#and like. when all is well i don't really feel disabled per se but the last few days. yeah.

[anonymusbosch]

.

[gynandromorph]

okay for the record i did vote "her parents" because i think parents are like hugely formative and influential relationships you have and remain that way forever especially when they are good parents you feel love and gratitude toward. she literally has been living with them to help w/the household because both of her parents have physically painful disabilities now and her sister has a debilitating mental illness. emily obviously wants to have her own life and start her own family but the family she already has would suffer without her, so she stays. i think she cares about her parents a lot.

that said, if i wanted to play devil's advocate, i could argue for the other two options as well. her parents are obviously getting old, and sometimes you have to just like, start preparing mentally for the fact that they may start losing their minds, your parents start to forget things or get snippier and you're like is this it? is this where the dementia begins? it can be hard not to detach.

as an eldest child you feel an obligation to protect your younger siblings -- in emily's case, it's just the one little sister she has, but it's a very real sense of guilt when they turn out "bad" per se. when they get hurt and it feels like it's your fault. jessie obviously has an inferiority complex compared to her older sister and it becomes Much more obvious once she becomes god and i think those things aren't lost on emily. i can imagine out of any of the 3 options, jessie could evoke the most GUILT, quantitatively and qualitatively. every stupid opinion emily had as a teenager, every fight and hurtful thing she said to her sibling, every time she detached to prioritize her own peer group instead-- it's just decades of things to feel like she could have possibly done something different, and her sister might have not turned out to be the way she is. so i could see this option as viable.

trouble's relationship to emily was the least obvious -- over the course of the story, trouble loses respect for emily as emily tries to treat her more like a person than a dog, because being able to talk puts trouble's sapience on full display. trouble can now say "i don't feel like it" about anything and emily backs down because you can't like, FORCE people to do things just because they're smaller than you. emily has to wonder what the 17 years of trouble's life were like from her perspective, not being able to say anything, not being treated like a person, being told when and what and how much to eat, what to do and how to feel about it, and it's easy for emily to wonder if she did something wrong -- REALLY wrong. trouble is arguably the closest thing she's had to feeling like a parent and i think it would leave some deep impressions on her psychologically to wonder about those things, many memories she has of trouble and what they mean about her as a person or as a hypothetical mother. also, trouble's death wasn't UNDONE; she died, and then became alive again. she remembers dying. she remembers emily taking her to the vet to die! she tells emily (in a sketch comic i never finished) that from her perspective, emily killed her, and she would have chosen to suffer until her body died than to be killed by her caretaker. trouble doesn't really seem to harbor ill will about it, because the one in charge gets to do what they want and make everyone else do what they want. but for emily, that's like an incredibly painful thing to hear from her dog. the side comic is intentionally supposed to hit a very painful hypothetical where your pet thinks you've murdered them after you have them put down in, from your perspective, their best interest. it's a ton of different negative emotions emily can feel all at once! also, trouble calls adam "dad" and evelyn "mom" which is presumably more just assuming those are their names, but i can imagine that also kind of stings. in fact, trouble eventually starts to satellite "mom" instead of emily because evelyn still treats her like a dog and is an authority figure who asserts that in the household.

anyway, sorry for the huge walls of text, this is just a thought experiment more than anything. all in all i think emily is dealt a brutal hand of cards. but she does suffer one of the least tragic fates of anyone in the comic as far as the comic goes.

[the-nexverse]

@thicc-pirate oh boy this is gonna be a hard one

BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: all the knowledge i have about mental disorders is very basic and the most i'll do is read the disorders' wikipedia articles and maybe one or two other articles from trustworthy sources. also please note i'm in no way a psychology expert, so i don't know specific terms or variations, i'll go for a general view on the way they think and view themselves and the world around them, and if there's an illness that matches those conditions, i'll mention it. but again, i am no expert on this, i could very well be wrong about any of it

Agnes: my heart tells me some cluster B personality disorder, but with more of an isolation flavor. substance abuse, bursts of rage, lack of empathy and reckless behavior are there, but also a general internal void/lack of purpose that she fills by finding someone to follow. that could be a dependant trait, but not in the way DPD is described. she also develops depression during arc 3, and deals with depressive symptoms throughout arcs 4-5

