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five-thousand-loaves-of-bread · 2 years

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why are autistics without intellectual disability so quick to distance themselves from those who do?

*unbolded version under the cut*

i see this most often in autistics who are (labeled) level 1/"high functioning"/"aspie" (yes i know the three don't always equal one another yes i know hans asperger nazi). this of course happens with all autistics without intellectual disability (ID) but see most with them.

this is largely rhetorical question.

see so many autistics without ID say things like "i'm autistic not STUPID" and get so offended when someone even imply or genuinely ask if they have ID.

"i'm autistic not [r word]," "i'm autistic but not like those kinds of autistic." all implying they're the "good" kind of autistic that deserve respect and rights and there is group of autistic who are "bad" (read: not palatable enough) who should be bullied and denied rights and locked away and mocked. often these are autistics with ID and autistics who are visibly stereotypically autistic who don't have ability to mask.

understand wanting to correct someone when they think wrong information of you, like you thought i have ID but i actually don't, just like you thought i have depression but i actually don't (just example not personal about me). but often when these autistics say "i'm autistic not STUPID" and variants, they often mean more than that. some autistic people without ID get so offended when people think they have ID. so offended at the idea of being associated with ID. like "how DARE you assume i have ID and are like those people."

so quick to separate self from people with ID. like they have the plague or something.

or. sometimes see autistics without ID talk about an autistic person with ID. talk about an "ugly" (unaccepted, not cute symptom) symptom and say "oh that's not the autism that's ID. autistics don't do that." and act as if there is a clear beginning and end to where the autism ends and where the ID begins. there is not.

or when autistic with ID gets mentioned. everyone focus on the autism and not the ID. or think they can speak about said autistic person with ID's experience just because they themselves are also autistic even though they don't have ID.

or "actually many autistic people have above average intelligence!" which is objectively true but 9/10 times this gets brought up to derail the conversation. yes many autistic people have high IQ (online autism space oversaturated with them), but what is left out is there is nothing wrong with having average IQ or low IQ/intellectual disability.

or. when bring up people w ID and/or autistics with ID, will say "IQ is a inaccurate/racist/colonial/ableist measure" and stuff like that. which is objectively also true! or "don't say you're stupid, you're actually very smart, there are many types of intelligence!" but the issue is when you are bringing these topics up. because yes IQ bad measure, intelligence subjective, BUT ALSO current society have specific types of intelligence they value (and this cannot be denied no matter how much you derail the conversation), AND there is nothing wrong with being "not smart" "stupid" "dumb" "unintelligent" etc. there is nothing wrong with having ID. admit that. why are you (general you) having such a hard time admitting that, to the point you will say everything else before admitting to that?

or say "[r word] is slur towards autistic people so i as an autistic person (without ID) are allowed to reclaim it." when no. r word is not slur towards autistic people. just because it has been used against you doesn't mean it means you. r word is an outdated medical term for intellectual disability, aka mental [r word]. not yours.

many many microaggressions (and macro aggressions tbh too)

autistics with ID are one of the more marginalized more vulnerable autistic population, more likely to be in bad conservatorship, more vulnerable to all kinds of abuse, less autonomy, no privacy, seen as completely incompetent, etc. particularly many have carers and are expected to fully trust and be completely vulnerable to other people and have no personal time no privacy.

autistics with intellectual disability are still autistic. they're not going anywhere.

i say this is rhetorical question because largely know why autistics without ID do this. especially level 1/"high functioning"/"aspie." because think are closest population to nondisabled neurotypical society, on the edge of nondisabled neurotypical society, expected to function well but do not. just "normal-looking" enough to be let in but not normal enough to be truly included, to thrive. many trouble. many trauma. and intelligence is one of the few things many feel proud to have feel positive to have. even feel superior to have. so have internalized ableism towards self but also internalized ableism towards intelligence.

