#(als)

[dgct2]

RIP Eric Dane (1972 - 2026) 🕊

[psalmicwitch]

A big part of accessibility is actually maintaining the infrastructure you have, even if only one person has ever used it in say, the five years you've had it.

This is regularly testing, repairing, and maintaining the equipment in your facility.

I don't care how infrequently it gets used. If you're not maintaining it, you do not have it.

The next place that claims to have a wheelchair lift, if we discover it's not working, while my mom is currently in it, is getting lit on fire.

[luckydiorxoxo]

[reddest-flower]

"I am a woman. I know the old priests' proverb: 'A chicken is not a bird; a woman is not a person.' Four years ago when you elected me, men met me on the road with grins. Even to my face they told me that I could do nothing. That solid man, Peter Zhitov, can't run this village and you, a woman, try! I wept sometimes from the insults and thought of giving up entirely. But I remembered Lenin's word that every kitchen maid must learn to rule the State, That applied to me, for I worked from the age of 12 as cowherd and later as kitchen girl at General Solomon's: And I said: 'Who will ever make over this old life unless we ourselves do it?' "

The Voice of the Soviet Village, Anna Louise Strong (1935)

[yrfemmehusband]

The ice bucket challenge back in 2014 was originally meant to spread awareness for ALS. Participants were encouraged to either donate $100 towards the ALS association for research or dump a bucket of ice water on themselves, which was supposed to be a metaphor or physical representation of how the disease felt to its sufferers.

Now it's back for the nebulous cause of "mental health awareness," and while it can be a good cause, raises questions about whether it's ultimately putting any good out into the world other than sparking a trend on social media. What about mental health should we be aware about? Is it okay to use a physical representation of how a physical, terminal disease feels, and apply it to something as vague as "mental health?"

The original cause raised over $250,000, and substantially advanced research for ALS. An ultimate good. But what good comes of the new trend if not to overshadow the original challenge and purpose of the trend? Is it appropriative to reuse something that was ultimately created very personally by sufferers of a terminal disease? What organizations are participants encouraged to donate to? I haven't seen any specifics, just "mental health awareness." Are any donations even being made? It doesn't seem like many, as I've read from the many articles being posted about it.

Mental health awareness is good, yes. But once again people with physical disabilities and terminal illness, who nearly always have mental health issues as well, are having causes meant for them turned into something vague that can apply to everyone. Because it's more comfortable for the able bodied person to think about than something like ALS.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

On May 2, 1939, Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig took himself out of the lineup after 14 years and 2,130 consecutive games. He was suffering from ALS, which would kill him two years later. Here, he puts his arm around the shoulder of teammate Ellsworth "Babe" Dahlgren, who replaced him.

Photo: Associated Press

[nenan]

Alyseleah photographed by Jeannette Williams, styling by Courtney Francisco