Ryan: he has some narcissistic characteristics, but that doesn't really mean he has NPD. he's empathetic, maybe even too much for his own good sometimes, but he's also calculating and manipulative when he wants to, even if his goals aren't for his own gain/selfish reasons. he does have a very black-or-white view on certain topics tho

all of this is about arcs 1-2 Ryan. arcs 3-5 Ryan's issues could fill up an entire book lmao. being locked up, isolated, physically assaulted, tortured and so much more fucks him up in the head so much, but i haven't really developed that part of him too much. PTSD, C-PTSD or both. can it be both? i don't know. i have to look a lot into it, it's too complex

Lisabel: APD straight up from the DSM-5: disregard for others' rights, lack of empathy and remorse, bloated self-image and manipulation, sprinkled with sadism and straight up psychopathy. all of it completely untreated, and she's in no rush to get herself checked. she's perfectly fine!

Eric: ngl he might be the only neurotypical person in the room lmao

Léan: 100% autism spectrum. hyperfixations, sensitivity to loud sounds or bright lights, stimming, some compulsive behaviors, difficulties socialising, etc. Eric wanted to adopt someone who wasn't very likely to get adopted and give them the love they deserve

Rask'r: i doubt there's a lot of research on mental illnesses in TES, but he has dyslexia, and as a lukiul (an argonian that grew up away from the Hist) he has argonian-specific social autism, aka can't read body language and his own body language is undecypherable to other native argonians. add that to wolf-like behavior like tail wagging and you got yourself a complete mess of social cues!

Raz: also dyslexia, some degree of anxiety for sure, abandonment issues, general childhood trauma. another bundle of complicated things

Donovan: not a mental illness per se, but definetely suffers from acedia/apathy

Lee: can you diagnose a non-sapient being with mental illnesses? i think so. PTSD and social anxiety, but he gets rehabbed :]

Vreytus: unidenfitied identity issues and feelings of emptiness/lack of a goal in life (which he fixes by himself. it goes well. for real :) )

Bug: trauma from being experimented on and all the social difficulties of not having been socialised with humans. otherwise they're just weird

Voirdity/voirds: there are no existing words to describe Voirdity's issues

Chad: definetely checks most boxes for NPD, but with time and lots of forced practice he learns to tone it down. not the best therapy method, i know, but probably the best you can get during the post-apocalypse. also self-esteem issues after he became physically disabled

Lewis: social anxiety and autism spectrum. hyperfixation, difficulty with holding eye contact, stimming, autistic self-injury, big meltdowns. to be fair, he's exposed to a lot more of stressing stimuli (Half Life events) so his reactions are a lot more intense and uncontrolled

thanks for the ask!!

[isaacathom]

ds9 time :) s2e6

'i havent seen one of these in 300 years' i- okay hang on. there was a character IN tng who used a wheelchair. the old guy. the one in the absolutely horrifically bad 'old man' prosthetics who took some fucking drug so he'd regain his youth. i remember this episode. he HAD a fucking wheelchair. you HAVE them. theyre IN THE SETTING. what are you talking about Dax. ? i hate scifi when its like 'oh yea we wont need wheelchairs in the future' bullshit man. anyway

'once her basic needs are met she refuses all special assistance' i would not say 'being able to get around' is special assistance but like. ugh. UGH. we're doing this then are we. we're doing this?

the way everyones reacting to meloras stubbornness doesnt sit quite right with me, especially considering that bashir moments prior spoke glowingly of that stubborness. but also why the fuck did you modify the design? without telling her? like dude what the fuck. she sent you a design, you shouldve just made that, and then maybe as the chief medical officer suggested alterations and improvements and so on once it saw on-the-ground action in its intended environment BY its intended user, which is not you. euggggh.

im not sure i like where i feel like this is going to go? i dont know what i think that is but my vibe is poor.

okay so plot a) melora tries to just do her fucking job and b) quark gets murdered. i understand (i do not)

my problem isn't with melora as a character, i think its with a sort of exhaustion with the fact that scifi tends to erase disabilities because ~in the future we can "fix" them~ and then their rare disabled characters tend to be a very specific way. an aspirational disabled person, i suppose. one who doesnt ask for help, who doesnt "let their handicap stop them", you know the vibe. so its not that she's a bad character, per se, but that shes part of a trope thats just sorta annoying. this all comes with the caveat that im not disabled though so ? basically dont listen to anything i say

"its like slipping into a bathtub at the end of a long day" "really... im a shower man myself" bashir buddy what

