feeling embarrassed taking a mobility aid out. will it take up too much space. you are allowed to take up that space

You know what? Happy Disability Month to those who were disabled by accident. Cars, skis, ice, sand, rocks, horses, just plain bad luck. Broken bones and backs that never heal. Shoulders that can't lift or move right. Wrists that don't turn. Hands that can't grasp. Brains that don't work right anymore. Legs that don't move anymore and eyes that won't recover.

The shame, the blame, the frustration, the wishful thinking that tears you apart. The beauty of small victories and simple kindness. The community you build. Reshaping a life with no warning. Mourning for the person you once were. Joyfully embracing the person you now are. Happy Disability Month to you too (even if you aren't ready to use that word yet)

In today's update of Canada Loves Eugenics, 10,064 people died in 2021 through medically assisted death in Canada, and while MAID supposedly exists to allow people with severe, incurable illnesses to die with dignity on their own terms, MAID is generally used because disabled and mentally ill people cannot access governmental assistance and are living in poverty.

The Canadian government is actively pushing poor, disabled people to death.

oh and by the way, Canada performs more organ transplants from MAID donors than any other country in the world.

"Six disability rights and religious advocates told Reuters that the pace of the planned changes to the assisted death framework in Canada brings additional risks of people opting for MAID because they are unable to access social services - the lack of which could exacerbate their suffering." - source

Anyway, it's basically like this: the USA has the Americans with Disabilities Act and Canada has MAID

Today’s disability topic is how America forces disabled people into poverty.

Today’s particular topic is how SSI keeps disabled people poor.

Let’s first go over what SSI is. Supplemental Security Income is a program that provides monthly payments to disabled people and elderly people who meet the financial qualifications.

SSDI stands for Social Security Disability and eligibility is based on work credits. This is for people who used to work before becoming disabled. We will not be discussing this today.

Here are the facts:

The average SSI payment in January of 2023 is $553 per month.

Disabled people on SSI also cannot have more than $2000 in savings and assets. This is severely limiting.

This is not enough to even cover basic needs. How can someone live based off those payments? Disabled people who live with someone such as a caregiver, family member, or partner receive reduced payments and risk losing their benefits.

Disabled people cannot marry without losing their SSI or losing financial assets.

Here is an eye opening article about forced poverty:

https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2022/01/government-mandated-poverty/

Also check this article by The Hill called “Lifeline for people with disabilities forces them to live in poverty”

https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3702528-lifeline-for-people-with-disabilities-forces-them-to-live-in-poverty/

able-bodied neurotypical people want quiet disability. invisible disability. they love it when we don’t complain and don’t shove our needs in their face. they love it when we stay home and die quietly instead of trying to live (but they don’t like it when we stay home and need caregivers).

[paragraph about self then next ones on more general and important things] i recently realized that i make many people uncomfortable irl because i talk about my symptoms. i wasn’t aware it was wrong, because i’m autistic and struggle a lot with notions of public vs private space, and what can be said to whom. i’m very open about my disabilities and struggles, both because i don’t realize i’m saying something i shouldn’t, and because i don’t have a choice and often can’t mask (i am not high masking. not low masking either tho). i don’t wear unnoticeable noise cancelling headphones, they’re not good enough for me at all, i wear big obvious ear defenders with a fluorescent part. i sit down on the floor of a store if my legs hurt. i don’t sit normally anywhere, including at school, because i can’t, i can’t sit correctly and not move, it’s painful. i don’t hesitate to tell people i have terrible executive dysfunction. i openly say i am in pain and need to rest, even if it’s abnormal for a teenager to not have a healthy strong body. when it seems relevant to the conversation, i share the fact that i struggled with an eating disorder and self harm and that i recovered/am recovering. when someone asks me how i am doing, i tell them i’m feeling terrible because i am in pain or because i am suicidal or because i am overwhelmed— this is partly a choice to be open about my disability, partly the fact that i don’t notice until it’s too late that they don’t want me to be honest, and party the fact that there are many things i cannot hide. i tell people that i am not independent, can’t cook, can’t go to new places alone, can’t shop, can’t maintain hygiene and that i don’t shower enough or brush my teeth regularly. when someone asks if i plan on learning how to drive i say that i don’t want to right now because my processing issues would be dangerous and i would get in an accident. i tell people i have meltdowns and shutdowns at school. i hit myself in public sometimes.

