1) Provides adequate benefits to live on; (2) Supports parenting; (3) Offers attractive education, training, and job opportunities; and (4) Simplifies the system to allow people to get on and off benefits with ease as their needs fluctuate.  (cis female, bisexual, white)

[freedomfromwant]

Excited for the right to marry. Praying for the right to food, shelter, and a fully implemented right to vote.

[freedomfromwant]

"'People on unemployment are lazy/don't want to work/are free loaders.' Okay. I am a highly educated woman with experience and personal skills as well as many other admirable qualities that would make me a wonderful addition to many companies. I have been looking for a permanent job for about a year. I have applied everywhere you can imagine. Sometimes I get an interview and sometimes I don't, but I haven't been offered a permanent position. In two weeks, I will be down at the unemployment office getting my 'hand out' because I am an adjunct and my contracts are up for the academic year. I work about a 50 hour work week plus weekends during the school year and by my estimate I make less than minimum wage for each hour I work. I want to work over the summer. I have applied at fast food joints, diners, home improvement stores, any minimum wage job I can so that I can provide for my housefold over the summer. No one wants to hire someone with a Master's degree to flip burgers or pour cement or wait tables or pick cherries. So when you say "people on unemployment are lazy/don't want to work/are free loaders" you are talking about me. I am not any of those things, and you saying so will not make it so. You saying so, however, does make you a bigot."

A friend

[freedomfromwant]

[freedomfromwant]

[disabilityhistory-blog]

In 1949, I contracted polio at a very young age. Suddenly, I was unable to walk and had to use a wheelchair for mobility. I was the only one in my family who had a disability. In those days, because of my disability, I was denied equal access to education. At the age of five, I could not attend my local public school and was expected to be satisfied with my “good fortune” when the New York Board of Education sent a teacher to my home for 2.5 hours a week for instruction. In fact, when I set out to teach in a New York public high school years later, I was initially denied the opportunity to do so because I in my wheelchair was considered a “fire hazard.” In those days, this was not considered discrimination, but rather that people just didn’t know better. And for those of us with disabilities, we simply had to accept the way the world was – a world where we were marginalized, often invisible, sometimes forgotten.

Judith Heumann, “From the Civil Rights Act to the Disabilities Treaty”

On the importance of the Senate ratifying the Disabilities Treaty this July. Call your Senators and tell them to support the Disabilities Treaty. 

(via disabilityhistory)

[jewist]

so i updated that orange is the new black offense thing bc it was kind of inaccurate and i added some of my faves ok here

[trashboyaesthetics]

YES this is so much better than the other that just said “DRUGS” above everyone

[nseika]

It is society’s view of all illness. 1, It doesn’t/shouldn’t impact on anyone else around you. 2. Economically activity is the benchmark of recovery. 3. A person’s value and identity is tied only to that economic activity. 4. Illness of any nature should be tidy, undertaken only at appropriate times and got out of the way as soon as possible. 5. We live in the age of medical miracles; you can be cured of anything. 6. If you don’t recover, why aren’t you trying hard enough? 7. Everyone is alike, preferably identical. Please conform. Thanks for writing this. :)

Jagged little pill: has the recovery narrative gone too far?

Comment by idiosyncratic eyes

(via nseika)

[imgross-ok]

[renaissancedreams]

Let's raise children who wont have to recover from their childhoods

[flowrescentonyx]

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT I STOPPED BREATHING

[engagedelectorate]

The most insidious thing about trickle-down economics isn’t believing that if the rich get richer, it’s good for the economy. It’s believing that if the poor get richer, it’s bad for the economy.

Ultra-rich man’s letter: “To My Fellow Filthy Rich Americans: The Pitchforks Are Coming”

(via engagedelectorate)

[journolist]

The percentage of SNAP (formerly food stamp) benefit dollars issued to ineligible households or to eligible households in excessive amounts fell for the seventh consecutive year in 2013 to 2.61 percent, newly released U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data show. That’s the lowest…

[mirrorontheworld]

Mexico tried giving poor people cash instead of food. It worked.

A program in Mexico gave poor people either money or food. Those who got the money ate just as much.

[cannibalgender-deactivated20140]

how to make your discourse more accessible to people of all backgrounds (please feel free to add more ideas in the comments)

be clear, concise, and concrete.

use Simple English when possible.

explain important/technical terms that readers may find...

[therelatableimages]

[disabilityhistory-blog]

It’s time to create a narrative where empowerment and assistance can peacefully coexist rather than one meaning the absence of the other. Instead of systems that push for the least number of care hours, the fewest pieces of equipment, and the fewest number of people with a home health aide as a marker of success, we need to start building a world where those who can live without physical assistance do so, and those who cannot, instead of being held to an unrealistic standard that does not reflect their reality, are taught that needing help is nothing shameful.

Help Is Not a Dirty Word: Constructing Independence As Something Other Than “Never Depending on Anyone” (via disabilityhistory)

[carohoku]

Someone said that if they “have a new cousin or nephews or nieces in the future and they have special needs, I’ll still love them.” Then someone else commented on his status “How brave of you.”

-_-””” why is it “heroic” if someone loves a disabled family member?

[noshameinoursickness]

Your feelings are valid simply because you feel them.

something lovely my therapist said  (via fuckinq)