#disabiity

[librarycards]

If one subscribes to an ideology that views people with cognitive, psychiatric, and other diagnoses as mostly incompetent, ‘child-like’ and unable to care for themselves or make meaningful decisions about their lives, then an idea such as independent living or living in a non-institutional setting is quite radical, which is why it was, and still is, so ferociously resisted. It may be useful to understand what one means by a ‘dependent population’ that cannot live 'independently,’ which is what many proponents of institutional and group home living say of people with significant disabilities. Two dimensions could be affiliated with the term dependency: first, dependency on the state for financial support, health care, and other provisions; second, perceived inability of people to engage in their own self care without assistance of others (Oliver 1990). Some disabled people seem to fit both definitions.

In everyday usage, dependence implies an inability to care for oneself and thus having to rely on other people’s assistance. Conversely, independence implies not relying on anybody and requiring no assistance, a concept tied to an individualistic ethos (Oliver 1990). Disabled people often embody a different definition of independence, as exemplified in the principles of the Independent Living Movement. Under this framework, independence is perceived as the ability to control one’s life, such as hiring one’s own aides, and deciding on daily routines. It is not understood to mean doing things without any help from others. When analyzing daily living in modern societies, it is hard to find situations in which any people are independent from one another. Thus, projecting dependence as a characteristic only of 'fragile’ members of our societies (i.e., elderly, disabled, and children) may seem natural, but it relies on a specific North American framework of rugged individualism (Ben-Moshe, Nocella, and Withers 2013).

If anything, in many cases it is societal attitudes that create dependence amongst elderly and disabled people. Inaccessibility of the built environment, patronizing attitudes, historical exclusion from schooling and the increasingly fast pace of life in modern societies are all contributing factors to the social construction of disability (Wendell 1996) and dependence (Oliver 1990). Dependence is not inevitable or inherent within these populations. Dependence was prescribed to people with disabilities, and the elderly, so it seems detached from 'normal people’s’ existence (Finkelstein 1993). An additional problem of the creation of forced dependence and infantilization is that it is often 'masked by loving care’ (Hockey and James 1993) of family members or professionals.

Liat Ben-Moshe, “Alternatives to (Disability) Incarceration”, Disability Incarcerated: Imprisonment and Disability in the United States and Canada.

[oediex]

Today I received a text from a friend. He asked me how I was doing. He mentioned he had heard from a mutual friend that I was "still suffering from back problems." A phrase I have heard many times.

It has been over three years since my back pain started. Over two years since I had surgery on it, which saved me from paralysis, but not the pain. (I was not promised freedom from pain. I knew this going in.) This is chronic. I have a disability. And every comment or message I receive from friends and family confirms to me that they do not understand this. That they do not listen. They don't hear it when I say this will be a lifelong issue. That this is forever.

I'm assuming this is partly because my story is a stark reminder that our bodies are vulnerable. Fragile. It must be fear, right? The knowledge that if this could happen to me overnight, so it can to them. Better to imagine that I can get better. But what is lost in all that anxiety is my suffering.

You would think quite the opposite is the case, perhaps. With his text, is my friend not acknowledging my pain? But the problem is with the word 'still'. It betrays that he lives in a world where my back is not a problem to me. It supposes that my back problems ought to be resolved. Resolvable. But they are not. They are here to stay. There should be no 'still' in that sentence.

And perhaps you wonder what would be the right thing to say. I honestly do not know. Recognition, perhaps, that when we plan something together, my back is something to be taken into account. Allowing me to express my pain and frustration when I am with them, maybe, without their discomfort urging them to make these comments. Acceptance, that my body is no longer healthy. Not asking a question that you should already know the answer to.

Because the truth is that I myself am still grappling with it. I am still mourning the loss of my body as it was. I still grieve and yell and cry. For a life seemingly lost. And all the while I can literally feel my back deteriorating further, limiting me further, eating away at my freedom. So I hope you understand that there is no room in my life for the word 'still'. For a question with an answer already provided in the past.

If anyone in your life tells you that their condition is chronic, if you know anyone who is disabled, please listen, understand, accept. Because they have to do it themselves as well, and they are suffering while doing so.

