I think if you're not prepared for the answer, "I'm not working because I'm disabled," you shouldn't be asking people what they do for work. Sorry not sorry. It's not fair to ask the question and then get all flustered and weird when you get the answer.
[ID: many lines of black text on a white background. each line reads “don’t believe everything that you overthink”. the text is warped. end ID]
People often say things like how “you did your best today, and that’s okay.” And that’s often true, and your best does vary day to day but I just want to take a moment and give a shout out to those who didn’t do their best today. Sometimes we know we could have done more or done better. And it’s okay if we didn’t do our best. You are still worthy. You are not a failure. You are allowed to try again tomorrow.
"low support needs disabled people are often not believed to have a disability at all and therefore struggle to get accommodations."
"high support needs disabled people's accommodations are often seen as 'too much' and therefore are not met."
"neurodivergent people's needs are often dismissed because nothing is physically wrong with them."
"physically disabled people people often cannot physically access buildings and people refuse to do anything about it."
"invisibly disabled people are seen as lazy by society."
"visibly disabled people are ostracized from society."
As a wheelchair user I'm trying to reframe my language for "being in the way."
"I'm in the way," "I can't fit," and "I can't go there," is becoming "there's not enough space," "the walkway is too narrow," and "that place isn't accessible."
It's a small change, but to me it feels as if I'm redirecting blame from myself to the people that made these places inaccessible in the first place. I don't want people to just think that they're helping me, I want them to think that they're making up for someone else's wrongdoing. I want them to remember every time I've needed help as something someone else caused.
Once my boyfriend told me: "You're not a burden. A burden is something you're forced to carry against your will. I freely choose to be a part of your life and that means you aren't a burden to me." I'm passing it on in case some of you need to be reminded of that.
You know who you are and I fucking love you okay. I would kill god with you because it means I get to help you.
[transcription of a reddit comment]
ew72 • 19 hr. ago
I'm a type 1 diabetic. I require insulin to live, multiple times a day.
When I was in middle school, many years ago, we didn't have insulin pumps and had to use syringes and vials like everyone else.
The school refused to let me carry it with me, meaning I had to go to the nurses office several times a day to inject. It's not just before lunch but could be any number of times depending on the current blood sugar levels.
The district then cut nurse staff to just spending half a day at two schools, and the nurse left before I had lunch.
I asked the office staff to unlock the office so I could take my insulin and eat lunch. They refused.
By middle school, I'd been dealing with t1 for about 5 years, and didn't take shit on the topic. I went to the school lobby, picked up the payphone (I just dated myself) and called 911, telling them, "Hi, I'm at (school), am type 1 diabetic and the office won't unlock a door and let me take insulin."
They sent a fire truck, and a bunch of firemen met me outside and walked me to the office and asked, while ignoring the staff, which room was the nurses office. I pointed to the door and he was like, "Okay boys, chop it down, this kid need his insulin!"
Suddenly, the office secretary could unlock the door and I didn't need to put it in the nurses office everyday anymore.
End id.]
the spirit is not willing and the flesh it is not so into the idea either
Non spoonies don’t get it.
list of things abled people think are so funny or creepy that it's societally normalized to either make fun of people with them, or to be disgusted by people with them, to the point that if you bring it up people will roll their eyes and tell you you're nitpicking
- strabismus (eyes are not in alignment. you call this cross eyed)
- lazy eye (reduced vision in one eye. you call strabismus lazy eye but it's not. a lot of people with lazy eye also have strabismus however, and a lot of people with strabismus have lazy eye, as both conditions can lead to each other. regardless, lazy eye is lazy eye and strabismus is strabismus. the medical term for lazy eye is amblyopia)
- ptosis (heavy eyelids, especially when one droops more than the other)
- facial paralysis (lopsidedness and inability or difficulty making facial expressions) and weakness (i have fucking concerned, morose bloodhound face and talk out of the corner of my mouth, does that explain it)
- twitching and jerking
- twisting movements of the body- especially when it's the head and neck are the ones i see ableism about the most
- stroke symptoms, particularly the speech issues but also everything else, like the teetering to one side/lack of balance/walking like you're drunk. and the weak face, different gait, and wrist drop.
- different ways of walking but the ones i see made fun of the most are waddling, teetering, and shuffling. the way zombies and monsters move is also relevant here.
