#crip stuff

[leafmealoooone]

Full disrespect to the person going around the r/wheelchair sub reddit telling someone diagnosed with me/cfs that they shouldn't use that label, they should use long covid instead. Specifically, "I would encourage you to think of yourself having Long COVID instead of ME/CFS."

Absolutely full of hatred for this attitude where people are like, oh, plenty of people with long covid seem to have something identical to me/cfs? Well fuck everyone with me/cfs and fuck that diagnosis, you all can suffer and die, no one cares unless it's long covid, we're going to continue to totally ignore the (insufficient, yes, but not insignificant) existing body of research about this condition and continue to pretend it might be imaginary.

And if your legitimacy in the eyes of medical isntitutions as a person with chronic illness comes at the expense of others, if it's something you only have because you threw your fellow sick people under the bus, you are the problem. I know I should be glad for anyone for any bit of help and treatment they can get but if being taken seriously requires you to perpetuate the marginalization/deliegitimization/invisiblization of people who are dealing with the same and/or similar issues, please know that I may never forgive you.

[girlwithsword]

Medical professionals HATE her!! Her medical history is long and complicated!! Plus she asks follow up questions!!!

[punchyfeeley]

Doubly emphasizing the let the person know when you start pushing and when you let go. I’ve had a fair few instances when someone has let go and not told me and that can create a really dangerous situation.

Also: keep an eye on the ground in front of the wheelchair if you can, try to avoid letting the casters, those front wheels, ram into any breaks in the pavement and whatnot if possible. It can be really jarring and painful. That’s always one of my bigger worries when people are pushing me.

Here's something I've noticed: able-bodied people in general do not actually know what the proper etiquette is for pushing someone in a wheelchair. So, here's what I call Wheelchair 101:

-DO NOT EVER PUSH OR EVEN TOUCH SOMEONES WHEELCHAIR WITHOUT THEIR EXPLICIT CONSENT. If they are unconscious and alone, treat them like any other unconscious and alone person (i.e check for a pulse, etc.)

-If you see someone struggling to get up a ramp in a wheelchair, I know I personally would not want someone to ask if I wanted help getting up a hill. This one is more personal but air on the side of not asking.

-Don't ask them why they're in a wheelchair. If they offer that information, great, but don't ask. It's none of your business.

-If someone asks you to push them, and you want to, then make it very clear when you are starting to push them, and make it very clear when you are stopping and letting go. I.e tell them, sign it to them, etc.

-If you are pushing someone in a wheelchair, don't be reckless and go fast. If they say slow down, slow down. If they say go, go. You are not the navigator or the steering wheel, you're the engine.

-For the love of God don't say shit like "Wow you're so light/heavy/etc." That's extremely fucking rude.

-Don't say something like "pushing wheelchairs is fun" (yes this has happened to me). Disabled people do not exist for you. We are human beings, not a joy ride.

-this should be obvious but don't ask if you can try a disabled persons wheelchair or ride on it. That's rude.

-Don't push someone even if they're going "too slow". Even if they're in the way. Just don't push someone without permission please god

Again, obviously do not ever start pushing someone if they don't ask you to first. Don't assume that they want or need your help.

Other disabled people feel free to add, also these things apply whether you're a stranger or a family member to a person in a wheelchair.

[transexualitree]

Being "regular-person-ill" when you're chronically ill should be illegal >:-(

[4spooniesupport]

[a-sassy-bench]

epilepsy makes people uncomfortable.

i get it. it's weird to grapple with the knowledge that absolutely everything you know and understand about yourself, your entire self-concept, is basically just magic computer code farted out by a blob of meat and if it farts in just the right wrong way, everything goes to shit and there ain't shit you can do about it.

i understand that it's unsettling. i get it. i think about it every day.

we're not doing disability olympics here, okay? but i feel like it's valid to notice how people i've known who were diagnosed with cancer get a cake and people wear wristbands and whatever (which is truly beautiful and i'm not criticizing it) but when you tell them you were just diagnosed with epilepsy they say "oh" and then move on.

you get this massive, life altering news, and everyone goes "oh" and then never brings it up again.

i do not have words to articulate how incredibly isolating that is.

i wish they would ask questions, make jokes, anything other than just moving on and forgetting or pretending it's not a thing or whatever the hell it is they're doing.

i need to know you know what it is. epilepsy is not just what you see on tv. i am not going to fall on the floor in front of you in some dramatic display. i'm going to be a weird, spacey, dysfunctional mess and it will either be super obvious and embarrassing or almost imperceptible because i am trying through sheer force of will to not absolutely lose my fucking shit while my amygdala is literally producing the feeling of pure, unadulterated terror in the middle of the office or at the grocery store.

i need to know you know what it is. i need to know you will cover me in a meeting when i forget what words are. i need to know that you will re-direct conversations with friends over to you when you can tell my brain is doing a reboot.

it'd be so beautiful to know that you see my subtle but telltale sway

and it'd be so beautiful to know that you know it means my brain has made the room tilt under my feet

nothing would be more reassuring to me than knowing you know when to put a steadying hand on my shoulder

that's all i'm asking

i need it

.

[thehallstara]

happy @blaseballzinejam day i spent the past month reading journal articles about crip theory for this zine. there's two pages of apa citations. you should read it.

[thenervebible]

DYKES, DISABILITY & STUFF

'Mercedes' Cover illustration by Ann Mazon, c 1992

[lemony-ink]

Do you think that Jesus' miracles were just telling people they could be trans-abled so they decided to stop being disabled

[leafmealoooone]

Shrine with stairs review

Pros: shrine

Cons: stairs

[girlwithsword]

[identitty-dickruption]

update on my thesis is that my supervisor wants me to do an autoethnography as my final chapter. I’m not 100% sure about that. so if people have thoughts/knowledge/etc about it I am more than open to it

[4spooniesupport]

Check out The Positive Wheelchair Guy on FB

[a-sassy-bench]

when you have a neurological disability it's super great to also have a porch so you have a cozy little spot to hang out every time you forget your fucking keys

.

[a-queer-crip-arts]

A thing I genuinely have to thank the GenAI bullshit for; I talked so much about how any human-made art is more valuable than mashups from the plagiarism engine that it actually kicked me to start finding energy and putting aside my crippling self-doubt to actually start making art again.

This is a place to put all my various artistic attempts across a variety of mediums together. Mostly so I can look at it and see a progression over time from practicing. Because it *will* get better by doing, because that’s how things work; you practice it, you produce bad art, and after enough practice what you produce is less bad.

And no matter how bad I think whatever I produce is, I’ll know it’s better than any GenAI bullshit, no matter how slick, because it’s made by a real person with real things to communicate, even if it’s just the little things of my own life.

[b3tter-0ff-w0rs3]

My favorite quote I have to remind myself of is "just because you can bend that way, doesn't mean you should bend that way" lmao