#disabled driver

[cy-cyborg]

So Australia brought in a new law stating that autistic people now have to get medical clearance to drive. Even if you were late diagnosed and had your licence for decades, most states are still saying you need to get medical clearance. Queensland is the worst, with several thousand dollar fines if you don't. Other states aren't penalising people directly (or not as sevearly), but I believe if you don't disclose it, it can impact your insurance and cause issues if you're involved in an accident (even if you weren't at fault).

I'm using vague language here because the thing is, this whole thing is very vague and confusing. No one seems to know anything, even the government agencies who are supposed to be enforcing it.

So as a physically disabled Autistic person who already has to get medical clearance to drive anyway, I just want to let anyone new to this whole system know to be VERY careful where you get your information from and make sure to double check everything, even when its coming from usually reliable sources.

Unless you are talking to someone who's job it is to specifically deal with disabled drivers, most of the system has no clue. This includes cops, this includes your state's government service centre (e.g. services NSW, services QLD etc) and all the places you usually look for personal transport-related beurocrocy and laws. Even talking to your state gov's transport department directly (e.g. transport NSW) isn't garuenteed. It's not a bad place to start, but with how messy this whole thing is, please double-check what you're being told.

My assessments deemed I needed a specific type of hand control to drive safely. This is a very common modification that has been around for decades and has been regulated under Australian law for nearly as long. Yet every time I get pulled over the cops get really freaked out about it because they don't know what the laws are surrounding them. that's usually why they pull me over, because the part of the hand control that is visible from outside the vehicle looks kind of similar to an illegal racing mod, and then once they determine its not the same thing they always want to check everything I do have is legal, despite not even knowing what theyre looking at. Every time I need to get my licence details updated, every time I need to do anything at services NSW, they always get really confused because no one knows what they're supposed to do or what you need to do if youre not a "normal" driver.

That won't stop abled and neurotypical people from CONFIDENTLY insisting the do know though, and giving you the wrong information.

And this is with laws that have been in place for decades.

My point is this whole thing sucks at the best of times, but the way they brought these laws in is going to cause a shitshow in the system that was already struggling to deal with even the more "well understood" disabilties. That, combined with the general misinformation already circulating about autism... just be careful of the information you're being told, double check everything, etc etc.

[disabled-dragoon]

Pisses me off sometimes that people don't even try to understand my anxiety around driving, and just chalk it up the fact I'm "new" or "always anxious", instead of actually bothering to let me explain.

Yes I know it gives me more freedom and independence

I know it's a good life skill to have

I know people, specifically future employers, will, for some ridiculous reason, be "more impressed" by me if they see that I, an ambulatory, very physically disabled person can drive.

Buts that not the point??

I think my worries are perfectly valid when we're talking about driving around a massive death box capable of mass destruction on the drop of a dime.

And people will say "oh I was scared to but you'll get used to it" Or "you just have to drive more and it'll help" Or "you're just preaching to the choir here, I get it"

No! You don't!

You're in a very similar choir but we are by no means singing the same songs!

It's just.

AHHHHHHHH

[kingfakey]

i think it’s very easy to say “i’m not ableist” but most of us would crack after 5 minutes of serious examining of our internalized beliefs. & yes this actually applies to other disabled people, and also to myself, because disability encompasses such a staggering number of conditions that we’re all bound to have internalized beliefs about them, and refusing to poke at those beliefs because you believe you aren’t ableist is uhhhh not helpful, to say the least.

[r3musmoony]

just had an absolutely godawful moment at university rn and in such a shit mood so I'm tryna focus on the positives.

If anyone wants to share a positive moment they've experienced with their physical disability (of any kind) please feel free to share in the comments or reblogs

[disbabeled]

Absolutely begging able bodied people to remember that the accessible seats on public transport are NOT FOR YOU. You have the ability to walk two steps to sit in literally any other seat. Why do you insist on sitting in the ones specifically reserved for disabled people?

"Oh but I'll move if a disabled person is coming."

First of all, you can't always tell when somebody is disabled.

Second of all, not all of have the ability to stand there while you gather up your stuff and move, especially when the bus/tram/subway/whatever is moving. Sometimes we need to sit down immediately after getting on, which is why the seats right next to the doors are RESERVED FOR DISABLED PEOPLE.

