#its not easy having a disability

[keydekyie]

Go you funky little SecUnit! Go!

(One of my favorite scenes from the newest Murderbot novel: System Collapse)

[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.

[pansyfemme]

my third ‘burst out crying for a reason i am unable to put into words’ event in two days

[bmpmp3]

finding out ur coworker is way older than you thought and having to very quickly reorient how you talk to them

[swordsonnet]

lately, i've seen more people in the online autistic community acknowledging the struggles of people with higher support needs, which is of course an important development. but for some, that seems to come with the implicit assumption that low needs autistics "have it easy" or experience no stigma at all, which is just wrong??? people with low support needs are still disabled by their autism and still face discrimination because of it. sure, they are impaired to a lesser degree than those with higher support needs, but that doesn't mean you can just erase their struggles, y'know?

[s0fter-sin]

something people just don’t think about is how often chronically ill and disabled people just don’t have access to good food. not healthy food, good food; well made, tasty meals that don’t come from a jar or a freezer. how many of us are housebound or can’t drive? delivery services only offer within certain distances, if you live outside a city they aren’t an option. many people don’t have the energy or ability to cook for themselves if they have the skill to begin with. many certainly don’t have the ability to learn how. it’s something that goes completely unnoticed, just the opportunity to have a good meal and how much that wears you down

[cepheusgalaxy]

Easy IDs to do for beginners

[Plain text: Easy IDs to do for beginners /end PT.]

Disability Pride Month is here! And as so I think it'd be neat to incentive people to describe more images, as advocacy for acessibility.

But I get it that describing images (visual stuff) with *your own words* may seem a bit challenging, specially if you've never done that before, so I decided to gather some easy things you can describe to start!

1 - Text transcripts

What is a text transcrip? A text transcript is when you have an image whose only component is text, and you take the text from it and write it out for the people who for whatever reason can't acess the image themselves (like if they are blind and use a text-to-speech device to read what's on the screen for them and therefore can't recognize the text of an image, people with low vision that can't see average-sized text and configure theirs to display text in a bigger font, which doesn't work on images and it's too tiny for them to read...). An example of text transcript:

[ID: Text: An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriotly-attached tongue, limbs folded underneat, and no tail (the tail of tailed frogs is an) /end ID.]

(this is from the Wikipedia page on frogs.)

Text transcripts are easy to do because you only have to take the already existing text from an image and type it out. For longer text-only images, you can also use a text recognition AI tool, such as Google Lens, to select the text from you and then you just have to copy and paste it into the description.

2 - Memes

Despiste what you may think, most memes (specially 1-panel memes) are incredibly easy to describe, because they come from a well-known template. Take this one for an example:

[ID: The "Epic Handshake" meme. One of the people in the handshake is labelled "black people", and the other is labelled "tall people". The place where they shake hands has the caption "constantly being asked if you play basketball". /end ID.]

They are easy to describe because despiste having many elements, you can easily sum it all up in a few words, like "the loss meme", "the is this a pigeon meme", the "bernie sanders" meme, and so on. When you describe memes, you don't have to worry about every single detail, (@lierdumoa explains this better on this post) but only about 'what makes this meme funny?' If you are describing one, just describe which is the meme you're talking about, and how it differs from its template, like the captions or anyone's face that may have been edited in.

3 - One Single Thing

Images with "one single thing" are, I think, the easiest thing to describe on the world. When you describe things, what you're supposed to do is "describe what you see". If there's only one thing to see, then you can easily describe it! Quick example:

[ID: A banana. /end ID.]

See?

You could also describe this image as "a single yellow banana in a plain white background", but this extra information is not exactly important. One knows a banana is yellow. That is not unusual, and neither that nor the color of the background change anything in the image. So in these types of descriptions, you can keep things very short and simple, and deliver your message just as well.

An exception would be something like this:

[ID: A blue banana. /end ID.]

In this case, where there is something unusual about the object, describing it will be more useful. When you say "banana", one would assume the banana is yellow, so to clarify, you say that this specific banana is blue.

When you have other situations where your One Single Thing is unusual in some way, like a giant cat, a blue banana, or a rotten slice of bread, pointing out what their unusual characteristic is is the best way to go.

