#disability tools

[chaithetics]

it's spring here and we're getting into summer and it's really killing me with my disabilities. Has anyone tried those like wearable migraine/headache cooling caps? What did you think of them? Did they work and stay cool for a decent amount of time? Any other tips would be great thanks

[fish-in-need-of-a-bicycle]

Colgate Wisps are little disposable toothbrushes that you can keep near your bed, use without water, and throw away.

Switchbots are robots that can press buttons for you, like turning on lights your thermostat.

You can buy more underwear so you can do laundry less often.

You can put dirty dishes in Ziplock bags and put them in the freezer so they don’t attract bugs or smell before you get around to washing them.

[supertrainstationh]

I’m at a library with this thing and the Wi-Fi seems to connect but when I log into the cloud based backup system it just repeatedly asks me to enter my email.

Also this thing’s keyboard is loud enough for me to be self conscious while using it here and I press o. The keys as gently as possible.

Actually sitting at a desk and putting words into it feels nicer than I expected, especially since this has a screen that actually displays text entered in real time, unlike the other Freewrite models.

Okay time to get out my Pomera DM 100 from almost 20 years ago to actually be able to do some useful work on my next project.

[littlesistersti-backupandspam]

even if you don't have dyscalculia, this is handy to have when printed numbers are always tricky to read

DYSCALCULIA TOOL ALERT!

This is an acrylic magnifying glass with a green strip in it that helps you read long strings of numbers! It's been known for a while that putting a colored filter over pages can help people with dyscalculia read numbers without them flipping places, but this is the first time I've seen something so simple and accessible. I put it on some test numbers and my eyes didn't feel like they kept wanting to jump around all over the number. I can keep this on my desk and use it on paper, or hold it up to my monitor to read long numbers at work! It may help people in other ways as well, this is just what I bought it for and I already love it!

I found it at a Daiso location, but there are probably others online.

Spread the word!

EDIT: It's also like $2, so pretty much anyone who needs it can afford it!

[sweaterkittensahoy]

So, this week I ordered a new couch pillow because I had a husband pillow full of shredded memory foam, and the thing needs to be opened and shifted around about once a week with the way I use it so it doesn't shape up weird and actually fuck up my back when I bought it to NOT fuck up my back.

I now have a wedge pillow, made of one piece of foam. And I ordered a book cushion from etsy, and I just wanna say to anyone who has thought "that adaptive thing seems like it would be useful, but I'm not disabled, so maybe it's not for me?"

It's for you. Trust me. My back hurt because I was slouching weird on the couch. I got a husband pillow. It helped a lot. But, it turns out, what I need is one giant piece of memory foam, not a bunch of tiny bits.

And the book cushion? Books are heavy sometimes. Being able to rest it higher in my lap so it's easier to read and hold? Better for my body.

Also, do you wake up with pain in the mornings? Try a contour pillow and a knee pillow.

Get those extra-strong treaded soles to wear with your heels because you wobble otherwise.

Wear compression gloves when you type. Get those orthopedic shoes because you can walk longer distances in more comfort. Buy the bra that actually supports the weight of your boobs. Get a lapdesk for your computer. Use a neck pillow even at home to keep your neck straight. Wear socks to bed. Listen to audiobooks. Read large print books.

You see something that you think will work for you and improve how you feel? Use it! Let's fucking normalize adaptative shit for everyone!

[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.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

“alt text for more info” “turn on cations for more info” no actually this is not where more info goes. These have a very distinct purpose. There are plenty of other places for more info. If you’re going to make your post inaccessible, the least you could do is not use accessibility tools at your own leisure for whatever purpose you see fit.

[ruegarding]

so. percy's arc in boo (learning to step back, allowing leo to sacrifice himself despite his loyalty/fatal flaw) sucks. for many reasons.

for one, percy yielding is such an integral part of pjo. all of pjo. but even if u somehow missed it in the first four books, tlo explicitly spells it out. "sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding" hestia says to percy. "i yield when necessary. can you do this?" and then this is the climax of the story. "you are not the hero...it will affect what you do." percy has spent the last five books being told that he's the super powerful chosen one able to save or destroy the world, and he still chooses to yield to someone that has done nothing but betray him. "the line from the great prophecy echoed in my head...my whole world tipped upside down, and i gave the knife to luke." hoo acting like this is a lesson percy needs to learn is an affront to reading comprehension. percy lives bc he yields. and then he does it (yielding) again when he surrenders godhood, and power, to choose other demigods instead. this is not subtle writing.

