Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".
Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"
And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".
Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.
At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.
So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!
Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!
Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!
Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.
Third to last episode of Freshman Year: it’s all coming together. The enemy is revealed, but so much time has been lost that chances of victory are slim. The heroes must rush to save their families, terrified they may arrive too late, and regroup with little rest to face their final battle.
Third to last episode of Sophomore Year: Kristen is dead (again). The party must split up and face their worst fears in shockingly emotional scenes, eventually to reunite with each other and prepare for the fatal fight ahead, searching for any way to save their fallen friend.
Third to last episode of Junior Year: “blimey.” *explodes*
My attack for @brightonstudios !! I wanted to make a little animation for you too! And remembering this audio I immediately made myself depressed at the thought of normal ROTTMNT universe, where Rocko is all alone :(((
SO! I thought I might try and make you depressed about that realization as well!!
I’m ngl y’all I feel so bad for Cassandra. Imagine having your image entirely remade and reborn and being so eager to help and the cleric who literally reshaped you wants absolutely nothing to do with you. I’d be sick
Known as Sinnoh’s Ice Queen, Dawn is best known for her intimidating yet caring nature. She’s fierce and calculating, never leaving any room for error especially when it comes to battling.
On her off days you can find her in the contest hall, a hobby she picked up from her mother, or in the Battle Frontier/Pokémon Lab to catch up with her best friends.
It is said she was recently engaged to a certain johto boy (Ethan. It’s Ethan.) however they will not publicly revealed their plans for the wedding as of yet
Made a timeskip adult champion Dawn design a while back! It’s still my favorite of my timeskip series hehehe I hope you enjoy!
not to be a freak but I think when Trump loses he will either kill himself or Putin will let loose the real assasins. it's just the smart move like he knows too much and he's losing all the power he used to have lol. like if I were putin I'd be worried about what kind of information a desperate man like Trump is willing to surrender once he's caught 👀
I'm so tired of logging on seeing queer discourse (among other kinds).
They are banning books, self expression, and HRT outside. You realize this? Our government is building cop cities, increasing police budgets, and bloating the military budget. They dropped affirmative action, disability lawyers don't want to bring forward lawsuits because they don't want to provide the supreme court an opportunity to gut the ADA because even they know it's hostile towards disability rights, NYPD interrupted BLM over their permit to celebrate Juneteenth.
I do not know how to make it more clear that literally none of us have room to fuck around and those of us are that are seriously wanting to make some change are watching y'all like teachers in a room full of kids that haven't got the hint to be quiet.
And before y'all say "we can care about 2 things"
Good for you, but as a community if one thing has been made very clear it's that as a collective we can not split our focus. When we do shit like this happens:
And that's just the attacks on queer rights! And that's just this year so far.
That averages to over 100 bills per state targeting the queer community and our rights.
•••
Can we please focus on our collective oppression and solidarity instead. We all have shit to work on okay? Nobody is a perfect ally, even people in your community and yeah that's messed up! But maybe we can set that aside for the sake of our literal rights and lives. At least for a bit.
like is it just me or does it seem tone deaf as fuck to be calling members of your community ignorant bigots for having internalized xyz (that they weren't even fully aware of) when there are powerful, financially backed think tanks and white supremacist orgs currently spending every dime they have on elections and to spread as many hateful policies as they can? Esp when those policies are having devastating real life effects on real people and costing lives?
Like idk.
Yeah the lesbian cashier who assumed my gender is an asshole, but I think it'd be a better use of my time to address the crowd outside that's discussing whether or not to blow up the Queer Store I'm standing in. I will have my whole life to check queer assholes and educate and accuse other people of not being good enough allies to me specifically, but that's only if I do everything I can to save both our lives first.
For the record, because I know someone is reading this in bad faith: I'm not saying the transphobic lesbian should be let off the hook or ignored. I'm saying that her education is secondary to the much more urgent need to work together and save our lives.
Likewise I'm so fucking tired of seeing of the transphobic lesbian whine and complain about how her space is being invaded by evil trans customers when there is literally a crowd outside that wants to kill them both.
this might be a minority opinion but i actually love that mellori betrayed the wizard. go on girl be your own fully realized person and advance the plot in interesting ways