3.5 - A famous character of person

This one is actually similar to the One Single Thing type of ID. When you are describing, say, a random person or an oc, you'd want to describe things like their clothes, their hair color, etc., but in the case of an already well-known figure, like Naruto or Madonna, just saying their names delivers the message very well. Like this for example:

[ID: Taylor Swift, singing. /end ID.]

or

[ID: Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, leaning on his desk to pick up a cup. /end ID.]

In both of these cases, you technically could describe them as "a blonde woman with light skin...", "a cartoon character with animal ears and a suit..." but you will be more straight to the point if you just say "Taylor Swift" and "Alastor". In these cases, it's usually very useful to describe what they're doing as well, like "singing" and "leaning on his desk to pick up a cup", or whatever else.

An extra tip I can give you to describing characters in specific, is to point out if they are wearing anything different. With most cartoon characters, they usually have a signature outfit and hairstyle, that one would expect them to be in. So, similarly to the blue banana case, if they are wearing a different thing than they usually do, it comes in handy to state that in your description. Like this:

[ID: Sakura from Naruto wearing a nurse outfit. /end ID.]

Sakura's usual outfit is not a nurse one, so since she is wearing one, pointing it out is very helpful.

The last tip I have for describing characters is pointing out which franchise they are from. For example, if I just said "Sakura", you'd probably assume it was this one, since she is famous, but you wouldn't be able to be sure, because how many Sakuras are out there? So, saying "Emma from the X-Men" and "Emma from The Promised Neverland" is gonna be very helpful.

Helpful resources and final considerations:

A masterpost I did with many tutorials and tips for doing image descriptions in general

Why are image descriptions important (even for sighted people)?

And a few tips about formatting:

Putting "id" and "end id" at the start and at the end of your description is gonna help the people reading it to know where the description starts and where it ends, so they don't read, say, your caption, and think you are still talking about your description

Customized fonts, colored text, italics, bold text or tiny text aren't things you should do your ID in. Most customized fonts are pretty hard to understand, and most text-to-speech devices can't recognize them. Tiny text is hard to see for people who need big fonts, and italized text faces the same issue because it makes the words smaller. Full lines or paragraphs of colored text can cause eyestrain when people try to read them, and bolded text makes the edges of the words too close together and can make it even harder to read for people who have trouble reading already.

And that's it! Happy describing, folks!

[milkweedman]

Been trying to make a thick winter hat all damn weekend and have gotten approximately nowhere very slowly.

First was gonna do some cables (good way to make a thick hat), but my brain is mush and I just couldn't get math and tension to co-operate. Then I figured, bit of single color brioche is also very thick. Can't do brioche anymore apparently, as it wasn't working. Fine, I'll just crochet it--except now it's not warm because it has too many holes. Also, I've been using a very dark yarn for this bc its what I have, but I'm starting to suspect that not being able to see my stitches has been the problem this whole time.

So...now idk what. I still need a thick winter hat. Also need a pair of mittens and a wheelchair blanket as well as to actually finish that wheelchair bag (even more important now bc I ripped a huge hole in one of my prototypes on Friday and I dont want to fix it). Augh. So much to do. So little brain and even less arm strength to do it with.

I'm going to rethink my yarn choices and try for the hat yet again, I guess.

[simplyender]

in light of me and the rest of my disabled friends adopting spot- the disabled rep we didnt ask for, definitely didnt need, but still got anyway /j

[chronicpaingirlie]

it’s funny how days like today confirm how much i Should Not Be Employee and how much i Can Not Handle It and yet . because a disability application decision takes like a year . i have to have a job at the expense of my health so i dont. yknow. die. lmao

[yippie-madness]

actually and genuinely fuck you if your reslonse to seeing dying people beg for you to help them by answering a fucking ask is to whine that it makes tou uncomfy.