BUT. your trauma or autism still don't justify your ableism. you are still responsible of educating self about ID and unpack ableism about intelligence and ID.

your trauma or autism doesn't justify your ableism you're just ableist

...

unbolded:

this is largely rhetorical question.

see so many autistics without ID say things like "i'm autistic not STUPID" and get so offended when someone even imply or genuinely ask if they have ID.

understand wanting to correct someone when they think wrong information of you, like you thought i have ID but i actually don't, just like you thought i have depression but i actually don't. but often when these autistics say "i'm autistic not STUPID" and variants, they often mean more than that. some autistic people without ID get so offended when people think they have ID. so offended at the idea of being associated with ID. like "how DARE you assume i have ID and are like those people."

so quick to separate self from people with ID. like they have the plague or something.

many many microaggressions (and macro aggressions tbh too)

autistics with ID are one of the more marginalized more vulnerable autistic population, more likely to be in conservatorship, more vulnerable to all kinds of abuse, less autonomy, no privacy, seen as completely incompetent, etc. particularly many have carers and are expected to fully trust and be completely vulnerable to other people and have no personal time no privacy.

autistics with intellectual disability are still autistic. they're not going anywhere.

BUT. your trauma or autism still don't justify your ableism. you are still responsible of educating self about ID and unpack ableism about intelligence and ID.

your trauma or autism doesn't justify your ableism you're just ableist

#actually autistic #actuallyautistic #intellectual disability #autism #level 1 autism #ableism tw #nd #asd #intellegence #IQ #loaf screm

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yellowyarn · 8 months

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any other autistic people feel like over the counter pain medication doesn't work for them? like tylonel does nothing for me and ibeprophen has almost no effect, but maybe im imagining it?

edit: i made a poll ↓

#autism can affect how medications affect you and jt has been researched with stimulant ADHD meds #i tried looking up if any one had done any research on this but i only found stupid articles about tylonel causing autism #thanks ableism #autism #autistic #nuero punk #auti punk #autipunk #level 2 autism #nueropunk #asd #disability #level 1 autism #level 3 autism #autistic things #nuerodiversity #nuerodivergent #autism acceptance #please tell me im not just imagining this

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pulsar-ray · 3 months

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Made a great post it got lost to wifi anyway. Fuck you level 1 autistics who excuse ableism because it doesn't affect you.

"Acoustic jokes aren't that bad. Ree is kinda funny" Yeah cause you're not the one the jokes are about. Who is it then? Literally half [or more!] of the autistic community, the 'caricatures' you laugh at, the level 2&3 people who have a more severe disability than you that you ignore because we're not normal enough for you. Fucking great, incredible even, that you get to act normal, low support needs, masking to a point where people respect you, actually get to embody your fucking 'high functioning' label. A lot of us don't!

I love that for you people don't call you the r slur & make fun of you 5 feet away from where you're sitting because they think you're too stupid to notice. I love that for you people don't treat you like a pet because they don't think you have autonomy. I fucking LOVE that for you life is relatively normal because your disability isn't moderate or severe. Great. Live your life. But fucking let me have mine.

I'm losing my shit over here at how you're so happy the world has progressed to a point where you don't need to worry about yourself anymore. Congrats. Every day I have to sit quietly on the floor & try not to act any way at all just to avoid people trying to get a reaction out of me that I can't control. All while listening to their damn jokes that you don't say anything to, because they're 'not that bad.'

Really, It's amazing that you don't need daily support. Think of us who do or get the fuck out of the community.

#autism #level 2 autism #ableism #rant #level 1 autism #level 3 autism #mid support needs #high support needs #low support needs #swear words

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a-hopeless-aromantic · 25 days

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Thinking about how on the first day of school my AP Language and Composition teacher got together with my school counselor to tell my mom that the class wasn’t right for me.

I was ticcing during class which she said meant I was nervous and in the introduction to the teacher essay I said I’m autistic and struggle a lot with deadlines and text analysis (especially rhetorical analysis) and she said it meant I didn’t have the skills needed for such a high level course

i take pride in the fact that I have a 97 in that class.

am I getting most of that grade on essays? Yes. Am I still having trouble with rhetorical analysis unless I’m guided through it shown it? Yes. Am I going to need to use testing accommodations because I can’t write a 5 paragraph essay in 40 minutes minus the time I forget what I’m doing and am just sitting there? Absolutely. Am I glad I’m in this class? Hell yeah.

#disability #Autism #level 1 autism #actually autistic #actually tourettic #tics #tics and tourettes #tourettes #tic disorder #actually disabled #school #ableism #finnean says shit

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zebulontheplanet · 5 months

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I think I get so upset when people dis on support needs because they truely either don’t understand or have a lot of internalized ableism.

