It’s okay to sit down while doing anything in the kitchen. You don’t even need to be disabled or chronically ill. Your feet do not need any excuses. Rest them
It’s okay to cut potatoes in front of the tv while sitting on the couch.
Abled folks could learn a lot from the measures disabled folks take to adapt to their conditions and hack their environment and daily tasks so it benefits them in all the possible ways.
And - it is an investment in future self to learn the skill of adaptation should one fall ill or disabled for any reason.
Urgent Ask to evacuate Nara, a 🍉 disabled woman with MS who also has pancreatic cancer due to chemical w-rfare.
Support by financially contributing to her @FedUp4Palestine vetted funhnd-raizer (that I personally vetted): givebutter.com/NaraMedicalAid
+ resharing/ reposting this post!
I, Sky Cubacub- a Fed up 4 Palestine team member, have been in direct contact with Nara to get to know her and her story more over the past few days. We have become fast friends due to so many overlapping symptoms of our disabilities. Nara’s story caught my eye because I have post-viral ME/CFS which many times is a precursor to MS. I really want my disability community to show up for her to get this campaign funded that is so close to my heart so that she can continue medical treatment.
We have chatted extensively! During our chats, I found out from Nara that she had not previously had health issues until she was exposed in the white phosphorus attack in 2008. The long lasting damage and effects of phosphorus continue to compound and become more and more disabling to this day, even after 16 years.
Here is her story in her own words (edited for clarity):
“Hi I'm Nara,
I'm a cancer and multiple sclerosis patient. I need treatment, examinations, and follow-up on a regular basis, but the hospitals in which I used to follow up were bombed and the other one was turned into military barracks. All I need now is to leave Gaza for treatment, preserve my life, and live with my family in peace.
We're a family of 4, including my 12 and 7 year old children.
I had been diagnosed with a tumor in the pancreas as a result of inhaling phosphorus in a previous war. A couple years after being exposed to phosphorus, I became pregnant, and the fetus was pressing on the tumor, which drew the doctor’s attention to the cancer. My fetus was emergency aborted, and the spleen, 80% of the pancreas, and part of the small intestine were removed. I complained every now and then of a lot of pain as a result of the removal of part of the pancreas. I was having follow up care in the Turkish Friendship Hospital for hematology and tumors. But since the beginning of October, I have not been able to follow up because the hospital has turned into a military barracks.
The remaining part is talking about multiple sclerosis:
In 2018, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I had many complications, such as inflammation of the seventh nerve in the eye, the inability to walk with balance, movement with difficulty, and many symptoms. I was then required to take 12 injections every month and many medications and vitamins. I was following up at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, but unfortunately the hospital was out of service due to the war. So for a long time I have not received any injections. MS is truly difficult and it controls my life completely, and the attacks occur in many and varied ways.”
A note about her breathing apparatus:
Because people in displacement have to wait in long queues and pay to use the bathroom, Nara had started to restrict her water intake because of a UTI she never has been able to heal from. This has created a problem with raised levels of potassium, so doctors have placed her on oxygen for fear of the potassium affecting her heart.
Goals
she needs at least $15,000 to evacuate
2 adults at $5,000 each
2 children at $2,500 each
this price is subject to increase due to the cost of registration for evacuation continuing to go up
The other money will go to the cost of treatment and living costs.
Nara chooses to stay anonymous because she has had to mask her disabilities so much that only her family knows about her MS and Cancer, so we have not linked her instagram, but we are in direct contact with her and can verify that she is who she says she is! Because of this, she cannot promote her own fundraiser, so it is our job to collectively do it for her!
[Image Description: a digital illustration by @k8deciccio of Nara, a Pal-eh-stienian woman wearing a black hijab/outfit with purple highlights. She has a breathing apparatus that is bulbous that goes in her nose. Text Reads: Help Narawith Cancer and MS Treatment, She Must Evacuate with her family of 4. $30k goal givebutter.com/NaraMedicalAid . There is a QR code in the bottom right corner that goes to her support link. The @FedUp4Palestine logo is in the top left corner.]
