#include physically disabled people

[swordsonnet]

if you're saying that autism is never a visible disability and is much less stigmatised than other disabilities, that just tells me that you haven't met many people with autism

#when did 'we should make sure to include psychotic and physically disabled people in our activism' #turn into 'if you're autistic or have adhd you actually Have Never Had Any Problems Ever and are speaking over the ~real~ disabled people #if you dare to share your experiences sometimes' #i'm tired

[normal-with-adhd-is-a-joke]

I've seen several posts discussing the trade-offs of using a mobility aid, and how many mobility aids can cause health issues later on. While this is absolutely true, I want to emphasize something else very important.

It is not normal for your mobility aid to be causing you new-onset issues.

If you are experiencing new pain, muscle weakness, contracture, etc. it's important to look into it asap. Your doctor might have gone over possible issues and their danger levels at prescription or followup appointments for your aid, if they gave you educational material about these issues check that first. If you're experiencing an issue that you're not 100% sure is an expected (and safe enough to not be an emergency) side effect of use, get in touch with a doctor to make sure you're not having a fixable problem and/or a medical emergency. An occupational therapist was able to help me the most but depending on your condition and the issues you're experiencing you might benefit from a physical therapist or a specialist more. Another important thing of note:

Open pressure sores/bedsores are an emergency.

It can feel silly to go to the hospital for a small wound, but if they're not treated and you aren't repositioned to take pressure off the sore you could develop a bacterial infection and die. More than 24,000 people die from pressure sores every year. If you spend a lot of time in bed, sitting in the same place, or in a wheelchair/powerchair you need to learn to recognize the early signs of pressure sores and seek out ways to prevent them. There are special mattresses and cushions specifically for preventing sores. If you have paralysis or another condition that might mask pain you need to either check yourself regularly or have someone check you regularly for sores.

Less important but still good to think about, I recommend talking to someone who specializes in joints (i.e. an orthopedic doctor) about how you position yourself in a bed, couch, or chair if you spend a lot of time in one. Take a picture of your setup, bring it to them, and ask if there's anything more you can do to prevent joint or muscle injury.

#cpunk #cripplepunk #actually disabled #cripple punk #physically disabled #if you're in the U.S. and thinking ''how the fuck am I going to afford all these doctor visits'' I recommend medicaid if you can get it #most government programs are shit but medicaid is actually pretty good in a lot of places about covering care for disabled people #for me almost all of my visits have been covered including hospital visits which are a big expense if you're uninsured or underinsured

[thedisablednaturalist]

Physically abled neurodivergent people are like I wish physically and mentally disabled people could just stop fighting :((( and then continue to ignore us, call themselves by a slur that they have no right to reclaim, derail posts that are talking about the struggles of being physically disabled, and only advocate for other neurodivergent and mentally ill people. Also they conveniently forget that many physically disabled people are neurodivergent/mentally ill as well and are affected by the same issues as them.

If you want us all to have a shared community, stop fucking talking over us. Until then, don't be upset that we have our own community.

#disability #cripplepunk #physically disabled #spoonie #chronic pain #ableism #im sorry yall im in a bad mood #like i found the perfect paper from people at my university and all they talked about was the struggles of neurodiverse students #like in their sample of people they only included those with mental health issues #not one mention of physical disabilities #and no the paper was not supposed to only talk about neurodivergence #it was about the struggles of disabled students period #but apparently disabled only refers mental disabilities #also they throw mentally disabled people with physical disabilities under the bus ALL THE TIME

[disabledunitypunk]

I wanna talk about a real problem in marginalized communities, but especially the disabled community.

The conflation of "privilege" with "oppression".

Here's two examples that I'm directly pulling from experience.

I am not intellectually disabled. I have fluctuating cognitive disabilities, but I have privilege over people with intellectual disabilities.

I also have significantly disabling chronic illness to the point where at times I have not been able to engage with hobbies due to being too sick. Disabled people who are less sick and more able to pursue activities they enjoy have privilege over me.

