Ableism - Blog Posts
So I have started a thing to motivate me (kinda)
I have a jar next to my bedroom door and everytime I have a good health day, I put a tiny piece of origami in it
My friend (@ask-and-i-answer ) wanted to do something similar so we came up with a mug and money system. The bigger the coin, the bigger the pain she had that day.
For example: a quarter would mean that she was having extremely bad pain and a dime means very little pain.
Does anybody else get dizzy or have symptoms flare when saying prayers?
At my family Christmas lunch, we all said a prayer before we ate, and it made me so dizzy and nauseous that I couldn't eat much.
I hate that my leg hairs hurt from wearing compression socks daily. Like, yes I put lotion on every night and yes I have days off, but can my pants just not tough my leg without feeling like I'm getting stabbed with safety pins??!?
The universe cursed me with being a hairy person with extra long legs and not energy to shave them.
Question fory adult Potsies - what were some signs that you were not going to outgrow POTS? I have been having symptoms as far back as I can remember and want to know how I can prepare for my future.
So I'm currently working on cleaning a space out in my living room for a vintage sewing machine and it has taken two days to do so. The space wasn't all that messy, but I could only work for only about an hour before I got hit with nauseating dizziness that knocked me down for the rest of the day.
I ended up learning that even if I think I can stay within my limits, I'm wrong.
3 years ago today is when this shit show of health problems started.
I was at an event making hot coco for some kids and my hands stopped working. There was pain up to my elbows and I couldn't move my fingers. Local doctors had no idea what happened and they couldn't diagnose me correctly. I called the closest specialty clinic that is 2 1/2 hours away and had to wait until the end of the next month to even be seen.
The neurologist who saw me said "essential tremors" and sent me on my way to rheumatology who gave me no answers to my other problems. It was about seven months later when I found myself back in that hospital's ER due to having a worsting of my visual blackouts and pain. I was in that specialty ER for about six hours and only got an IV and was told to eat more salt and drink more water. My mom and I decided that that wasn't worth the hours spent there and headed to another specialty hospital's ER.
We were there for about seven more hours and that's where we were told about POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and were recommended to their movement disorder specialist.
When we saw him, everything changed. I was diagnosed right off the bat with POTS, EDS, Functional Weakness, and vestibular migraines. He recommended me to other doctors at that hospital and we fell in love with the care they took with everything. They got to know me before even looking at the chart and wanted to make sure that everything is just right.
I am still going back to that hospital for other reasons, but I am getting the help I need. The doctors talk to each other and that helps to move things along smoother. Just a month ago, I was invited to a Comfort Ability workshop with other teens my age to learn about how to manage our pain easier. We were separated from our parents, as they were having to talk together about how they can help us, and we were allowed to sit or lay down and had blankets and yoga mats to lay or sit on and the room was really welcoming as we talked about our experiences with our pain. We were given a 'goody bag' of sorts with reusable heat/cold packs, essential oils, and stress toys. And everything was provided by the hospital and was free to us.
All I can say is that my experience with chronic illness has definitely had it's ups and downs. I am both grateful and sad that December 7, 2019 happened - but it got me where I am today with these diagnosis and I have learned more about what I can do for myself and how to adapt to new situations.
With hope,
~ E
It's so weird that my school is actually really trying to help with my education.
Context - I have been out of school for the past month and a half due to chronic health flares, and that led to me falling behind. And now if I did feel good enough to get to school, I would be chapters behind my classmates. I have in my 504 that I can miss as many days as needed without consequences.
Anyways, I got a call from my principal a couple days ago and my mind automatically went to thinking the worst. Instead he had asked if there was anything that the school could do or provide to let me be able to catch up faster.
I read about all these horror stories about the schools system being absolutely terrible to people with disabilities and was caught off guard with the support my school is giving to me.
I am so far behind on my school work and am not able to go to school because of it. I am so burnt out and stressed and feel like giving up. I am also trying to get a job online because if I were to try and get a normal job, I would not be able to keep up with it, myself, homework, and still be able to do things I enjoy. My teachers and school is great when it comes to accomodations and late work, but it is a matter of me getting things done.
Just shopping at Walmart, as one does, and I was not feeling that great so I was using an electric cart.