yet i am not visibly disabled. i’m very lucky and privileged within the disabled community. i am visibly weird and there is visibly something wrong with me but i am only visibly disabled to someone who spends some time with me and sees me unable to process informations or unable to do IADLs. strangers don’t know i’m disabled until i tell them— they mock a symptom or ask why i can’t do something and i say i’m autistic, i’m disabled, i’m in pain. and they already hate that i tell them. they say it’s private. they say my struggles are something personal. something to talk about with doctors but that no one else should have to know about.

some people are way more disabled than me, visibly disabled, disabled at first glance. some use mobility aids, full time or not. some have intellectual disabilities, some use an AAC device, some have a physical disability that cannot be concealed or an intellectual/developmental/mental disability that very obviously affects the way they move or communicate. some people don’t have a choice to mask or not to mask, don’t have a choice to be visibly disabled or not. strangers will immediately notice that these people are disabled, even without engaging in a conversation with them. and they hate it ! disabled people are supposed to be quiet and invisible and going outside with ear defenders or a mobility aid or anything, no matter if it is a small or a huge accommodation, is too much. but the bigger it is or the more you need help to do a ‘basic, easy’ thing, the worse it is. they stare at me in the street because of my ear defenders, but they don’t just stare when someone is in a wheelchair, they touch and break and don’t have any respect.

ableists think disabled people shouldn’t be in their way because they think we shouldn’t exist or that we are worthless. having an accommodation or an aid in public is already activism for them, already disturbing, already forcing them to see that they are privileged and that the world is not accessible.

to exist as a disabled person is beautiful. it’s brave. it’s something to be proud of. not because it’s inspiring that you are strong enough to live with your disability, not because "someone else would have killed themselves already in your situation," not because "i could never be like that ! you’re so courageous !", but because ableism is everywhere and it’s so hard to live in this world where they don’t want us to exist. it’s so hard to advocate for ourselves.

and for those who are not visibly disabled (like me), or at least not always ; for those who have low support needs ; for those who know how to mask : point out inaccessibility. force people to see their own ableism. make them uncomfortable. it’s also our job, our responsibility. if someone mocks me and calls me useless because i can’t do IADLs i say i’m disabled, stay very calm and inform them that many people are unable to perform BADLs without help and that they deserve just as much help and respect as anyone else. if someone points out how annoying my ear defenders are i ask why the place isn’t accessible for people in a wheelchair. etc etc. listen to people with higher support needs than you and amplify their voices. but also act irl.

we can all do better and force society to be better to.

and remember that accessibility for you doesn’t mean accessibility for everyone.

a place that accommodates sensory issues might not have accessible toilets. so it’s not good enough. an autism support group meeting has stim toys and ear defenders and happens in a quiet place ? that’s wonderful ! can a nonverbal person participate ? are caregivers welcome ? we can’t just think that "something is better than nothing." yes it is, but it’s not good enough. if a place or an event is accessible for one thing but not for something else, then it’s not accessible. and we need to be loud about it.

DAILY REMINDER TO NOT TOUCH SOMEONE'S WHEELCHAIR WITHOUT PERMISSION!!!

Our mobility aids are extensions of our bodies. If you wouldn't give a stranger a neck massage, don't touch their wheelchair, either.

📢 And we are live! 📢

[Plain Text: (loudspeaker emoji) And we are live! (loudspeaker emoji)]

As we steamroll into 2024, I'd like to kick off the year by announcing that The Disability Book Archive is now officially live and open for public browsing!

It hasn't all gone as smoothly as I wanted it to, and I haven't been able to put every book I wanted to on (yet, I'm working on it!) but I'm happy with how it's turned out and I hope you all like it it to!

I would like to thank everyone for your continued support over this project, it means a great deal to me. I hope we will only continue to grow as the year goes on!

Happy browsing, and happy new year!!

[ID: A red circle with the text “The Disability Archive” curved along the bottom, in black. In the centre, an open book with green cover, with a yellow bookmark in the middle. The bookmark has a blue flower on it. White flowers surround the book. The entire logo has a thin black border of dots. /end]

[ID: A poster. The logo for The Disability Book Archive is at the top. It is a large red circle with a green book in the centre. The book has a yellow book mark in the middle. The book mark has a blue flower. Around the book, white leaves. Text at the bottom of the logo reads "The Disability Archive". The logo is bordered by a thin layer of red dots.

A column of grey text below this reads:

"A collection of disabled literature"

"Searchable"

"Tag System"

"LGBTQ+"

"Fiction & Non-Fiction"

And "Submit Your Own" in a slightly transparent red box.

At the bottom of the cover, next to the tumblr icon, white text reads "@thedisabilitybookarchive" and "www.thedisabilityarchive.com".

