#communication labor

[pomeraniandancer]

This is something that *SUPER* worries me when it comes to intersectionality issues. I am deaf and an ADHDer, and possibly also autistic (we're waiting to see how my ADHD medication works out before evaluating me for ASD). I am also, and this is relevant, white. On multiple occasions, I have found myself in *very* difficult conversations where I missed a social or linguistic cue, and got myself into very hot water without me having any clear idea of how or what I did to land myself there. Luckily, on the times this has happened, the POC friend/acquaintance who's upset with me knows me well enough that even though they're upset with me for not catching onto what they had been saying, they also recognize that my missing the social cue or (accidentally) crossing a boundary is not a reflection on the entire me as a person.

Nevertheless, when those interactions happen (and they occur about once or twice a year), are quite emotionally traumatic and scarring, and leave me uncertain about just how stable a footing I am on with the person I accidentally clashed with.

I have seen enough rants on social media by people angry at someone they don't know, someone who crossed a serious boundary when asking about feminist theory, intersectionality, racism, etc., and when the OP gets angry with the asker, the asker tells them that they have ASD or some other similar disorder, and that they didn't understand or recognize that they were stepping on a metaphorical land mine with their question.

Inevitably, the angry person accuses the asker of using their diagnosis as an excuse, a "get out of jail free" card for their invasive, rude, or poorly reasoned questions.

Because of those reactions and accusations of using their diagnosis as an excuse, I have never once reminded the persons who have gotten angry with me that I am deaf, that deaf culture has a very different social and communication code from hearing culture, or that I also have ADHD.

On occasion, after we've given each other some space, they will come back and give me some advice about how to more successfully and correctly interpret statements or remarks they or other POC/intersectional/minority people have made. Inevitably, that guidance has demanded more social and communication effort on my end on top of what I already have to do as a deafie and an ADHDer.

At the same time, they, as a marginalized person, are also going out of their way to put more work into communicating and interacting with me as a white person who inevitably doesn't recognize all the privileges I have until they are pointed out to me.

It's as if there's a perpetual gap between me (and other people like me) and other marginalized groups, particularly POC and similarly intersectional groups. And asking either one of us to take the step to bridge that gap is unfailingly going to mean asking one or both of us to put more work and effort into communicating with each other above and beyond the work we are already putting in as a matter of course. Asking either of us to put even more work in would be a wholly unreasonable demand in any other situation where we might be interacting with someone who has the privileges that neither I nor the marginalized person I'm interacting with, have.

So that's the crux of the problem I often find myself wondering about. A white person like myself with invisible disabilities that affect their ability to read and correctly interpret social circumstances, and another marginalized person who does not have those disabilities, who has privileges that I do not, but also has challenges and barriers that I don't have. And therefore there is this seemingly unbridgeable gap in communication structures between us. How can we get two such communities to effectively and productively communicate together? I'm hesitant to suggest putting disabled POC in a mediating position unless they volunteer for it, since they by definition are battling twice the number of barriers that either I or an able-bodied POC is living with. And all of this is setting aside the fact that disabled people are rarely wholly disabled -- most of us are able-bodied in some respects, and disabled in others. This is how and why many disabled people live with internalized ableism towards some other groups of disabled peoples, without having that same sense of ableism towards others. Just because we're disabled doesn't mean that we universally recognize and understand the disabled experience in every circumstance.

So how do we bridge that gap? Surely some people have managed it successfully? Who and where are they? What can we learn from their experiences and observations to build a more comprehensive framework for bridging those gaps in situations where everyone is justified in objecting to adding more communication and emotional labor on their already heavily burdened backs?

As an autistic person, the implications of "if they really cared I wouldn't have to say it" culture are really scary. Because I want to know what hurts your feelings, what crosses your boundaries, where the line between teasing and being mean is at for you, what you need, and how to make you feel loved. And the implication that if my disability makes me unable to figure out these things through intuition alone, then I'm just not worth having around, is genuinely heartbreaking

[borgevino]

the allergy i am seeing grow up around small talk in any form is troubling to me. do you know how to make friends with people in your physical environment? it typically starts with small talk. do you want to live in community? small talk. do you want to have the type of relationship with your neighbors where you can run over and borrow a battery for your smoke detector when it starts beeping at 10pm? small talk!! do you want leeway from your coworkers when you fuck up something small? you gotta be able to build a relationship and that's small talk, baybeee.

"but i don't need friends and i don't care about community!" okay, lone ranger, what about the people in your community who need you? "but i have social anxiety!" me too, bud! we simply must soldier on. making up lists of questions to ask people helps. and people are predisposed to be generous, i've found. even if you make some kind of mistake, what is this but the natural give and take of human interaction? nobody is perfect.

you were not put on this earth to live by yourself and then die. you need people and people need you. treat those around you with curiosity and generousness of spirit and you will gain so much goodwill in return.

[maigetheplatypus57]

Do you think Evbo learned how to do those jumps and thought "oh this is so sick what's the best way I can show off my parkour skills"

[kropotkindersurprise]

October 2, 2024 - Over 1,000 Samsung workers in Chennai, India, have been on strike for four weeks, making it India’s biggest strike in recent years. The protests have disrupted production at the factory, which employs 1800 people and contributed a fifth of Samsung’s $12 billion revenue in India last year.

