#queer and disability rights

[somelonelywordmonger]

I revoke, rescind, renounce, and repudiate a post I made recently. In fact, I might just up and delete it.

And, yes, all of those words starting with 'r' are synonyms, but I wanted to make an over-the-top statement.

I have been stewing over our options (our as in my fellow Americans) for a while now. I've done a lot of thinking and self-reflection and have been staying quiet since my post as I listen to racial minority voices. I felt their voices were the ones I needed to listen to the most at the moment, given all that has happened.

After finding the news about Sonya Massey, my mind was completely settled on the matter regarding the upcoming election. Even before learning of her and that bastard cop, I couldn't, in good conscious, vote for Trump. That was a given. But I also couldn't, in good conscious, vote for Biden. Yet that scare tactic by the left was effectively overriding my moral compass and what I knew to be right. The last thing I want is another Trump presidency. But I also am sick of the Democratic Party and those within it that are fascists, and if I recall correctly that is by Mussolini's definition of fascism that I am referring to.

For months, I have been arguing with my mother over the Biden Administration, and his (now no more) presidential bid. I already made comments and disparaging remarks about him before he took on the role as Genocide Joe. But after October 7, 2023, the vitriol I had for the two party system and the shit Biden had pulled exploded. I am now banned from mentioning him to her and dragging his name through the mud in her house ever again, now that he's dropped out of the race. If that gives you any idea how heated our arguments became.

Arguing with my mother about the upcoming election and over Biden has made me aware of some common threads in the scare tactics that had originally hooked me:

1. "Voting for anyone other than Red or Blue is throwing away my vote. Yet, every vote counts and I have a choice." Well that doesn't add up. If I have a choice then I will use it to vote other than Red and Blue and it will literally count as a vote. It just won't count to the loser candidate of your choice. Go be butt hurt somewhere else or maybe come over to my side, we have rights and unicorns. (Jasmine Sherman is under the Unicorn Party. 🦄)

2. "If you vote a third-party like Jasmine Sherman, nothing will change as Congress won't let them pass anything." Well, thank you for acknowledging the red elephants and blue asses in the room, but what makes you so sure your candidate will succeed then? Literally, I grew up watching Congress give Obama a hard fucking time because the majority was Red and he was Blue (and Black!) Then Biden, a Blue, has struggled to deliver on his promises because of his bipartisan BS and Congress being mostly Red once more. Not to mention the SCOTUS. How would it be any fucking different? It wouldn't. For the record, my state is a Blue one and I believe we have only Democrats up on the Hill. And I'm more limited in my Congress choices anyway.

And the other scare tactics used often stem from these two flawed statements. At the time they had worked on me. But with being so chronically ill and in pain, I've had a lot of time to think to myself. I've had time to look at others' opinions, the facts, and some of my options. And as I armed myself with information, my morals began to unhook me from the fear. I do not need to keep waiting. Sonya Massey could have been alive today if we hadn't put off what was right. And Jasmine Sherman has a plan to tackle our police problem. Hell, they have a plan to tackle a fuck ton of our problems. We can make a difference, stop the cycle of hate and violence, and heal as a society while we work to heal our world. Not to mention Jasmine Sherman cares more than just for Palestine regarding their foreign policy.

Fuck voting blue. I'm voting unicorn. For Sonya Massey, for George Floyd, for the Indigenous Nations, for myself and my rights, for my transgender brother's rights, for Palestine, for all of us.

[cowsabungus]

A guide to designing wheelchair using characters!

I hope this helps anyone who's trying to design their oc using a wheelchair, it's not a complete guide but I tried my best! deffo do more research if you're writing them as a character

[whereserpentswalk]

The nazis that you see in movies are as much a historical fantasy as vikings with horned helmets and samurai cutting people in half.

The nazis were not some vague evil that wanted to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. They had specific goals which furthered a far right agenda, and they wanted to do harm to very specific groups, (largely slavs, jews, Romani, queer people, communists/leftists, and disabled people.)

The nazis didn't use soldiers in creepy gas masks as their main imagery that they sold to the german people, they used blond haired blue eyed families. Nor did they stand up on podiums saying that would wage an endless and brutal war, they gave speeches about protecting white Christian society from degenerates just like how conservatives do today.