for two, percy has rejected power, and his title, for the entirety of his story. percy doesn't even fully recognize how powerful he is until the volcano in botl. and he had to be told directly that it wasn't a fluke. then in son, percy immediately rejects the power and status offered to him. repeatedly. reyna offers him praetorship, he turns it down. frank is abt to let percy climb the wall first in the war games, percy says it was frank's claim. percy doesn't even want to go on the son quest but relents bc frank asked him. in moa, percy never demands that he lead. instead, he includes frank where he probably wasn't necessary, supports hazel, encourages annabeth, follows leo and piper's lead, and strategizes w jason. he isn't acting as a leader, but rather as part of a team. percy didn't need to "step back," the writing for the other characters needed to step up.

for three, percy had to be kidnapped and manipulated to be on this entire quest. he's not there bc he has a hero complex. acting like he has to learn to step back when he was quite literally shoved into place is wild.

for four, an integral part of percy's character is freedom, autonomy, and he extends this to the ppl he's loyal to. this is pretty explicitly established in tlt: "you're enough like me to understand," sally says. "if my life is going to mean anything, i have to live it myself." percy respects ppl's decisions. this is one of the first lessons he learns when he becomes a hero and an integral part of pjo: percy has to let sally save herself. percy has to let tyson go to the boiler. percy has to let bianca defeat talos. percy has to let nico walk away. percy has to let annabeth fight. if he loves them, he's going to let their lives mean something. even in hoo, percy still lets annabeth go on her quest alone, despite hating it, despite disagreeing w it, bc it's not his place to tell her what she can and can't do. this is her life. she has to live it. so this plotline doesn't even work it we ignore all of pjo and focus solely on hoo.

this theme of autonomy is especially important bc pjo is abt disability. one of the first things ppl try to take away from u when ur disabled is ur autonomy. the fact that percy vehemently defends it not just for himself but for others is essential to the narrative. percy advocates for other demigods, other disabled kids, and tyson, and he does so while maintaining their autonomy. it's why he's the leader, it's why he's the protagonist, it's why there is a callback to it in every pjo book. trying to act like he wouldn't respect someone's autonomy is a bastardization of this entire theme. which is actually fitting for hoo considering it bastardizes the rest of pjo anyway.

[supertrainstationh]

Hey, remember when I ranted about this thing when it was announced?

Well... I've got it now.

Yay?

This is the first crowdfunding campaign reward for electronics I ever received.

I gotta admit, for all the problems I have with this...

It feels nice to hold and looks nice to look at.

Its deliberately built-in impediments to editing are explicitly hostile to my writing process, which for the only English-specific dedicated word processor on the market is KIND OF A PROBLEM, but I'm glad this thing exists nonetheless and I hope these folks the best of success.

I do intend to give this the best chance my lifestyle and writing style allow.

[positivelyadhd]

please don't blame yourself not knowing you were neurodivergent sooner.

please don't blame yourself if you did know you were neurodivergent but your support needs weren't met for whatever reason.

everyone deserves to have access to disability aids and support if they need it.

you are not an inconvenience for wanting to be understood or supported. you are not broken.

it is not your fault that the systems you needed weren't there when you needed them.

no matter what anyone says, you deserve to live in a world where you can be happy and do the things that you want to do and exist how you want to.

I am so sorry that it's so difficult to get that sometimes, but it is not your fault. and you still deserve support now even if you *got by" without.

[absentlyabbie]

don't be afraid of buying things that make your life easier. don't talk yourself out of it, beat yourself up for being "lazy", or shame yourself for not being able to do things the "right" way so you don't deserve to try it a different way.

if there's a thing out there that can make something faster, more bearable, less painful, more tolerable, anything like that at all, and you can afford it? you have the right, you deserve it, and you should do it.

i've stuck for the last several years with exclusively those detachable sprayer showerheads, because i need to be able to sit down in the bath and it makes the entire operation easier, so i'm less likely to risk a concussion or pass out or wobble and slip.

for the last few years, i've been using one with a little powerwash spray setting and i use it before and after every shower and it keeps my tub and shower cleaner so much longer, which is great because i hate cleaning the bath and can put it off for months, and scrubbing kills my shoulders.