It's something that's not neat and simple, either. An intellectually disabled person who is able to engage with hobbies vs me? We would essentially both have privilege over each other on different axes. You can't then determine that one of us is ultimately generally more privileged than the other, because that's not how it works. Like if you have privilege x and they have privilege y, it isn't x-y=positive or negative privilege. You can't "solve" that equation because x and y aren't variables that can be substituted for number values.

So, first taking the example of hobbies - a recent controversial post we made that invited harassment. People were quick to tell us what our own experience was and that we weren't experiencing ableism - because they had had the privilege of never experiencing it. That was lateral ableism, and not okay.

Note: There may be people who DIDN'T have that privilege who were also saying the same - though everyone I saw talking about this specifically mentioned their ability to do hobbies, and that was who the main part of my response was directed at. However, I even specifically responded briefly to any people who were doing that - much more gently - to basically say that if they were being assimilationist out of fear that they didn't have to be, and to remind them that they aren't bad if they can't have hobbies.

On the other hand, way back when I first started this blog, I talked about reclaiming the r slur as someone who had significant trauma from being called it as a kid. I talked about how the reason I was called it was specifically because of my social issues due to my developmental disorders while being a gifted kid.

To make it clear - I was called the r slur for not understanding social cues and rules as a "smart" kid, because that's one of the things it meant to them. They weren't insulting my intellectual intelligence, but rather my social ability - at most, you could argue they were insulting my social intelligence - which having a low amount of WAS actually a feature of my disabilities.

I also spoke about how I wasn't reclaiming it to continue treating it as a bad thing, to insult even just myself, but rather to say "so what if I am? that's not bad". Y'know, the whole point of reclaiming.

I was told what my own experience was and that I was experiencing misdirected ableism because they were actually insulting traits I didn't have and therefore they were actually hurting intellectually disabled people but not me. Not because they had the privilege not to experience what I did - but because me having privilege was treated as the right to tell me I had never experienced the ableism they had.

They were treated not just as the experts on ableism against intellectual disabilities - which they are, of course - but also the experts on ableism against people who specifically DON'T have intellectual disabilities when it takes the same or similar forms as ableism against intellectual disabilities.

We all know that bigots don't wait to find out your correct identity before attacking you. We all know that there are identities commonly mistaken for others, that can set you up for repeated abuse over an identity you don't have. But what we refuse to acknowledge is that there are types of bigotry that can manifest identically in some ways for two different identities - and that anyone who experiences that bigotry is an expert on it and deserves to have a place in the conversation about it.

Someone with intellectual disabilities fundamentally cannot know that people without intellectual disabilities DON'T face the same kind of ableism on the basis of other disabilities that person DOES have because they have not ever lived that experience, just as, say, I couldn't say that an intellectually disabled person never faces specific kinds of ableism I face due to being a wheelchair user, because I am not intellectually disabled.

What I can say: "I face these types of ableism because of these disabilities and this is how they manifest."

What I can't say, because it is erasure and lateral ableism no matter my relative privilege: "You don't face this type of ableism for [disability I don't have] because it's exclusive to [disability I have] and any ableism that manifests that way is actually an attack on me."

Fundamentally, you cannot say that someone with a different disability DOESN'T face a specific type of ableism because you are not an authority on the experience of that disability. You are an expert on the experience of your disability. You cannot claim exclusive experiences because to do so, you would have to experience the disabilities you don't have while also not experiencing the ones you do. You would have to verify experiences that you simply don't have - in multiple places and contexts and presentations and as multiple people.

Oh wait, there's a simpler way to do that.

Listen to people about their experiences of their own disabilities and the ableism they face for it.

(Plaintext: Listen to people about their experiences of their own disabilities and the ableism they face for it.)

It's not ableist to say "no, you aren't the only disability that faces this ableism" or "no, it isn't targeted at you when it's aimed at me" or "actually, bigots also use [slur] to mean [definition specifically attacking my disability]". It is however ableist to tell people that because they have an axis of privilege over you, they can't talk about their own oppression on an entirely different axis because you've decided that experiencing similar oppression means you're the only person who experiences said oppression.