There are two types of people I’ve met when I’ve talked about support needs. The people who don’t understand them, and the people who hate them because they think that autism shouldn’t be labeled like that.

Saying that “autism is autism” is true! However, backing it up with “autism support needs are bad because they separate the community more” just shows that you don’t listen to those with higher support needs. Higher support needs people have been saying that the labels are needed to help distinguish. The experiences of someone with higher support needs, can be so drastically different than yours. And those experiences need to be heard and taken seriously!

It’s ok to realize that hey, you might not be able to relate to this person. That’s ok! It is not invalidating you to say that someone’s support needs are higher and they have experiences that are different from you.

This is the same with autism levels, some people really hate them. They don’t understand them and see them as unnecessary separation. They don’t see them as what they really are, something to separate experiences and for insurance and help purposes.

A level 1 or low support needs person, has a drastically different experience from a level 3 high support needs person! It’s ok to say that. It’s something everyone needs to realize, and it’s something that people can’t deny.

#zebrambles #autism #medium support needs #actually autism #actually autistic #support needs #autistic #long post

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heliza24 · 20 days

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Let’s talk about parallels between Wilhelm and Sara in Season 3 of Young Royals

Because there are so many! This is a continuation of sorts of this meta that I wrote about them being A and B plot protagonists in season 1 and 2. I don’t know that I would describe them exactly that way in season 3, but I do think their plots, character arcs, and themes are meant to mirror each other very closely this season.

One of my favorite things about the parallels between Wilhelm and Sara this season is that comparing them really makes you hold Sara’s friendship with Felice on the same level as Wilhelm’s romantic relationship with Simon (and Sara’s with August) which I think is so important. Both Wilhelm and Sara go through breakups over the course of the season (I think Felice’s reaction especially frames her friendship breakup with Sara similarly to a romantic breakup, which I love). And both of their arcs are about mending those relationships.

Sara and Wilhelm both need to experience the world outside of Hillerska before they can mend those relationships. Sara is able to glimpse some independence, even just through getting her license. The whole world is open to her now, as Felice says in ep 6. I don’t know that she would have been able to make her decision not to go back to August without experiencing that freedom. And Wilhelm also needs to experience the full force of what life in the monarchy would be like before he is able to decide to leave it. Because of this they also act as our window into the two different worlds outside of Hillerska, the palace and Bjarstad. They create the larger context in which we understand Hillerska this season.

I love that both of their journeys of personal growth are symbolized through cars. Wilhelm is always getting trapped with his mom or a member of the court in a fancy car; it’s where almost all of the monarchy’s most onerous instructions on how to live are delivered to him. So it’s huge when he leaves his parents in the chauffeured car at the end of episode 6 and goes to find Simon, Felice and Sara in Sara’s beat up used car. Meanwhile, Sara has traded in horses for the car. This is stated pretty explicitly when her dad asks her if she would like to work with horses and she declines, saying that she has come to realize that horses are simply traded by rich people as status symbols, and her dad suggests she get her drivers license since it will help with any job she wants. In seasons 1 and 2 Rousseau is pretty heavily associated with August, along with the pressures put on August and the other elite kids at Hillerska to conform to expectations (@bluedalahorse has written the Bible on that here), so the fact that Sara swaps out the horse for a car that can take her anywhere feels like a step away from both August and the prescriptive norms of Hillerska.

Sara and Wilhelm both reject what they saw as their destined future. This is obviously really clear for Wilhelm; he assumed he would be prince and then king after Erik died, and his greatest moment of character growth is when he decides he doesn’t have to fulfill that assigned role if it will keep him from being happy and living authentically. I love the scene where Sara talks with her dad about her fears that she will fail in the same ways that he did because she also has autism and adhd. This is a less clear-cut assigned destiny, but that fear of becoming a self fulfilling prophecy is equally overwhelming, especially because Sara has already let down someone she cares about in a way that’s not dissimilar to how her father breaks promises. The fact that she’s able to come to terms with her dad’s influence in her life, but realize she really is in charge of her own future, is really powerful. (I also think it’s such smart writing about the way disability and internalized ableism can really affect your self image).