Nazis weren't atheists or pagans. They were deeply Christian and Christianity was part of their ideology just like it is for modern conservatives. They spoke at lengths about defending their Christian nation from godless leftism. The ones who hated the catholic church hated it for protestant reasons. Nazi occultism was fringe within the party and never expected to become mainstream, and those occultists were still Christian, none of them ever claimed to be Satanists or Asatru.

Nazis were also not queer or disabled. They killed those groups, before they had a chance to kill almost anyone else actually. Despite the amount of disabled nazis or queer/queer coded nazis you'll see in movies and on TV, in reality they were very cishet and very able bodied. There was one high ranking nazi early on who was gay and the other nazis killed him for that. Saying the nazis were gay or disabled makes about as much sense as saying they were Jewish.

The nazis weren't mentally ill. As previously mentioned they hated disabled people, and this unquestionably included anyone neurodivergent. When the surviving nazi war criminals were given psychological tests after the war, they were shown to be some of the most neurotypical people out there.

The nazis weren't socialists. Full stop. They hated socialists. They got elected on hating socialists. They killed socialists. Hating all forms of lefitsm was a big part of their ideology, and especially a big part of how they sold themselves.

The nazis were not the supervillians you see on screen, not because they didn't do horrible things in real life, they most certainly did, but because they weren't that vague apolitical evil that exists for white American action heros to fight. They did horrible things because they had a right wing authoritarian political ideology, an ideology that is fundamentally the same as what most of the modern right wing believes.

[crippledpunks]

i wanna say fuck you to anyone who shame disabled, chronically ill & neurodivergent people, especially homebound folks, for "spending too much time on their phone/on the internet/etc." when it's the only (Somewhat) accessible way for them to experience the world. many people don't get to get out much even if they want to because of their disabilities. shaming someone for trying to connect with the world, make friends and engage with hobbies in ways that are accessible to them is beyond cruel and unnecessary

[plague-parade]

reminder this pride month that disabled people in the US on SSI and some forms of SSDI* do not have the same marriage equality as people not on SSI and SSDI. its called the marriage penalty.

by getting married, a disabled person can lose their income, benefits, and health insurance.

if a disabled person marries an able bodied person, and combined their assets are $3000 or over they will lose all benefits, including medicaid (health insurance).

if a disabled person marries a disabled person, their assistance is lowered 25%.

we don’t have marriage equality until all disabled marriages are equal.

*SSDI title II (disabled adult child) does fall under the marriage penalty, regular SSDI does not.

sources x x x x

[chronicallycouchbound]

A drawing of my wheelchair for disability pride month!

(ID: on a medium grey background is a line art drawing of an ultra-lightweight wheelchair, specifically a Tilite Aero Z chair. The line art is colored in a gradient in stripes to mimic the disability pride flag. The colors from the lower left to the upper right are: a muted red, yellow, white, sky blue and a hunter green. End ID)

[stars-and-crips]

PSA to stores:

If a wheelchair user is terrified to move around in your store due to clutter, you’re doing it wrong.

EDIT: Anyone is allowed to reblog, and disabled people are allowed to add on, so long as it doesn’t derail the point of the post! If you’re unsure, feel free to ask me!

Thanks for all the love on the post so far!

[theacecouple]

TOMORROW!

October 23rd, 2024 is the 4th annual Disabled Ace Day!

Disabled Ace Day, which takes place on Wednesday during Ace Week, is dedicated to awareness, visibility, and celebration of the intersections of Asexuality and Disability and advocates for material and social support of Disabled Aces everywhere.

With a vitally important election coming up in the US, we will be talking politics tomorrow on the The Ace Couple podcast by discussing the laws that create marriage inequality in our country for Disabled people, for Asexual & Aromantic people, and for Black Americans.

Obergefell v. Hodges may have allowed for same-sex marriage at the federal level, but it does NOT mean that we have true marriage equality in this country.

We encourage Disabled Aces from around the globe to talk about your own experience, be it personal or political, to raise awareness this Ace Week.

Disabled Ace Day logo by Emmalee Larghi Dahlgren

[magicrainbowkitties]

Hey you. American queer/neurodivergent/disabled/immigrant kid.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry your country is betraying you. I'm sorry the people who promised you support and love stood by and let this happen. I'm sorry that the people being put into power right now are getting ready to make your life a living hell.