Or to put it more simply: Experiencing a type of ableism does NOT give you the right to speak over others when they say they experience it too for different reasons. Having something bad happen to you as a group does not give you proof that you're the ONLY group it happens to.

"X is caused by y, therefore x is ONLY caused by y" is quite literally a logical fallacy. It's called fallacy of the single cause (at least it's a nice obvious name, honestly).

This is the same discourse as cripplepunk. In fact, it's the primary motivator behind most slur discourse, and the reason why I'd honestly rather have blanket permission issued within oppressed groups I'm in* for everyone to reclaim in good faith** any slur that affects that group.

**What does "reclaim in good faith" mean? It means reclaiming only for self-usage, and only for self-usage specifically in a positive way - so no "ugh, I'm such a useless cripple", for example. True reclamation does require use of it against you/your disability in the first place, however, part of not being a cop about it is assuming that anyone who uses it in a positive sense for self-labeling has in fact experienced that. In short, it involves believing people about the oppression they explicitly say or imply through their reclamation that they've experienced.

*Note: I am specifically NOT a person of color or a member of an oppressed ethnoreligion/ethnicity, and recognize that dynamics of racial and ethnic oppression may be unique in some ways. However in disabled, queer, plural, alterhuman, and other marginalized spaces I do occupy, these are my feelings.

It is lateral ableism to tell another disabled person that they haven't experienced a type of ableism or didn't experience it due to their ACTUAL disability and therefore have no right to reclaim what was used to hurt them.

It is ableism to say "the bullet meant to shoot you, that hit you, was designed in part to hurt me, and therefore any time someone is shot with it, it was actually an attack on me. Hand over the bullet and never keep it or use it as you please again or you're basically shooting me with a different bullet." (For those that struggle with metaphors, the bullets are ableism.)

It's ducks saying that deer have no right to reclaim shotgun shells. Yes, slugs are more common than buckshot, but there's literally a type of the same exact kind of ammo designed for use on the deer too. In just the same way, some slurs and other forms of ableism are more typically used against one group but even have a (sometimes identical) variant specifically designed for use against other groups. "Mental cripple" and "retard" for sociodevelopmental disabilities are prime examples of this.

This is a wider problem in marginalized communities. "If you have any privilege at all, ever, you need to sit down and shut up about your own experiences. Only our least privileged members are the experts on any of our experiences. They make the rules about which of your own experiences you're allowed to talk about and what you're allowed to say about them." What's important to note, is that this is coming as much from the members with said privilege as the ones without.

And yes, this is an EXTREMELY insular community issue, but it's not mutually exclusive to the fact that large portions of the community DON'T listen to the less privileged ones about their own experiences! Just like the hobbies example (which, I know people may dismiss or cry 'false equivalence', but I want to again note that it primarily affects bedbound people who are too sick to do things they enjoy, and therefore less privileged by any metric).

I specifically referenced that example because it's exactly more privileged members speaking over less privileged members about the less privileged members' OWN experiences.

In fact, I'd say it's in fact a RESPONSE to that kind of being spoken over. It's an extreme pendulum swing in the other direction - "you need to shut up and LISTEN to us about our experiences". Which, if it stopped there, would be perfect! It's the part that follows it - "therefore, if we experience something, we're the ONLY people who are allowed to talk about it and the only people who even experience it".

I've seen time and time again, too, that even if you conclusively prove you experience something, the goalposts just get moved.

"Well, you experience it but not systemically."

"Okay, but you experienced it less."

"It didn't hurt you as much because it was meant to hurt me instead."

"Well, you're probably reclaiming it as an insult." (despite no proof of such, or even proof to the contrary)

"Well, if you experienced it systemically and it did hurt you and you experienced it just as much, it's actually because of [other identity that we begrudgingly acknowledge is affected] and not [identity that you say actually caused you to experience it] and it therefore isn't even [same type of bigotry] but [completely different type] instead."