"it makes me feel uncomfortable, it makes me feel guilty" GOOD. GENOCIDE IS MEANT TO BE FUCKING UNCOMFORTABLE. MAYBE YOU WOULDN'T FEEL GUILTY IF YOU DIDN'T RESPOND BY IGNORING IT. GET USED TO DEALING WITH DISCOMFORT YOU ABSOLUTE SCUM. THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING DYING. IMAGINE SEEING SOMEONE, A LOVED ONE, YOUR KID, YOUR PARENT, YOUR SIBLING, YOUR FRIEND WHOEVER BURN TO DEATH INFRONT OF YOU AND THEN GETTING THIS FUCKING RESPONSE. IMAGINE NOT HAVING THE MONEY TO BUY WATER AND THIS BEING PEOPLES' RESPONSES. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU. YOU ARE ABSOLUTE FUCKING SCUM.

"disappointing to see 10 new asks in my inbox just to be the same ask for donations over and over" IMAGINE BEGGING FOR HELP BECAUSE YOU ARE TRAPPED IN NOT A WAR ZONE A GENOCIDE STARVING BECAUSE ALL AID HAS BEEN BLOCKADED AND SOMEONE COMPLAINING THAT ITS "disappointing" TO HAVE TO SEE YOU ASKING FOR HELP. NOT EVEN FOR MONEY JUST FOR SOMEONE TI SHARE YOUR STORY.

"Edit: To all the people reblogging this, I'm sorry you have had to deal with this too. And yes, you can put this in your pinned post! Stay safe <3" DEAL? DEAL WITH DYING PEOPLE BEGGING FOR HELP? FUCK YOU. YOU ARE FUCKING VILE. YOU ARE THE KIND OF PEOPLE THAT MAKE GENOCIDES LIKE THIS HAPPEN, LET THEM GO UNNOTICED.

grow the fuck up. i don't care that your probably like 13, you can do SOMETHING. you can share posts, you can email representatives, you can sign petitions, you can just talk about. but now. the idea of other people suffering makes you feel too uncomfy and too guilty to bother.

and dont you dare go calling yourself an anti zionist if your like this you coward.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

[cws: drugging, SA and SA apologia, fantasy racism/ableism, forced institutionalization.]

-

i know i never shut up about it but god i am still just. So Salty about how the show handles the dynamic between mayor jones and pericles for many reasons, and one of the biggest is that there are really strong overtones here of sexual assault.

a character who already brings to mind the Slimy, Shady Cis White Guy with Buried Allegations archetype:

takes advantage of the trust of someone who's doing something with him in secret--

(which will get that person in a disproportionate amount of trouble compared to him, if they're discovered)

--to catch him off guard so he can grab him, drug him, and do violent things to his body while he's unconscious; scars him for life in a way that is disabling and should cause a lot of ongoing suffering, which, like many other things that should have a strong negative impact on him physically or psychologically, the writers ignore; and dumps him there alone to discover what's been done to him when he wakes up.

specifically, he does this to someone from a marginalized group that's highly unlikely to be believed if they tell anyone what he did--and going by the fact that mayor jones never got in any trouble until present day, he wasn't.

goes out of the way to ruin the life of the victim and discredit him as thoroughly as possible, because he's a loose end and he needs to shut him up.

flees the scene and gets away scot free with this for twenty years, has a successful privileged career and is considered a pillar of the community in the meantime.

when his dirty secret, which he's been paranoid about finally facing consequences for after the victim has recently become a risk again, is discovered, it's a huge career-ending scandal.

is redeemed by the end, while his victim goes on to be the Monstrous Irredeemable Pure Evil Main Villain and also sexually abuse someone himself, which is played as horrific and traumatizing (as it should be).

more specifically, is portrayed as showing redeeming, heroic anti-villain qualities by backhanding the victim into a wall as hard as he can in present day.

me: hm. yeah fuck this

[amicus-siderum]

I love the headcanon that Kaeya's corset is actually a back brace

In general I just love the idea that Kaeya has chronic pain and illness.

He's already got an eye patch! Yeah his eye "is fine" apparently, but it was hurt in The Fight™ with Diluc, and you know what Diluc fights with? Fire and a claymore. I'm not an eye expert but I'm pretty sure being hit in the eye with fire will cause at the very least some lasting damage. Canonically Kaeya can can still see out of it, so perhaps severe light sensitivity, maybe blurry vision to the point of vertigo.