In order to break free of those predetermined destinies, both Sara and Wilhelm need to see a father/mentor figure as more than black and white. Wilhelm needs to acknowledge that Erik wasn’t perfect, and did help contribute to some of the abusive traditions of Hillerska. Sara needs to recognize that even though her dad isn’t a perfect parent, she still loves him for the care he is able to show to her and wants to have him in her life. I love that both Wilhelm and Sara learn to hold multiple conflicting emotions about their loved ones. They can be disappointed by some of Micke and Erik’s actions, but they can still value their relationships with those family members and recognize them as complex, complete people.

They also both go on a similar journey with how they see August. Wilhelm comes to recognize that August is both a perpetrator and victim of the class system and Hillerska’s systemized abuse. Sara similarly realizes that August is an adult who needs to be responsible for his own emotions. She’s no longer interested in saving him from his complex feelings of guilt, and recognizes his potential to find self healing. Both of those new assessments of August grant him more maturity and complexity than earlier in the show. (They also reflect the way that August grows, in fits and starts, over the course of season 3. If there was a season 4 of the show, I think we would really see August respond to Sara and Wilhelm’s new attitudes towards him in a way that would fuel future character growth).

Viewing Erik, Micke, and August more complexly also allows Sara and Wilhelm to forgive themselves for the ways they are similar to those people. They are able to acknowledge the shame they feel around their actions, but also forgive themselves in the same way that they forgive others.

Both Sara and Wilhelm have specifically let down Simon in pretty big ways (Sara by secretly dating August, Wilhelm by perpetuating the royal family restrictions onto Simon). But they are able to recognize those mistakes and reconcile with Simon.

Wilhelm and Sara both leave the monarchy (Wilhelm literally, Sara by refusing a relationship with August), but they also leave a kind of prescriptive romance behind. Wilhelm says no to having to monitor Simon, to having to roll out his relationship in a certain way to please the court, and to having their future together mapped out and their decision around children made for them. Sara says no to a smaller set of requirements, but the traditional ways that August sees romance are so influenced by the monarchy (which is in turn so influenced patriarchy) that they are similar in some ways. Sara says no to having to do August’s emotional labor, to managing him so that he will fit the image of a good heir. She says no to waiting for him to visit on weekends while he does military service. She says no to this grand plan that he has. (This was @bluedalahorse’s point originally that she shared with me, and honestly I think it's so smart). Wilhelm chooses a romantic relationship that he and Simon are free to create together without rules; Sara chooses a friendship based on honesty and support. Both are valid options that give the characters a sense of peace and freedom. And they would not have been able to make those choices without all of the growth they went through over the course of the season.

I think Sara and Wilhelm's arcs compliment each other so well, and it was one of my favorite things about season 3. I loved watching both of them get to grow so much and end up in such a happy place.

#young royals #my meta #wilhelm young royals #sara eriksson

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autism-culture-is · 9 months

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Hi, and welcome to autism-culture-is! I was informed that the other autistic culture blog was inactive, so I figured hey, why not give this a go! :]

You probably already know the drill with culture blogs, just send an ask starting with "autistic culture is" and then I'll post it.

There's only one mod, you can just call me Mod A, A not standing for autism but it works out well. He/it pronouns. Also I'm a minor so no sexually explicit asks please.

Few things to put out there:

Ableism of any kind will not be tolerated here. Obviously no ableism against autistic people and other neurodiversity, but also no ableism against more stigmatized mental illnesses like personality disorders or psychosis, ableism against intellectual disabilities, or ableism against physical disabilities.

Other types of bigotry also get the boot, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, fatphobia, antisemitism. Also no exclusionist crap.

Don't send in asks about "going nonverbal" or "going semiverbal", those terms are meant to describe permanent states and people who are always nonverbal or semiverbal are against using these terms to describe temporary states. Use terms like speech loss or verbal crash instead.

Autism isn't fundamentally different based on gender or sex, so please avoid terms like "male/female autism" or "amab/afab autism".

Please don't use the word cr*ppling, as it's a slur against physically disabled people. Say debilitating instead for things like "debilitating anxiety".

If you send an ask with media, please put an image description with if you're able to. If you're not, I'll give it one, but it's easier for me if the asker gives the image description.

Please let me know if there's anything that I should be doing better regarding disability stuff. I'm level 1 autistic, verbal, and with low support needs, so I may not always be aware of certain issues.

That's all for now! Happy autisming!

