#Disability Access Service Card

[ittyalfie]

Hi!

The need for support and services for autistic people has increased so much, even in the past year.

That is why I’ve committed to Run for autism this October. Please help me raise vital funds to change the lives of children and adults on the autism spectrum and support my Run for autism 2024.

I’ve personally used Aspect’s helpful Autism Alert card in emergency medical situations. And Aspect offer a range of support for Autistic individuals. It can be hard to find services who understand or even know what autism is like and how it can be unique for different people!

Aspect help people access NDIS services specific to autistic needs, and have community support and programs.

As well as aiming for my goal to walk/run 40km to raise funds for crucial support, I also want to add a goal to do drawings for donations! I wanna achieve these goals! Please donate or share, and leave a comment, message or ask for a drawing.

I want to promote awareness and the value of sharing personal experiences. Drawing character art is one of my special interests and it would mean so much to me to help in this way.

https://www.runforautism.org.au/fundraisers/cuddlecosmos

Click below! Please reblog :)

Your donation will help create a more autism-friendly world for children and adults on the autism spectrum. I’m actually so excited to be able to do this. I feel like the more we can help each other, the more it can enable others who were previously unable to help, to then contribute in their own ways to other causes. :)

Thank you so much!

Bit from Cuddle cosmos

PS If you want to join Run for autism, you can sign up via the link as well!

[thebibliosphere]

I've had a couple of messages over the last few days from folks saying things like, "Sorry, I can only afford to get your book through the library," and I need you to know I am gripping you by the shoulders, I am shaking you gently, and I am begging you stop apologizing for using library services.

After Amazon and Payhip, the quarterly checks I get from Overdrive/Libby are my biggest and most reliable source of income.

My readers have been nothing but feral in their quest to get Hunger Pangs into as many libraries as possible, and while library lending pays an exceptionally modest amount, if enough people do it (which many of you evidently are), those pennies add up.

I am guaranteed at least $20 a month in library lending royalties. That might not sound like much to some folks, but to me, that's my b12 supplements covered for the month. That's the thing I need to keep me alive paid for.

I will never resent anyone who uses libraries instead of buying books.

I'm a disabled author who lives month to month at the mercy of my medical expenses. Even though I have incredibly generous patrons and supporters, I know what it's like to not be able to afford things.

Use the library. Please.

Use it guilt-free. You're helping the library and the authors, probably more than you realize.

And if you're in the US and haven't signed up for a @queerliblib free library card yet, you should! it doesn't matter what state you're in, the Queer Liberation Library offers free access to their catalogue of queer media across the US.

And if you've got the means, maybe help them out with a little donation. They're only able to expand their collection via the support of their patrons, and the work they're doing is hugely important.

[primusfortuna]

Major Update

Yumekuro will be ending service on November 19, 2024 at 12:00 JST.

Below is some information on Yumekuro Offline, a version of the game that can be accessed even after the servers close. Please let me know if I missed anything important.

Yumekuro Offline

Yumekuro Offline is a static copy of your user data. You will be able to preserve and view all progress you personally have made in the game, but you cannot build your account or obtain new cards.

To download your data, click this button in the lower right of your home screen. The file size will depend on how much content is in your account.

The download option is available from now until November 19, 2024.

After completing the download, if you obtain any new data (ie. new cards or story chapters), they will not carry over to your version of Yumekuro Offline by default. You must redownload your data to preserve any new content you acquire. You can redownload as many times as needed.

IMPORTANT: You will not be able to regain access if you delete or try to reinstall the app after November 19. Some devices have a setting that automatically offloads apps or puts them into "deep sleep" mode. Please make sure to turn this setting off if you're worried about losing access.

What Carries Over to Yumekuro Offline?

Many features will be disabled in Yumekuro Offline. Below is a list of what you can still access.

▪ Home Screen Remains mostly unchanged. You can still set characters, backgrounds, and time-specific voice lines. You can now view player's birthday messages from your owned characters any day of the year.

▪ Stories The following will be made fully accessible, even if you haven't unlocked them yourself:

Main story*

All event stories (including collabs)

Misc stories (ie. login stories, Black Summer, Grand Finale)

*The current Prologue & Chapter 0 of Main Story will be slightly rewritten to omit the battle and gacha features.

All other stories will only be available if you've already unlocked them. This includes:

Meister and fairy cards

Affection stories

Voice dramas

"His perspective" stories

Past stories

Guild stories

Other stories (past exploration, hunting, stadium, fairy events)

EXCEPTION: These card stories will be available to read even if you don't have them unlocked: ・ Crow, Itsuki, Grandflair (Beginning of a Dream) ・ Evan, Navi, Himmel (Beginning of a Bond)

This only includes the card chapters, not their affection stories or outing lines.

