this i always feel like theres basically two versions of “cant” because sometimes people say cant and they dont actually mean that.. they just mean its hard. and then they assume i also mean its just hard.
it genuinely so. so. no even have word for it. so profoundly exhausting that anytime any disabled person talk about can’t do something—full, wholeheartedly can’t, absolutely can’t, under no circumstance can, if no one help them or do it for them it not get done n they suffer whatever consequence include dying—that it always get FLOOD by so so many “same it SO hard for me but no one help so have to force do by self” n “am i? actually? not low support needs? because all these stuff u talk about so hard for me too n no one recognize it so have do it by self :(“ like you all not get it n not even know you not get it n not sure you all even capable of get it, n, ironically this time do mean, that genuinely, absolutely, no matter what happen, can’t
'being disabled is a full-time job' actually with most full-time jobs you get evenings and weekends off, plus holiday time and potentially other benefits like healthcare and dental. we don't get to clock off from being disabled nor do we reap any benefits, material, social, or otherwise. hope this helps
people dont understand the boredom of being disabled.
i see a lot of people suggest to people to embrace boredom and creativity will come from it. that to improve your attention span and get your life back from the trap that is quick form media you need to be bored more.
but i dont think that is the case for many disabled people.
its not the case for me.
i am SO bored. EVERY day. i cannot do all the things i want to engage in. i cannot play games i cannot read i cannot do art i cannot bake. these things arent being stopped by a social media addiction, they are being stopped by my health.
and my attention span isnt struggling for the same reasons as many abled people. mine struggles because of my symptoms. my fatigue, my pain, they are distracting and fog my brain.
so disabled people, when youre looking for tips about how to improve your attention span, and engage in your hobbies more, keep in mind that the reason for your struggles may be completely different to the people who are sharing suggestions and tips on the topic.
lately if im not constantly occupying my brain i spiral.
my mind is exhausted from the constant stimulation but i dont know what else to do.
theres been 2 times in my life where i lost every friend i had for being sick its ruthless out there
I didn’t get a lot of love growing up. Things got worse the more queer I became.
I love the way our community does found-family. I spent most of my life finding lost queers and helping them. People come and people go but I was always welcoming people into my family. Always giving what I could give. Always sharing what I know. Always sharing connections.
When I got sick everyone left. Everyone left and I am a ghost.
Turns out when you give give give give and give…people are happy to take.
They don’t come back for you when you need it.
They leave when there’s nothing left to take.
Hello! I'm going to be running some lessons on queer stuff in my highschools Queer Student Union, and I plan on doing one or two days dedicated to us intersex people. What core concepts do you think i should I teach someone who has never even heard of intersex people before?
Oh excellent! I have a lot of recommendations, so this is going to be a long one.
What is intersex, and what it isn't - We are people whose natural sex characteristics fall outside of what is typically male or female. Here is a list of intersex conditions/variations you can use as examples.
Being intersex is not the same as being transgender or nonbinary, and is a separate category from gender identity; you do not transition into being intersex. Intersex is not a third sex, but rather an 'other' category, for those whose natural development does not fit typical ideas of male or female bodies.
Not all intersex people identify as LGBTQIA+, which should be respected, just as it should be respected that intersexuality is a valid and included reason someone can consider themselves part of the community. Intersex people are included in pride.
We are not disordered for our intersex traits, intersexuality is a natural occurrence in any population with males and females. Some intersex variations do come with associated health conditions, but it is not the intersex part of the variation that is the health condition, and not everyone with intersex traits has health complications. I would recommend this page We are More Than a Disorder, and this statement on DSD terminology from InterACT, one of the most prominent intersex advocacy groups.
It is not in our best interest to forcefully sort us into the male & female sex binary. Intersex people can be any gender and may consider their sex to be male or female (this may or may not be in addition to being intersex. Many of us consider ourselves to be intersex males or intersex females, and some of us consider ourselves to just be intersex) It is wrong to say phrases such as 'all intersex people are male or female', or 'intersex variations are sex specific'. Sorting us into this binary comes with the caveat that we are 'wrong' males or 'wrong' females, rather than normal, fully formed, intersex human beings. This is the basis of the oppression we face.
