#ActuallyDID

[guarddog-of-proendos]

Image descriptions

- written by a visually impaired person

What is an image description?

an image description is exactly what it sounds like, a block of text describing the content of an image. this is important for many people but especially for blind and visually impaired people who cannot see the image (at least, not well enough to understand what's going on)

(people also cite that this helps people with slow internet, if you add that to this post I am hitting you on the head with a stick. our access to the internet is enough of a reason to add image descriptions, they don't have to help abled people as well.)

image descriptions serve the purpose of providing the same access to content and context in a post that you, a sighted person, have. the goal is to allow equal access for visually disabled people and other people who struggle to access images.

have you ever been stuck scrolling through Tumblr while images are refusing to load? was that frustrating? imagine how we feel every day, all the time.

How to write an image description

writing an image description is a skill. it's okay if you aren't great at it at first. not being great at it is not an excuse to not try. I'm tired of people telling me they can't be assed to try writing an image description because it might not be perfect. I would much rather read an imperfect image description than have no image description at all.

when you're describing an image the key point is to describe what's relevant, what you look at in an image. if the image is a tweet, describe what the tweet says. if the image is a picrew of an alter, describe what that alter looks like in the picrew.

You don't need to include every detail

a lot of guides will, with well intentions, tell you to describe a lot. sometimes, describing a lot is relevant. if you're describing a piece of art or photography then describing a lot is important because the point of the photo is to appreciate all of the photo. if you're taking a selfie, I truly do not care that your walls are blank and white. sometimes, more detail is less accessible. I don't want to scroll through paragraphs up on paragraphs for a photo that sighted people can just glance at and get the gist of.

take for example, this post divider I just used:

you could describe this as: a post divider with a large star in the center surrounded by a halo of the moon phase in gold. 2 horizontal lines come from it in the center with a pattern of alternating sun, moon, sun, and star symbols.

... that's really long. the point for sighted people is to break up the text with something pretty. it's not to admire all the intricacies of the image.

a more appropriate description would be: a star themed post divider

text, on the other hand, should always be transcribed in full. do not describe your DNI banner as "a DNI banner" that tells me nothing. put down all the text, all of it, because all of the text is relevant.

never use AI to write an image description! it's insulting and often inaccurate. problems with generative AI aside, throwing an image into chatGPT and then copy and pasting the sludge it spits out makes me feel like I'm not worth taking a minute to actually write an image description. AI generated image descriptions tend to be impersonal, inaccurate, and hard to follow because it just throws up all the random details it picks up on rather than describing the point of the image. with the editing required to fix a chatGPT image description you could have written your own and it would be better.

I truly cannot write an image description

ask for help. if you have no one you can directly ask, add a note to your post asking for help writing the description when you post it. when someone writes a description for you, copy and paste it into the original post. there is no such thing as image description theft, the point is accessibility. you can't steal accessibility. copy and pasting is not just okay it's encouraged!

on other people's posts (regardless of whether or not you can write an image description) you can often find image descriptions in the notes. taking a minute to check for image descriptions before reblogging an undescribed post is something fast and kind you can do for the people who need image descriptions. often you'll find a description and then hurray! that inaccessible post is now accessible!

....but I don't have any followers who need image descriptions!

yes you do.

if you truly don't it's probably because none of them can access your blog. fix that and suddenly you will have followers who need image descriptions

why is this in the pluralgang tag? none of you describe images.

Questions are encouraged

(if you have any)

[phosphor-network]

IT IS NOW:

KID TIME

[blackboxtheatrecrew]

Hello, So terribly sorry to hear you've had this experience in pro-endo spaces. It is important for everyone to be able to feel heard and have their beliefs respected. I& run an alterhuman discord that is pro-endo, and whenever I've& seen people express any sort of discomfort with someone who has DID/OSDD and uses medical terminology (which has happened, but extremely rarely), I& have always used it as a teaching moment. No one should be ashamed for taking their own disordered plurality seriously and to treat it as a medical condition. Strangely, I& seem to have had the exact opposite of your experiences. I've& always felt welcomed in pro-endo systems despite my& prof. dxed DID and my& original goal of final fusion. It was in anti-endo spaces that I& have constantly felt like I& was walking on eggshells and feared fakeclaiming; often over the symptoms and disordered nature of my own systemhood. It is in anti-endo spaces that I& always felt othered and scrutinized, and it is where I& have experienced fakeclaiming and denial of my& experiences as a pwDID. They did not like my& origins and methods of self&-expression, and I& have even been accused of roleplaying and ostracized merely based off my& own perception of my& (again, professionally diagnosed) DID and how I& deal with and express my& disordered plurality.