[b-blushes]

thursday quest - no physical therapy today - make and eat lunch sooooo early but i can do it!!!!! - get ready for wedding - attend wedding! yay! (: - decompress well when i get home <3

[itshomobirb]

if my parents keep talking to me im going to (remembers that suicide jokes are bad for mental health) go outside and dig a hole to narnia

[goodguydotmp3]

I'm at my wits fucking end

Can anyone spare 40usd so I can get food delivered?

I probably just won't eat if I can't it it. I'm a disabled person with no help and no access to social services can I please get a fucking break

Cashapp venmo paypal

[zvaigzdelasas]

How much are the IDF downplaying their casualties? It has to be more than 100 surely lmao.

Haaretz (Israeli Media) calculates roughly a factor of 7 in terms of discrepancy between reported injuries by the IDF & by hospitals (tho don't breakdown between civilian & militant), though their claims of combatant fatalities roughly line up w IDF claims

An underreporting factor of abt 10, maybe 20 is rly the most I think states can get away with w/ modern information technology - particularly lower in terms of fatalities

[disabled-dragoon]

Someone on my mother's soaps is relearning to drive after a stroke and they're using hand controls very similar to the ones I use and it got me weirdly excited

[riverofrainbows]

It sends me a little spinning right now to realise just how much us trans men and trans mascs are erased and ignored.

Not only the amount of historical figures where every clue points to them being men where people insist they are women who wanted more rights. Like yes that existed but someone living his entire life as a man, referring to himself as a man in diaries and such and wanting to be buried stealth (which was ignored which is the only reason we know he was trans to begin with) does not scream "woman".

Then the next point, how people always say that there weren't any historical trans men, and how we know about such few of them. It's because people assigned female at birth back then didn't have rights. It's hard to run away and start a life as a man when you legally can't open a bank account ir get a job alone and are maybe stuck with unsupportive people or in an abusive marriage. And i didn't even realise how much this would have hindered historical fellow trans men's expression until recently because i hadn't seen anyone talk about this before that.

The fact that i thought it was common knowledge that hrt and surgery bans are more targeted at trans men, especially by TERFs, and sports bans and bathroom laws are more targeted at trans women, but somehow the first part always falls under the table in discussions about it. As if the one of the most influential books amongts transphobes in general isn't "Irreversible damage", a book that targets specifically trans men and our reproductive ability and "female pretty body". As if Ms Bossterf herself doesn't focus on trans men, and AUTISTIC TRANS MEN, for the bigger part of her manifesto. Them claiming to "protect" us against our own decisions doesn't actually mean forced detransition is protection just because they call it that. How can someone say that TERFs only focus on and intend to harm trans fems, and ignore the purposeful damage towards trans mascs?

And i want to make a short announcement that this post is not to ignore the transphobia against trans fems, because i know someone will claim it is, i am just focusing on trans men right now. People can talk about more than one topic at different times.

[communistfries]

Does anyone else remember when the discourse on twitter was that you're a bad person if you get upset about your doordash/instacart order being wrong. That was wild

[crimeronan]

forgot i very wisely put my braces on because i'm busing all over town today doing pre-storm errands & i had a moment of being like "wow, weird, the bus drivers are being EXTRA nice to me..... with all the other passengers they seem to be in a hurry but for me they keep waiting to move til i fully take my seat... am i limping really badly today or something??"

and then i looked down at my bondage geared legs and was like oh. right.

girl. you are crippled.

[suffercerebral]

me having gone to bed at 6 am every day for the past week and generally spiraling mentally while rotting in bed waking up this morning: a 4 mile hike in the heat is a really good idea right now, and while we're at it let's start like 3 art projects

[x-v4mp3y3lin3r-x]

stock car racing is such a horrifying sport and when you grow up in a culture where it's normal, explaining it to people who know nothing about it so fucking interesting. this girl asked me "do they often retire with injuries?"

and then I realized there's no good way to word "If they don't die in an accident, yeah, probably"

[detentiontrack]

Reminder that not everyone can get their drivers license within the time frame deemed "socially acceptable". Sometimes it takes extra time for financial reasons, physical health reasons, mental health reasons, accessibility reasons, lack of support reasons, etc. It's a difficult process and it's completely acceptable to not get it on your 16th birthday, or to not get it at all. There's nothing to be ashamed of and I'm tired of people being judgemental towards adults who don't have their licenses.