Disability Sun / Disabled Sun ☉

[Image ID: A transparent image of the Disabled Sun, which is the same as the astrological symbol of the sun. It is a large black circle with a smaller black circle in the center. End ID]

So... I wanted a symbol to represent disabilities, one that wasn't the wheelchair symbol. As a wheelchair user myself, I do like the wheelchair symbol, but it also feels like an incomplete image of the disabled community as a whole. Disabled people can come in every shape and size, and for many, many of us, the wheelchair symbol isn't representative.

Disabled people may have wheelchairs, or canes, or crutches, or hearing aids, or service dogs, or different body shapes, or even nothing at all visibly indicating a disability. There have been alternative symbols suggested in the past, but most hinge on showing a silhouette, and there would never be a way to demonstrate all of us with one little bathroom-sign-style human. So, I made this! The Disabled Sun!

This isn't meant to replace the wheelchair symbol, as that certainly has its history and place in our community, it's simply meant to be an optional other symbol for those who choose to use it.

This symbol was chosen for the following reasons and meanings:

The symbol is welcome to be used by anyone of any kind of disability, be it physical, mental, neurodevelopmental, sensory, invisible, anything! If you have any sort of impairment and consider yourself disabled, you are welcome to use this symbol.

[Image ID: A transparent image of the Disabled Sun, a large circle with a smaller circle in the center, in the colors of the Disabled Pride Flag by Ann Magill. The disabled pride flag is a mostly grey flag with five diagonal stripes that start at the top left corner and run down to the bottom right corner. In order from left to right, the stripes are red, yellow, white. blue, and green.]

No credit is needed to use this symbol! It would be appreciated if you spread this post around to others to give it some traction, though!

I made a new sideblog to post the coining of a new symbol!!

Unfortunately, I think stigmatised disorder (personality disorders, psychotic disorders, etc) culture is realising something you experience has a name and finally feeling seen, but you go to google it for more resources and only find people talking about how horrible and morally evil you are for daring to have that symptom you never chose in the first place.

people always act like there’s such a hard line between “psychotic person” and “normal person”, and I feel like that plays a lot into the dehumanization psychotic people face. cause once a nonpsychotic person internalizes this logic, suddenly we’re attractions and interesting and a fun research subject cause we’re just so fucking other that we become wholly unrelatable. for the nonpsychotic person, it’s unimaginable what psychosis must “really” feel like. so they treat us like a fictional species just trying to understand our existence. and they don’t worry about how their actions might affect us any more than they’d worry about insulting a vulcan by calling the vulcan thought process “just so interesting!”.

but in reality…. the difference between a psychotic person and a nonpsychotic person is not so stark. all human brains are prone to psychosis. all humans are capable of experiencing psychosis in one way or another. anyone could develop a full blown psychotic disorder at any time, no one is born immune to this. and while there’s some contexts in which it’s necessary to differentiate who does or doesn’t experience these symptoms of course, largely I think nonpsychotic people are doing themselves a disfavor - and being ableist in the process - by ignoring the hard truth of the matter: us psychotic people are exactly the same as them.

The thing about psychosis, in particular the delusions, is that in the moment, the beliefs are our reality. A delusional person doesn’t just believe they’re the reincarnation of Christ. To them in that moment, they are the reincarnation of Christ. They don’t just believe the cops are after them, the cops are after them. They don’t just believe their family members have been replaced by aliens, their family has been replaced by aliens.

This is one of the reasons psychosis can be so traumatizing. We don’t just believe in bizarre and unusual things, we’re actively experiencing them. We’re prone to such outrageous and scary beliefs that are out of our control, and to us, they’re as real as the air we breathe. Keep this in mind when considering the mental state of someone in psychosis.

Housing is a privilege.

“Fewer than 5 percent of units have the features needed to accommodate a person with moderate mobility difficulties. The percentage of wheelchair-accessible units is even smaller; less than 1 percent of all units are equipped with features that would allow a wheelchair user to live independently.”

Marriage is a privilege.

“The [SSI] monthly maximum Federal amounts for 2023 are $914 for an eligible individual, $1,371 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse.”

Minimum wage is a privilege.

“Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act authorizes employers, after receiving a certificate from the Wage and Hour Division, to pay special minimum wages — wages less than the Federal minimum wage — to workers who have disabilities for the work being performed.”

We still need to fight for accessibility and equity for all disabled people.

Despite the ADA, equity is still out of reach.

I think it would really benefit people to internalize that mental illnesses are often chronic and not acute. Some of us will never be able to jump the hurdle of managing illness, much less sustaining a sense of normalcy. Many of us will never "recover," will never manage symptoms, will never even come close to appearing normal - and this is for any condition, even the ones labeled as "simple" disorders or "easy-to-manage" disorders.

It isn't a failure if you cannot manage your symptoms. It isn't a moral failure, and you aren't an awful person. You are human. There's only so much you can do before recognizing that you cannot lift the world. Give yourself the space to be ill because, functionally, you are.

"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."

IT'S ALMOST LIKE THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE DISABILITY

It occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn't heard from Eeyore for several days, so they put on their hats and coats and trotted across the Hundred Acre Wood to Eeyore's house. Inside the house was Eeyore.

"Hello Eeyore," said Pooh.