BASHIR BUDDY WHAT ARE YOU DOING. what the fuck is this. oh i hate this. like to be clear its a significant improvement from bashir being cringe flirty back in s1 with dax (something that seems to have been dropped like a hot rock) but JESUS. BASHIR.

okay yea sure (skips scene) ill just read the transcript man im good. good for bashir making friends i guess.

yknow again melora has a point, who the fuck puts raised rims everywhere like this. its a trip hazard for anybody!

do not make out on your peril do not make out okay wait okay so she realises hes hesitating, goes 'oh dont worry thats my brother' and then they immediately make out, god thats a fucking awkward chain. that said, lol. the shot of them drifting up was fun.

i am not invested in this relationship at all but i guess its nice to see Dax interacting with other people and sharing some of her knowledge. i like her a bit more than s1.

well thats not exactly where i thought her plot was going but of course, mago-scientifically curing her of her disability, a fucking hallmark. god i hate scifi sometimes. like yea whatever it makes sense in the isolated incident that its the sort of thing she WOULD want, because her bullish independence is very important to her, and whatever, but as part of a trend you just. groan.

"you people sell pieces of yourself after you die, don't you? i'll buy one" odo and quark remain exceptional

"you let me fly, i let you walk, we're even" disability politics aside, cute sentiment.

bashir's complete forgetting that she has a family back home, incredible fucking work sir, truly the empath

this episode is not especially well written, is it

wow these plots collide like a sledgehammer

oh thank GOD she doesn't actually commit oto the treatment, thank GOD!!! THANK GOD!!! oh thank god. genuinely a good choice, like im so glad, from the meta perspective, that she decided being able to see her family and all that was more important. does that make sense? i just like that she made the choice, was empowered to make it, and knows whats up. that rules. thats a good ending for her i think.

that said that episode kinda sucks? its fine i guess.

[thedreadvampy]

Hi! I have a question about disabilities. Im not sure if you are the right person to ask so feel free to ignore this if it is rude, but you're an activist and artist and have a lot of opinions so hopefully you know more or can point me in the right direction for further investigation!

Im an architecture student and the cut outs of people i use in renders are pretty shit. Most of them don't even include children! So im starting to make my own, and I want to include disabled people since its pretty important to consider accessability early on in the design process. My question is what kind of disabled people are important to consider, and how can you visually represent them? I already have a person in a wheelchair as a catch all for mobility issues and a person with a seeing eye dog for visually impaired people, but i have the feeling that there are more things to consider and architecture forums do not have answers for this

That seems like a very cool and useful project! I don't really know much about architectural process so I'll just spit some vague thoughts out and invite people to add on.

My first thought, somewhat selfishly, is if it was me I would want to see mobility not only in terms of wheelchair users but maybe also represented by someone with a cane/crutches, just bc my experience as a mobility impaired person who doesn't use a wheelchair is that when wheelchair use is treated as the sole expression of mobility issues it can be either unhelpful or actively make places less accessible for me (eg often the only toilet accessible without stairs is designed for wheelchair users and bc of joint issues and the height of stuff like the toilet and sink that can be much harder for me to use) so it's worth bearing that in mind by mixing in several different visible manifestations of mobility issues.

Other than that I'm not sure. I think height is probably a factor (children, wheelchair users, people with dwarfism) and it might be good to have adults with dwarfism in the mix of figures? I would also maybe consider limb loss - specifically I'm thinking of amputation or low function in the arms and hands (since leg amputation/low function is probably covered by the combination of wheelchair and cane) - you could visually represent this via a one-armed figure? That's likely to inform stuff like how you place doors and handles and buttons so might be good to include.

I guess there are also potential questions around like auditory issues (although I imagine stuff around acoustics and sound design don't come up super early in the visualisation process?) and less physically visible access issues, but those probably aren't super relevant to the render figures question because from a distance they're pretty much invisible.

It isn't disability per se, but it is an access concern (albeit one that's a bit better covered than the above) but I also think it's good to consider parents, specifically

Pregnant people

Parents carrying small children

Parents with babies in buggies

Small children old enough to wander off

and maybe include some of those figures as well (which I think you mentioned, but I think it's often a very important access barrier that gets overlooked in design)

(I don't think this is super helpful, I'm afraid - it's a bit arbitrary. I'll look and see if there's anyone I could point you towards - followers feel free to chip in too?)

