People underestimate how much it fucks you up to be subtly excluded as a kid. I would try to talk to my classmates and be met with disinterest or annoyance. The one friend I had, who I clung to and nodded along to his every word, had other friends he liked just as much or more. And his other friends didn’t care for me at all.
I look back at pictures from the time and see how separated I was from them. I remember knowing I was different. I remember posing questions about the world to the girls playing next to me and realizing that they had never asked the same ones to themselves. That the ways we thought couldn’t be more different.
I kept myself amused with my own fanatical stories and musings in my head. I would wander the playground on a circular path, imagining a friend and being sorely disappointed when it didn’t feel as real as I’d hoped.
There was a bubble separating me from everyone else, thin, and nearly invisible, but with a pearly sheen you could catch under the right conditions. I knew it was there, they knew it was there, and it changed me
(I bring a sort of “Everyone has inherent worth regardless of their productivity” Vibe to every conversation that ableists don’t really seem to like)
It is OKAY to have content preferences and to be uncomfortable with certain ships or topics, controversial or not. It is OKAY to distance yourself from such content and block certain tags or creators.
It is NOT OKAY to actively hate and harass real people for creating content of fictional characters that features things that make you uncomfortable.
People who think that ableism against mentally disabled people either isn't real or is "mild" have never been...
- restrained and yelled at during a meltdown
- denied the ability to transition because people won't let them make choices about their own bodies (and then have that issue get completely ignored by neurotypical trans people)
- abused by their own parents for behaving in ways that look weird or rude even though they can't help it
- sent to an underfunded and often neglectful special ed school so their neurotypical peers don't have to see or deal with them
- forced to constantly focus on acting in a way that feels unnatural and stressful to them in order to mask their disability and avoid further abuse
- physically assaulted for things like "acting crazy," having hallucinations, taking medication that neurotypical people think is scary, etc.
- denied accomodations at school or work because people decided they're so stupid they're not worth the effort
- locked up in a psych ward against their will
- unable to shower, shop for groceries, or other basic care needs because of overstimulation, executive dysfunction, and other mental health issues.
- treated like subhuman because they have an intellectual or developmental disability and need people to take care of them 24/7
... And it shows.
Mental disability is not fucking Disability Lite. If you think that the only ableism we face is occasionally being called a mean word, you're part of the problem. We have every right to be angry about the way we're treated.
And no disabled people, whether mentally or physically disabled, should have to be all smiley and positive just to make the people who constantly abuse us comfortable.
hey can we talk at some point about how having adhd makes you way more likely to be depressed because literally nothing you need to do to be a functioning adult gives you any happiness at all
like this is an actual statistical problem
sending positive energy towards everyone except for:
people who use adhd meds as a party drug, thus perpetuating the stigma that people who actually need adhd meds to function are just drug seeking which, as a result, makes it nearly impossible to get them without having to jump through multiple hoops.
people who think that having adhd is “omg so quirky 🤪” please for the love of everything just stop.
mosquitos.
i love this tweet so much i think about it weekly, i structure my life around it its so crazy how much one tweet changed the way i view neopronouns for the better
74 posts