Hey Tumblr fam — I’ve been thinking a lot about how AI is already changing life for people with disabilities. It’s not just futuristic stuff. It’s happening now. Here’s a roundup, with real examples + some caveats:
✨ What AI is already doing
📱 Seeing, describing, navigating
Microsoft Seeing AI: Scan a page or a scene, and it will read text aloud, identify people and objects, recognize currency, etc. Opera Medium
Be My Eyes + “Be My AI”: Traditionally, Be My Eyes connected blind/low-vision users with volunteer helpers via live video. More recently, it added an AI mode (powered by GPT-4) so users can get instant image descriptions and follow-up questions without needing a human volunteer. Wikipedia
AI smart goggles: In India, innovators have created “smart goggles” with computer vision, face/object recognition, and audio feedback to help visually impaired users navigate real environments. The Times of India
🦾 Prosthetics, exoskeletons & motion support
AI in prosthetics: Modern prostheses use machine learning to interpret nerve signals (EMG) and adapt movement more fluidly, giving users more natural control. PMC ResearchGate IJISAE
Real-time adaptation & simulation models: AI simulation models are being employed within prosthetic systems to refine predictions about movement and adapt in real time. Nature
Hand exoskeletons / vision + sensors: Researchers built prototypes that use cameras + AI to assist with grasping or moving fingers for people with weak hand control. arXiv
Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL): A powered exoskeleton suit that reads biosignals (nerve/muscle signals) and helps amplify or support motion in paralyzed or low-mobility users. Wikipedia
🎤 Communication, control & inclusion
Eye tracking / gaze control & voice recognition: For people who can’t use traditional input devices, AI enables interfaces controlled via eye gaze or voice. UN Regional Information Centre AT&T Newsroom
Avatar robots / telepresence work: Some people unable to leave home can operate robots remotely (e.g. “avatar work”) to attend jobs, move physically in places, etc. arXiv arXiv
Music with eyes: The EyeHarp lets people with severe motor impairment produce music using eye or head movements as input. Wikipedia
Preserved voice via AI voice cloning: For people with conditions like ALS (who gradually lose speech capability), AI voice cloning can preserve a person’s natural voice so they can still “speak” with something close to their original voice. (E.g. collaborations by speech-synthesis firms and disability groups) The Times
⚠️ What we must also watch out for
AI isn’t perfect, and it has risks and blind spots (literally and figuratively). Here are a few concerns:
Bias & exclusion: Algorithms trained on “average” inputs often mess up when encountering non-standard features (e.g. facial differences, movement disabilities). UN Regional Information Centre UNDP
Voice recognition limitations: Many voice systems struggle with non-standard accents, speech impairments, or nonverbal communication styles. UNDP UN Regional Information Centre
Privacy & autonomy: Using AI to monitor movement, health signals, or behavior is powerful — but it risks surveillance or dependency if not designed with agency in mind.
Overreliance on tech: Not all environments (physical spaces, institutions) are built for AI solutions; plus, tech fails sometimes. We still need universal design and backup supports.
Access inequality: Not everyone has access to these tools (cost, connectivity, device support), so there’s a danger of widening the gap between who “benefits” and who doesn’t.
📝 Why this matters
Because for many disabled people, AI is more than convenience — it’s access. It’s the difference between being able to read a menu, walk independently, speak with loved ones, or do a job. AI can shift the balance of autonomy.
And when disabled creators and communities are part of the design process, the results are often more humane, effective, and just.
With only three episodes left of the First season of Fat Positive Everything Podcast, I had the honor of interviewing Diana Dimmock, founder of @accessibility4everybody consulting!
Join us as we explore accessibility in the work place, what business owners MUST know and how customers can advocate for themselves!
Also for your reading, Imani Barbarin's twitter feed: https://twitter.com/Imani_Barbarin
[ID:
A collection of tweets by black people on twitter, about the incident where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscar's award show for insulting Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia and being bald in a sarcastic joke (“Jada, I love you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,").
Dr. CBS @/blackleftaf says,
"But fr (for real), how y'all pro-war but anti-slap"
Delia thee Galadrie... @/deliaisty... says,
"Also when y'all were appropriating AAVE slang, what did y'all thing "f*ck around and find out" meant????"