As I was leaving, a lady turned to me and gave me one of the dirtiest looks and scoffed very loudly.
So I went "Ooh look at me, I'm an abled bodied person and can walk without falling down."
I didn't realize that there was an elderly lady almost right next to me and she started laughing so hard she had to stop walking.
It's weird that doctors question me when I say that I have both a heat and cold intolerance.
Like you're the one who asked and I gave you a truthful answer.
YES I have both and YES it makes my life more difficult but I know my limits and how to use heating a cooling tools so that I feel good. I understand why you think it's weird and don't understand why it's possible, but that doesn't mean that you can say that it's not possible.
Hi, I'm E. I am disabled and enjoy the arts. I like to sing, act, model, and let my imagination get the best of me sometimes. My medical problems include POTS, EDS, borderline hip dysplasia, vestibular migraines, and many more. I hope to share my journey to all who will listen. I don't want this to be a boring medical things, so I will probably add other things. I love the MCU, PotO, and American Horror Story. I also have a dog and three fish who are all quite dumb. Thanks for reading my first post!
reproductive rights issues:
abortion
birth control
also reproductive rights issues:
doctors performing c sections during births without informed consent
eugenics via sterilization requirements for trans people to change documentation
eugenics via forced/nonconsenting sterilization of disabled people
eugenics via forced/nonconsenting sterilization of people of color
eugenics via selective abortion of disabled fetuses (fetuses with Down syndrome especially) (these are abortions sought by people who WANT to be pregnant–but only with non-disabled children, when there’s absolutely no guarantee that a non-disabled child won’t become disabled)
if your reproductive rights activism doesn’t incorporate ALL OF THE ABOVE, i want no part of it.
“You choose your toppings that fit you. “
..No, you don’t. That’s not how this works.
More specifically, while different autistic people can have different autistic traits, that doesn’t mean that you get to choose what traits you have. This metaphor implies that autism is a choice, that autism is just a bunch of autistic traits mixed together (in reality, like any neurotype, it is much more complicated than that), and that showing a couple of signs of autism makes you autistic (it doesn’t).
Saying that you get to choose which traits of autism you have is incredibly harmful to the autism community. That’s the same sort of argument used by ABA therapists to try to force people out of stimming. It’s also the sort of thing that makes neurotypicals think autistic people are just special snowflakes who are faking for attention.
In addition, many of the items in this sundae bar have little or nothing to do with autism, and in fact the sundae bar includes many unrelated neurotypes. While some of these may be correlated with autism, they are still different neurological differences. For instance, autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, and dyslexia are entirely separate things, and some of them are conflated often enough that this kind of misinformation is very counterproductive.
Fundamentally, you don’t get to choose in what ways you are autistic. Yes, different people will have different “toppings,” but that doesn’t make it a choice. I didn’t choose to be hypersensitive to loud noises any more than I chose to be good at math, or I chose to have green eyes.
tl;dr: Autism is not a sundae bar, and autistic people don’t choose which signs of autism we exhibit.
We need to stop seeing autism as some sort of one-dimensional sliding scale. Autism is not a thermometer. It’s not a rating that is “more” or “less”. High-functioning and Low-functioning do not exist in the real world.
Autism is a collection of symptoms and behaviours. Like a sundae bar. You choose your toppings that fit you.
Are you a bipolar extravert that loves socialising, is good at math and bad at remembering time? That’s ONE way to be autistic!
Are you a socially anxious autistic who has meltdowns when your clothes don’t feel right but a genius knowledge of music theory and is great at scheduling? That’s another way to be autistic!
Notice how both of those examples has strengths and weaknesses? Is one more “employable” or “high-functioning” than the other?