"Hello Pooh. Hello Piglet" said Eeyore, in a Glum sounding voice.

"We just thought we'd check on you," said Piglet, "because we hadn't heard from you, and so we wanted to know if you were okay."

Eeyore was silent for a moment. "Am I okay?" he asked, eventually. "Well, I don't know, to be honest. Are any of us really okay? That's what I ask myself. All I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet, is that right now I feel really rather Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All.

Which is why I haven't bothered you. Because you wouldn't want to waste your time hanging out with someone who is Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All, would you now."

Pooh looked at Piglet, and Piglet looked at Pooh, and they both sat down, one on either side of Eeyore in his stick house.

Eeyore looked at them in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"We're sitting here with you," said Pooh, "because we are your friends. And true friends don't care if someone is feeling Sad, or Alone, or Not Much Fun To Be Around At All. True friends are there for you anyway. And so here we are."

"Oh," said Eeyore. "Oh." And the three of them sat there in silence, and while Pooh and Piglet said nothing at all; somehow, almost imperceptibly, Eeyore started to feel a very tiny little bit better. Because Pooh and Piglet were There. No more; no less.

Author - AA Milne Illustration - EH Shepard

My favorite Pooh story.

If you don't judge people for saying "sorry adhd brain" in public, then don't judge people for saying "sorry schizophrenia brain" in public

If you correct people when they misuse the term "ocd" then you need to correct people when they misuse the terms "psychotic", "delusional", "hallucinating" and "schizophrenic"

If you don't stare, laugh at or fear a stranger in public flapping their hands, then you need to do the same for a stranger in public talking to someone who isn't actually there.

If you give a trigger warning to sensitive topics then you need to give a trigger warning to unreality and false information as a prank.

If you want to normalize medication like antidepressants you also need to normalize medications like antipsychotics.

If you don't like people without your disorder joking about it online and report it as harassment, then you need to do the same for the tons of nonschizophrenics making "schizoposting" memes to make fun of us.

Just please include schizo-spec and psychotic acceptance into your mental illness/neurodiversity acceptance. We are part of your community whether you like it or not. We are constantly stigmatized, misrepresented and made fun of. We do what we can to help you, please return the favor.

Mental illness/neurodiversity acceptance is an ongoing action. We will get nowhere in the long run if we split the community into the "in" group and the "out" group. We could all accomplish so much if we worked together. But you need to include the "weird" people that don't fit into your aesthetic and don't fit the social norms.

Us psychotics and schizo-specs have been struggling for years and have been the only people fighting for ourselves while the people we plead to barely see us as human. If you are nonpsychotic and nonschizo-spec, you can help us more than you realize. Please include us and stick up for us the same way we have been including and sticking up for you.

why are “disabled people deserve enough money to live off” and “disabled people deserve care, accessibility and support”  considered to be controversial statements? 

since we psychotic-spectrum and schizophrenia-spectrum dorks have claimed the moon (since we're "lunatics"), i made some moon graphics with the symbol. one in purple since the colors repping psychospec and schizospec are purple and silver, and one in black and white.

[ID: a silver crescent moon that has a silver left-right arrow with a wave placed in its shadow, the shadow and background a single purple colour. The other image is an alt version with white and black instead of silver and purple.]

anddddd here it is! my rendition of the psychosis/schizospec flag! icons are free to use but id like to be credited only to let this flag gain traction. please rb even if ur nonpsychotic!

flag meanings:

purple: the good side of schizospec disorders/ being proud of being schizospec despite everything

red: the reclaimation and/or the hatred of harmful tropes of us in media

grey and black: the unfortunate bad side of schizospec disorders and the strength it takes to deal with it

pink: acceptance & the hope for better treatment from others

the fade between the colours represent the interconnectedness between these meanings, how one cant really exist without the other.

symbol by @actuallyschizophrenic

[ID: a flag that has a light pink, left-right arrow with a wave in the center, put within a pink box. The background is the horizontal stripes (from top to bottom): light grey, dark grey, purple, light purple, pink, light red, red, dark grey, grey.

This is followed by three icons with different characters overlayed on top of the flag: first one Pinkie Pie (MLP:FiM), second Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods), third Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic).]

Opinions on this as a symbol for the schizophrenic and psychotic spectrum community? It’s simple, with the wave in the middle symbolizing positive and negative symptoms, and the arrows pointing out symbolizing the vastness, scope, and diversity of the community?

I wanted to choose something that’s easily replicated and recognizable. 

On a related note, what color do you feel should represent the community? I’ve seen silver and purple used to represent us in a few occasions but nothing widespread. I personally love purple as a color for us.

Here’s a possible purple version!

I love it!! I like it in black, but then one could put it on a purple background? Or it could be purple on a silver background..or silver on a purple background.. hmm! But I think just the black one is sufficient too.

Thanks for sharing!!

What do y’all think?

Can I use it like <-w-> to fill out spaces or something on posts? Just to spread the word and get people curious about the symbol? And I can make it an active link back to this post?

I like the color ideas! The <-w-> idea is pretty cute ! This symbol actually has a unicode so you could type it if you wanted to, but it does show up a bit small. ↭ Either can work. I’m glad you like it!

[ID: a black left-right arrow with a wave, followed by a purple version.]