#disability ally

[mxmorbidmidnight]

Can the “disability allies” who know nothing about disabilities stop fake claiming disabled people. You’re not a hero and you’re not going to get a pat on the back. All you’re doing is making it so disabled people do not receive the support and care they need.

For the last fucking time. It’s better to let a few fakes run around than jeopardise the health and wellbeing of entire communities. If someone is spreading misinformation or harm, that should be dealt with. That is when you take action. Most definitely not when you look at someone and you think they “don’t look disabled”. You cannot determine a persons medical conditions based on vibes and a single video of them. Come down from heaven arsehole you’re not Jesus Christ himself.

[flowercrowncrip]

Today I had such a nice, positive interaction with one of my colleagues, and I just wanted to share it because it's such a good heartwarming example of being an ally to disabled people.

For context, this is someone I only see about twice a month at work because she works in a different part of the organisation than I do, but when we do see each other we always get on really well.

Anyway, today we were talking and she says "is it okay if I ask you a question?"

I know her well enough that I was confident that it wasn't gonna be something too invasive, and if I wasn't comfortable answering it that would be fine, so I was like, “sure what is it?"

Anyway her question was "If you’re okay with it, I want to be able to support you better when we have confidential meetings that your carers can't be in the room for, would you be okay with helping me learn how to do that best?"

And I was so blown away by how much she obviously cares about me, and how respectful she was in not just assuming that I will be okay with her helping, and also in the way that she wants to be led by me in how best to support me rather than assuming that she already knows.

So yeah, if there is a disabled person in your life who you want to offer to Support to, this is such a good way of starting that conversation. Don't just assume that somebody needs help, and don't always assume that they want it from you (sometimes receiving extra support from someone who can change a dynamic if you're already friends or colleagues, and some people might not want that change).

The whole interaction just made me feel really cared about, and has helped so much with the voice in my head saying that I'm a burden when I ask for help at work.

[hiiromachi]

Hello, my name is Zahra 🇵🇸.. A mother from Gaza. I have a sick, paralyzed child who needs your support to get out and receive treatment through your donations, support and generosity... I don't want to explain more than that, as you know what happened to us in the war.. We were displaced 10 times and now we live in tents in harsh conditions in the cold.. I hope my message is convincing. Thank you 😢🍉❤️

Donate to Please save my son, get treatment and get out of Gaza, organized by Zohreya Shrab

Hello my name is Zohra from Gaza ... I write with my pen my st… Zohreya Shrab needs your support for Please save my son, get treatment a

[confusedgoldenflower]

Ohhhhh, okay, so some people need to understand (and un-internalize) that

Cognitive disability ≠ being a child

Needing extra (and uncommon) help is not childish

Not understanding “normal” things does not make someone into a child

Needing extra time isn’t childish

Acknowledging a character can and cannot do certain things isn’t equating them to a child

There’s a spectrum here and the disability (I fucking HATE the deficit terminology) does NOT make them “a child” unless their cognitive ability is literally that of a child or they’ve been frozen at that level (i.e. tbi/dead for too long before resecitation).

Those who need it, reread that and repeat it until you get it.

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

For disability pride month, start amplifying disabled voices (you should be doing that anyway but especially this month)! There are a lot of people who try to be allies but end up speaking over us in quite harmful ways.

Like one of the things I've seen much of in the last couple days has been a lot of push for person-first language, that being language that centers the individual instead of the disability (ex: person who uses a wheelchair instead of wheelchair-bound). And I'm all for person-first language but keep in mind, that's an individual preference! Disability-focused language is actually preferable to a lot of people, myself included. The problem allies have with it is that it emphasizes the "problem" over the person, therefore it is "dehumanizing". However, for some, it is the opposite. Our disabilities are a big part of our lives, even to the point of practically controlling them. The focus on it helps push against the "it's not disabilities, it's different abilities!" mentality that is super harmful.

All in all, it's personal preference. If you want to use "person who uses a wheelchair" or "accessibility parking" instead of "handicap parking", that's up to you. Just be respectful of someone else's preferences, and if a disabled peer wants you to use certain language around them, do that. And remember to spread minority voices!

Oh and if I catch any of you spreading "it's not disabilities, it's different abilities!" I will tie you to a chair and force you to watch a sideshow until you learn the difference.

[justmori]

Try making one image description for disability pride month this July.

Encourage an artist you enjoy by doing one for them, and if you can, tag the ID fandom blog if you can find it.

Making an image description is also a good warm up exercise for writers! Keep it short, clear and strong; convey the image without projecting your interpretation of it. You’d be surprised how this can turn into fuel for your own work! It’s also a trick to fight writers block that is a gift to others as well.

When you reblog something with an Image Description, add #described in the tags.

Try to reblog art and images that already have IDs.

Not up for describing? You could transcribe text from a screen capture instead.

Some tech will do that for you, pass the result along!

Quick help for writing an image description (there are better guidelines elsewhere, this is just the bare bones of the kind of help you can find to get started)

[ID:

Lead with most useful info such as “picture of blorbo on ice skates” (what type of image? Painting or drawing or other?) tell us how much of blorbo is in the image, blorbo’s position or action, facial expression, if they’re wearing canon attire or something different. What else is in the image? Include text if it’s in the image. Then

/END ID]

[amaditalks]

Quick and easy ally opportunity:

Deprecate: "did I stutter?"

Replace with: "is that clear?"

Impact: decoupling speech disabilities from questions of clarity or a desire for emphasis.