Keep in mind that you cannot upgrade cards in Yumekuro Offline, so you MUST unlock all the chapters you want to preserve before completing your data download.

▪ Guild Life All Guild Home features remain intact, limited to the cards you own. You can now view player and meisters' birthday dialogues regardless of the day. Keeper's Board messages will still be available, but you can't obtain new ones.

▪ Library All information in here will remain viewable. The glossary can still be updated if you unlock new terms.

▪ Collection You can view badges and boards you already own.

▪ Alarm You can still use the alarm function.

▪ Player Profile Able to edit your profile like before.

New Additions

Some new features will be exclusive to Yumekuro Offline. As usual, access to these features is limited to the cards you own.

You'll now be able to access meisters' outing invites and thank-you messages under the "Memories" (思い出) section of the Keeper's Board.

A LOT of voice lines will be added to the Library:

Outings - Max skinship

Outings - Give a present

Login bonus - Daily

Login bonus - Total

Shop lines

Past exploration - Start exploration

Past exploration - During exploration

Past exploration - End exploration

Outings - Max presents

Various battle lines

★ Some unreleased voice lines will also be available:

Seasonal voice lines - Date on a cold day (all meisters)

Seasonal voice lines - Things to do at the harvest fair (all fairies)

Meister birthday lines for years 2-3

Player birthday lines for years 2-3 (from meisters & fairies)

Disabled Features

All quests/battles

Building characters/cards

Campaigns

Data restoration

Data transfer

Events

Event reruns

Friend feature

Gacha

Guild orders

Hunting

Increasing affection level

Increasing guild level

Increasing player level

Login bonuses

Meister birthdays (you can still access the voice lines in the Library)

Minigames

Missions

Obtaining and using items

Outings

Past exploration

Presents

Push notifications

Set support characters

Shop

Stadium

[rjalker]

You cannot claim you want books to be more accessible to people and then get mad about the Internet Archive accepting book donations that people have fully bought and paid for and lending those donated books out to people completely for free with no hoops to jump through.

I don't know who needs to hear this but not everyone has access to public libraries.

Assuming you even have a library in your town, not everyone can physically get to them! The poorer and more disabled you are, the less likely you are to even own a car, let alone be able to drive it!

And in most US cities, walking from point A to B is either literally physically impossible or illegal, or so literally life-threateningly dangerous that you're better off not risking it!

And assuming you can get to the library -- guess what! There's no guarentee you can actually get a library card! Yes, despite how everyone always sings endless praises, libraries aren't perfect, and there are still very real obstacles between some of the most vulnerable people and being able to borrow from a library!

In many places, you can't get a library card unless you have a driver's liscence / state ID. And in some places, even that alone isn't enough -- you also have to provide proof that you live in the city!

Which means homeless people who've had their IDs literally stolen by the cops, who don't have a mailing address they can use as proof they live in the same city as the library can't get a library card unless they can somehow get to the DMV and miraculously have the money pay for a new ID. Which they can't do without other forms of ID. Which the cops probably also literally stole.

Even if you're not homeless, if someone steals your wallet, and you can't drive, you can't get a library card either now, because you have no ID, and no way to get a new one!

The Internet Archive's lending library is actually free and accessible to everyone who can connect to the internet, with no hoops to jump through. You just have to make an account and you can start reading.

Stop claiming you want people to be able to read books if you don't actually want the most vulnerable people to actually be able to read books. Which have already been paid for and helped the authors.

If you don't even understand the bare minimum basics of how the Internet Archive's lending library works, maybe don't go around proclaiming yourself the expert. And if you literally do not live in the USA, don't go around claiming our libraries are freely accessible to everyone when they're literally not!

The Internet Archive does not hurt authors. It does not hurt publishers. If you understand how it's perfectly fucking fine to buy a book and then lend it to your friends so they can all read it, you understand why the Internet Archive literally accepting fully paid for donations of books which they archive for all of humanity completely for free is also literally fine.

And if you pretend there's actually some evil difference between the two, you just need to admit you've swallowed the capitalist propaganda that publishing companies, who want to turn books into the next streaming service where you never actually own anything even when you buy it, and you're spreading blatant capitalist propaganda that actual authors hate.

It is literally a fact that if people can borrow a book from a library to read it for free, they are more likely to buy it and the rest of the series than they would if they never got the chance to read it without first forking over hard earned money that could be going towards groceries, for a book it might turn out they absolutely hate every second of.

You cannot claim to support libraries and support making books accessible to everyone and then shit on the Internet Archive. Unless you're also going to claim that lending books out to friends or Little Libraries are also immoral.

You people are really blatantly drinking the capitalist "turn everything into a subscription service possible so they never own anything and have to keep giving us money" koolaid and we can tell.

[askgildaseniors]

Let's explore the range of Social Security services available online.