"Well, even if you experienced it systemically as much as I did, it still hurts me more because it's about my identity and not yours, even though you were the one literally being attacked with it."

And if all that fails it's "no, that's not why you experienced it" or "no, you didn't experience that".

All examples I touched on earlier in this post, but still important to talk about specifically.

The person being hurt by a type of ableism, including slurs, is the person who they are being used against, period. It doesn't matter if they have "the right" disability. It doesn't matter what group the slurs or ableism is primarily used against. The bigots are TRYING to hurt the person they are specifically using the bigotry against, and that person is the one who ends up hurt by it. Full stop, no argument.

And if someone is hurt by a word, especially repeatedly, they have a right to reclaim it. Period.

At the end of the day, does this matter all that much? It's just community microaggressions, right?

Here's my feelings on it: I'm never going to let petty infighting get in the way of fighting for total disabled liberation. Just because some individuals are guilty of lateral ableism doesn't mean I won't fight for a world in which they face no ableism. It would be ableist of me to leave them behind over something like this. Not to mention, there's no need for anyone to be considered an authority on ableism in a world where there is none.

That being said, it is still a minor hurdle on the way to disabled liberation. If we police our own community and shut down discussions of ableism, how can we effectively fight for our right to not be policed or shut down by abled people? We're demonstrating that it's acceptable behavior.

You can argue all you want that abled people should recognize that it's different and they don't have a voice in the conversation - but what about those who are explicitly telling abled people that it's okay to shut down THESE disabled people talking about THEIR experiences because they're privileged invaders in the conversation and abled people should use their privilege over us to act as an even higher authority and stop us?

What about the conflicting messages of "abled people use your power over these disabled people to force them not to talk about the ableism they experience, but not these OTHER disabled people doing the same thing".

It's one thing to make a blanket statement to say "hey, if someone is actually attacking the validity of a disabled (or any marginalized) identity or talking over them about their own experiences, then shut that down". Saying a given marginalized identity doesn't exist or is inherently harmful is always bad. Talking over someone on their OWN experiences, when they are simply talking about things they've directly experienced, is always bad. I don't think it's the end of the world to say "use your privilege to shut down ableism" to abled people.

The problem is telling abled people that someone TALKING about their own legitimate experiences is bad and it's okay to shut it down. Abled people should not ever be given permission to do so - whether using their own judgment or just doing so on the word of disabled people.

Even besides that, though, it's still ableism, and lateral ableism is also a barrier in the way of total disabled liberation. It is an active threat to unity, to our ability to organize and demand change. We can fight to remove it from our communities while still focusing our energy primarily outward on fighting for liberation within the larger abled world.

Finally, it's an issue because it creates more hierarchies to solve existing ones. It says "instead of addressing the actual ableism, we're just going to flip it so you're the one experiencing it instead". It's like the so-called "feminists" that just want a matriarchy. It's not about creating a safer environment, it's about being the one to perpetrate the harm currently being done to you.

So, in cases where neither group has any real systemic power over each other, it doesn't even do that - it simply creates an environment where the original harm continues to be perpetuated while another new harm occurs. It devolves into a petty slap fight, distracting from actual liberation while also causing both parties to be hurt. That's not acceptable praxis. It's not praxis at all.

Even with the harm being small in scale, it's still not okay. Two injustices don't make a justice, just as two wrongs don't make a right.

This is very much something we need to address - in disabled spaces being my focus here - but also in queer, plural, alterhuman, and other marginalized spaces. And all of stems from the idea that "privilege" is the same as having the power to oppress someone. It's the idea that if you have an axis of privilege over another person with the same overall marginalized identity as you, that you are equivalent to being nonmarginalized compared to them and therefore disagreeing with them in any way about your OWN marginalized experiences is bigotry.

Functionally, it's that you're a bigoted privileged invader of marginalized spaces if you dare to have an opinion on a shared type of oppression. And speaking as a transfemmasc person, mayyyyyybe we should actually kill that rhetoric forever.