Brown Butter Evange... @/krysilo... says,
"All those predators in that building and Will Smith smacking another grown man has you shook to the knees. Girl, stand up."
The Nap Ministry says,
"Stop making fun of Black women is tonight's lesson. Heavy stop playing in my face energy."
Ola Ojewumi @/Olas_Truth says,
"The fact that prominent Black feminist are speaking out against Will Smith and not in support of Jada shows me how even in groups that claim to be inclusive disabled Black women are still left out. Why not call out Chris Rock's ableism instead criticizing Will's response to it?"
Be A King @/BerniceKing says,
"Please remember how outraged you are about violence right now when I share about poverty, racism in healthcare, and the prison industrial complex this week."
Read 'darkwater:voice... @/que... says,
"wh^te (white) people pretending they are the human embodiment of civility, composure, and non-violence, will never not be hilarious to me. what a truly delusional people. just an amazing constant lack of self-awareness."
Loni (They/Them) @/jaowrites says,
"beyond offensive for chris rock, as the black male host of a historically and predominantly white awards show honoring talent within an equally white industry, to get a chuckle out of his audience by making a black woman's hair loss and autoimmune disorder the butt of a joke"
Get Her, Jade! @/keatingssixth says,
"Chris Rock's one "joke" was rooted in misogynoir, texturism, & ableism. Degrading a Black woman, in a room full of her peers, on live TV.
The fact y'all don't see that as violent is beyond me."
Tinu :Empress of Twerk says,
"Sorry not sorry
it was nice
seeing someone get slapped
for making a joke out of someone's medical condition.
#Alopecia"
Imani Barbarin, Ma... says,
"Me: I don't condone violence
Also me:
(gif image of a black man smirking inside a car)"
vika mana @/endlessyarning says,
"Bro I'm speechless, because Australian TV didn't bleep a single word said from Will Smith. Praising this man for standing up for his wife because this is what disabled people have to deal with on a daily. Making ableist/ablenoir jokes about Jada on international TV is not on"
New episodes of HEnabled are out! Sometimes marketing with a disability can be tough so excuse the VERY belated post 😅
The following episodes are now out:
Pad's Story: Navigating university with a new ASD diagnosis.
Sam's Burning Questions: My friend Sam does not have any disabilities but wanted to learn more about disability in a judgement-free environment; I gave him a platform to do so in this episode.
Marie-France's Story: Getting reasobable adjustments in both university and internships with a late ADHD diagnosis.
You can listen to the show on Spotify here or wherever you get your podcasts! I would love to know what you think. A new episode will be out this Sunday!
You may be a bit confused by the last word in this title-wouldn’t this kind of blog post usually be called “Why I Don’t ‘Light it Up Blue”? I obviously don’t do that either, but I also have issues with the color gold being used in the context of autism. To start, a history lesson.
Gold for autism was an idea that goes as far back as the 2000s. The earliest instance I’ve found of Au is 2004. I know this thanks to the Fandom Rescue Project on Web Archive, who preserved tons of Yahoo Groups forums before Yahoo shut the feature down permanently. A lot of early autistic organizing was done via Yahoo Groups, among other platforms. My source supplied me with more than six hundred megabytes of data related to autism and disability-focused groups. In one of them, AutAdvo, there was discussion of an “Autistic Underground”, which had the abbreviation Au. It has the Latin phrases “perservateur pa Excellence”, and “Aut víam inveníam aut faciam”. Those translate to “persevering excellence” and “I will find a way or make one”. A user named Janet Norman-Bain, whose alias was “Jypsy” talked about Au also being the symbol for gold, and using it as an abbreviation as they “mine info”. She also suggested that “years from now we’ll be the select few who know what it *really* means”. It appears as if they were right, eighteen years later. I do not believe this is directly related to the Autistic Union, often symbolized with Âû, nor do I think it was something their creators knew about and deliberately built off of. There was talk of autism and gold separately a few years later in a separate Yahoo Group list, so it’s entirely possible that many different people have thought the same thing about linking autism to gold without necessarily knowing other people had the same idea before them.