The Social Security Administration continually expands its online offerings to provide convenient access to services and benefit information. To make the most of it, head to SSA.gov and create a My Social Security account.

With just a few clicks, you can apply for retirement benefits, spousal benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance, and even Medicare.

You can also update your address, set up direct deposit, and, in most states, order a replacement Social Security card.

You can also track your benefits, check your lifetime earnings history, and estimate future payments.

Now, while you can do a lot online, one thing you can't do is apply for survivor benefits. For that, you'll need to reach out to Social Security directly.

[lastoneout]

Y'all I am so fucking tired of the like, privatization of healthcare and also the way medicaid works. I've been trying to get this blood work done that I need before my surgery next month and there are apparently only two types of clinics I can go to, SonoraQuest, which has reasonable hours and is open on Saturdays, or LabCorp which is only open on weekdays and closes at 3pm.

Turns out I actually can't go to SonoraQuest because they don't take Medicaid, something I found out after going there and sitting in the lobby for an hour. I have to go to LabCorp.

The problem with LabCorp is that my fiancé works until 3:30pm and he's having a very busy week and thus hasn't been able to leave early to take me. I can't take public transit because I'm disabled and don't have a wheelchair yet and going on foot or with my rollator would ruin my ability to do anything for the rest of the day and possibly the next couple of days too. I can't take a lyft or Uber because my fiancé is the sole breadwinner for our household(I can't work) and right now his shit idiot credit union is straight up breaking the law and repeatedly flagging his cards for *possible* fraud despite there being no fraud, and he's gone through like 5 debit cards in the last two months over this(he's gone in to complain about all the ways this is fucking him over big time and they told him there's literally nothing they can do). He's moving his money to a new credit union atm but that takes time, so he legit cannot access his money and thus he can't give me any to pay for the ride. (The bus also costs money I don't have so that's another reason I can't take it.)

I decided this is all horseshit and called the hospital my surgery will be at and asked if there is somewhere else I can go because this isn't working, and the lady told me I can just go to the hospital for it and that they're open until 7pm. So I went there yesterday, only to find out that the people who do the blood work at the hospital is fucking SonoraQuest and they close at 4pm.

LabCorp does have a service where they'll send a mobile team to your house to collect the blood, but it costs $35 which again. We cannot access my fiancé's money atm. Also that's more than a lyft would cost so even if I had access to money I would prefer to go there myself.

So I am hoping my fiancé will be able to get off work early today so we can go down to LabCorp when they're open and hopefully they won't tell me I need an appointment or that coming in like an hour before they close isn't allowed.

Anyway call me a boomer but there is no fucking world in which I shouldn't be able to just go to my fucking neurosurgeon's office and have a nurse take my blood. Like I should just be able to do that. Or just walk into the hospital which overall does take my insurance and have one of the like 100s of nurses take my goddamn blood. This used to be how this shit worked. Why the fuck have we outsourced this to for profit clinics that suck ass, forcing me to try to move heaven and earth to get myself to a clinic with insanely unreasonable hours, stressing me the fuck out. Also why does having Medicaid mean I have to go to the worse clinic like this always happens, the clinics that take Medicaid are always garbage compared to the ones that don't it's such crap that the poor folks have to put up with sub-par medical services just bcs we're poor.

Anyway I'm going to go scream into a pillow for a while and hope to god I'm able to get this out of the way today bcs if not I'm probably just gonna have to call the neurosurgeon and let them know I might not be able to do the blood work because unfortunately it's fucking impossible.

[goodstuffhappenedtoday]

A Pie Shop on Chicago’s South Side Serves More Than Dessert

With her first brick-and-mortar bakery, Justice of the Pies, the pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard focuses on creativity — and inclusivity for people with disabilities.

By Kayla Stewart

The South Side of Chicago brims with inimitable African American culture and history, and the pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard is adding her brand of sweetness to the place where she was born and raised. In June, Ms. Broussard opened the first brick-and-mortar store of her longtime delivery and wholesale pie business, Justice of the Pies. The shop, in a former dentist’s office in Avalon Park, one of the South Side’s many historic, predominantly African American neighborhoods, serves Ms. Broussard’s inventive pies and pastries, such as her calling cards — a blue cheese praline pear pie and a strawberry basil Key lime pie — along with unorthodox items like her salted caramel peach pie and a deep-dish chilaquiles quiche.