#autistic #actually autistic #autism #culture is #autistic culture

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catsanddemonssystem · 1 month

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Stop 👏 pathologizing 👏 just because 👏 they are👏 incompatible 👏 with 👏 the status quo 👏 or because 👏 they are 👏 inconvenient 👏 to deal with.

#autusm 👍#level 1 autism ableism #autism is a disability #autism #neurodiverse stuff #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #actually neurodivergent #medical model

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neurotypicalabusesurvivor · 3 months

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This does not mean impairment don't exist or that impairments are easy to live with. Under the social model impairments and disability is not the same thing.

Impairments are biological in nature, they are not socially constructed.

Disability is the artificial restraints put on people with impairments and different abilities which can be eliminated with accommodations, self and social acceptance and social justice.

This is not me saying that impairments are easy to live with, or that they would up and disappear if society stopped believing in them.

Nuance is important and both aspie supremacist and biological essentialist have failed in this department.

#level 2 autism #neurodiversity #ableism #leftism #mental illness #medical model #level 1 autism #high functioning autism #autistic adult #actually autism #autism

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five-thousand-loaves-of-bread · 3 months

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truly do believe that higher support needs autistic have many in common with low support needs autistics. and how actually level 3 autistic many in common with level 1 autistics, and level 2 with both.

but with state of autism advocacy and casual aspie supremacy and lateral ableism & punch down ableism. have to keep emphasize how drastic different higher support needs & higher level autistic experience from low & level 1 autistic experience.

because if don’t keep emphasize difference. we get erased. our terms and words used to describe our experiences co-opted by people who don’t actually live them or don’t realize severity of what we describe what we mean, when us who actually experience these things get kicked off. spoken over. ignored. bullied. be target of ableism. which. actually yes, directly leads to decrease awareness of HSN & level 3 autism and have services pulled.

but this emphasis on difference between us… often lead to people, even allies to HrSN autistics, treat us as complete different, separate, incomprehensible beings—sometimes well intentionally because fear of speak over.

#loaf screm #high support needs

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yellowyarn · 6 months

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disability isn't a "social construct". my disabilities are real and will always exist even in some perfect world.

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permanently-sprained-ankle · 1 year

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Some people are more disabled than others

Disclaimer because tumblr is tumblr: I think that ALL disabled people, regardless of how disabled they are, deserve a space in disability movements. Every disabled person faces ableism. I am not invalidating your own experiences by explaining your privilege. Me asking you to consider your privilege doesn’t negate any adversity you face.

I am more disabled than a level 1 autist with no other co-occurring disabilities.

I am less disabled than a paraplegic, or a high support needs autist, or an amputee.

I am more disabled than a person with only mild allergies, but less disabled than a person with full-on severe MCAS.

Acknowledging our privilege when it comes to your disability is crucial. People who are more disabled are more likely to face abuse, forced institutionalization, and more forms of ableism, therefore they deserve to be the front of disability advocacy. If you fall on the less disabled side of things, it’s important to recognize when we need to be amplifying the voices of others instead of our own.

That’s not to say less disabled people don’t face ableism. We ALL deserve accommodation, proper care, and freedom from ableism, no matter our amount of disability. Someone else’s struggles don’t invalidate your own. But, you need to face the fact that you may have privilege within a marginalized community in order to progress liberation.

[Image ID: White text in a Galaxy background reads If you: Derail my posts; are an “aspie”; run a sh/ed blog; are under 16; are a TERF; think cripplepunk is for mental disabilities; think that autism isn’t a disorder; are pro-transabled, trace, transage, etc; are pro-map or pro-zoo; are a transmed; want to completely demedicalize autism, I will probably block or mock you. End ID]

#disabled #disability #chronic illness #hypermobility spectrum disorder #actually hypermobile #chronic pain #hypermobility #chronically ill #mobility aid #cpunk #cpunk discourse #cripple punk

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copperbadge · 1 year

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Sam, you are NOT a “weirdo.” The neurology of the human mind exists on a spectrum; ALL humans are *biologically* “neurodiverse” and have extremely variable interior experiences. One of the most difficult concepts for ANY writer to grasp is that of “other minds, other perspectives”, and on that you already WELL ahead of the curve. 😊😎

Yikes, my response to this turned into a whole-ass essay so first, two things:

1. Thank you for the compliment, a number of people reached out to tell me that I write very well for people who see images when they read. That is extremely reassuring so I very much appreciate it.