#ableism #privilege #oppression #reclamation #cw guns #fwiw it seems people who are MORE privileged are MORE willing and likely to harass over this #while less privileged people are more likely to block #and I cannot overstate that harassment is never acceptable #which is why we also have a hard rule about simply ignoring or blocking when we're the ones in a position of privilege #and that should be your rule too #(I mean engaging respectfully if you disagree is fine either way tbc) #just having been on both sides it would not be okay for me in the cases where I am less privileged to tell people what they experience #in fact that's the whole reason I created this blog #cripplepunk discourse led me to advocate for all neurodivergent people being able to reclaim cripple and being included in cripplepunk #if they wanted to be and found meaning in doing so #because 1. cripple is not a physical-disability-exclusive slur #and 2. neurodivergence can be physically disabling #so if there was a movement that centered physical disability that didn't gatekeep a universal disabled slur #people physically disabled by their neurodivergence should STILL not be told that they're wrong/lying about that experience #and should be let into the space on the basis of their neurophysical disabilities #also a lot of times the posts that are like 'able-bodied NDs do not derail' are talking about experiences that both groups experience #and it's not 'derailing' to say 'hey I experience this too for a different reason!' even if said reason is not at all physically disabling #I've seen SO MANY physically disabled people say 'neurodivergent people don't experience this!!1' #and just sat there going 'I experienced this as a neurodivergent person before I became physically disabled for YEARS #and continue to do so due at least in part to my neurodivergence now that I have a physical disability that could also contribute to it #anyway #mod stars #unitypunk

[nightmaretour]

Do I need far more support than I'm actually getting right now? Yes

Am I going to refuse to seek out that help because I'm terrified of the idea of relying on strangers constantly entering my home, and requiring me to trust them with so much of my personal life in order to provide it? Absolutely

#cripplepunk #cripple punk #physically disabled #brain injury #degenerative disc disease #The lady who cleans for me is fine though she's amazing #I wonder if she knows I would not be able to survive on my own without her #She definitely cleans for a bunch of other disabled and elderly people (including other people in the complex) so probably #Anyway she deserves a medal what a modern day hero

[divinesouldariax]

it doesnt have to hurt more to be love!

it doesnt have to hurt more to be love.

there’s been a lot of very good meta about ashton, taking hits, carrying his friends, carrying heavy things for their friends, doing things that hurt, that make it hurt worse, to protect his friends from pain. because he knows how to carry pain. because they’re used to it. because they know he can keep going. because, because, because it’s what he knows, it’s all he knows.

and it’s true. ashton loves them. ashton is willing to hurt more for them, and it’s because they love their friends.

but, but, but. he shouldnt have to. people with chronic pain shouldnt have to do things that make the pain worse. we might choose to, and that is definitely an act of love, but feeling like they dont have a choice, that taking on more pain, silently, suffering without ever asking for help or saying no, i can’t do that, it hurts too much...

because, listen. for most people, chronic pain is limiting. it says no, we’re not climbing those stairs today. no, we can’t lean down and pick something up off the floor. no, we’re staying in bed with a heating pad and telling our friends sorry, i can’t make it today after all. i know you were looking forward to hanging out, but i can’t do it. maybe there’s some people with chronic pain that never have days bad enough that it limits them, but i’ve never met one.

so when i see ashton, whose friends didn’t figure out that he has chronic pain until they literally felt it in his mind, keep their pain under wraps for over a month, never saying no to carrying something (a heavy statue, fcg up a ladder, orym after he fell, laudna’s dead body for miles), swinging his hammer to defend and protect, literally picking losing battles to see if anybody is watching...to me, that doesn’t read as “look at this strong, empowered person with chronic pain who never lets it limit them”.

to me, that says “this is a person who thinks that love cannot exist without a worsening of pain, who won’t let themself pause or say no or even tell anybody that it hurts because he is deeply, deeply afraid that refusing pain is the same thing as denying his friends love”.

and that’s fucking devastating.

it doesnt have to hurt more to be love.