Ms. Broussard, who lost 75 percent of her hearing in a childhood accident, may be the industry’s most prominent hard-of-hearing Black pastry chef. She has gained a following for her pies through social media, pop-ups and appearances on the Netflix competition show “Bake Squad.” “I realized that being a member of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community actually gave me a superpower,” she said, “and that superpower includes a heightened sense of smell and taste.” Ms. Broussard chose her bakery’s location in hopes of encouraging other chefs and entrepreneurs to join her. “I want to force people who don’t look like me to come to the South Side if they want my pies,” she said. “I want to force people to come to a neighborhood that deserves private investment, a neighborhood that has a blighted corridor, a neighborhood that has empty storefronts.” Zella Palmer, an author and professor at Dillard University in New Orleans who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, said neighborhoods like Avalon Park deserve more inventive Black-owned businesses. “There’s a huge pride in the community to see this gleaming pie shop,” she said. “This is a pie shop that looks like it could be in Brooklyn, or on Magazine Street in New Orleans, but it’s here.”

Several of the shop’s counters are 32 inches high, meeting the height standards of the American Disabilities Act and making them accessible for wheelchair users. Each section of the shop has a different floor tile texture, which helps patrons with limited sight who use a walking cane navigate the store. “How can I be an ambassador for people living with disabilities and have a space that isn’t accessible?” she said. Signs in the shop carry Braille inscriptions, and language is designed to be inclusive, too. (In the bathroom, there are “personal hygiene products” rather than “feminine hygiene products.”) A service door that has a bell and a flashlight allows Ms. Broussard to remain aware of important deliveries.

more at the gift link

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

If this recent segment from Last Week Tonight With John Oliver about public libraries inspired any questions about libraries, banned and challenged books, unusual items that can be checked out from libraries, and library budgets, we're here to give you some answers!

You can learn more about libraries and what they have to offer, both in-person and digitally, by visiting their websites. Here in New York City we've got three different systems: 

New York Public Library (includes Bronx / Manhattan / Staten Island)

Brooklyn Public Library

Queens Public Library

You should definitely visit your local library system's website, but you can also expand your scope and look outside of your neighborhood. For example, did you know that you can get a New York Public Library card if you live, work, or go to school anywhere in New York State? And did you also know that you can access material from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled if you're a resident of the United States or even an American citizen living abroad?

Banned and challenged books have been a hot topic for years. Unfortunately, the topic is getting hotter all the time as the number of challenges is increasing! The American Library Association keeps track of books that are banned and/or challenged, and which ones are challenged most frequently. Dealing with book challenges is part of librarians' jobs year-round, but we give banned and challenged books extra attention once a year during Banned Books Week. The more time you spend visiting libraries and library websites, the more you'll discover book displays as well as book clubs and other events bringing more attention to the topic of banned and challenged books.

Okay, let's take a minute to talk about unusual things that you can check out with your library card. As you might expect, a library is a place where you can check out books (about the BERENSTAIN BEARS and many other topics), CDs, DVDs, and magazines. While we don't have any taxidermied animals to offer (!!!), at different branches in our system, patrons can check out things like seeds, launchpads, or even STEAM Discovery Kits which contain educational objects like games and telescopes. I'd like to make sure that you ALSO know that many libraries offer lots of digital resources like ebooks, audiobooks, & video as well as databases, so you can even have library access without leaving the house. And finally, you should know that some libraries have Take-Home Kits available for kids and/or teens, and those don't require a library card at all!

If you'd like to help restore budget cuts to your library, you can reach out to your local politicians directly, or sign letters of support virtually or in-person through your library. For example, right now at NYPL we're facing a new round of budget cuts which could reduce our library service from six days a week down to five days a week. We're asking people to show support for us by:

Signing a letter in person

Signing a virtual letter

or even filling out a virtual sticky note saying why libraries are important to you!

If you live outside of the New York City / New York State area, then please visit your local library's website and see how YOU can help keep libraries open and help protect your community's freedom to read!

[tocitynews]

A Widespread Microsoft Outage Disrupted Flights, Banks, Media Outlets And Companies Around The World On Friday And Highlighted Dependence On Software From A Handful Of Providers – New York City reporting

The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing it.

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”

Major disruptions reported by airlines and airports grew. Flight tracking website Flightaware reports more nearly 1,000 flights canceled and over 12,000 more are delayed. Chicago O'Hare, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Newark , La Guardia and Boston Logan International Airport lead Flightaware's "misery map" with the most delays and cancellations.

In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded. American Airlines lifted its ground stop just after 5 a.m ET, saying they were able to "safely re-establish operations."

An earlier ground stop for Frontier Airlines was lifted just after midnight, and the carrier said they had resumed normal operations, for now.

Travelers at Los Angeles International Airport slept on a jetway floor, using backpacks and other luggage for pillows, due to a delayed United flight to Dulles International Airport early on Friday.

Across the pond, Edinburgh Airport said the system outage meant waiting times were longer than usual. London’s Stansted Airport said some airline check-in services were being completed manually, but flights were still operating.

The budget airline Ryanair said they are "experiencing disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control. We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time.”

Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where lines grew and some passengers were stranded as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled. Passengers in Melbourne queued for more than an hour to check in, although flights were still operating. Airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas were severely affected by the outage.

News outlets in Australia — including the ABC and Sky News — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers. Some news anchors broadcast live online from dark offices, in front of computers showing “blue screens of death.” Telecommunications providers, banks and media broadcasters were also disrupted as they lost access to computer systems. Outages reported on the site DownDetector included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra. The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were down.

Television stations in the United Kingdom were being disrupted by the computer issues.

Hospitals in Britain and Germany also reported problems.

Israel’s Cyber Directorate said that it was among the places affected by the global outages, attributing them to a problem with the cybersecurity platform Crowdstrike. The outage also hit the country’s post offices and hospitals, according to the ministries of communication and health.

In South Africa, at least one major bank said it was experiencing “nationwide service disruptions” as customers reported they were unable to make payments using their bank cards at grocery stores and gas stations.

Numerous European airlines are using manual check-in.

[the-autistic-agoraphobe]

Yes I think you should still wear your sunflower lanyard if you wish to. I live in a regional area in Australia and not many people know about the sunflower lanyard here but I still choose to wear it for a few reasons.

One reason why I wear my sunflower lanyard is because I have pins explaining my disabilities on it. When I need help I can you the pins to tell me about my disabilities if I need too. One time I was having a shut down and a lady asked me for advice on some decorations that she was putting up. I showed her the pin that says "sometimes I struggle to speak" and she understood.

Another reason why I wear the sunflower lanyard is because some people know what it means and may be able to help me when I need it. Once I was at a mueseum buying tickets for entry and the lady serving me said not to worry about getting my concession card out because she could see that I had a disability because I was wearing a lanyard. It made things much easier.

Sometimes the sunflower lanyard can open up conversations where I can to talk about it and teach people about what it means. It's important for people to know what the sunflower lanyard means so they can help people with hidden disabilities like myself when we need help. One time a lady thought I was working at a shop because I was wearing a lanyard and I told her that I didn't work at the shop and why I wear the lanyard.

Sometimes it's good to wear a sunflower lanyard so other Autistic people who I see out and about know that I'm Autistic like them. One time I was at a historical village and there was an Autistic guy making wind chimes and his grandfather was with him. His grandfather mentioned that I was Autistic as he could see my pin and he's grandson said that he was Autistic. It was good to chat about Autism.

I have my loop earplugs on my lanyard which is helpful when things get really noisy and I need them. I can get them quickly from my lanyard.

As someone with Agoraphobia my car is my safe place and I don't feel comfortable with going to some places unless I have access to my car. I have my car keys on my sunflower lanyard so I know I can get into my car when needed.

As you can see there are many reasons why I wear my sunflower lanyard even though it's not very well known in my area. I think it's good for people with hidden disabilities to wear the sunflower lanyard and tell people what it means. I also think it's important that emergency services get educated about it. The sunflower lanyard is a great accessibility tool and can be used to help alot of people.

[hummussexual]

Bangladesh’s first mosque specifically for hijra Muslims has officially opened its doors, as members of the legally recognized “third gender” community seek refuge from abuse and discrimination.

Named the Dakshin Char Kalibari Masjid for the Third Gender, the mosque opened in March, providing worship services for hijra people who are frequently turned away from other mosques due to prejudice, according to a report from the Agence France-Presse.

The mosque consists of a single-room building with a tin roof, paid for and built by hijras near the city of Mymensingh on government-donated land after hijra worshippers were expelled from the local community. The land already contains a graveyard and one plot, belonging to a hijra woman who was denied burial at a local mosque last year, AFP reported.

“From now on, no one can deny a hijra from praying in our mosque,” community leader Joyita Tonu, 28, reportedly told the congregation upon the mosque’s opening last month. “No one can mock us.”

The terms “hijra” and “transgender” are often used interchangeably in English media, but the two identities are separate in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries, though there is some overlap between them. The Bangladeshi government declared hijras a “third gender” distinct from men and women in 2014, but there is no formal path to be legally recognized as hijra. No standard policy for changing one’s legal gender marker to “hijra” exists, and various types of identification cards carry mismatched gender markers, according to the international LGBTQ+ rights group ILGA. Even vague recognition has come with drawbacks, such as the association of hijra identity with disfigurement and complex disability politics. In the decade since winning formal recognition, hijras have also experienced a dramatic rise in violence, medical abuse, and ostracization as religious fundamentalism surges across the region. (Same-sex intercourse itself is illegal in Bangladesh, but that law is not evenly enforced.)

Sonia, 42, told AFP reporters that despite being a devout Muslim all her life, she was abruptly kicked out of her mosque after coming out as hijra. “I never dreamt I could pray at a mosque again in my lifetime,” she recalled. “People would tell us: ‘Why are you hijra people here at the mosques? You should pray at home. Don't come to the mosques.’

