#ableds

[twinkdrama]

btw mobility aids and seated areas arent your storage space. stop putting ur shit in places that disabled people need for mobility and / or access

[chamomile-coated-cat]

Y'know people became INSTANTLY less curious and invasive about my disability as soon as I had my crutches painted.

Once there was no more medical stickers all over them and the crutches were now a matte pink instead of hospital metallic, there were no more questions about "what happened???" Or "I hope you feel better soon". And I think I know why...

When people see crutches that look metallic and have stickers on them, they think you've just gotten out of the hospital and that this is some new development (maybe a sport™️ injury or something) but with customized or non standard medical aides, it looks like something more permanent...

And that makes them uncomfortable.

The permanence of a disability, something that won't go away, weakness that won't go away, and knowing that it could happen to them as well. Not to mention that no one is taught how to interact with people with disabilities that are permanent (I might talk about non permanent disabilities at another point, but that's not important here) there only people that they're taught to interact with who have permanent disabilities are the elderly or children who are terminal, and they are extra nice to them and expect them to die at any time. But they don't know how to handle someone who has a permanent disability and aren't going to die any time soon.

People still stare at me. But people aren't willing to interact with me about my disability. Which is actually sort of sad. When I got them painted, I was so proud of my matte pink crutches, I was wanting to hear compliments from people who know me, or even strangers! This whole time, I've only received one compliment on my crutches, and I believe it's because the other person also has a disability.

If you're not disabled, yeah, we don't want you all up in our business about our disabilities, but it's totally okay to compliment us on our medical equipment and aides and stuff. Don't just ignore us

[catmat]

I wish ableds would understand that I just want them to support me and my feelings.

I don't need suggestions on how to get cured.

I don't need to hear that I'm not trying enough treatments.

I don't need to hear that if I had a positive attitude I'd be better.

I don't need to be fixed.

What I need is to be supported; emotionally and physically. That is what I need.

[arctic-hands]

I meant it when I said it's fucking hilarious that ableds couldn't stand living two years the way disabled and sick people are forced to live our entire lives. I BEGGED for most of my school years to have access to a webcam and just do my learning virtually, and was told it wasn't feasible. So instead I was forced to go school every day in pain, severely sick from Crohn's, immunocompromised and constantly getting sick because parents would send their kids to school with colds or the flu, and I was forced to go to school while contagious because I had already used up my sick days by the time cold season came around.

But the VERY MOMENT ableds were at risk of contagion the world ground to a halt and offered virtually learning. And you all were so self entitled that you couldn't be happy with it. Things had changed and you couldn't stand it. You were inconvenienced, and so you complained the things that were enacted for YOUR protection. And now those protections are gone and people are still dying.

I was forced out of school for being too sick to attend. I was ruining their precious attendance records and Truancy was breathing down my neck. It seemed better to just drop out than risk arrest.

Now there are kids just as vulnerable as me who cannot attend school because they're too much at risk from #covid and the virtual options and the mask mandates are now gone. They have to sacrifice their educations to save their lives, because YOU were too selfish and privileged to realize how relatively good you had it for two years.

[cosmicanger]

“Something people don't want accept about disability benefits is that you have to fight through one of the most degrading, dehumanizing processes known to “man”, often fighting for years against unfairness, just to get, at the end of the day, not enough money to live on. And after all of that, white folks end up getting more disability benefits from the state than any other racial group.”

[saltpocket]

Stop moving people’s mobility aids.

Stop playing with people’s mobility aids.

Stop leaning on people’s mobility aids.

STOP TOUCHING PEOPLE’S MOBILITY AIDS.

They aren’t an accessory or toy.

And yes, this applies to people you know, EVEN IF YOU KNOW THEM VERY WELL. Unless you have CLEAR, EXPLICIT PERMISSION, keep your hands OFF people’s mobility aids!

It makes me incredibly anxious when people touch or move my cane. It is my lifeline, it is an extension of my body.

[fatwheeliebabe]

Hello lovelies!  Today we’re going to talk about the Infomercial Effect. Because this crippled fat bitch is real sick of this current TikTok trend where they show two adaptive aids meant to enable disabled folks to clean their own feet, and put their own socks on. Except the TikToks are purposely skipping steps to make it look asinine, by washing their foot and then putting said wet foot into a sock with a sock assist, then a sneaker. Let me be incredibly clear. Disabled people, who these aids are meant for, are not doing this. When we use these devices, we wash our foot, dry it by pressing it to a towel as best we can, and then letting it air dry the rest of the way before we use our sock assist.  Most of us also have shoes that we can put on hands free. I use a brand called Kiziks.  Now, lets get to the problems here. What’s called the Infomercial Effect.  Abled people are always used in ads to showcase adaptive aids, and it’s done so to a degree in which the Abled person is “laughably” bad at what they’re doing. Think of any Infomercial you’ve ever seen where a completely Abled person just for no reason drops the pot of food they were just cooking, or where they spill something that it seems unlikely to be spilled. Then they demonstrate these tools, that Ableds inevitably think are useless, or made for lazy people because they’re being showcased by Abled people who do NOT need to use them.  Those things are made for disabled people as adaptive aids for us to live our lives as independently as possible. That Ableds see these infomercials and find them to be laughable, and to be useless items is systemic ableism that is prevalent in our culture. We’ve all made fun of an informercial at some point, like the Slap Chop, or Sham Wow or whatever you can think of... But the slap chop was invented for Disabled people who can’t safely use knives to dice their own vegetables or fruits. The Sham wow was created so that Disabled people could clean up spills in one go, easily, without having to stress their bodies out any more than necessary.  The Snuggie was invented for wheelchair users to wear while we’re sitting in our chair, especially when we’re out in chilly weather, to help keep us as warm as possible.  Almost every single infomercial product is something like this. And that making fun of the Ableds who are clearly over the top fucking up a “normal” activity, and calling the product useless, is the Infomercial Effect, and it is a huge problem in systemic ableism.  If Disabled actors were hired to demonstrate these adaptive aids, more of our society would understand what they’re meant for, and who they’re intended for. It’s another case of lack of representation erasing our identities, and somehow still making us the butt of the jokes.