#disability justice

[scholarlyhobbit]

Eugenics and Social Darwinism are fantasies of population purification invented by Victorians who were certain they could breed a master race. I cannot stress that enough. They're ideas with identifiable origin points, not long-standing truths about human nature and society. Francis Galton was a statician who mathematically determined the way to make the perfect cup of tea and the way to breed for "genius" in the population, and published his ideas about heredity starting in 1869.

Eugenics as a movement explicitly endorsed purifying the population of a nation and also argued that improving social and material conditions for people was ineffective compared to ensuring good breeding stock. They believed that any improvement in housing or food or poverty was wasted on the unfit, as they could never appreciate them and it's just a waste of money on an undeserving natural underclass.

So when you hear shit about the cost of caring for the undeserving, for welfare queens (also an anti-Black racist stereotype) and benefits scroungers, when you hear people complaining about the burden of disabled people or people who fake disabilities for benefits, you're explicitly hearing eugenics. You're hearing Nazi bullshit that some people need to be executed by the state so that they stop draining resources and birthing defective, parasitic children. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Do not accept Nazi arguments because they seem like "common sense." They never are. They're just asking you to pretend that all humans everywhere are inherently cruel and that your cruelty is justified and sensible. Cruelty is not either of those things. Do not let Nazis seduce you into thinking the cruelty will only benefit you. It can and will always come home to roost and soon you're the undesirable who just needs to be eliminated for the greater good. Never lose sight of that.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE NEANDERTHAL CHILD WITH DOWN'S SYNDROME? Because they're all I've been thinking about when I'm sad for the past few days. Their existence makes me less sad.

[majaurukalo]

But the way we perceive health and ability is truly problematic. No, eating protein shakes, avoiding ultra processed food, training everyday, running on the treadmill, etc. don’t put you out of the “dangers” of disability and illness (if we want to call it that).

No one is immune to illness, bad genes, accidents or old age. And becoming disabled or ill isn’t synonym of failure or “bad behaviours”.

Our bodies are fragile. Human beings are fragile. That’s why disability needs to be taken into account more seriously and considered as a social issue. For you, your loved ones and all the people you don’t know of but who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect no matter the state of their health and abilities.

I didn’t get sick at one year of age because I deserved it or because I was morally corrupt. How could I be? I was 1. It just happened. It was an autoimmune disease. That’s it.

[liminalweirdo]

One of the best things you can do right now to protect your queer and trans communities is to wear a proper mask or respirator.

Disabled trans and queer people have been shouting for years that we have been forced out of our own spaces and communities because other queer people refused to mask up for us. Disabled people deserve the same access to public spaces and community spaces as abled people do, but we’ve been forgotten and pushed aside in favour of getting “back to normal.” The pandemic is not over in 2024, and as queer and trans people, we need to all band together now, not later.

The ongoing covid pandemic is still disproportionately affecting trans people, especially BIPOC trans people. It has disabled 400 million people and will continue to disable more.

We are begging you to make queer spaces safe for disabled queer people again.

[sayruq]

10 children a day lose their limbs in Gaza. All hospitals in Gaza are basically barely functioning and the amputations are done in unsanitary conditions and without anesthesia

[yellow-dress-basil]

Since the Paralympics are happening and I’m seeing all sorts of people saying “See? This person doesn’t let their disability stop them!”

I would like you to remember that Paralympions are OLYMPIC LEVEL ATHLETES.

How would it feel if I compared your output to that of a literal olympic athlete and used that to justify not helping you or giving you what you need?

Oh, well Michael Phelps and Simone Biles can do it - why can’t you?

Thats how you sound.

[5ellaal5]

Here. The excerpt of this Fix-It Fic chapter with most of the flirting skipped.

This takes place after Singularity, after Burning Shores has started and Aloy’s companions disappear and leave data nodes for her.

It was inspired by the OP’s sentiment being shared by @fogsblue to give credit where credit is due.

Setting: Kotallo stops in at the Base and finds Erend already there doing some air guitar to [Travis Tate’s] death metal music videos/holos.

———————————

They were about to head out when Kotallo paused. Something about the Death Metal video had bothered him.