“It was shameful for us, so we didn't go,” she added. “Now, this is our mosque. Now, no one can say no.”

Hijra communities have slowly reestablished dedicated spaces of safety in recent years, despite frequent backlash from conservative leaders. In 2020, the first Muslim school (or madrasa) for hijra students opened in Bangladesh, combating the community’s lack of access to educational and religious resources. Designed for safety, community, and healing, spaces like the madrasa and mosque have also begun shifting public opinion of hijras in the country.

“When they started to live with us, many people said many things,” area resident Tofazzal Hossain told AFP last month; after praying alongside them, he says his own “misconceptions” of hijras, in general, have changed. “[W]e've realized what people say isn't right. They live righteously like other Muslims,” Hossain said.

[toasted-leaf]

My 1st time traveling by myself as an autistic person

Okay, so I'm a 24 y/o late diagnosed autistic woman and I traveled by myself for the 1st time ever.

I had traveled both by plane and by car many times before, but I was always accompanied by my family and never alone, also the last time I traveled was at 17 so it's been A LONG TIME since I've stepped on a airport, made my bags or anything related. It was also my first time planning everything from start to finish rather than just following whatever my parents had planned for the trip.

I went to visit my friend who moved to a different state 6 years ago to celebrate her graduation. We've been friends since we were pre-teens so we're very comfortable around each other, plus she had to become familiar with the city rather quickly since she moved there by herself at such a young age, because of this she knows a lot about the place and it made my time there much easier.

This trip was much more pleasant than I first expected to be. The weeks prior were filled with anxiety, I kept thinking things like "what if I don't like any of the food there?", "what if my friend gets sick of me?", "what if I get lost?", etc. Thankfully my friend knows about my diagnosis and we constantly talk about our struggles, our preferences, our differences and how our brains work, I think us having such a sincere and open friendship was a big factor on making everything work so well.

Even before I started to pack my stuff I already made some research about adaptations that could make my life a bit easier the following days. After I got there, my sweet sweet friend being the champ that she is, also worked very hard in order to make this trip the best I could have while fitting everything to match my needs.

So, if you're autistic and traveling (alone or with someone) for the 1st time like me, here's a few tips that helped me tremendously during my time there:

RESOURCES:

Have an identification card with important information about you in hand in case you get overwhelmed or struggle in any way, so that people around you can help you better. Here in Brazil each state has what we call the "Identification Card for Disabled People", which is a document validated by your local government that you can use for those means or to have easier access to some of your rights, such as priority seats in public transportation (or even cheaper traveling fees), priority in lines and services in general, etc. I have mine attached to my autism lanyard around my neck or in my pocket, depending if I'm alone or with a friend.

In case the place you live doesn't have something similar you can make one yourself to help with communication stuff, mine has the following info: my full name, my ID number (here in Brazil we use ours a lot, it's kinda a "public" info), my blood type, an emergency contact (since I'm pretty verbal myself, don't have a caretaker and don't have any allergies or major health issues - like fainting conditions, etc - I put my own phone number. Plus, I always make sure to have my phone charged at all times and have my family's numbers memorized so in case I need it, I can dial them myself), my CID/ diagnosis, my birth date and address.

For the majority of the trip I only needed to use mine for public transportation stuff but in my flight back home some things happened that made me completely emotionally disregulated. I didn't have my friend around anymore when it happened but was still able to communicate my general needs, however, because I was crying and trying hard to think and talk properly, I was too overwhelmed to spell my last name (the spelling is a bit tricky) for the airport staff when she asked me for a protocol she had to fill, so I showed her my card and it helped a lot with her getting the infos she needed.

Have stim toys, earplugs and communication tools in hand. I didn't really needed to use my earplugs during the trip, but I had a plushie and crochet tools I use for self-regulation and grounding in my bag at all times. I planned on buying a smaller stim toy that could fit in a single hand beforehand but wasn't able to, and since I had left my plushie in my bag under the chair during the flight, I had to wait for the plane to fully take-off in order to grab it safely, which wasn't a fun waiting period since I was already on the verge of a meltdown. So yeah, try to bring more than 1 stim toy and specially ones that have practical sizes.

Since I'm rather able to communicate even when overwhelmed, I don't really use too many communication tools for now. But I know that online you can find tons of communication boards to either print or make your own with basic words and sentences that can be useful, I highly recommend carrying one around if you're slightly prone to have a hard time with verbal communication during stressful times. You can also download similar apps on your phone but I still recommend having a physical copy around just in case.