Be sure to note that no intersex people, including those with genital variations, have both reproductive organs, we are not H-words (good time to add that this word is outdated/derogatory and I considered a slur). A hermaphrodite can only come from a hermaphroditic species, such as snails and worms. The use of the term hermaphrodite itself should be discouraged, even in context of animals. A term like monoecious is much better. The term hermaphrodite and pseudohermaphrodite used to be medical terms for us, and was commonly used in the early days of intersex activism, such as here. An intersex person may reclaim this word, but it is inappropriate and wrong to refer to an intersex person this way.
Intersex variations are not rare. We make up over 2% of the population (there is no accurate statistic because of a number of factors, intersex variations are extremely underreported, or erased from medical records). We are a widely invisible group who has been purposely erased with medical violence for decades. We are considered "rare" because of 'corrective' and 'normalizing' treatments. Intersex healthcare as it currently stands is more concerned with making us 'look normal' rather than making sure we are healthy. I would recommend reading @dabwax's paper Medicalizing Sex: The Erasure of Sexual Diversity, and this TED Talk by Georgiann Davis. include what you will from that in your lesson. Don't skimp out on the medical erasure part, it is very very very important for anyone learning about intersex people to be aware of just how far behind our movement for bodily autonomy is.
These medical interventions are not a thing of the past, and happen in all of the grey shaded countries on this map. Not only do they happen, they are often considered proper medical protocol.
I hope this is helpful! Good luck!
physically disabled people who are also fat deserve mobility aids just as much as physically disabled people who are skinny.
we also deserve to have mobility aids that fit us, we shouldn’t have to settle for ones that don’t meet our needs. whether it’s having a high enough weight limit or being wide enough or being sturdy enough, we deserve that.
it doesn’t even matter whether a person is fat because of their disability/ies or if they’re disabled because they’re fat. that person still deserve good mobility aids that meet their needs.
[this is a post about fatness and physical disability, derail and i will steal your mail for three months and two days]
let's recap what we've learned about the United States in the last few days.
things that are terrorism:
allegedly shooting a healthcare CEO whose company generated more pure profit (not revenue, profit) in a year than the GDP of 94 countries, exclusively by denying coverage to people who pay for it
a 42-year-old mother of 2 using the wrong combination of 7 words during a heated conversation with a call center employee at a health insurance company who was in the process of denying her health coverage.
things that are not terrorism:
mass shooting in a Black church to incite a race war
going to a BLM protest specifically to kill protestors
a neo-nazi running over a crowd of people, killing a woman
targeting and killing 23 latinos in an el paso, texas walmart
killing 12 people in a theatre, shooting 58 others, rigging your apartment with explosives
a QAnon groyper killing 7 and shooting ~50 at a 4th of July parade
killing 3 people and shooting several others at a Planned Parenthood in defense of the unborn
stalking someone relentlessly and then killing them and their child despite months of the victim making police reports
any one of the 1,200 murders committed by US police yearly, the vast majority being minorities
tightening your border while ~100 immigrants (including children) drown every year in the Rio Grande
United Healthcare killing an unnknowable number of elderly people by using faulty AI to deny medically necessary coverage
Aetna killing a woman by refusing to cover her cancer care
Blue Cross killing a 6-year-old by denying her appendicitis surgery
Cigna killing a 17-year-old child by denying her liver transplant
the pharmaceutical industry killing half a million people with opioids in the name of producing revenues in 2023 that rivaled the GDPs of countries like Spain, Mexico, and Australia.
the United States killing 45,000 people a year because they can't access health coverage
make sure you keep this guide handy the next time you find yourself interacting with your insurance company or any other millionaire, billionaire, or an individual who is part of a protected class such as a CEO or president of a corporation.