[gomitatsu]

life as a neurodivergent adult, yay

My mental health has been bad for god knows how long. I've been to therapy and it helps, but it's not until recently that I found out that I have been treating only a small part of my issues.

I recently have been going through the process of getting an ADHD diagnosis, but it has been pretty solidly confirmed that I do have ADHD. It is in my family(my dad defiantly has it too), but I wasn't diagnosed as a younger kid for it and only have been being treated for depression and anxiety. Why? Well, let's discuss.

There's this thing where those who are assigned female at birth are diagnosed with things like ADHD or autism at a far less rate compared to those assigned male at birth, which means many people go through youth and most of their adult life(if not all) dealing with disabilities without knowing it. Or even knowing it but not being able to get the proper support or help as assistance and tools for adult assessments are very hard to find and even harder to afford as many of these people don't accept insurance. And with not having that help early on in life, you begin to mask to try to fit in and get through daily life. And so I only recently realized in the last two years that maybe there was more to why it was so hard to keep a job or do any schooling or keep healthy social relationships than just depression and anxiety. And it's only in the last couple of months that I finally found a person who could get me a proper diagnosis.

So now what did I notice that made me realize that I had ADHD, well I'll tell you. If you relate to any of these please talk to a therapist or mental health professional. Be careful with self-diagnosing;

Never able to focus on one thing at a time, UNLESS its something I really REALLY like (hyper fixation)

really bad sleep schedule, which means I don't ever sleep unless I'm absolutely exhausted and I can't ever seem to fix said sleep schedule (I'm writing this at 2:18 AM which is still pretty early for me)

Caffeine makes me more sleepy and doesn't get me 'hyper', like to have a latte before bed

Need to have headphones with me ALWAYs, ger freaked out when I don't have control over my hearing (Sensory issues, I get overwhelmed by sounds a lot)

Forgetful, I will forget anything from an item to a word to the time of a hangout (which really screwed me over history tests)

My brain never turns off, I constantly have thoughts going through my head. I compare it to having a flood gate with no door for a brain, so my thoughts just keep flooding my mind even if the thoughts are that I have no thoughts

I do a lot of physical stims, like tapping my fingers together or shaking my hands (I once did the chicken dance and didn't really notice till someone pointed it out, was so embarrassed afterward)

keeping social relationships is hard, feels like I need to go by a script when I interact with people I'm not comfortable with (I call it wearing a person suit when I'm talking with customers or coworkers)

Can never relax, not being hyper per se just not being able to sit still

lack of motivation to do anything, like cooking food or cleaning my apartment. It also makes doing things I enjoy like drawing or reading hard to do too

Now, some of those can also point to being Autistic, which is something my therapist thinks I could be too. But I'm only sure of the ADHD part so I'm mainly referring to this in terms of an ADHD mind. But they do overlap in some places and it won't hurt to talk to a professional if you feel you could be on the spectrum as well.

I recently quit my job, and have been struggling to find something new that would work with how my brain works. But it's been really hard and I had a breakdown today in terms of money worries. Only getting the help and tools now is hard and exhausting, and I hope that people are diagnosing those assigned females at birth more often, as I have heard from enough people who like me were diagnosed later in life or never at all about how tough it makes your life. It makes it feel like there is no stable ground to stand on. Life is just constant tight rope performance, with no end in sight. Or even a place to rest.

I'm hoping that through talking with the resources I have in my life, and being more honest with them about what my needs are and what I'm going through, I'll be able to get the tools I need to keep going much more comfortably.

I wish all of those going through similar things good luck, you got this. And if you need someone to talk to about it, here's one person on the internet who understands.

[brightlotusmoon]

On ableist slurs derived from the disabled being dehumanized and thrown under the bus.

***

"Hey, friends, can we chat for a quick sec? I want to talk about the word ‘idiot.’ Well, sort of. What I actually want to talk about isn’t really the word itself. (This will make sense eventually, I promise.)

Ten years ago, the Special Olympics sponsored a campaign called Spread the Word to End the Word. "Using the r-word is hurtful and demeaning," they explained. "Take a stand to help create more acceptance for our athletes and all people with intellectual disabilities."

Folks were asked to sign on to a pledge "to support the elimination of the r-word and promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities."

It was and remains a worthwhile effort, and has undoubtedly been effective in many ways. While the r-word is still around, from what I’ve seen its use as an insult is down pretty dramatically. At the very least, it's come to be recognized as hurtful and stigmatizing.