Maps and basic knowledge of places and/or public transportation. This one helped me SO MUCH. Because my friend still had to go to work some days during the time I was there, she made sure to ALWAYS teach me about important places, the path I could take to get to her home and workplace, how to take the subway, which buses to take if I had to meet her, etc. In the beginning it was a bit too much to memorize, but she took the time to explain it very simply and objectively to me so I could write/ draw all the information I needed in a piece of paper to carry in my pocket or my notes app.

In the last few days I spent there, after I already had a good grasp of how everything worked, I had to tourist by myself while she worked (she also asked her boss if I could stay with her during her working hours in case I didn't felt safe enough exploring the place by myself) so she dropped me in a place near her work with tons of things to do and told me which subway I had to take in order to meet her (and assured me I could call an uber if it felt too much). During that day, Google Maps became my best friend. My friend sent me a list of places nearby I could visit and every time I would leave one place to walk towards the next one, I would open the maps to check which direction I should go (since I have a very poor sense of direction), all of the places were around the same city block so thankfully I didn't have to take many confusing paths or walk too much to get to them.

PLANNING AND SCHEDULING:

Me and my friend made a schedule of everything we wanted to do and during which part of the day weeks in advance. Since she would be working some of the days, we putted her working hours there and researched places nearby that I could hang out in while waiting for her. I stayed there for only 4 full days, so we already knew that we weren't going to have time to do everything we wanted, so, knowing very well that unforeseen events happen, we also made sure to understand that our schedule could change at any moment and wrote down in our chat a list of other stuff we wanted to do in case the opportunity came up, so we could change our plans and do them instead.

Every night and every morning we would check in with each other what our plans for the following day were, check how much time we wanted to spend in each place, where we were going to eat (since I have some food restrictions due to texture, we would also check the menus online before going) and how we would get from one place to the other. It helped me tons on not feeling anxious, to have some knowledge about the place and its sorroundings if anything happened and to organize / better prepare my brain when changing between activities.

Even though I was there to tourist and do something different everyday, a thing that helped us both feel less stressed (my friend is neurotypical, but being both in vacation mode and working mode in the same week while planning stuff a very tiring task too) is to have some sort of routine we could rely on. For example, we would wake up earlier than needed and have a proper breakfast before leaving the house (my friend doesn't usually eats breakfast but this time it helped her prepare for the day), we would always have 3 meals a day and an estimated time to arrive home (the time estimated was pretty flexible, but it helped a lot with feeling less tired after, since she had to work in the morning the following day and the subway/ buses don't work fully during nighttime).

Since I also tend to have low sugar/ low blood pressure, one thing I do even when I'm at my own state is to carry some snack and a bottle of water in my bag if I'm going to spend an extended period of time away from home in case I feel weak or sick. I kept the same habit there for precaution, we had to walk A LOT between places so, even if I struggled with identifying if I was hungry, getting weak or too tired, it helped me not pushing myself too much and to always have an "energy booster" in between meals.

Airports are hell. For neurotypical people but specially for neurodivergent people. Honestly it was the part that made me the most anxious throughout this entire trip. One thing I did was to write down every step I had to take while I was there: first check-in (I did it online both times, so it wasn't really needed), then send-off my lugagge, then check which gate my flight was at, then go through the metal detector, then walk to my designated gate, have my documents and flight code in hand for the staff to see, stand in line when they call my group, go inside the plane, organize my bags; then, on the way back: get off the place, pick up my lugagge, walk to the exit gate where I would meet someone (either my parents of my friend) already waiting for me.

When leaving, my parents took me to the airport and helped me getting into the places I needed and when coming back, I asked my friend to do the same, so I always had someone helping me localize myself in amidst of the chaos until the last minute. Still, on my flight back I almost had a meltdown because my crochet hooks where confiscated and, because of my shock (since I had no problem with them on my 1st flight) and sadness for losing them, I ended up forgetting my watch in the metal detector section and had to comeback after already having left it behind in order to retrieve it. It didn't help that each airport was so different from each other and therefore, I was very confused on where I should go. Having talked to friends prior to embarking on how each airport was like helped me make through this stressful time.

Those are some of the things I realized helped me feel less stressed, not have any meltdowns/ shutdowns and feel more energized so I could enjoy my trip more. Since everyone is different and needs different types of support, you might need different things, but I hope this list has helped in any way to explore some of the options and adaptations you can have around. Also, I cannot stress this enough, but PLEASE research or talk to people about the place you're going in order to know about how safe it is and to take the necessary care. The place I went was generally safer than the place I currently live in (lots of people, less chance of getting mugged, people using their phones outside without much worry) but I was still aware at all times since I could be perceived as "more vulnerable" and could easily ignore some warning signs of my sorroundings.