But something about the corset being a back brace is near and dear to my heart. I love it! I've read it in so many fics and all these amazing writers come up with so many different reasons he need it, and I think it's lovely (lmfao I sound like a sadist).

Did he get it during The Fight™ when Diluc's burst slammed him into a rock, rendering him unable to move away fast enough before the next attack?

Did he get it when they were teenagers, when protecting his brother and captain from an incoming attack, making Diluc overly protective of him in the ranks for a good while, because gods know Kaeya himself had no self-preservation instinct and would do it again without hesitation?

Did he get it even earlier, when they were mere children, falling off the winery's roof because him and his brother were being silly little boys who didn't know better than to climb so high when playing pirates?

[tazzmanian-devil]

im so scared of the future. i dont know what im going to do with myself. i am not mentally capable of working enough hours to support myself without killing myself. i truly believe that if i lived alone i would burn my house down. i cant work jobs that require a lot of standing or interacting with others. i dont have the autism that makes me good with computers to do something online. i have no idea what im good for. i dont even draw well or often enough to do commissions, and i feel too guilty about not being in a difficult financial situation to even offer them.

i dont know how to apply for disability or what it would even grant me besides tax benefits. one of the questions on the website is for employment status, and the two options are employed and unemployed/seeking employment. i do not think i am capable of working a regular job, and i have no idea what IRregular jobs there might be. i tried reaching out to my school's employment coordinator, and her ONLY advice was to sell my work. i am trying!

maybe it would be different if i felt more direct and specific pressure of a problem to solve and less general pressure to do what im supposed to without knowing what that is. im living with my grandfather and aunt right now, so im not feeling housing pressure. my parents are paying for my education, so im not feeling pressure to pay that back. why do i need that? what is it for? what is my goal? i dont know. i have money from student loans in my bank account paying for my groceries.

i feel like a horse whose ass has been spanked. something is driving me forward, but i dont know what or which direction to run. i have no idea whats coming, and its horrible. i dont know what i want or what i should be doing next, except for 'get a job' which is such a vague instruction that its leaving me spinning my wheels.

i should get a job so i can live alone...but i dont want to live alone. i dont think i CAN live alone, unsupported. what is any of this for??? i start taking steps forward, and im haulted each time by myself asking why? why am i doing this? whats the point? what do i want from this? nothing? i want nothing? im only doing this to satisfy external pressures? then whats the point? cant i just watch movies all day instead? whats the point?

[todayisafridaynight]

THIS IS GONNA SOUND SO MEAN BUT WHY DO U LIKE RYO AOKI/MASATO

masato hot

[bulldagger-bait]

When it comes to hygiene tasks and self care with disability and chronic illness, its pretty much a constant case of: don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Basically: it's better to do something, than to do nothing at all.

TLDR: Just because you can't do something "properly" doesn't mean you shouldn't do it at all. Do it half-way. Do it shitty. Do it barely. Do it on a technicality. But do what you can. Just try, because doing something will help you.

If you don't have the energy to scrub your body with a sponge, just rub soap over your skin with your hands.

If you don't have the energy to wash your whole body with soap, just hit the places where sweat accumulates, or where you're smelliest.

If you don't have the energy to wash with soap AT ALL, just sitting in water is better than nothing. It will wash away dirt and oils.

If you can't bathe or shower at all, a warm wash cloth is your new best friend. If that's too much, then try bath wipes. They're a bit bigger than regular wet wipes, and a bit more heavy duty. They're designed to help keep bed ridden patients clean in hospitals.

If you don't have the energy to dry yourself after a bath or a shower, just put on a bathrobe and get into bed. If you don't have the energy to get dressed afterwards, just don't. It can wait until you can.

If you don't have energy to brush your teeth for two minutes, honestly, just a cursory scrub is better than not doing anything.

If you can't brush your teeth twice a day, brush in the evenings. It will help take away the build up of food from the day.

If you don't have the energy to brush AT ALL, honestly, just take a cloth and wipe the plaque off your teeth. Rinse with mouth wash after if you'd like. Something is always better than nothing.