But ‘idiot’? If anything, I'm hearing it more these days: in casual conversation, hurled at the guy who cut into our lane in rush hour traffic, spit out as an invective to describe politicians espousing inane or vulgar ideas, as a tool of self-deprecation, for comic effect or otherwise.

But there's a pretty solid argument to be made that idiot, and all of the other synonyms for "a person of low intelligence" are no less stigmatizing, harmful, or dehumanizing to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities than the r-word. Given just how many of those synonyms there are (moron is another societal favorite lately), it feels pretty overwhelming to start a pledge replacing one word, and then another for the next, and then another for the one after that. Sooooo, instead of focusing on the words, I’d like to ask that we think about what it is that we're really using them to say.

I want us to dig deep, to ask ourselves why we think these words are insulting in the first place. What exactly are we conveying about the people we're hurling them at, about the ones we're likening them to when we do, and, perhaps most tellingly, about ourselves? (Hint: none of it is good.)

Let's talk about the guy who cuts us off in traffic, as I think he serves as a pretty good case study ...

First of all, do we really think that he made an unintelligent decision per se, or are we pissed because what he did was inconsiderate? Not only is the answer almost surely the latter, making it far more appropriate to call him an asshole than an idiot if we're going to call him anything at all (which is another post all together), but we've now conflated a lack of (a particular kind of) intelligence with being a shitty person. And just .. well, no.

And the second set of parenthesis up there? The ones that point out that there's not just one version or type of intelligence? They matter. Because what also happens when we jump to calling the guy an idiot is that we summarily dismiss the possibility that, while perhaps challenged in a particular way, he might just be a friggin genius in another. Or not. He might simply have some compensatory skills or other areas that are a little stronger than others. We don't know because we know nothing about him other than the fact that he cut into our lane.

The point is that co-opting and perverting intellectual disability into a one-dimensional insult, no matter which specific word we choose when we do, effectively erases so many facets of three-dimensional human beings who are already living with a host of challenges. And that's really, really unhelpful to a population that has to fight for dignity along with their morning coffee every damned day.

Some folks need a little more processing time than others. Some have trouble with working memory or accessing information from the file cabinets in their brains. Some need pretty significant help with every-day living. Why on earth does any of that make their existence the catch-all for comparison to the guy who cuts us off in traffic? It doesn't, or at least it shouldn’t. Because one has nothing to do with the other until we start throwing words around that link them.

It's time to stop doing that. And not just by censoring the words, but by reaching a point where we can no longer imagine using them, because we’ve thought through what they really meant."

[helloiamausacresfan]

It's not a classroom designed to be accommodating per se, but funnily enough months ago I went around asking people on Reddit what how a non-ableist, non-racist, non-classist, non-sexist, non-queerphobic, etc. school (system) would look and I got this:

"-Every student should have mandatory and cost-free to families screenings done through the schools/school districts early and often for at least invisible disabilities, including all the neurodivergencies and learning/intellectual disabilities as well as chronic pain, ME/CFS, asthma, and mental illnesses in addition to the sight and hearing tests that have been done through school districts. Hopefully this would result in far less people struggling because their disabilities went undiagnosed and thus un-accommodated for.

-ABOLISH SCHOOLS GETTING MORE FUNDING FOR MORE ATTENDANCE. Schools shouldn't be reliant on kids coming in when they don't feel well, especially not on kids coming in when (probably) contagious with anything, to be fully-funded!

-The specifically-scheduled dispatch of all required vaccines at school at no cost to the students or families. If possible I'd really like to see all vaccines given in like 2-3 rounds a year with a week's break off school for everyone completely free of ANY homework or long-term project work/"thinking" requirements after each round of vaccines, with of course free-to-families childcare centers set up for all the kids whose parents have to keep reporting to in-person work. That way, students don't have to worry at all about messing up their attendance, grades, and/or social stuff if they get strong side effects from vaccination(s) like I spent every one of my school years worrying about until 2020, when I decided to get my first-ever flu shot to help not overstress the hospitals during peak COVID.

-Complete abolishment of dress codes beyond what is explicitly and evidently required for safety. Schools don't need to be wasting their time policing how students express themselves. If uniforms are deemed necessary, they are to be completely gender-neutral in what gets offered and/or directed to be worn, ADA-compliant, public safety-compliant, and fully covered by the school (district) so uniforms don't become either something that automatically exposes a student's socioeconomic class or an excuse for schools to police students for bullshit and bigoted reasons.