Another thing from early Neurodiversity history that Âû is reminiscent of, which is more concerning, is the passport to Aspergia, as well as other monikers people would use to identify themselves. Aspergia was this fictional island devised by someone named Edan. It had a website with a forum that lasted from 2002 to 2004. Aspergia was supposedly the land where all autistic people are genetically descended from, and it suggested that autistic people are “Aspergian Mutants”. It deliberately uplifted people with an Asperger’s diagnosis over those with an autism diagnosis, with one of its writers, TheASMan, publishing a book titled Tears For Aspergia. This book lamented that some advocates were pushing for autism to be seen as a disability (which it is). Passports to Aspergia were orange wristbands, and autistic people would wear them to show that they were aspies. This feels similar to the Âû moniker. Back when blogging was really popular on the internet, people would use specific buttons and tags, and this included autistic bloggers. Older social media platforms used to be more customizable than the most used ones are now, and I think including Âû in the username is part of trying to reclaim that personalization. Again, I do not think these are directly related to Âû, but I do think they have the same line of thinking behind them.
Many people use the Âû letters in their username, and surely not all of them are bad, nor are the people connected with them, right? Yes, there are perfectly fine people who are within this network, and most of them are probably unaware of these issues. However, many of them also display problematic behavior and espouse dangerous beliefs. They can be very opportunistic, flooding the comment sections of people who make pretty minor mistakes. It’s a common practice within the Neurodiversity Movement to protest and organize this way, and it can be very effective, but many people in these circles will see something pretty minor, like someone who uses person-first language for autism, or puzzle pieces, and practically form a picket line around them. They’ll also claim that the way they think is how “the majority of autistic people'' feel, rather than explain the merits of their argument.
Finally, and most importantly, using the gold for autism creates a feeling of separatism from the rest of neurodivergence and disability, specifically in the context of the gold infinity symbol. The gold infinity symbol was first used circa 2014 by AutisticUK, a UK-based labor party organization. It was taken from the pre-existing rainbow infinity symbol that symbolizes all forms of neurodivergence, meant to be an infinity symbol exclusively for autistic people. I really don’t see the need for this. Now the rainbow symbol has its own somewhat problematic origins, being made by the creators of Aspies for Freedom, but I personally like the way it looks, what it represents, and I think it’s been used in mostly decent ways over the years. There’s certainly an essay to be written about AFF themselves. I’ve always envisioned the Neurodiversity Movement to be about more than just autism and for autistic-led spaces to include more than just autistic people. I feel like what will truly liberate us as a community is if we have cross-disability solidarity. This is something the Disability Rights Movement has struggled with since the beginning, so it’s not a problem exclusive to us neurodivergents, but it is still an issue all the same. The founders of Autism Network International had the right idea, and utilized a concept that has sadly been mostly lost to time-cousins. Mel Baggs wrote an excellent blog post about this a few years ago: https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/cousins/
I feel like the Neurodiversity Movement. as well as any disability movement, is at its best when it takes all forms of disability into account and is inclusive of all of them. The Disability Justice Movement does this the best. Using gold to symbolize autism as its own separate entity does not accomplish this. If you like it, more power to you. I did not write this to convince anyone to think exactly as I do. I just personally think that gold doesn’t look good on the Neurodiversity Movement.
Big props to the legend #DJBobbito for doing his part to keep the community safe and modeling what someone with their humanity intact looks like! We see you keeping folks safe to @perfectlyclaire! • “We both was wearing masks because the pandemic is not over, and while we're both healthy, we care about those in our community who may not have a strong immune system to defend against infection, sickness and at worst death. I appreciated her thoughttulness and willingness to be covid cautious!” @koolboblove • #ThisIsWhatSolidarityLooksLike #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #sarscov2 #LongCovid #DisabilityJustice #Immunocompromised #Ableism #Eugenics #CovidDenial #CapitalismKills #HipHop #WearAMask https://www.instagram.com/p/CnjK5xtuJLG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