If you can't floss twice a day. Try once. If that's too much, try a few times a week. If that's too much, try setting aside a day once a week as a goal. If you can't keep a schedule, do it when you're able to. Hell, I keep some floss next to my bed so that if I forget and don't have the energy to go get it, I can just reach over.

If you can't iron your clothes, don't bother. Wrinkles are fine. Wear jumpers over wrinkly t-shirts. No one will know, and honestly, most people won't even care. If it's really wrinkly and it's A Big Deal And It Needs To Be Ironed, here's my life hack. Step 1: take a spray bottle, and spritz the item of clothing (while you're wearing it is easiest) until it's lightly damp. Step 2: use a hair-dryer on the clothes until they're dry. It gets rid of creases like nobody's business, it's easier than lugging out the iron and ironing board, and you get to have nice toasty warm clothes afterwards.

If you can't fold your clothes, try just hanging them up. It's less commitment. It's quicker to do. Granted, you need to have the space in order to do this, but it is also good at helping you downsize, and lets you visualise exactly what you have.

If you can't put your clothes away, invest in a couple of laundry baskets, and then just keep your clean clothes in the baskets. You can then separate washed clothes into underwear, pants, and shirts baskets. You can just leave them like that. I'm giving you permission to never fold your laundry again if you can't. Just leave it unfolded. Who's going to care? Something is better than nothing. If you can, try to put those baskets into your closet so that you can keep the clutter out of sight, and give yourself a more restful environment.

If you can't separate your clothing out into different categories and wash them "properly" (whites, warm tones, cool tones, darks, delicates / switching between hot & cold washes / paying attention to laundry instructions on the label) then just don't worry about it. If you cold wash your clothes, colours won't bleed. Maybe gradually over the course of dozens of washes there'll be some changes in hue, but it's really not as high stakes as the One Red Sock In The Whites Turns Them Pink trope makes it out to be.

I've pretty much come to the point in my life where if a piece of clothing can't survive the washer and dryer, then it's just not meant to be. I colour separate my clothes, and if I have the energy/remember I'll take my bras and jumpers out of the washing machine to drip dry. But otherwise, I leave it to the universe.

If you can't separate out your recycling, then don't. If you have a large amount of rubbish you need to get rid of but the idea of separating it out properly is stopping you from doing so, then just don't worry about it. I know it's not ideal, but if you have garbage in your room/house and you need to get rid of it, please just get rid of it. Don't let the problem get bigger and harder to deal with. Don't let "doing something properly" get in the way of keeping your living spaces clean. Please. Give yourself understanding.

If you can't wash your dishes, get paper plates. Obviously, it's not ideal, but it is better that you eat food than skipping meals. It is better that you have a clean kitchen, rather than having dishes piling up and making it harder to look after yourself.

If you can't prepare meals for yourself keep making the tasks easier and easier. If you can't do recipes, then simplify. Use pasta sauce from the jar instead of making it. Eat canned soup. Buy food you can just stick in the oven. If you eat fish fingers and microwave veggies every night, it's better than not eating anything at all. It's better than having to fork out money on take-out. If you need ready-made meals, then get them. If you're literally just eating a raw cauliflower for dinner; 1) I see you, 2) me too, sis, 3) something is better than nothing.

These are the basic things you need to do every day to function as a person. They are your activities of daily living. Brushing your teeth. Bathing or showering. Using the bathroom. Getting dressed. Eating. Drinking. Sleeping. Keeping your environment clean. You don't need to do these things perfectly, but they need to happen in order for you to have a decent quality of life.

And it breaks my heart, because I know that so many disabled people can't do these things every day. I'm not saying this to guilt or judge, I'm saying that these are basic needs; you deserve these things. These things bring dignity. If a disabled person is unable to do these things, it diminishes their quality of life. It robs them of dignity.

If you need help to do these things, Its okay to ask for help. It's okay to need help. But if you can't get that help and you have to do these things by yourself -- or you just plain want to be independent and do it without help-- then don't hold yourself to standards you can't meet.

Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. Doing something is always better than doing nothing. Even if it's not perfect. Even if it's not done well. Do what you can.