#disability advocate

[crazycatsiren]

Imagine if abled people were to just treat disabled people like people.

Such as asking if we need help, not touching us and our things without permission, not asking us invasive personal questions, speaking to us like we are adults with agency.

[humanrightsconnected]

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities! Learn from Mobility International USA (MIUSA), Network of Organizations Working For People With Disabilities Pakistan (NOWPDP), and Zero Project how you can help advance disability rights!

[trashpandafeminism]

The cannabis industry is booming, but it's leaving many disabled women behind. Dispensaries often lack accessibility features, and many jobs in the industry require physical labor or inflexible schedules that don't work for everyone. It's time for change. 

We need to work together to make the cannabis industry more inclusive for everyone, including disabled women. This means improving accessibility, offering more flexible work arrangements, and breaking down barriers to entry.

Let's create a future where everyone has equal opportunities to succeed in the cannabis industry.

[spooniestrong]

The amazing Alice Wong follows SpoonieStrong on Twitter (I used to post a lot). 💙🥄

[thechaoticbookwyrm]

Caged. [One Year.]

[Trigger Warning: PTSD, CPTSD, Medical Trauma, Car Accident, Strong Language, and one really fucking stupid suicide adjacent joke.]           Today, I am toxic. There’s no other way to put it, and if I had a therapist, I’m pretty sure, I’d get mad credit for being able to point that out on my own.  I am volatile, and even I don’t want to be around myself, and I feel bad for the people in my…

[familythings]

Ana Victoria: The World’s First Lawyer With Down Syndrome

Ana Victoria is courageously breaking down barriers and reshaping the perception of pursuing a career in law. As the world’s first lawyer with Down syndrome, she serves as an inspiration not only to individuals with disabilities but to everyone striving to challenge societal limitations. Born in a time when opportunities for people with Down syndrome were often limited, Ana Victoria was…

[historydailyfrancischappellblack]

Anne Sullivan began teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her hearing and sight after a dreadful illness at the age of 19 months. March 3, 1887. Image: Helen Keller (left) in 1899 with lifelong companion and teacher Anne Sullivan (right). Photo taken by Alexander Graham Bell at his School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech. (Public Domain). On this day in history, March 3, 1887,…

[glitchdollmemoria]

please can we stop describing bigots as delusional. please. im so fucking tired. someone being sucked into a hate group surrounded by others who believe minorities should be oppressed and encouraging them to believe in conspiracy theories that the rest of the group believes, is fundamentally different from someone having a mental illness that causes delusions.

delusions, by definition, cannot be explained by things like cultural background - such as having a belief constantly reinforced by intentional attempts to rationalize it for the sake of maintaining power over minorities. yes, someone can be both delusional and a bigot, and yes conspiracy theories can feed into delusions, but the two are not fucking synonymous.

i did not spend my teen years convinced that i was being stalked by demons just to hear so many of you people equate my disability with incel behavior and genocidal propaganda. stop reinforcing harmful connotations about mental health struggles.

[crazycatsiren]

Disabled people got places to go and things to do, too, you know.

[starfishinthedistance]

Friendly reminder that if you support reproductive rights and bodily autonomy but say that disabled people shouldn't have children because they'll pass down their genes which is "cruel" or "abusive", you do not support reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. Reproductive rights do not only concern abortion for cis white abled women.

[xautisticsunitex]

For adults on the Autistic spectrum

- it’s okay to still have meltdowns/sensory overloads

- it’s okay to still watch cartoons

- it’s okay if you can’t cope with a full time job

- it’s if you have learning difficulties and do things at slower pace

- it’s okay to be in your 30’s and still live with your mom and dad or one parent

- it’s okay to not have many friends or none at all

- it’s okay to live a life Neurotypicals don’t appreciate

[cure-icy-writes]

I stand in front of a crowd and tap the microphone. "Disabled people deserve full bodily autonomy," I announce, and the crowd devolves into shouting. I am being asked about every single contingency in which bodily autonomy can possibly be taken away. I am not allowed to ask these people why they want so badly to control disabled people's lives. I am a representative, after all.

A man in the third row calls me a whore. A woman up near the front calls me a filthy god-hating anarchist. I am the villain of the story. I'm ruining their childhoods when I point out the flaws and ableist tropes in media that I never said they weren't allowed to enjoy. I'm policing their language when I ask them not to use slurs.

Someone else calls me a fascist. A Creationist with Calvinist leanings is using the same arguments against me as the literal social Darwinist. The topic of "faking disability" is brought up and everyone suddenly has a story to share and presents it to me. I am horrified by most of these stories because they feature ambulatory wheelchair users being harassed and young people with invisible disabilities being chased out of bathrooms.

I tap the microphone again and announce, louder, "Autism speaks is actually a hate organization." At this rate, I'm never going to get to my powerpoint on the social/medical model of disability and why the intersection is important. But I am a representative, and in between the name calling and accusations, they are asking me questions. And so I answer.

[zebulontheplanet]

See people say “IQ means nothing” “IQ Isn’t important”

You’re forgetting about us with intellectual disabilities. Those of us who can’t learn like you, who can’t process things like you. It’s frustrating to see people saying that IQ means nothing when it does mean something. Intellectual disability literally makes your brain work differently.

It’s frustrating to also see this from advocates. People who are supposed to be advocating for us and making our voices heard. Please don’t undermine intellectual disabilities. Don’t make it seem like a bad things. Like something that should be shunned or not spoken about. Speak about us.

Some of us need help. Some of us need things explained to us more. To be taught to us differently.

[eeveeas123]

🦓❤️

Okay, autism is an every single day challenge, being autistic often means we’re extremely sensitive to things in our environments (External factors) and even things in our own minds/bodies (Internal factors). Sometimes this makes us uncomfortable to the point where we snap! Thinking “If I weren’t autistic, this wouldn’t be happening!”. I decided to tell you guys, what I LIKE about being autistic today! Rather than just my challenges:

🦓Having my autism service dog. Eevee has changed my life (And so has my previous service dogs, River and Viva). She’s able to calm me down with just a few kisses (Licks). I wouldn’t have met any of my pup friends if I wasn’t autistic because I wouldn’t have a service dog

🦓My “Autistic joy”. I can see the world in a way that makes some specific little things fill me with happiness! Stimming with something as simple as running water, tapping buttons or waving my hands, I feel very happy experiencing something that most wouldn’t even notice. Also, I can watch the same videos over and over because they’re never boring to me! I love collecting videos to watch at any time. Pokémon amplifies this by 100% (My special interest)

🦓My neurodivergent friends. I was in special education for middle school and high school. I wouldn’t have met my wonderful classmates teachers, educational assistants, etc. if I wasn’t autistic! Some were Down syndrome, some were cerebral palsy, some were autistic like me and many more. I’m so glad I met them! Good times!

🦓My imagination. I love creating stories by writing and it really is my purpose! I can almost live a fictional situation/scene inside my head and make something out of that. Most of my stories are based on my experiences (My main character is often autistic too!). I’m not saying a non-autistic person can’t write a good book, I just think I provide a fresh perspective!

Hopefully that makes you feel a bit better about being autistic, maybe take some time to reflect on these things and see if you feel them too!

[mandiweirdmore]

Guess who cried seeing this in target 😭 I swear all my posts are about me crying. This one was a good cry though! It’s such good representation childhood me was freaking out. I kind of want to buy in the future and paint it to look like my service dog 🥹