important question

if you speak multiple languages, do you always read numbers in your native one

Things I wish people understood as a disabled & chronically ill person

I wish...

New Crow Time 🐦‍⬛🦊🌟

I just politely asked my carer to please make my dinner and her exact words as she walked towards the kitchen were “ugh, good God *big overdramatic sigh*”

Heaven forbid a I want to eat.

I absolutely hate being so reliant on carers, because there is so little I can do about rudeness, ableism or even some kinds of abuse.

I cannot be left without a carer with me. If I ask a carer to leave before they’re due to go I am responsible for finding someone to stand in for them. I have live in care so carers can be with me for up to 5 days. If I go without care for 5 days it is a certainty that I will die painfully lying in my own waste. And finding cover for that length of time is incredibly difficult – people have work and family commitments, and I can’t stay with my friends or family because people don’t have an accessible spare room with enough room for a hoist and other equipment.

But also if I say or do or ask for something that pisses my carer off I have to be alone in my flat with them, without witnesses, relying on them for my basic needs to be met, dealing with their potentially escalating behaviour until the next carer takes over, up to 5 days later.

And bear in mind that I’m extremely privileged compared to most people with higher support needs. I don’t need someone right by my side at all times, it’s often (but not always) okay for my carer to be in the next room. I don’t need someone to watch me sleep so I get my own space to an extent.

I’m also far less socially isolated than many people. I have friends, family and a job (and a very supportive one at that). Socially isolated disabled people are more likely to experience abuse from carers, and less likely to be able to get help.

I’m also white and don’t have language or learning disabilities (US: intellectual disability) which means I’m more able to voice concerns and to be taken seriously if I do.

Excellent tags by @jabberwockypie

#my family does this thing#when we've majorly unfucked a room or done chore that we were putting off#or whatever. Any sort of household Improvement.#'Come brag on me.'#I means come look I cleaned/rearranged/did dishes/put away the laundry#and the scripted response is 'oh nice it looks SO much better in here now'#like my mom did this when we were kids.#'girls comr brag on the garage I finally organized it so I can get my car in there'#and we go and 'ooh' and 'aah' and tell her how nice it looked and how she did a good job#and we could have her 'come brag on' us for like doing the dishes or cleaning our rooms#I do it to my wife now too#it's a dialogue that means#'I did a chore and it feels like an Accomplishment even if it objectively wasn't a big thing. Please acknowledge this.'#and#'Wow you sure did do a thing. It has improved our material circumstance even if only in a small way. Thank you for doing it.'#like yeah scrubbing the pans is my Job and it's a Little Task but sometimes it feels like a Big Task#and it's nice to have an Accepted Script where I can just demand 'I have functioned as an independent adult praise me with great praise' - by @thepioden

the problem with reading and writing leading to a strong vocabulary is that you tend to know the vibe of words instead of their meanings.

if I used this word in a sentence, would it make sense? absolutely. if you asked me what it meant, could I tell you? absolutely not.

figure out what the word means from context clues while reading -> use the word in a sentence while writing -> realise you’re not actually certain what the word means -> panic about your sentence not making sense even though it hasn’t been pinged as grammatically incorrect -> look up the definition of the word because You Must Know -> it means exactly what you thought it meant -> oh, good! :) -> immediately forget the definition -> repeat forever

"I would never-"

You would if you were tired enough. You would if you were hungry enough. You would if your mind and body had been worn down enough, through pain or disease or toil or violent struggle. You might if you were put on the wrong medicine, or you got the wrong kind of head injury, or you were forced to choose between someone else and yourself. You might if your livelihood was staked on it, or all your hopes and dreams. You might if you didn't know what else to do, if it's what you were taught or if nobody taught you anything else.

I have not been worn down in most of these ways. I have lived a remarkably privileged life. But I have been worn down in some ways. And they were enough to teach me that in the wrong circumstances, any of us can become someone we don't want to be. It's worth keeping that in mind.

more people would exercise if this culture didn't make it absolute hell

I teach martial arts. we play games with the little kids. they swordfight with noodles and throw foam balls at each other. in the summer, we take them out into the parking lot with water guns. in the winter, we have snowball fights.

the teenagers get swords and staffs and practice knives. we teach them moves from marvel movies that they ask about. they get squirt guns and snowball fights too. we let them goof off and climb the support beams and charge directly at each other in padded suits.

sometimes parents say they miss doing things like that. I tell them, "stay for an adult class. just try it out." we build obstacle courses and let them mess around with training rifles. they chat while sparring. we scream and cheer for them when they're in the middle of a circle. and then we send them out to the parking lot with squirt guns and snowballs.

it's exercise. it's healthy. it's an important life skill. and it's fun as fuck.

tag of the week:

and also ✅

whats ur most favored attractive part of someone actually. physically. im asking like a boobs or ass question but for intellectuals and philosophers.

my prof just explained on the syllabus that he’s included more points in the class than we needed to pass, so we could skip up like?? 20 small assignments/quizzes/participation!! and still get a very high grade!!

the idea was that we could focus on assignments that played to our strengths - only do the participation stuff if we like to talk out loud - only do the quizzes/readings if we want to do the class remotely - only do online discussions if we like to talk and share opinions but struggle with anxiety in class ect.

and that’s cool enough but then he pulled up DnD character sheets with drawings he’d done of these hypothetical student player classes and how our various accessibility needs could be gamified to ‘max out’ different aspects of the class to get high grades and like!!!!!

hell yeah!!!! let’s treat accessibility in higher education not just as a necessity but as the fun, engaging, and creative aspect of learning that it is!!! I love this!!

EDIT: For proper credit or further questions about his system please find my professor on twitter @/kurtishanlon

I forgot I made a couple of mini vine compilations when they announced the end of vine

i don’t know how vine so perfectly encapsulated the best of humanity but that was a weird time

It was a better time

😭 he brings all his friends to meals

I GOT A FUCKING RAISE THE POTATO WORKED WTF

This potato works. Every. Fucking. Time.

Then bring me luck

the day after I posted this last time I was notified that I was selected for a really cool mentorship gig and got an unrelated glowing review at work

I have a job interview tomorrow. I can't risk it.

I can't let this pass without reblogging it. I'm so sorry.