The background of the poster is the straight diagonal version of the disability pride flag. /end]

The American Census Bureau is considering changes that would artificially decrease the number of disabled people in the US. We may be able to stop this.

According to this article from the Associated Press, the Census Bureau's proposed changes would align the way that the American Community Survey measures disability with international standards. They will be changing the way that some of the questions are worded, as well as changing the options for answers.

The problem is this: the questions about disability will ask if respondents if they have “no difficulty,” “some difficulty,” “a lot of difficulty” or “cannot do at all” with regard to things like hearing, seeing, ability to bathe or dress oneself, etc. Someone will only be counted as disabled if they answer "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all." This excludes a lot of people. "During testing last year by the Census Bureau, the percentage of respondents who were defined as having a disability went from 13.9% using the current questions to 8.1% under the international standards. When the definition was expanded to also include “some difficulty,” it grew to 31.7%" (AP).

So what can we do? The Census Bureau is accepting public comment on the proposed changes until the end of the day on Tuesday, December 19th. Visit this link to submit your comments, and tell the Census Bureau why this change is a bad idea! Statistics show that at least 25% of Americans are disabled (CDC). We can't let the Census Bureau erase us.

Please share this widely, and submit your comments before the close of business on Tuesday, December 19th! I also highly encourage you to check out the Associate Press article linked above, since it does a good job of explaining the situation in more detail.

what’s dysgeographica?

dysgeographica, also known as developmental topographical disorientation, is a form of neurodivergence in which a person has difficulty creating mental maps, orienting themselves or a location in space, and navigating from place to place.

some common symptoms of dysgeographica include:

getting lost easily, even in one's own neighborhood or other extremely familiar locations

difficulty memorizing even simple or frequently traveled routes

no internal compass (i.e. no sense of which way one is facing or if one has been turned around)

no sense of where familiar locations are in relation to each other

difficulty making a mental map of a building or area's layout

uncertainty about which direction a location is in, even if one knows how to get there

complete reliance on GPS navigation while traveling

rigidly following one familiar route to get somewhere, even if a better route may be available

anxiety around driving a car due to lack of confidence in one's ability to navigate as the driver

is dysgeographica just a poor sense of direction?

while many people struggle to read maps or navigate unfamiliar places, being dysgeographic means struggling with very familiar locations as well as unfamiliar ones, potentially getting lost in one's own neighborhood or workplace.

additionally, while someone who just has a poor sense of direction will generally still be able to move through the world and perform daily life activities with little to no added difficulty or distress, dysgeographic people will often find that their difficulty navigating makes day-to-day functioning more difficult (e.g. being late to work regularly due to getting lost, not being able to drive a car or travel alone).

is dysgeographica part of adhd/autism/etc?

it is possible to have dysgeographica with comorbid autism, adhd, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, etc. it's also possible to experience dysgeographic symptoms as secondary to one of those (e.g. having trouble navigating due to adhd inattention).

that being said, dysgeographica is not inherently connected to any other form of neurodivergence, and can be the only neurodivergence someone has. you don't need to be diagnosed with anything else to have dysgeographica.

is dysgeographica a disability?

yes, dysgeographica is a neurodevelopmental disability.

it is not, however, recognized as such by the DSM or ICD, despite research showing evidence of its existence and the impact it can have on people's lives. that doesn’t mean it’s not a real disability — what it does mean is that it can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get accommodations.

while dysgeographica would most likely not be categorized as a specific learning disability, it does have some overlap with dyscalculia and dyslexia, and can be considered a “cousin” of the specific learning disabilities much in the same way as dyspraxia.

Someone on r/Disability asked when “Handicapped” became an offensive word (and I went into Nerd!Mode and wrote out the whole history).

And it’s a better fit for here:

I used to be confused about why "Handicap" became offensive, too (as I remember it, the movement to stop using it started picking up steam in the early 1990s). And then, a few years ago, I went on a deep dive into the history of it for part of a book I was working on (My main source for this info was an article in an academic journal I found online that's now behind a paywall {sigh}).

But this is what I remember. I love it as part of word history, because it says so much about how we perceive things, and how we choose the words we do.

Anyway:

The Folk History of the word says that's because it comes from the phrase "Cap-in-Hand" -- in other words, begging, and gives the suggestion that the only thing disabled people are good for is begging.

The true history of the word is that it started out associated with sports (Golf, and Horse Racing) and referred to an extra difficulty the stronger competitor had to deal with in order to even up the stakes for the weaker competitors.