There is no one-size-fits-all category or rating for autism.
as a way of fighting against how bullshit Autism Speaks and its shitty “Light It Up Blue” campaign (for more information of why you shouldn’t support Autism Speaks, see here for a masterpost of resources and reasons why it’s a bad company) and that one anonymous douchebag we got a few days ago about how Luna can’t be autistic, today we’re going to only be posting shitposts about Luna Lovegood, a character who is definitely autistic and nothing you can say will ever change my mind :D
Hey, I just published a new essay on Medium about Autism Speaks and why it’s so dangerous. Go give it a read!
brendan depa, a diagnosed level 3 autistic black teenager (also with PTSD+ADHD and a number of other diagnoses, including ones that are highly racialized) who has been subject to racist peer abuse/assault, has previously been placed in multiple institutions, grew up homeschooled due to his support needs but was basically forced into public school so that his day program would be covered by APD, and was triggered by an incident in class that involved factors going against his IEP and resulted in him assaulting a teaching aide.
he is being charged with a first degree felony, being tried as an adults, and faces up to 30 years in prison.
media is sensationalizing this as a student beating his teacher because he got his nintendo switch taken away, framing him as a spoiled brat instead of a very traumatized, autistic teenager (who only very recently turned 18) with high support needs whose disabilities significantly impact his emotional regulation and understanding of consequences.
other peers who have similar impairments and who have also assaulted staff were not punished anywhere nearly this severely.
prison could kill him, a punishment for being failed repeatedly by the medical/legal system and placed in an environment that didn't properly meet his support needs, and people are frothing at the mouth to put him there.
i have. a lot of big complicated thoughts about how people tend to treat depression as like. as if it’s nothing. like it’s the most basic easiest mental illness ever. why do we do this. depression kills people. constantly. people will throw around “depression and anxiety” and say they’re totally normalized nonstigmatized disorders and then you realize they only think mild versions of these disorders exist. i have a laundry list of mental disorders and the only one that’s ever actually put my life at risk was depression. if you throw around depression as if it’s the mildest least harmful mental illness ever have you considered shutting the fuck up.
mental age isn't a thing.
i am not "mentally a child." i am mentally an adult, because i am in my early 20s. i do not care how childish i seem; that never gives anyone the right to say that i am mentally a child. i am an adult who doesn't want nor deserves to be compared to a child.
i do not care how many times i watch sesame street, i do not care that my reading level is low, i do not care that i need lots of things simplified to me, i do not care about all the things i do that make me seem childish. i still am an adult and deserve to be treated like one. i will never be "mentally a child."
this theory hurts people with intellectual disability and i am tired of seeing it.
APPARENTLY this is something I need to state because it isn’t something people understand. If someone says for _____ to not interact and you fall into that category, don’t interact with them! It IS invading boundaries. It doesn’t matter if you think those boundaries make sense, they’re that person’s boundaries.
“It’s so terrible that autistics have no empathy,” cry four hundred thousand people who have never once made an ounce of effort to empathize with an autistic person
If they claim they can cure your condition that you have been told is incurable, run. If they claim they cured themselves, run. If they claim they have cured everything from cancer to lupus holistically, run. If they claim you have to buy only supplements from them, run. If they claim they that only thing that will cure is x but x costs tons of money, run. If they refuse to run tests or address your diagnosed conditions before insisting you do an expensive treatment not covered by insurence, run. If they offer a one size fits all treatment/cure, run.
I have been scammed by "holistic" and "naturalistic" people before as a chronically ill person. In fact it was an actual doctor who went to medical school who scammed me for years. So watch out. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.
I’m not disabled because I’m not exercising enough. I’m not disabled because I’m not following that specific diet. I’m not disabled because I’m not spiritual enough. I’m not disabled because of my attitude. I’m not disabled because I’m too lazy to fix it. I’m not disabled because I don’t always make the healthiest choice. I’m disabled because real life isn’t fair and some people get unlucky.
wow, what a gorgeous month to remember autism isn’t a disease and there’s no “cure for autism” and there shouldn’t have to be one just because allistic people can’t get the hell over themselves and realise other people experience the world differently and have different needs and require different accommodations. terrific.
you can’t disconnect words like “moron”, “idiot”, and “dumb” from their original meanings. they are ableist words. and continuing to use them in a derogatory fashion is ableist.
calling someone a “moron” is comparing them to someone who is disabled, usually someone with an intellectual or learning disability. so if that’s used in a derogatory way, you are saying that the disabled person is worthless, or whatever other word you would use instead of “moron”. even if the person you’re directing the word to is abled themselves.
comparing abled people to disabled people as a joke, or as a method of bullying is ableist. end of.
learn more at
There’s no excuse for bullying.
“They’re weird!/They’re not normal!”