“Erend, would you bring up your music’s image once more. Uh, with the volume down. Just for a moment.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

Kotallo stepped beside and slightly behind him, looking over his shoulder. Erend glanced at him with his eyes only, holding his face still, seeming to hold his breath.

Kotallo pointed, reaching around him. “Are those… subtitles?”

“Yeah! It’s helpful to read the lyrics. I love the screaming, but I like to know what I’m screaming, ya know?”

Kotallo squinted.

“Why are they so small? And what is that font?”

“Small…? Font…? What are you talking about?”

Kotallo leaned in further, resting his chest against Erends shoulder to try to see, trying to avoid stabbing him with his neck spikes.

“Hmmm. Can you bring up a text file? Just something simple. Maybe a data point from around the Base or one of those messages people leave each other in ruins.”

“Uh, ok.” Erend manhandled some Focus gestures, and chose a text file at random.

Kotallo squinted again, leaning forward again. He looked at the file name, and then stepped to Erend’s side, opened his Focus’ display with the publicly-visible setting, and found the same file. The text was much larger, in a clear font, with ample line spacing.

Erend’s eyes looked back and forth between the two displays and then he abruptly shut his Focus display off so he could stare at Kotallo. “Hey, what? Is that the same file!? Why does yours look so different?!”

Kotallo closed his as well and stared back at his uncertain friend, who was so often putting down his own ability to read or make sense of things. How to offer help, delicately?

“Hmmm…”

“That’s all you’ve got for me, you brooding Tenakth? ‘Hmmm ?’”

Kotallo waved a hand for patience.

“When I first arrived, some of the Focus gestures needed two hands with normal settings. GAIA showed me how to adjust ‘Accessibility Settings’ so that I could use it with only one hand. She also directed me to particular ‘fonts’ because I would mix up the same glyphs over and over as I was learning to read. Something called, oh, what was it…?”

GAIA’s voice sounded between their Focuses’ speakers. “ I believe the phrase you’re looking for is ‘dyslexia-friendly fonts .’”

“Yes! That was it! Thank you, GAIA. Here, Erend. Let me see if I can lead you to these settings. Open the main menu and then go to Focus settings… Further down. Oh, wait, your menu is shorter. Maybe… there?”

Erend followed Kotallo’s gestures, with some help since the menu lengths were so different between the two displays and Erend’s display text was so very small and in a strange font that looked like handwritten Carja glyphs made with a leaky pen.

With his metal hand on his shoulder, Kotallo helped him pick a font that was easy to read, and switched it a few times to make sure Erend’s choice worked in multiple contexts, and set it to default. Changed the screen’s view size and taught him how to temporarily zoom in on a text file. They even experimented with shifting the saturation of the text display light until Erend said it wasn’t hurting his eyes as much.

Erend looked delighted.

Kotallo felt a little ill.

He had overheard Erend talking to Aloy on many occasions about how much trouble he was having learning to read and understanding the content, and the glyphs causing headaches, and it had never occurred to him to not take the man’s own beliefs about his stupidity at face value and just look at the damn settings. What kind of a friend believed their friend’s self-criticism?

Varl was also Erend’s friend. And Zo? Aloy knew him the best; why didn’t she…? Oh, but at that point, she was relying on GAIA to train everyone because she was almost never there, and everyone else was learning the Focus from the very beginning. Aloy had to believe what her team reported to her, when she stopped in, and her team was all doing their best.

Kotallo had gotten help from GAIA and Beta with ‘accessibility,’ and had received Aloy’s special attention for making his metal arm, and rebuilding his trust in himself, because his main impediment was physical and obvious.

But during Kotallo’s first days here, he’d had trouble with swapping glyphs, confusing words, having them blur before his eyes or fade into the environment behind him, causing headaches, as Erend might have been having this whole time. GAIA had talked about ‘dyslexia’ but also about past head injuries affecting reading, and that was an injury they likely both shared.

But unlike Erend, Kotallo had been shown how to make adjustments right away, and then knew it was possible to ask for a change. It had only impeded him for a few days at most, and after that he hadn’t been taking it personally when new but similar challenges slowed him down.

He shook his head in dismay and also awe.

Once Erend had closed the menus, looking stunned at how easy it was now that he’d made the font size match his fingertips for better precision, Kotallo spoke.