Around the turn of the 20th century, it started being applied to children with intellectual impairments, and framing their lives as being burdened by their limitations. It might have started out as neutral at the time, but it quickly morphed first to a term of pity porn, and a derogatory term (The children are burdened by their impairments, and they are, in turn, a burden on Society).

At the end of World War 1, the word "Handicap" began to be applied to all disabilities, especially to the wounded soldiers coming back from the War, and applying for government assistance. And then, the military system spread to the civilian sector, and the way states ran their welfare systems.

And so, by the middle of the 20th century, the word "Handicap" came to be associated with bureaucracy and having to submit to "experts" examining us, to decide how much help we deserve, and how many hoops we have to jump through to get it (some things never change). And so that feels like begging with "Cap in hand," even if that isn't where the word actually comes from.

And then, by the '90s, the "Social Model of Disability" began to take hold -- that's the idea that we're not only disabled by our own impairments, but also by how our society is built (lack of accessible housing, inflexible employment requirements, etc.) and the word "Handicapped" implies that our impairments are burdens we carry for ourselves, and "Disability" doesn't.

So that's why the consensus was gradually reached that "Disability" was the better word.

(Sorry this got long; I'm something of a word and history geek)

don't just use mobility aids on your worst days. don't push yourself to the point you have to use it. use them even on less pain days too.

ykno i really don't like the "i'm disabled and i can make art" response to the whole disability and AI art thing. i'm not even going to touch on AI specifically but, i promise you, there is always going to be a disabled person who cannot do what you can do. even if what you're doing takes tremendous effort and innovation and perseverance, there is a disabled person who cannot.

your argument boiling down to "i can do it, why can't you?" is going to be ableist no matter what you're talking about. and telling disabled people who already don't posses ability to do function to just "save money" to have someone make thing for them... is still ableist. heavy odds are, that person cannot work or make enough money to do that.

and i am saying this as a disabled artist, who can barely make art anymore because of disability. any art i can make causes me tremendous pain and exhaustion. so i understand. i really do. but the argument of "i can do it, so other disabled people can too" is just. not. fair. you have ability. you still able compared to someone else. not fair to punch down on them (me included) because of AI. you aren't defending disabled people; you're defending yourself.

this apply to more than AI art. please be aware of what you say and think when someone say they cannot do something. just because you can find a way doesn't mean everyone can. disabled art is beautiful and good and should be defended. but ableism not way to do that.

happy disability pride month

reminder that if you're mad at tumblr and are having reservations about the blackout (valid) and aren't sure what to do, leaving a negative and explanatory review on the tumblr app store (actually expressing why the site is becoming more frustrating to use) and deleting the app may help.

Please do not leave tumblr completely during the only month where disabled voices are actually heard. Please support your disabled friends and disabled tumblr users this month.

here's a couple reminders of what people want changed, please feel free to add more!

flashing lights on ads (inaccessible, not disability-friendly)

ads with noise

inability to turn off tumblr live permanently

the push towards short-form videos that no one wants

maybe request that the staff communicates better with users and operates with more transparency rather than just... making changes no one wants.

Hi tumblr besties, i need help!

i am disabled and chronically ill and i have been houseless for nearly 6 months now. i am very scared for how another winter in alaska will be for me. im working to move out of state about mid-september and i need help with moving expenses!! i would appreciate if you guys could share and b**st this!!

I know the Disability Day of Mourning traditionally commemorates disabled people murdered by their parents and/or caregivers, but I wanted to take a moment to also commemorate the disabled lives lost during the genocides taking place in Palestine, the DRC, Sudan, and across the globe (including in the US). There are many ways for a system to perpetuate ableist violence and we must struggle as a community against all of them.

May the disabled souls taken from us rest in peace, every single one, and may the members of the disabled community currently fighting for their lives and the lives of their loved ones receive the support and safety they deserve.

If you have a bit to spare, please consider donating to Crips for eSims for Gaza and supporting their vital work.

autism spectrum disorder is NOT a childhood developmental disorder. autistic folks' bodies don't just stop aging.

we we're born autistic and we will die autistic.

all autistics age our symptoms don't disappear when we turn 18.

our needs for support do not disappear when we turn 18.

lot of autistics get a lot of support decreased, sometimes completely.

luckily, we are in a disability program that supports youths and teens and adults. we are about to phase out of the youth program, and we will get similar in the adult support program. we we're supported in a mostly mental health way, but it was alters when we got diagnosed with ASD. now we have child, teen, and adults alters, but our body is an adult. we are a dependent adult. needing support in a lot of areas

autsitic children become autistic adults

disbaled children become disbaled adults

art credits - Mia Olofsson from Sketchify on Canva