[skjam]

Movie Review: Scream of Fear (1961)

Movie Review: Scream of Fear (1961) directed by Seth Holt (British title: “Taste of Fear”) Ten years ago, the Applebys divorced, and Mrs. Appleby got custody of their daughter Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg). They moved to Italy. Eight years ago, Penny had a riding accident and lost the use of her legs. Three years ago, her mother died, and she was left alone with only her long-time companion.…

[joelletwo]

[ID from alt: natsuyuu matonato fanart of them post canon in a kitchen, with matoba saying a tumblr post. 1: matoba, using a cutting board with a careless and irritating-on-purpose smile, says "babygirl i am going to chop these vegetables so roughly." natori, who is literally just walking by, looks over in pause. 2: natori is now crowded behind him staring at the board in concern with one hand hovering over matoba's shoulder, labeled "thinking about stopping him." matoba looks at him still with a mildly instigative smile, labeled "knows natori is remembering past kitchen incidents," and says "does the diversity of shapes on display in these pieces of onion make you want me"]

in the literal two years it took me to draw this joke it never stopped being funny to me. because i have matobas sense of humor. and depth perception /_^

what else to say. i just literally love and never get tired of thinking about their day to day living together lol bc they would get so comfy familiar sweet and domestic but Never stop being annoying

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

"Personally I have a slightly different relationship with disability pride, because for me, even if the outside world became this accessible, accepting utopia, there would still be days where I just feel too ill to get out of bed, and that sucks and I'm mad about it. But I'm not ashamed, and I'm at a point where i won't make other people make me feel ashamed either. And I am proud of myself. Even if I woke up tomorrow miraculously cured, disability has informed who I am. It will always be a part of me and I am proud of that."

Claude from the Youtube Channel @retroclaude (YouTube Video Link)

[genderqueerdykes]

thank you, i really appreciate that, i'm sorry that you understand what it's like. i hope you are able to get treated for what's happening to you after you get the results from your scope. it's horrible, i've been getting nauseous every time i eat for months and somehow that's not a high priority... wtf. if you feel like they are dragging their feet after you get your scope done, don't be afraid to make sure they schedule you some type of follow up. you deserve to know what the hell is going on. best of luck to you

apologies for being quiet for a bit, i've been dealing with random nausea at weird hours and it's been a pain because it's been taking me hours to recover from it... i had an endoscopy done in january of this year and they told me about several problems, the important ones being a hiatal hernia and undigested food in my stomach after 12 hours of fasting... an then nothing ever came of that. guess i have to remind them that neither of those things were good and i can't eat food without feeling like i'm going to get sick

[puppydolled]

trying to not have a seething raging blind meltdown right now because learning other disabled people write off autism as not a disability and especially downplaying autism wrt intellectual disability

[leprosycock]

(different anon) watching old maxian clips makes me actually insane they were so sick if ian DIDN'T actually molest max at some point i would be surprised

i mean ian did also molest max. that was a pretty significant thing that happened. like i understand where you’re coming from here but ian very much did molest max

[nanowired-lover]

Okay, I probably don't know how to search for shit but ??? I'm trying to find a fanfic i was sure would exist but apparently not and I'm cranky

As far as I know, the hc about Jigen being gay is fairly popular right ? And nobody wrote a fluffy or hurt/comfort fanfic about teen Jigen coming out at one point to Lupin ?

I saw fanarts of it, and GAAAAAH MY HEART but fanfics ?? I'm probably blind, or too picky, but I'm gonna end up writing my own thing because Lupin Zero's interpretation of the 2 gives me life, and I want to see more young queers getting the support they deserve, even if it's fictional ones.

[poetryorchard]

Sprites of the Orchard! We are postponing our Disability Pride Month Open Mic until 29 July - there's still time to sign up!

Attendee: https://eventbrite.com/e/667691241477 Performer: https://forms.gle/WKpKiELPtfpAhKo49

[glutenfreedragonpotion]

I hope whoever is stalking my accounts knows I'm pissed as a left chickens wing right now

I loved you but I can't cause you gossiped about my health conditions there fore I can't apologise. Why relaliate? Why get encouraged? Why take the most popular opinion? Is that.opinon truly yours ? I loved ya cause you were you and I liked taht you weren't perfect and I was happy to take differcult conversations with ya to solve things properly. How silly of me to believe you'd do the same. At last time to move on since the joy won't end with you. There will be someone somewhere that wants me for all of me, the good the bad and the ugly. For the personality disorders and all. The excuses and the responsibility and all

[roadzoflife]

caring for disabled son 24 - 7 | deep honest interview with strangers on...