Last but not least, a shout out to my dear friend Vivi who made sure I would have all of my needs met and blessed me with her lovely presence <3

[rainofaugustsith]

Oy, I see the Internet Archive stuff is in the news again, and how oh noes, this is terrible that anyone's attacking them. 1. The lawsuit isn't about the Wayback Machine. 2. The lawsuit isn't about out of print or public domain materials. 3. The lawsuit IS about the Archive's "library" offering current books without royalties or library licensing paid to the authors/publishers. Internet Archive considers the licensing "unfair." That is the only thing being argued in this lawsuit. Not the "fate of the Internet" or whatever fucking hyperbolic nonsense people are saying. In fact the Internet Archive themselves has said: This case does not challenge many of the services we provide with digitized books including interlibrary loan, citation linking, access for the print-disabled, text and data mining, purchasing ebooks, and ongoing donation and preservation of books,” writes Freeland. Oh, and do you want to know how much these "unfair" fees are? Typically less than $100 per book for the first year of the book's life. Assuming a book is, say, $20 for a physical copy the licensing fee is $60. That amount drops after the first year. Yes, this is what IA thinks is "unfair" to pay authors. Having established that:" 4. Yes, the Big Four initiated the lawsuit but considering the average author in American makes less than $5000/year they would not have been able to do this themselves. 5. "But the bestsellers..." are a fucking tiny fraction of the authors at these publishers. Talk to the midlist and backlist authors who rarely see anything more than an advance, while doing all publicity and marketing for their books, who are by and large working people who again make, yes, less than $5000/year from publishing. 6. But "you can get the book free in the library too..." Yeah because THE LIBRARY PAID FOR IT. They paid a licensing fee to author/publishers. Internet Archive brushed this off when approached about it. 7. "But you can't get the books otherwise." I am going to assume for this exercise that you are in the USA. Most libraries in the USA have ebooks. You just need a library card. Some libraries will allow anyone in the same state to get a card and take out ebooks. So you can get a library card and read the ebooks from the library, that paid properly for them. Also, using your local library helps the library stay open which benefits everyone. It amazes me that the same people who argue about paying working people a living wage don't think authors deserve it, too. "But you should write because you love it" yeah and do you say that to artists? You think they should get paid for the work they produce. Why are writers any different? They're not.

[tieflingkisser]

How Disabled Organizers Are Helping Palestinians in Gaza Stay Connected

Disruptions in cell phone and internet service also prevent Palestinians in Gaza from contacting loved ones or using their phones to request or coordinate rescue efforts. As Egyptian writer and activist Mirna El Helbawi explained on the podcast Marketplace Tech, in the modern world, “The right for communication and internet access now is like the same right for food and water and a proper way of living.”  Appalled by attacks on Palestinian internet infrastructure, El Helbawi founded #ConnectingGaza to get eSims directly to people in Gaza. eSims are digital SIM cards which can be accessed by scanning a QR code. Using eSims, people in Gaza may be able to pick up a roaming signal from Egyptian or Israeli internet networks. For disability justice organizers Jane Shi, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Alice Wong, the distribution of eSims, as a form of mutual aid, presented a rare opportunity to provide material support to Palestinians in Gaza. Together, the three launched an effort called “Crips for eSims for Gaza.” In a collectively authored blog post, the three organizers talked about Gaza as a frontline in the struggle for disability justice and disabled survival, writing: We also recognize that everyone in Gaza is now disabled due to the massive number of deaths, new disabilities, life-threatening illnesses and destruction of medical facilities going on. Such destruction also debilitates the land, water, and air, which will impact Palestinians and all surrounding life for generations to come. We owe our kin in Palestine to throw sand on the gears of genocide with our every breath.  So far, Crips for eSims for Gaza has sent 1,410 eSims to help Palestinians access the internet. 394 of those eSims are presently active. I was recently able to connect with Jane, Leah and Alice about eSims for Gaza and why the Palestinian struggle is a disability justice issue.

donate here:

[myalgicencephalomyelitiscfstom]

I just got my hidden disabilities card and lanyard which I bought from

https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com/

One can select from a range of conditions and also specify 5 types of accessibility needs one has

Cards can be sent from 15 different countries

The 5 accessibility needs I chose were respectively

- I cannot stand for long periods of time: I may need a place to rest, especially if I am in a queue

- I may need a place to sit down and rest

- I am sensitive to light: Is there a time or space where the lights are dimmed?

- I have accessibility needs: Please ask me what they are

- I am sensitive to sound: Is there a quiet time or a quiet space?

COI: I have no financial or other connection with this service

[apocahipster]

hi! not sure about access codes on accessible bathrooms as I haven't seen one in person in aus, but I know that a lot of places have locks on their accessible adult change rooms and other disability services to 'prevent vandalism'. legally they're all unlockable with an MLAK key which you can buy if you're disabled (or get a free one if you have certain permit cards in certain places). it's annoying that there's a paywall, but i've never seen one with access codes here thankfully

ah interesting. thanks for the insight