2. I’m about to say a lot of shit that is only vaguely, tangentially related to what you’re saying here so my usual disclaimer applies: I appreciate what you said and I am not yelling AT you, I am yelling NEAR you. :D

So. On the one hand, yes, humanity is diverse and we can only be ourselves, or a version of ourselves that is tolerable to live with. On the other hand, culture also sets down rules that say this is usual, this is unusual, this is acceptable, this is unacceptable. We don't live in a spectacular culture for "this is acceptable" but most of us are aware that what we think of as "normal" is narrow and fucked-up. But it’s tough to go beyond that to discuss how we relate to “normal”.

It's something I'm grappling with and it's not something that it's easy to grapple with visibly because of that -- because the minute you call yourself weird or a freak or anything that denotes "not normal", or even when you just talk about “normal” as a concept, people reassure you that normal is an illusion, it's a construct. Which is true! And it’s good to model self-acceptance for people who are still struggling with that.

The problem is that it limits how much you can discuss feeling outside of normal. And I do feel that way, because of the ADHD diagnosis and other stuff too. I feel that way a lot, these days. Like, a painful amount. Like, a questioning who I am on some very basic levels amount. So...there have to be ways to talk about the reality of normal.

While normal is a construct, it’s still there -- as a culture we have a concept of normal that matters, regardless of whether it ought. We don’t have great pathways to say “Hey, I’m struggling with feeling like I’m not normal” because people want to assure you that you don’t have to feel normal...but sometimes you want to, because normal is what is culturally approved and it’s hard to be an outlier. Worse, if you’re visibly outside of normal, we tend to very violently police you for it.

I’m lucky in that I’m pretty ordinary-looking, so I don’t get policed very often, but I‘m very aware of the policing of invisible disability because I have siblings with learning disabilities, and my whole family has some degree of mental illness. Lately I have watched my mother struggle because she needs aids to walk and feels like people are staring at her and saying she’s old and of no worth, a drain on society. The world reinforces that by doing things like making her get to the airport FOUR HOURS EARLY in order to get wheelchair service (and then “losing” her name so she still almost misses her flight).

You don’t have to be normal, but if you aren’t, you still have to put up with the dickheads who think you should be, who will punish you for deviance. There's a disparity between "healthy ways for you to feel about this" and "how society will feel about this".

To circle back to my mother, who internalized the ableism and misogyny of the 1950s and 60s and barely escaped being labeled a Fridge Mommy in the 80s because of my brother’s autism....I was raised in a family where there was a very strong value placed on being normal. It was particularly strong for me, because I was the normal one. My parents could not handle the idea that all of their kids had special needs. They needed me to be normal, not least because if I was normal I could help raise my siblings, which I did. And that's been my identity my whole life: the normal one.

Normal is a construct but unfortunately it’s the construct on which my entire identity has hung for forty years.

And my attitude -- not that this was conscious -- was that if you have to be forced into that role, if you must fulfill the exhausting demands of being normal, then you should also get the rewards. The more normal you are, the more power you have. That’s incredibly unhealthy but it’s even more harmful not to admit it happened. And so I have been shoving myself into this identity of “Oh no, that’s not me. I’m not disabled, I’m not queer, I’m not special, I’m a mediocre white dude” because to admit otherwise is to relinquish the protection of normal.

So...I wish we had a word like “normal” but with an extra connotation of “Look, I know normal is just a privileged idea of what everyone should be but it’s also heavily enforced in our society so we need to acknowledge it still exists”.

I’m not normal. I am a weirdo. I’m more a weirdo now than I’ve ever been. There has to be a space to say that, to say “Normal exists and I’m not it and I feel fucked up about it” because how else do you rebuild an identity?

I think it is important to reassure people that normal is an idea, not a law of nature, and I appreciate everyone who chimed in with that. But I think it’s also important to acknowledge that it’s really hard to suddenly find yourself outside of normal, and start thinking about ways in which we can support that struggle when we see someone stuck in it. Maybe disability activists have something to say about this and I’m covering old ground; I’m not well-read beyond the basics. I don’t know what the answer is myself, I’m still really stuck in the middle of this, but I think there must be more options open to us than the reassurance that normal isn’t real.

#disability #mental health #ableism

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