[goddessgardener]

Business & Disabilities, Stress-Free Holiday, Electric Cars, Natural Decor

Business & Disabilities, Stress-Free Holiday, Electric Cars, Natural Decor

Will you be traveling during the holidays? Do you know how to keep you and your family safe on your adventures as well we making sure your home is secure? Tips on how to protect yourself during an hectic season.  You may call him, Father Christmas, St. Nick or the chubby guy with a white beard in a red suit with a loud “ho. ho. ho.” How did the original Santa Claus evolve. Have you gotten your…

[kanohivolitakk]

God @crystaltoa's post made me think about how Bionicles portrayal of disabilities is so...incredibly messy in a weird way? Like how often disability is correlated with some kind of alteration like mutations or a curse than anything "natural". Not only that, those at the end tend to be if not completely villanous at least somewhat shady. So there is a sort of weird undercurrent of disabiity as karmic punishment which doesn't really sit well with me because it paints it as someting abnormal to be shunned on than a normal thing. But then when disability happens to be natural it's portrayed as a positive thing. Like the Toa being neurodivergent is a sign for them becoming Toa, and being Toa is a good thing because they're the heroes both in-universe and in-narrative. So that just adds weird wrinkle to things.

But yeah I guess what I try to say is that, I wish Bionicle had more disabilities that were just...there. Like not a result of some karmic punishment or sign of a great hero but were just, something the person was "born" with and had to live with. Like god, let us have more characters that are disabled without it being some huge deal and just, something they happen to be. Yes this aplies both heroes and villains since while I understand there bein a lot of bad correlations with making villains disabled I'm cool with it as long as it is treated as a normal thing rather than as a mean to other them and paint them as evil. Like, make the villain just happening to be disabled than having disability be a sign of their villany if that makes sense.

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

i feel like before you complain about how "former gifted kids are always acting like they're oppressed because everyone doesn't treat them like they're special anymore," i think you should probably try to understand the common timeline that a kid getting funneled into the gifted program follows.

usually, a child starts getting funneled into gifted tracks around preschool-to-kindergarten. typically, what will happen is a kid will show socially unusual interest in and affinity for a basic life skill that also happens to be taught in school--usually either verbality, reading/writing, understanding and manipulating shapes, or basic numerical concepts, or some combination of the above. they might start talking fairly early, for example, or start reading complete sentences earlier than their peers, or show a lot of unusual interest in basic arithmetic. they might get IQ tested, they might not; this is pretty irrelevant because IQ both has almost no correlation with any measure of "intelligence" other than the IQ test itself, and is an extremely poor predictor of academic success.

based on this, the parents are encouraged to push this child into academic settings earlier and at a faster pace than their peers. once in grade school, they'll be funneled into the gifted track. often, they'll have to "test in" to the gifted track, but they tend to weight what the kid is showing an affinity for the most when "testing in." what the gifted track looks like is different for every school, but generally the common factors are more work, assigned at a faster pace, and dealing with concepts that their "typical" peers are not taught until a year or more later.

this is where the most common timeline becomes important, and diverges from what i think a lot of people's perceptions of gifted kids are. the kid fails. the kid does not have some kind of magical universal affinity for every aspect of academia. in fact, the kid has, in the context of their neurotypical peers setting the standard by which they have to live up to, significant deficits in areas other than the one they showed interest in at a young age. for example, maybe they started reading incredibly early, but once they get to grade school, they start failing every math test. they write numbers backwards and copy them from the board in the wrong order. they get basic arithmetic wrong.

here's the thing: the gifted kid program accidentally self-selects for developmentally disabled children with academic splinter skills. splinter skills are incredibly common in people with developmental disabilities; frequently, they don't get perceived as such because they're very often completely nonacademic (and may not be perceived as a "skill" at all, particularly in the context of more profound developmental disabilities--someone learning to use AAC very quickly, for example, is still perceived as a deficit no matter how quickly they do it, instead of a skill in developing communication methods with significantly less support and interaction than those who learn to communicate verbally). developmentally disabled people with academic splinter skills are significantly more common than abled people with an uncommon affinity for all areas of academia, or abled people with splinter skills.

once a kid starts failing, generally the timeline splits off into two possibilities, mostly dependent on how supportive their parents are, how well-funded their school is, and what psychiatric resources are available in their area of the country. option one is that they just keep failing, and get punished more and more violently over time for their perceived "stubbornness." they are perceived as obviously capable of doing the work the gifted program is assigning them, since they were tracked into the gifted program to begin with, and their grades in this other specific subject are stellar, so obviously they're just lazy and need to be whipped into shape via punishment.

the other option is that the kid's developmental disability is clocked by a teacher or counselor, or even their parents, and enough strings are pulled to get them evaluated by a school psychologist. then, they'll get dual-tracked into the gifted program and the special ed program, with classes divided along where their splinter skills and deficits lie. the special ed program is not actually a good place for disabled children and is incredibly traumatizing to be in.

either way, they come out of school with a significant amount of trauma. legitimate trauma. from being a disabled person in the public education system, which fucking sucks and is an awful experience i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.