sometimes, whether it's the executive dysfunction, or the depression, or knowing that i become entirely detached from the concept of time when in the shower, if i can't bring myself to get in the damn thing and do a full-blown shower, and i know i'd just be uncomfortable and not clean and still keep putting it off (because i can easily lose well over an hour once in there), i will kneel on my (cushy, quick-dry, memory foam) bathroom mat beside the tub and lean over it to wash my hair and face and maybe soap up to my shoulders. then later when it feels like a way more manageable and shorter task i can do a quick scrub and rinse.

i've bought cbd for when my joint pain makes sleeping otherwise impossible (even though it's expensive) and a work desk that has expandable legs to be a bed desk if i ever need to work sick (i'm lucky to be remote since my job change).

i've bought the screw-top, 40oz, insulated mugs and extra long plastic straws (do not @ me) and the pop-bottom giant cube ice trays all because every one of those helps ensure i drink more water every day (and so does the faucet-mounted water filter).

i buy specific individual snacks that require little to no prep so even when the execution of making a sandwich is Too Damn Much, i can still make myself do some calorie intake.

i talked myself into a cushioned mattress topper to relieve my spine and because it's way cheaper than a new mattress. i bought blackout curtains for our old apartment because the outdoor lights were insanely bright at all hours and made sleep even more elusive.

i've purchased slip on-only shoes or no-tie laces because i hate tying shoelace knots, my hands are less dexterous than ever (and hurt), and because i struggle with time management and it's one small thing to shave off just a little more time so i'm a little less late.

i didn't buy all of these things all at once, definitely. i am, sadly, made of meat and not money.

but i started budgeting, slowly, more and more of whatever amount of disposable income i had after bills towards "thing to make life suck less and not be so hard" and i can't regret it in the least.

i deserve not only small comforts and joys, but also less pain and difficulty, and ways to make challenging parts of life a little more within my reach with not quite as much effort.

so do you.

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

Fat people and disabled people have the same inherent worth and dignity as anyone else. Neither group needs to “make up for” existing as they are. No matter how fat you are and no matter how disabled you are, you deserve to exist and to be happy and respected and cared for.

There is no level of fatness or disability that removes your inherent worth and dignity, or makes you into a joke or a tragedy. People who treat you as either, just for existing in your body, are bigots.

[squarebracket-trickster]

Oh my god for the last time

DO NOT USE AI FOR RESEARCH. DON'T TRUST ANYTHING IT TELLS YOU.

Do not use AI for research even if it cites its sources. Have you verified the credibility of those sources?

Do not use AI for research even if its sources are credible. Have you checked to make sure they have the most up-to-date information?

Do not use AI for research even if the sources are recent. Is this information generally accepted by experts in the field, or is it a controversial stance? Did AI source the 9/10 dentists or the 1/10? You don't know. You have no way of knowing unless you do your own fucking research!

DO NOT USE AI FOR RESEARCH. for the love of god people

"But I'm just doing research for my novel. It's okay if it's not 100% accurate."

ChatGPT told a person to glue the cheese on their pizza to make it stick. It told someone else a poisonous mushroom was safe to eat. It told another kid that Greek was a combination of four different languages. It thought there were 2 r's in strawberry.

Your information will probably not be 100% accurate. It might not be 50% accurate. It might be so completely and utterly false it would make a flat eather look informed. Just use Wikipedia of you want something quick and dirty. It might not be 100% accurate either, but it won't tell you to eat glue.

[marxism-leninism-meowism]

pretentious cynical fucks that think solarpunk is an apolitical cozy pseudo-punk movement are so unimaginably stupid. like okay whatever go off and have ur glorious revolution. i'm gonna be here making community and planting a garden and dismantling systems of oppression brick by brick in the communities around me, building something new and beautiful in their place. maybe you should give it a shot.

[knitmeapony]

Today in things I didn't know existed: accessible pottery wheels.

Hell YEAH. Gonna check in and see if the big pottery school I like to go to has one.

[ashfae]

I would like to say that I have a shiny blue walking stick and a shiny teal wheelchair and they are both awesome as fuck so there.

So a couple weeks ago I had an inner ear infection that really screwed with my balance, and somewhere in the days sitting on the sofa being miserable I thought “what if I never get my balance totally back?” and my literal first answer to myself was “you could use a cane and that would look cool as hell”

And I want to say thank you to anyone I follow who has ever posted about disability and mobility aids, because having my first reply to that fairly intense thought be “you would use a tool to make your life easier and you would look good doing it” has so much to do with you all. Thank you thank you thank you ♥️