-Abolishment of having to "dress out" in a specific uniform for PE, especially abolishment of having to "dress out" for PE without access to private changing stalls. PE is meant to instill a respect for and valuing of regular physical activity, which unfortunately isn't helped by students being exposed to (possible) ableism, other body-related stresses, racism, classism, sexism, LGBTQ+phobia, and overall creepiness by being required to quickly change into a specific PE uniform that costs money in a room full of kids who all have view of each other changing being supervised by an adult who may be a creep who's leering at said kids in order to get full credit for PE. Honestly, PE as a class should really be much more like the traditional "recess" of elementary school that also spends a minority of its time educating kids on living overall healthy lifestyles, including maintaining mental health, in ways that don't stress the kids out or add significantly time-consuming amounts of schoolwork onto their plates, than what it is now. PE as it is now mostly just turns kids off exercising for life without serious nutritional or mental health guidance, and we still wonder why the rate of being unhealthily overweight/obese is skyrocketing so much.

From /u/NerdyKirdahy:

-Shifting funding from local property taxes to the state and federal level would help with a lot of the classism and racism.

-State and federal protections for LGBTQ+ kids, along with legal and professional consequences for educators who violate those laws, and for administrators that fail to create safe school cultures would help.

From /u/individual-person:

-The ability to have lunch hour in a quiet area that isn’t overstimulating (people usually had to specifically ask for this as an accommodation at my school, or get lucky enough to have a teacher allow them to stay in their room during lunch).

-Automatic ADA compliance. My high school (which took up an entire city block) had one elevator and only after a student who used a walker started attending did they have emergency wheelchairs placed at the bottom of all the stairs (which was ~3 years ago). Teachers also didn’t do training to handle physically disabled individuals in emergency situations until this student either.

-Obviously, LGBT+ inclusive sex ed. Banning abstinence-only sex ed.

-Requiring diversity-based classes or similar content matter be taught (or co-taught or with guest speakers) by individuals of that specific group.

-Let people pee, ffs. Not everyone can go during passing period. I spent my entire high school career going 8 hours without peeing, constantly worrying about whether or not I was going to develop an issue with my kidneys again.

-Not having developmentally disabled or those with behavior disorders be completely isolated from their peers. Sometimes it’s necessary for them to have specialized classes, but things like lunch hour, recess, art, etc. shouldn’t be separated.

-Abolishing honor’s classes. They’re classist. The vast majority of these students have rich parents, so these students get stuck in a social “bubble.” I believe there’s been studies that show that honor’s classes have very little benefit to the honor’s students, but having honor’s students in on-level classes encourage lower-achieving students to do better (instead of teachers doing the bare minimum, since the students don’t want to be there).

-It’s better to have individualized plans of study for all students.

-Menstruation stations, even if they’re something you have to pay for (like the things you see in public bathrooms). Anything is better than having to ask a random teacher or nurse for pads/tampons (and doing so means time out of class).

From /u/jd-577:

-The only thing that immediately comes to mind is a better sex education that can encompass all LGBTQ+ concepts and help said folks, too.

From /u/wannabealot:

-Smaller classes, individualized learning plans based on student needs, integrated tutoring/1-on-1 time is part of the system, not only in "special ed"/for students with diagnoses. Whoever needs help gets it. Not assuming age correlates to learning all the time. Not assuming all the kids speak English.

-World religions discussed respectfully, without endorsing or demeaning them. Not assuming everyone is Christian/making people sing Christmas carols - but also allowing celebrations of the variety of religions present.

-Physically accessible schools (elevators, fully wheelchair accessible washrooms - not just a larger stall). Assistive technology available and discussed openly (not secret/only in special ed classroom). Sign language as a second language taught.

-Food for meals freely available, not just a "breakfast program" for specific individuals who register because their family is on welfare. Not separating them out or keeping it secret in another room. Food is just available.

-Emotional regulation is prioritized over punishment. Students who struggle to behave well are given attention and evidence-based therapy (as opposed to whatever school counsellors are).

-Actual instruction on time management and organization, skills to progress through school.

-Being taught how to study, not just told to study.

From /u/cassiejanemarsh:

-Actually being taught about the things that would matter to me growing up instead of it being literally illegal (Section 28).