#ashton greymoore #critical role meta #critical role campaign 3 #bell's hells #there is a secret second part to this post #where i gently criticize matt and tal for not including some kind of Disability Mechanic #because i KNOW they can do it. they do it for caleb and fcg and imogen #but i'm still holding out hope that they have a secret one that they're waiting to reveal #based on a specific event or trigger for a flare-up #just. something something mental illnesses being given the opportunity to be Actually Disabling in this work of fiction #(which it SHOULD be. i'm not saying they shouldnt have done any of those ones.) #while physical disability is a handwavey/barely acknowledged flavor #let disabled characters be Disabled. Disabled means they are LIMITED in their ABILITY to DO THINGS. #.....i didnt mean to do the whole rant in the tags but apparently i did it anyway lmao #anyway. able-bodied people dont clown on me for this. #ill block u. #edit: i focus on chronic pain here bc thats what i personally have experience with #but obviously ashton has a traumatic brain injury which is also a disability #and i wouldnt want to ignore that just because it's not something im as intimately familiar with

[disableddyke]

not wanting able-bodied people to co-opt slurs, terms and generally a movement not meant for them is not gatekeeping or ableism omfg. and by able-bodied i mean able-bodied. not ND but physically disabled due to their neurodivergence. if you’re physically abled and your body functions “properly” you do not get to be front and center of our movement. you don’t get to be our voice, you don’t get to speak over us or act like the authorities. skinny people have already co-opted “body positivity” and thrown fat people under the bus. you don’t get to do the same to us.

#and yeah this includes able-bodied nd people whose neurodivergence doesn’t affect their body at all #ppl with depression and anxiety and w/e whose body functions just fine don’t get to act like spokespeople on issues that specifically affect #physically disabled people #stop acting like our experiences are the exact same and erasing our voices #stop acting like you have zero privilege when you can physically access spaces while i’ve almost died due to medical negligence #y’all insist on talking over us just because you feel left out #which is insane considering physically disabled ppl constantly get left out of EVERYTHING

[thesitharts]

“Fair Use” does not entitle you to stealing the work of other artists and claiming it as your own after mangling it with ai

And you are not a victim for people not fucking trusting you after you make it abundantly clear you will steal our hard work at the drop of a hat because you can’t be assed to make your own art

#ai art #fair use #don’t you dare bring physically disabled people into this either #because believe it or not it’s MORE ableist to assume they’re helpless to make their own art #in a way that doesn’t include typing some words into an ai #because through the entirety of history that’s been proven untrue

[maxellminidisc]

Jesus, physically/visibly disabled folks really makes posts on here specifically highlighting their experiences as hypervisible targets of ableism and neurodivergent people who aren't physically/visibly disabled dogpile on them like crazy for not being included; even to the point of calling them ableist HELLO?? Like not every post has to be for you if you don't experience the specific thing being spoken about and people being understandably angry that you keep derailing their conversation isn't ableist or phobic. Plus op of the post that's getting dogpiled on said she too has autism/adhd along with being physically disabled and psychotic (which is the specific experience they're talking about); she's clearly talking about derailment from neurodivergent people who are not physically/visibly disabled and don't require higher levels of help/assistance or are NOT "noticeably" neurodivergent to neurotypical society.

#and im saying this as a person with autism and adhd #whos sensory issues in combination with my debilitating anxiety/panic disorder #has rendered me homebound aka agoraphobic for the majority of my fucking mid to late 20s #i understand where the anger is coming from but my god can yall let physically disabled people have a conversation #without coming to unwarranted conclusions about them just cause theyre not talking about something where youre not included??? #if anyone wants to spell it out for my probably stupid ass as to why that post is a problem totally open to knowing! #I just feel like i interpreted that post as 'please dont derail from the specific experience here @people who usually do'

[gendernewtral]

every single post about disability reminds me that abled people need to shut the fuck up