That’s your opinion, not a fact. What you really mean is “They’re not like me”. They’re not hurting anyone by not being like you.
“They’re cringey!”
Again, it’s just your opinion, and they’re not hurting anyone. Cringe culture is pointless anyway.
“They’re annoying!”
Once again, just your opinion. If you think someone’s annoying, why not just stay away from them? No need to be rude.
“They’re autistic!”
Shame on you. Get out of my face.
“They’re fat!/They’re ugly!”
And you’re shallow. So what if you don’t like the way someone looks? It’s not your place to make them feel bad about it.
“They’re [any non-straight sexuality]!”
Get out of my sight. This is the 21st century.
“They’re trans!”
See above.
“They’re just seeking attention!”
You don’t know that for a fact. And even if they really are seeking attention, you don’t have the right to shame them.
“It’s funny to pick on them!”
Shame on you if you think bullying is funny. Get a life.
“I was just joking around!”
That’s no excuse. There are other ways to have fun that don’t involve putting other people down.
“Words can’t actually hurt anyone!”
Wrong. Words do hurt, and sometimes they can hurt more than actual physical injury.
“I’m not a bully, they’re just too sensitive!”
Not everyone reacts the same way. If you weren’t so rude, there wouldn’t be anything for the victim to be “sensitive” about.
“I’m just speaking the truth!”
Honesty is great. But you can be honest and say what you think without being rude about it. There’s a fine line between ‘brutally honest’ and ‘downright rude’.
“I have freedom of speech!”
You do. But if you’re using your ‘freedom of speech’ to bully and shame others, then you’re abusing it.
“But-”
No.
I don’t care what ‘reason’ you pull out of your ass to try to justify bullying, it’s invalid. Bullying, whatever the reason is, is unnecessary, cruel, and totally pointless.
If you bully someone, you’re basically telling them:
“You don’t deserve to be happy”
“You’re inferior to me”
“Your feelings are a joke”
Is that really what you want to be telling people?
Is that really how you want to make people feel?
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine, Jamie McGoldrick, has slammed Israel for adding insulin pens for children to the list of prohibited items that are not allowed into the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip. McGoldrick said that this is a violation of international humanitarian law and a serious threat to the lives of thousands of diabetic children in Gaza.
...
...Israel has been imposing a strict blockade on Gaza since 2007, severely restricting the movement of people and goods in and out of the coastal enclave. Israel claims that the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons and materials that could be used for military purposes from reaching Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. But human rights groups and international organizations have denounced the blockade as a form of collective punishment that violates the basic rights and dignity of the two million Palestinians living in Gaza.
According to McGoldrick, Israel has also banned many other items that are essential for humanitarian relief and development, such as pumps, generators, spare parts, pipes, solar panels, and some medical equipment. He said that these restrictions have hampered the efforts of the UN and its partners to provide displaced people with basic services such as food, medical support, shelter, water, and sanitation.
Another source:
As not enough people are saying: this is a disability and chronic illness rights issue. Where are all of you who advocate for those things here in the US? Why don't you speak up?
Ok @full-timel-lurker since you claim you don’t know why let me tell you my experiences as an autistic person and maybe you’ll find why I hate this series
Never had my needs accommodated by my shitty ex sperm donor cause in his words “I could handle it”
Was literally emotionally abused by my church(Satanist now) as I showed my autistic traits all the time and the Sunday school teachers hated it
I have to go to bed hungry cause I ran out of my safe food
Literally baby talked due to propaganda about autistic people being childlike
So ask me again how I’m so “up in my arms about” it you fucking bitch.
Also we’re talking about R*ordan write? The same Riordan who Americanized Greek Gods and wrote them as villains despite Hellestic paganism still being around and called those same pagans who he wrote their gods about weirdos? The same R*ordan who wrote Islam characters in the most intentionally Islamophobic way possible to make that makes the religion look bad? The same R*ordan who wrote girls and women in the Madonna/Whore complex and masculinize GOC? The same R*ordan who write POC as stereotypes that if I was told to spot the difference between his writing of POC and the way POC were portrayed in early 20th century cartoons I couldn’t tell what difference there were? The same R*ordan who wrote Hitler, goddamn ADOLF HITLER as Hades SON and WWll as a “family matter between the Greek gods so everything that did happen was all fake” promoting Holocaust denial and the denial of the Nakbas terrorism? The same R*ordan who’s first gay character coming out is that he’s forcefully outed and that genderfluidity is genetic? The same R*ordan who supports ITSNOTREAL’s GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS? That fucking R*ordan?