“Erend, you are one of the smartest people I know.”

“What?! What in the Forge’s tool chest are you talking about?!”

Kotallo just kept shaking his head, amazed.

“You learned everything we all did. But it was if you were learning to fight swinging a warhammer the size of a cart, rather than a practice wooden one. And you did it —you learned it— all the same.”

Erend looked even more stunned. He blinked.

“I did?”

He looked down. Quirked a smile. Huffed a laugh.

“I did!”

Kotallo slapped him on the shoulder and gripped where his hand landed. “Truly, you walk in strength, Oseram.”

Erend looked back up at him, still apparently amazed, and a few other things besides. Then firmed up his expression.

“Hey, we should still go hunting. A couple of us battle-hardened ancient tech experts, forging into the wilds, should have no trouble bringing down a brace of pigeons. Otherwise I’m going to get all emotional.”

Kotallo smirked. It seemed none of Aloy’s friends particularly enjoyed having many feelings. “Agreed.”

Erend in Forbidden West

maybe controversial opinion again but another thing i've noticed so far in Forbidden West is that they lowkey kinda butchered Erend...

idk if anyone else feels this way, i never see it talked about, but i swear to god he didn't used to be so one-dimensional. Again i'm only halfway through the game so there's hope for change, but i recently rewatched the Ersa mission in ZD and it just made me realise how he used to have so much character outside of just "haha funny dumb alcoholic", and that seems to be all he is in the second game (so far). I'm sooo sick of hearing constant jokes about how he's stupid, clumsy, drunk and annoying, as if that's all he is when i swear he didn't used to be. Sure there were jokes about him being a drunk in Zero Dawn too but it wasn't the majority of his character! They can have him be the comic relief character without making that ALL he is 😭 i'm honestly really really hoping we get more serious scenes with him to cancel this out... justice for Erend man, he's supposed to be more than that.

[liberaljane]

Being disabled shouldn't equal being poor.

Abolish the sub-minimum wage, increase income caps for disability assistance, and establish universal basic income.

digital illustration of a disabled nonbinary person with leg braces. They have a green mullet and are wearing a black t-shirt, purple cargo pants, green chunky heels and a green belt. There's text that reads, 'being disabled shouldn't equal being poor.'

[counterintuitivecomics]

WHY WE MASK: It's Not "Just A Cold": A Handy Scientific Guide to Surviving COVID-19 Together

Here, have a free science zine with a ridiculously long title! Endless thanks to my partner and fellow disabled artist, Kimball Anderson aka @earnestattempts, who helped through the entire year-long process with art edits and image descriptions (located in the alt text). Additional thanks to my friends Dupe and Caitlin, who gave me thorough copy-edits, and every friend who read drafts or listened to me rant about COVID-19.

Feel free to spread it far and wide! And hit me up if you're interested in printing &/or distributing free copies :D

Read WHY WE MASK with Endnotes - includes working URLS so you can read the scientific papers I cited for yourself. Plus links for all the other resources, and a full transcript.

Download WHY WE MASK - Free PDFs to read, print, and share! Any donations go towards print copies &/or local mask blocs.

Can't get enough free printable COVID zines? Check out @newlevant's excellent What's Up With COVID & How To Protect Yourself: 2024 Ed! It was a huge inspiration in the final stretch.

Extra pages under the cut:

[nondivisable]

disabled people are allowed to have hobbies that clash with our disabilities by the way

I'm allowed to like journaling even if my hand tremors make it so I can't do something as "pretty" as an abled bodied person

I'm allowed to like crocheting even if it's bad for my joints and it takes me double the time it would take someone else to finish a project

and yes I'm trying to switch to knitting which is lighter on the hands, but even that - even fucking using my phone - makes my finger hurts

I'm allowed to complain about it, just like you - specially if you're abled - are not allowed to tell me off about it

it's so hard for us to find joy, you're not allowed to police the small things that help

[majaurukalo]

Disability benefits shouldn’t be tied to the income of a disabled person’s partner/spouse/parent.

Do you hear me?

DISABILITY BENEFITS SHOULDN’T BE TIED TO THE INCOME OF A DISABLED PERSON’S PARTNER/SPOUSE/PARENT.