#and yes this does sometimes include able bodied disabled people. sometimes conversations are not about you. #sometimes conversations are about physical exclusion in a world that was explicitly not designed for blind/Deaf/mobility aid users #bipolar can be disabling. i know. it is for me too sometimes. that alone doesn’t give me the right to add on to conversations #about asl interpreter availability #sterling speaks

[some-pers0n]

Apologizes for the spam of sex-positivity posts when related to asexuality. I'm sex-repulsed but I'm pro "Letting-People-Do-Whatever-They-Want-So-Long-As-It's-Not-Hurting-Anybody", which very much includes being normal about the fact that people have sex and other people expressing their sexuality

#This also includes stuff related to disability (physical and mental) as well as people expressing their culture #Literally let people be people and do what they want #I only care if it is repressing the words of other people or spreading hate or generally harmful to people

[strixhaven]

“are you nd or nt” this is stupid as hell and i’m opting out of that framework entirely

#the way people conceptualize ‘neurotypicals’ not as actual people but as factory-made blank-slate hyper-capitalist wet dreams of what human #beings are ‘naturally’ and buy into the pathologization of actually natural human behavior and variance in how we function #and so heavily defer to the authority of psych institutions and rigidly defined ideas of normality and divergence #for the sake of having clearly defined labels for a bizarre us v them. dumb as hell #you can say whatever you want in response this seems to be at least a kind of helpful worldview for a lot of people #but nothing i’ve seen about the way these terms get used in practice has made me feel anything but negative towards this framework #everybody needs an other to differentiate themselves from bc yknow identities often form along the lines of out groups in the language of #opposition and the ways that ‘nd’ so often gets flattened to just mean ‘autism and adhd’ and the amount of slap fights i’ve seen about who #gets to be included in the nd out group. to say nothing of these mythical ‘neurotypicals’ you’re supposedly talking about #because point at any person and i guarantee you they don’t match up to the capitalist construction of neurotypicality you have in your head #and then discussions of physical disability’s intersections n all. real fucking mess man #again if it helps you. w/e. i just cannot ever conceive of this being a particularly helpful way for me to view my brain and how i function

[defectivegembrain]

Imagine if someone made a post that sounded like it was talking about disability in general, and then they added that neurotypicals should shut up, and when people rightly pointed out that being neurotypical doesn't mean you're not disabled, they acted like it was obvious they only meant mental disabilities and the physically disabled people were just making it all about themselves. That op would be an asshole, right?

Well you're still an asshole if you do it the other way round. The only way to think that's okay when the above isn't is if you somehow think mentally disabled people have a less legitimate claim on the term "disabled" than physically disabled people. Which makes you an asshole.

#im so fucking sick of seeing this #if you meant physically disabled when you just said disabled literally just correct yourself #instead of assuming bad faith on the part of a group of people who have been constantly invalidated forever #like sometimes it's in bad faith but like this happens so often where it was perfectly reasonable to assume we'd be included

[serialreblogger]

happy disability pride month, everyone! shoutout to all y'all with invisible disabilities that make it harder to get accommodations, mobility aids that make it harder to access even "accessible" spaces, visible differences & disabilities that make it harder to avoid abled antagonism, conditions & traits you aren't sure "count" as disabilities, and disabilities like mine that fall at the intersection between "physical" and "mental." shoutout to everyone who is disabled by societal ableism and is just fine with how their own brain and body works, actually. shoutout to everyone whose disability sucks, and everyone who would get rid of their disability in a heartbeat. shoutout to everyone who doesn't find themself in common dialogues about "disability & accommodations," because let's be honest - most of us don't. Our needs are many and diverse and even we cannot speak for each other, but we - like the queer community - stand together.

nothing about us without us.

happy pride.