- scoliosis (spine curves either in an s or a c), kyphosis (the term you might recognize is hunchback), and lordosis (back dips). bonus for getting made fun of AND for being in a multitude of horror movie monsters, villains, and monster designs
- intellectual disability, developmental disabilities, and brain damage in general
- drooling.
- going to go ahead and throw in incontinence here
- bent wrist when you can't call it elegant because it's being held to a chest, knocking against the thigh or knee, or can't be moved out of position
- hands clenched or held in strange positions (mine always does the fucking rock on gesture????)
- claw hand, most commonly seen in horror and villains. (this term refers to a hand that makes a claw shape. the fingers bend up. it hurts, so fucking badly, in case you were wondering)
- jittery, robotic incremental pauses in between movements. there is a medical term for this but i can't read right now. you see this in monsters a lot.
- wheezing, strangled laughter, as of someone who has problems fucking breathing.
- hypotonia (low muscle tone) and hypertonia (high muscle tone). muscle floppiness and rigidity are commonly seen in zombies
- nystagmus (eyes shaking or jerking)
- tics
- shaking and tremors
- floppy neck
- seizures
- different voices. flat affect, straining, nasal tone, speaking slowly, and breathiness, for example
hm
all of these are neurological (brain, spine, nerves, muscles) symptoms.
and i'm probably missing some, even.
be thankful your muscles fucking work.
edit: this post is solely about neurological issues please don't add anything that isn't neurological (spine, brain, nerves, muscles) thank you
shoutout to everyone with forget disorders (adhd, DID/osdd, ptsd/c-ptsd, asd, dementia/alzeheimers, schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders, major depressive, chronically ill/phys disabled people with brain fog, people with long-Covid, natural memory degradation, and etc.)
Doctor Beverly Crusher @SpaceDocMom The only people who think that painful, debilitating health conditions "build character" are the ones who don't have to deal with those conditions on a daily basis. emojis: black heart, blue heart, masked 3:41 PM · Apr 1, 2024
For reference, the federal minimum wage would have you earning roughly on average $1,256.66 a month
It’s recommended your rent only be 30% of your total budget, so with an average monthly rent of $1,827 that would mean your average renter’s monthly income should ideally be $6,090
That would be roughly $35.13 hourly or $73,080 annually
However, the average renter’s household income is only $42,500 annually or $20.43 hourly (as of 2019 according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey)
This means either rent prices are too unsustainably high and price gouging or wages are too unsustainably low and predatory
Or both
(Hint: it’s both)
not to mention most apartments won’t even allow you to apply unless you make 3 times rent.
If 150 year old political memes are still relevant, it means the system is broken (or it’s working exactly as intended and that intention is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer).
Say it with me, kids, "I do not deserve this pain. I am in chronic pain due to forces outside of my control. I should not have to earn pain relief. I am good. I do not deserve to be shamed for my pain. It is not my fault."
"You're so lucky! I wish I could just stay at home all day instead of going to school or working"
I have to go to school/work just as much as anyone else does, the difference is that I physically can't. Not having the same choice as abled people does not make me lucky. Staying at home because I can't go to school or work does not mean I get to do whatever I want. Staying at home every day without being able to do anything is not fun. Not being able to do anything but lay down in bed or on the couch gets boring really fast. That's not even taking the chronic pain I endure into account.
Being chronically ill is not being lazy. It's not a choice, or something anyone would choose. It's a disability.
i don’t know what chronically-ill/disabled baddie needs to hear this, but doing things slowly, with a mobility aid, or with the help of a caregiver is still doing things. even if it took you an hour and five breaks to fold a load of laundry — you still did it! just because you can’t do things at the speed and ease of able-bodied people doesn’t mean you can’t do them. i just switched over the laundry and it took me 10 minutes and now i’m laying down in bed to recover, but i did it!!! and i’m proud of myself for even trying!
getting disabled over a period of time is so weird, because sometimes i’ll just see something, let’s say about running, and think “i should do that!” and then i slowly realise that i can’t run anymore. i can barely even walk. it’s weird because there wasn’t one event that happened that made me like it. there wasn’t a day where i woke up and couldn’t run anymore. it was slow and gradual. and sometimes i realise how much ive lost that i didn’t even realise because it all happened so gradually. sometimes it feels like yesterday i could run and today i can’t, and sometimes it feels like forever ago that i could.