From /u/FluffMepHit:

-There needs to be places where the victims of bullying can escape from their persecutors. It seems to be standard that all teachers believe bullying is impossible to prevent, so the most humane thing to do is to not force victims to stay in the same room as their persecutors. Victims need to be allowed to walk out of classrooms where they're being bullied without being punished for doing so by the teachers who have failed to prevent the bullying from occurring."

"From /u/DauphinePeace:

-A more varied reading list than is typical (I hear it's mostly white men we read...)

-Teaching real history! that's a can of worms!

-Teaching life skills is important- because not everyone will be taught those from their parents- so- cooking/ healthy eating, financial planning/ budgeting / investing maybe?, stuff about being healthy- how a little bit of exercise is important for mental and physical health, how to communicate in a healthy way, coping skills for difficult things...

-Focusing on a kids strengths whatever those may be is important because one kid may be a math wiz and another may be an amazing artist & if you nurture each of them in their strengths they can grow up to have a job/ support themselves doing something they're good at & hopefully like.. A certain amount of proficiency in math & science & logic I think is essential/ pretty important but... you really only have to be able to do one thing well to make a living (& know some basic math for financial security)

-Show examples of women, POC etc. doing neat stuff - there is that saying "if you can see it you can be it" ...

From /u/Fitchersfugl:

-Students should be able to choose subjects that interest them. Obligatory subjects should be limited to the necessary basics. (Like DauphinePeace writes.) Todays curriculum is based on upper middle class values from past centuries - it needs to be updated.

-There should be more freedom in the way a student can shape an assignment. There should be options to the standard written assignment (for example video, illustrations, bullet points, "mind maps", comics etc.).

-Limit the number of subjects a student has at any given time. A lot of students struggle with juggling too many different subjects at once. Subjects do not have to be spread out through the whole year. Two classes per week is not necessarily an effective way to learn (foreign language for example). An option is more "intense" courses for shorter amounts of time which you then "finish" before moving on to the next. This would also limit the problem of having 30 different assignments due in the same week.

From /u/time-2-sleep:

-I like the idea, but I think this thread might be thinking too small - racism, ableism, and classism are practically baked into the schooling system. The way we conceive of schooling is colonist. Any attempts to change the system to be inherently more equitable would need the entire system to be upturned on its head- maybe even transformed into something we don't conceive of as school.

From /u/The PsychometricFx:

-(I’m pretty sure this has been made illegal since 2003, when it happened to me) DONT TAKE RECESS AS DISCIPLINE. I lost recess so many times because I couldn’t sit still and be quiet in class. This was in the 1st grade, which is already a problem because what 6-year-old is quiet and still when done with their work. I finished my work quickly and talked to/helped neighbors and got in so much trouble for it. I wasn’t allowed to read or anything “for fear of getting too far ahead of everyone else” so what was I supposed to do??

Find better ways of rewarding high-achievers. Gifted kid burnout. Enough said."

"From /u/fecalfettucine:

-How about focus on "education", what the curriculum actually looks like? The fact that many schools in America haven't been able to afford basic supplies like paper over the last couple decades, and have been forced to rely on students to supplement their resources?"

Imagine if classes were set up by autistic/ADHD people. Lectures would be recorded so that not only could people rewatch them, but they could pause it in case something distracts them or their brain starts trailing off. They could rewind if they missed stuff, speed it up or slow it down, etc. There would even be subtitles/a transcript.

Everyone would be given a copy of the slides, whether on an ipad, or printed out. Study guides that pointed out the types of information that are necessary (ex. Dates aren't on the test, only the name of the person and what they discovered, you don't need to memorize the actual order just the items, etc.)

Even though the lectures are videos, there would still be a classroom where everyone has headphones, optional fidget toys, different types of chairs, and teacher/teachers that help answer questions via a chat box feature that the student and teacher use (the teacher is at her desk on the laptop)

Due dates, the teacher's name, today's date, and a to-do list are all up on the board, and instead of a punishment for not getting homework done, the student is given a time to come to that class to do the homework they missed so they can have that environment and support.

The classroom itself would have soft light, especially sunlight from windows, and the school itself would have a counselor that can help people when they have panic attacks or other conditions.

The tests/homework are set up to be more visual, and open-ended. Rather than having things like true/false or multiple choice, the students have spaces to explain their thought process, and the tests have feedback.

Add more ideas if you want, also im just one person so what sounds good for me maybe not for everyone