This is not at all me& trying to deny your experiences, I& am simply just trying to share my& own. I& am glad you've found spaces you are comfortable in, and I& agree on the sentiment of how important it is to treat people like people. Everyone has their own unique experiences with plurality, and it's not right to invalidate them or to take someone's struggles less seriously simply because they can't understand how "bad" it really can be sometimes as a disordered system. Hope you are now in a space where you feel comfortable, 🎭Anonymous/Blurry🎭

Since I can’t reblog, I’ll just make my own post.

Anti-endos are people with complex dissociative disorders, whether you like that fact or not. You cannot No True Scotsman your way out of understanding that anti-endos perceive the hate that comes their way as being due to their disordered systemhood.

And in many ways, they’re right.

I was pushed out of the pro-endo community numerous times at this point for being too medicalized. I’ve been reported in pro-endo servers for using parts language. Endogenic systems spread misinformation that over generalized systemhood to a degree that I actively put myself in a position to crash my car, following pro-endo advice.

For many CDD systems, pro-endo spaces have been harmful for those with CDDs.

… and the thing is, so have anti-endo spaces. And it’s harder to understand that, when you’re anti-endo, because the space genuinely feels better for so many.

When I joined anti-endo spaces, my origins were acknowledged. My labels and language were respected. My trauma was validated.

It’s taken a lot to leave those spaces, and I still miss them, to some degree. Because it was home, and it felt nice to not have to constantly walk on eggshells about being “too” traumatized, or “too” out there.

And many anti-endos are experiencing that eggshell feeling in pro-endo spaces, regardless of how much they would like to be a ‘good’ person. I know a lot of anti-endos who “give pro-endo spaces a shot” and then immediately feel ostracized and out of place, and that leads to them lashing out and doubling down on the safer feeling stance, that being anti-endo.

This sort of individual needs compassion and care. They need a community that’s willing to meet them where they are.

Not… people who say, “not all CDD systems are like that, please ignore them, we aren’t with them.” (That’s an example I’ve seen, said about me, numerous times by pro-endos.)

Just start fucking treating people like people ffs.

[reimeichan]

"I'm okay with you having DID, I just don't want to talk to or meet any of your alters."

I'm an alter too, you know. Every single time you've interacted with me, I'm an alter. Even before you knew I had DID, even before I knew I had DID, we've been speaking to each other as various different alters. To ask to only interface with one singular version of me because you find the other versions of me uncomfortable to be around is hurtful.

We have little to no control over who's fronting at any particular time. We switch a lot, that's the nature of my system. Even we don't know who's fronting all the time, not least because we're discovering new parts still all these years later.

And, ultimately, they're all me. If you've only met one version of me and like that one version of me, do you truly like me? If you've only ever gotten to know me in that particular mode, how well do you actually know me? How can you say you love me when there's all these other me's that you cast aside and ignore?

You can't say you're okay with my DID but then ask to never get to know my alters. Because, ultimately, that means you never get to know me. And that means you're not okay with my DID- or with me.

[ed-recoverry]

This post exempts you from any and all “If you don’t ___ this post, ____ will happen.” You are hereby immune to it all. You are now protected! Be free!

[hiiragi7]

Trauma is the response, not the event.

And when we talk about how DID is formed from severe childhood trauma, what is not meant is that what happened to you needs to have been objectively "severe". If you have severe trauma responses (such as DID), then you have severe trauma.

Your trauma is enough regardless of what happened to you.

Trauma is incredibly subjective; what was incredibly traumatizing for one person may not be for another. How we become traumatized is related to a complex web of factors. No case of traumatization will look the exact same.