I'm so sorry.

But you HAVE to stick around, ok? Us older folks, YOU'RE the reason we fight so hard. We love you so much and so deeply and we are going to fight like hell to keep you safe. PLEASE please please stick around.

Your people are here and out there, and you are so very very loved you can't even imagine.

You've been so strong for so long and I'm so sorry, but you have to keep being strong. Be kind to yourself, check in with your friends, and DON'T lose hope.

Please. Don't leave us. We love you.

[nadias-orizonta]

If nothing else, you're still here. I cannot stress enough YOU'RE STILL HERE!!! You were here last time, you survived long enough to still be here now. I'm proud of you! If they want us gone, make them work for it. If they want to take our rights, fight to hold on and if they win, fight back again and again and again!!! They take so much already, don't let them take your hope, don't make it easy for them, don't give them your heart, never give up your life!

The one thing they hate more than anything, is the fact that YOU ARE STILL HERE!!!

Let them seethe, let them cry, let them be consumed by the hate in their hearts, and let them be forgotten by all but the dirt they'll rot within.

Let them watch as all of their work amounts to nothing because WE WILL STILL BE HERE!!!!

[cowsabungus]

Make pride accessible for everyone!!!!

I made a post about this last year and the year before, and thought if I did it this way it gives people and orgs something to work towards. Often people forget that disabled people aren't just wheelchair users, and even those who are, need more than just that ramp!

My first ever pride, not only as a wheelchair but my first ever EVER pride, I went in expecting to feel at home.

Obviously I wasn't, I'm disabled, so why should I?

Instead there was just a ridiculous amount of uneven flooring, a steep ramp to the disabled toilet, no sanitary towel bin in the disabled toilet (???) no allowances to be let out of the festival to fetch things from my car, no where quiet and organisers who seemed genuinely surprised to see a wheelchair user!

My next pride, three years later, I was a seller, and while they had sorted their toilet problem (still no sanitary towel bin???), the hill to get in wouod have been genuinely impossible for me to get to if I hadn't been driving to get my stall in anyway, even with someone pushing me, no quiet areas, plenty of kerbs for me to get stuck at and again, genuine surprise.

Why is it so surprising to consider disabled people might be at pride? Not only do queer disabled people exist, but parents and family of queer kids and people, vendors and even entertainers!

Making pride accessible is crucial!

ID available in Alt Text

[intersexfairy]

it's not intersexist to acknowledge that intersexness can result from a health condition or be related to one. intersex is an umbrella term for a variety of experiences, including ones involving disability, and it's okay and important to admit that. we don't gain anything by throwing intersex people who experience complications from their variation/related condition under the bus.

but even beyond that, we don't have to separate ourselves from disability in order to prove we deserve human rights. our variations being linked to chronic illness wouldn't mean that all the medical abuse towards us is founded. disabled and intersex people all have a right to bodily autonomy and proper healthcare that needs to be upheld.

even if our sex nonconformity were somehow universally an illness, intersex and disabled people have a right to exist. just as much as abled and dyadic people do. there is no "proving" that we have human rights - that is something we all inherently have.

[floral-ashes]

Transphobia is disabling.

I track Canadian legal decisions about trans folks, and I’m noticing a sharp rise in disability support cases involving depression, cPTSD, and gender dysphoria due to transphobia.

The rise coincides with the arrival of the anti-trans moral panic in Canada.

[bizarreaizen]

i love you mspec lesbians !! i love you "cringe" bunny hat alt fashion queers !! i love you she/her gays !! i love you trans people who don't fit into gender norms or stereotypes !! i love you drag queens and drag kings !! i love you neopronouns and xenopronouns users !! i love you people who use microlabels !! i love you unlabeled people !! i love you disabled poc queers !! i love you muslim queers !! i love you non-human queers !! i love you xenogenders users !! . . ♡ /gen

[extreme-dyke-syndrome]

The crippled urge to go "nice cane" to every other cane user you see

[whereserpentswalk]

I know that most of you don't want to hear this but your movement for progress and acceptance will never succeed until you learn to accept people who you find ugly. Like, I understand you might be turned on by a lot of people from a specific group, but you're going to have to find a way to support the rights of groups and individuals you don't want to fuck.