The striking workers are demanding recognition of their union, CITU, and a wage increase. The average salary for the Samsung workers is currently about $300 a month. [video]

[neuroticboyfriend]

once again thinking about how fucked up it is that special ed used me and other disabled children as unpaid, coerced labor. i worked enough to be making $100 a week. i was "paid" in fake money redeemable only at the school cafeteria, which i worked at, and was forced to do things that distressed me. they gave us $1 a week, if they remembered to give it to us at all.

this was while i would sometimes go the entire day without eating because i didn't have the money to buy food and the free food was not sensory safe. we also worked outside the community - grocery stores, warehouses, shoe stores security tagging items. all under the guise of job skill development, we did $100 of labor a week without ever getting paid. and we were demeaned while we did it. and we were just teens.

so no, i don't want to hear about how special education is good. not with the way me and my peers were treated and taken advantage of. death to institutionalization, in all forms.

[farfallasims]

Labor Day Weekend, Sag Harbor 🛥️

[thepeacefulgarden]

[whereserpentswalk]

There are UBI advocates who say that UBI won't make people work less. And I think if it doesn't make people work less than it isn't enough.

[joeywreck]

“the economist, a journal that speaks for british millionaires”-vladimir lenin

I think it’s safe to say today it’s the american billionaire.

[kitty-pelosi]

Guys you need to understand that the intersection of citizenship, ICE detainment, and the prison industrial complex is not about deportation. It is about slavery and labor. When somebody is arrested by immigration agents they are not immediately put on a plane and sent home. They stay in an interment camp where they must wait for a hearing by an immigration judge. There are not many of these judges and so people WILL be waiting for months if not years in these facilities.

The government is, and has for the past quarter century, been constructing the framework it needs to enslave noncitizen residents in America and force them into the private prison industry where their labor can be sold to companies for base production tasks. The goal here is to provide a fallback for when American global trading hegemony ends (because it will) and we no longer have access to cheap foreign labor markets. We are manufacturing cheap labor markets domestically by arresting immigrants and toying with citizenship status.

What’s happening NOW and TODAY is just a piece in a process that has been ongoing for decades, under both Democrats and Republicans. This is not new, it’s just being marketed to the public differently now that an R is in charge so that the public can feel absolved of guilt.

The immediate goal of the Trump policies now are to overwhelm the immigration judiciary to accrue a stockpile of detained people lacking documentation. Once there are so many (we are here) the government will say “we can’t handle all of this! there aren’t enough judges!” But it will not supply more judges to actually deport these people. This stage is all about normalizing the presence of hundreds of thousands of detained immigrants under your nose.

The next step is allowing these facilities to more easily sell and exploit their labor. I forsee this administration using environmental crises to do so - look at the LA wildfires. They are often fought by incarcerated firefighters. We will see more of this as crises escalate - the government will begin using more carceral labor to deal with the aftermath of hurricanes, landslides, and wildfires. This will normalize carceral slavery in the eyes of the American public.

Once this step is accomplished it will be incredibly simple to further the normalization in moments where there is not an acute crises. Then, we will be having people in these camps making our textiles, picking and packaging our food, slaughtering cattle. After years of this you may even see carceral labor enter the service and entertainment industry. By 2035 you may even be able to call up CoreCivic and lease a cook or a maid! The hard working white woman needs household assistance, after all she is too busy girlbossing to do *those* things. Plus, it’s not her fault her slave decided to be a Criminal.

But it seems like most Americans are not conscious of this framework nor do they care. They engage with this from the perspective that “everyone is welcome here! don’t deport my friends!” hon your friends are not going to be deported, they are being enslaved. Begging you to use your fucking eyes. Your damn Senators are investing in GEO Group and CoreCivic for a reason! Because these companies have a great business plan! Enslaving immigrants already is a billion dollar industry and its potential for growth under post imperial late stage capitalism is mind-numbing!

[pixelglam]

Happy Labor Day from the Brownstones 🇺🇸🌊

[okboomer17]

Alexia: Labor Omnia Vincit [2022]

[thoughtportal]

The second response team. the workers

[thererisesaredstar]

Prosperity brought by the Dragon and Phoenix

Jiang Mi (1959)

[suntails]

LEFTOVER SAAALES ARE OPEN!!!

last call for the Sleeping Silver artbook! I will not be doing any reprints of this, so get it while u can 🫶 there are still a few charms in stock as well, and all freebies will be included with every order until i run out! :D

🔗 suntails.bigcartel.com

[simmir99]

Welcome to The Stardust Restaurant and Lounge! Here we give those reservations only, no walk-ins welcome kind of vibes. We bougie y'all! Finally sharing this build with all of you and I hope you love it as much as I do. I was going for a dark, sexy, luxurious look.

Why does date night have to end with dinner? Well not at The Stardust! After dinner, grab a night cap while listening to some jazz or R&B, then top off the night off by dancing the night away to your favorite DJ and enjoy unobstructed views of the San Myshuno skyline with your boo. Not to mention a few little hideaways for some random woohoo. What is a night out without shenanigans?!

Now taking reservations! ;)

FREE for download on my Patreon and can be found HERE! Please tag me, would love to see your shenanigans