Trauma is not a competition. What matters is that it affects you. It's enough.

[omnium-gatherums]

What they don't tell you about DID is that almost everything is just vibes. Literally just vibes. System mapping, inner world, knowledge about alters in general - vibes.

[blooming-foliage]

apparently theres 5 threat responses documented now!

from a trauma & dissociation workbook page our therapist shared

[unstablemotions]

Hey, you! You who suspect you might have PTSD, DID or another trauma disorder, but you think you didn't experience trauma "bad enough" to have developed a mental disorder from it? Let me suggest looking at it differently:

"If there's smoke, there's fire"

Do you experience symptoms of PTSD, such as hypervigilance, trouble sleeping, flashbacks, memory problems, dissociation, ect? Then yes, it was "bad enough". Maybe you don't remember anything "really bad" happening or you don't "feel like" it affects you, but listen to your body. The body remembers and the body doesn't care if you think it is "stupid" or "weak" to have a panic attack when someone touches you or that you still have nightmares about that thing you saw when you were 4 years old

Trauma isn't what happened. Trauma is the reaction to what happened. So what I'm trying to say is that if the reason you think you can't have PTSD/DID/OSDD/ect is because you didn't go through anything horrific enough for that, then maybe forget about what happened to you for a moment and just look at the evidence your body and mind are showing. And then, most importantly, be compassionate with yourself. You're going through a lot and it's gonna be okay in the end. Take it easy, okay? <3

[orange-orchard-system]

It's been a while since I've seen a post like this, so... Here's some tips for figuring out who's fronting if you're having trouble!

Try calling yourself by the names of selves you suspect you might be until one of them clicks and feels right. (Or get someone else to do this to you.)

Set up a personality quiz with your system – with different alters as the results – and take it!

Consider how you'd feel if you were told you absolutely were not (insert headmate here). Would you be frustrated? Upset? Would you instinctively push back against that assertion? If so, this is probably a good indicator that you're that headmate.

If you keep descriptions of your sysmates, read through them and see what you relate to, and if you ever feel like anything is referring to you specifically, or that you wrote something.

The previous suggestion can also work for journal entries if you keep track of who wrote what.

This is not an exhaustive list; if you find a different method that works better for your system, use it! And remember, if you feel deep down like a specific system member... you probably are that system member. Good luck figuring out who's fronting and who you are!

[mar-im-o]

pro endo in the sense that I've studied psychopathology and am well aware that we're all just making up the categories of disorders for insurance purposes and like idk man maybe people can be plural for other reasons I genuinely don't care.

Like yes sure my plurality is trauma-based but I don't give a shit of someone else's isn't it doesn't affect me.

[horrorcrew-diary]

*remembers something from our childhood I had forgotten about*

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

[iwillbreakyourfuckingskull]

"I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy" well I fucking would

[reimeichan]

Think systems with a high number of fictional introjects are a new phenomena? Kluft's paper on polyfragmented/extremely complex DID from 1988 includes a patient with LOTR introjects, and another based off of Shakespear's Tempest. Fictional introjects have been a thing for a very long time!

[sucked-into-abagel]

When ppl talk about alters being stuck in trauma time, they usually talk about those alters not knowing the body's friends, or recognizing where they live, or any number of physical reality changes. And we've definitely had that experience! But more often what "alters being stuck in trauma time" means for us is those alters know basic physical reality facts, but their emotional reality has not changed at all. So they might know our best friend, but they aren't connected to how that friend and I interact. They respond to everything like the trauma is still happening, so they expect any mistake to be met with punishment, they expect the ppl around them to suddenly hurt them without warning, they have no ability to use our modern coping methods, and they have no concept of anything being other than the abusive environment of our youth.

So yeah, our trauma-stuck alters typically know we live in a different house and our dad isn't coming home, and they know things like we graduated college and the names of our friends. What we struggle with a lot more is getting them to understand that this current time isn't just our childhood with new set dressings.

[aether-amalgam-system]

Hey if you had an isolating childhood experience because you were undiagnosed with a neurodivergency, remember that THAT IS TRAUMA!!

Your isolation/bullying/attachment trauma is so so so valid. It’s trauma.