#linden's originals #disability positivity post #disability pride month #disability wrath month #actuallydisabled #happy pride #side note in the tags: a lot of why i make this post is bc already some of the ''positivity posts'' i'm seeing are like #''especially physically disabled'' or w/e bc of that whole ''cripplepunk'' discourse re: whether neurodivergents cld reclaim ''cripple'' #frankly i don't care. if ppl are applying a term to themself idc what they wanna use. but a lot of ableism came out of that debate #a lot of ''physical vs mental'' dichotomies that made me feel really invisible #like - fibromyalgia is characterized by ''phantom pain.'' by pain without a physical cause; by nerves & neurons misfiring #i use a wheelchair because of it but there is no physical reason - apart from my brain ofc; which is physical. brains are physical things #if you mean ''ppl who use mobility aids'' say that. but stop differentiating between ''physical'' disabilities & the rest of us #the rest of us are physically disabled too. and/or socially disabled: #in a state of enforced reduction of ability because the resources exist to live our lives to the fullest #and we can't: bc society is built for people with a specific physical makeup #(including neurological makeup. and also including configurations of limbs - and height; and facial appearances) #the Disfigured community & all those with visible differences from ''the norm'' are welcome here #little people are welcome here. as are intersex folks for the record - #being intersex is not (from what i understand) ''disabled'' per se. but our communities are closely aligned #both victims of institutionalized medical & social abuse. and some intersex variations include disabilities too - #so you're welcome here. just as you're welcome in the queer+ community. you are welcome to join us as we lend our voices to each other #all are welcome in the fight to breathe. until all of us can breathe easy #linden in the tags

[heyiappreciateyourshoelaces]

Happy Disability Pride Month!

July is Disability Pride Month, so I decided that this would be the best time to post.

As a disabled woman, It has always been a feature, but it's only really fully hit me just how little representation we have in media. (Though, I will note, neurodivergencies are being significantly more represented as of late, which makes me happy)

Just think for a second when was the last time you saw a disabled character who:

1. Is a named character

2. Has a NAMED disability and/or the effects are PROPERLY described (the specific name of the disability is brought up)

3. Their disability isn't a plot device (it is only really there in order to help something happen in the plot)

4. It isn't just a superpower that the character treats as if it's the worst thing

E.g ‘Oh no, I have the power to control lightning but it makes my life so hard’ (unless it actually legitimately stops them from doing things or makes it difficult to do certain things- you get what I mean)

And this last one is just a suggestion, but the only disabilities I really see, are caused by things- (e.g Prof. X) and don't get me wrong! That is JUST as valid. It's just that- it's the ONLY thing I ever seem to see. I never see anyone with Cerebral Palsy for example- (1 in every 500 have some form of it) which is a disability that people have from birth, it is the second most common disability in the world.

(Top three are Arthritis, Cerebral Palsy and Spinal Chord Injuries)

I'm just- sick and tired of either not seeing any representation, or a random background character with no name and no description that the producers just looked at had were like- ‘Just throw them in a wheelchair! It gives them character and if gets us bonus points for inclusivity!’

Again- don't get me wrong. People who use wheelchairs are COMPLETELY valid, it's just that it's often an easy get-out-of-jail-free card in writing.

So yeah. I want- no- DEMAND to see myself and people like me, represented.

(Also, here. Have ‘Sunflower’ the song. I’m making it part of my campaign because y’know- sunflowers.)

#disability #disabilties #disabled #disabled representation #disability pride #disability pride month #sunflower #hidden disability #disabilities in media #disabled representation in media #disabled rant #disability awareness #physical disability #mental disability #disabled characters #disabilty in media #cripple punk #Yes this does include neurodiverse people too

[karmaphone]

I think if you have to shit more than four times a day you deserve financial compensation + free rich people butthole treatments

#Babygirl I Am Physically Unwell #I mean I know it's considered gross to talk about but forreal we need to include more intestinal shit in disability activism #like I should not have to endure people asking me why I need to use the bathroom so much and then get confused when I call it a disability #like. sorry but. incontinence and related inability to control when you shit ARE disabilities. you are unable to control your bowels #and like!! I shouldnt get in trouble at work for that either!! I literally cannot control when my body decides to shit!!! sorry!!! I ALSO #wish my asshole wasn't bleeding!!! die!!!!!