This is the straight forward way to deprive a disabled person of their financial freedom and independence and trap them into possible abusive relationships.

[nomoremrnicefat]

in honor of disabled pride month, i want to give a shout-out to all disabled fat people who had to roll their eyes who have been told "you're not disabled, just fat" or "thats because you dont eat well/exercise"

[hussyknee]

People seem to think this is fake because it's written in English. Apart from the racism in believing that Arab doctors and nurses aren't fluent in English (a second or official language for half of Asia), Palestinians have deliberately been addressing their audience in English on every social media, from journalists to children, because they know speaking English to Westerners immediately makes people more human in their eyes. Because language is one of the ways the imperial cultural hegemony conditions us (yes, everyone in the world) to see who qualifies as "people" and who are simply a mass of bodies who were always made to suffer and die. Gazans know this deeply, which is why they have been using English to beg and plead through social media, "We're not numbers! We're not numbers! We're people like you, we speak your language, we deserve to live!" all the while they're systematically slaughtered.

Israeli forces also encircled Al Shifa Hospital yesterday and bombed it for several hours while shooting dead anyone trying to flee including medical staff moving between buildings. Not sure whether it's still continuing because WHO lost all communications with its staff there a few hours after. The last new report said that thirty-nine babies had been removed from the incubators before the power went out. It's extremely unlikely they will survive.

Please understand that these atrocities depend on the war of attrition between governments and public attention. The momentum of public outcry is difficult to sustain through repeated stonewalling and bureaucratic intractability. When we're flooded with these reports and a sense of futility and despair replaces the anger, it allows compassion fatigue to set in and the violence to become normalized. Massacring hospitals, killing sick children and openly targeting humanitarian aid workers (Netanyahu just declared the UNRWA is in league with Hamas) will become simply more news articles that fade into the background, and open genocides will soon become part of the "lesser evil".

Take care of yourselves how you can, take distance where needed, but please never tune out and give up on the two million people for whom we are the only witness and hope. Never stop boosting and sharing the news and posts you find, never stop getting out there and joining every protest you can, however small. Anger burns out, which is why activism must depend on an immovable sense of justice and uncompromising value for human life. It's not just about Gaza, it's about the kind of evil our generation will be coerced into accepting as unchangeable and inevitable hereafter.

[testosteronetempation]

everyone wants solidarity but nobody wants to put on a mask. everyone wants third spaces but nobody wants to put on a mask. everyone wants mutual aid but nobody wants to put on a mask.

[sayruq]

[autisticmudkip]

Save a Disabled Child's Life!!!

Do you care about disabled people’s lives? I hope you do. Disabled people are all worthy of love and respect, and disability rights and justice are vital to building a better, more just world.

I truly hope that you care about disabled people. Maybe you are even disabled yourself. Here you have an opportunity to save the life of a disabled person. I dearly hope that you will help save him.

Nour Ashour @noor-yashour has two children. One of them, Muhammed, is just four years old, and since his birth has living with a condition that causes muscle relaxation and inability to move.

To treat his condition, Muhammed requires medical treatment, and regular physical therapy sessions. However, due to the ongoing war he and his family are suffering through, he has not been able to recieve proper treatment for over a year. Without treatment, Muhammed will DIE. He will die solely for the sake of being a disabled boy in Gaza. This is deeply unjust.

On top of Muhammed's pressing medical needs, the Ashour family needs help getting other necessities to survive as well. The need to be able to purchase food, water, and safe shelter for the coming winter.

Despite how urgent her family's needs are, and how diligently Nour has been working to raise funds for her family for months, she has only reached a small fraction of her goal! Donations have been extremely slow. Muhammed can't afford this. Without treatment, he will die.

£6,825 / £80,000

Please, I beg you, donate to Nour. Muhammed doesn't deserve to die. Nour doesn't deserve to lose her son. None of the Ashour family deserves to starve or freeze this winter. Donate whatever you can! Even a small amount, just £10 or even £5, is much better than nothing! If you absolutely cannot donate, please share Nour's campaign as widely as you can, both on tumblr and with people you know in person.

Please, just do whatever you can to save Muhammed. Give this disabled child a chance at life!

Vetted here by 90-ghost

Donate to save Muhammed!!!

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