for the lovely lovely deafies out there who want to get involved in direct action you absolutely 100% cannot ever bring a hearing aid or cochlear implant with bluetooth to any direct action. bluetooth devices all carry a unique signal that can be used to identify you if it's picked up at a direct action. go with a [more] hearing buddy and communicate in sign language. if you don't mutually know a sign language then come up with gestures. do not risk your freedom because you want to have your hearing aid/cochlear implant at the action. it's not worth it.
flock cameras are also now tracking bluetooth device signatures when you pass them. if you drive past a flock camera with your bluetooth-enabled hearing aid or cochlear implant, the flock camera knows you passed through
Wait I just realized this is gonna apply to all cgms and most if not all insulin pumps. Theyâre all Bluetooth devices, itâs essential to how they work
I did not think it possible, but I have just developed even more hatred, derision, and contempt for the perpetual surveillance state.
#surely theres a way to hack/disable that function???#this fucking sucks my god
most newer hearing aids and cochlear implants require bluetooth to adjust them + many newer FM systems connect via bluetooth + many have bluetooth features that go beyond just listening to audio from your phone (and that's if you set aside the inconvenience that you can't use hearing aids and earbuds/headphones at the same time so disabling bluetooth would mean never listening to music on the bus or train)
Like I said with cgms (continuous glucose monitors) and insulin pumps, Bluetooth is essential to how they work.
With CGMs, Bluetooth is how you get the data from the cannula under your skin to an actual display (phone, pump, separate receiver) so you can do anything with it; there is no functionality with Bluetooth.
With insulin pumps, I donât know the exact proportions of tubed/tubeless in use pumps, but tubeless are in major if not the majority use, and they donât have displays/controls on the pump itself, but with your phone or a separate receiver, which only function via Bluetooth. Tubed pumps are technically functional without Bluetooth, but ideally you want them integrated with your cgm bc this drastically increases quality of life/care, and once again you can only do this with Bluetooth.
If youâre a tubed pump without a cgm, i guess you could try to hack it, but I canât envision that not voiding the warranty, which can be medically precarious for reasons not really relevant here. There are plenty of people adventurous enough to do warranty voiding things to their pump, but itâs not really worth anything without a cgm
Thereâs not really a point to diabetes tech without Bluetooth Iâm afraid
Powerchairs and power assist are also Bluetooth compatible.
It took Sydnee McElroy beating this moral into me in the Sawbones episode about tear gas, but disabled people are actively disenfranchised in the United States because we do NOT have the right to assemble. When the police get the batons out, people with mobility aids can't run. When the police throw out tear gas, people with asthma can die. If you're deaf or have technology in you, you can be tracked. It's another example about how supposedly inalienable human rights don't apply disabled people.