And If he was trying to make a hero for his son than why didn’t he not publish the story at all hmm? Answer me that
Also you find other peoples mental disorders being written as superpowers where neurotypicals will read and will not understand when they come across a person with the exact same disorders and actually show the symptoms, which you can fucking Google btw, that actually make their life harder as good? The so called “powers” where the actual symptoms are mentioned for a short amount of time and never mentioned again as good? If that’s the case you’re a fucking joke then and should really take a long hard look at what the fuck you think is good media then
And you believe fiction can’t affect reality? Ok answer me this then:
What about proshipping and how the normalization of it for the time being influenced the normalization of pedophilia?
What about Nazi Germany when so much shit was being said about Jewish, Romani, disabled and Queer people that many people started to believe it and the holocaust happened?
What about after 9/11 the US spread Islamophobic lies and weaponized Arabs against the American people that literal people overseas FUCKING DIED due to anti-Arab US propaganda?
What about the AIDS crisis back in the 80s when Ronald Reagan was purposefully making false claims against people affected by AIDS cause he wanted queer people dead?
Wanna answer that?
Also you say this:
“I just don’t understand why you’re so determined to hate on it. It feels like you’re demonised people with adhd and dyslexia saying they couldn’t be heroes? Which feels really insulting.”
Ok first of all let me fix that terrible ass sentence for you sweetie:
“It feels like you’re DEMONIZING people with ADHD and Dyslexia saying they CANT be heroes.(period not question mark period ok?)
First of all I gave you literal evidence and my friend @scionofthehellpriest literally gave you examples on R*ordans ableist writing and why it’s dangerous so maybe you should know who you’re talking too before even saying a fucking word
So as an autistic person I say,
I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.
Oh ok since you obviously wanna suck on R*ordans dick some more let’s look at all the shitty things he wrote about ND ppl and real disorders shall we? @full-timel-lurker
1. Wrote ADHD & Dyslexia as superpowers
ADHD in R*ordans fanfiction:
Actual ADHD:
His writing of Dyslexia:
Actual Dyslexia:
So not only you really wanna talk about “OmG tHe ReP iS sOoOoO gOoOoOoOd!!!!!!!” when this is the rep? You really wanna die on that hill?
2. Sigmatized medication
In the series the teachers (monsters in disguise) force the demigods into taking medication so their “battle reflexes”(this shit sounds like something straight out of fucking Scientology I swear to fucking god) don’t kick in.
How is that harmful you ask?
Many people I know who have ADHD have to have medication cause not only are the symptoms, the actual symptoms you can fucking Google for FREE, is literally hell for them and not only is taking medication already sigmatized by neurotypicals but this kind of beliefs are based in eugenics. Let me repeat that. EUGENICS.
But why should I care you ask?
Well let’s replace ADHD with worse disorders like schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder. Now imagine if a series was written about how life saving medication is used by the villains to stop the heroes from using their so called superpowers?
So why is ADHD any different hmm?
Please tell me
3. Tyson and the normalization of the hostility and discrimination of people with Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy
Sometime in the series we find out Poseidon fathered a child with a cyclops named Tyson
Now Tyson obviously shows symptoms of disorders like Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. And you know how Annabeth (this bitch better count her fucking days I swear to god) treats him?
Like absolute shit
Not only does she insult him regularly but also puts him down multiple fucking times and what does Percy do about it? Fucking nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.
And only when Tyson saves her and her friends (cause god knows I wouldn’t do jack shit for those assholes) not only is Annabeth instantly redeemed and gets nothing to be reprimanded. FUCKING NOTHING. And not only does this normalize the behavior of ableism towards people with disorders like Tysons but also imagine other ND kids reading this and thinking “Oh yeah I totes can treat disabled people who are far off worse than me just like hee hee 😝” when no Annabeth should’ve gotten her ass reprimanded in some way
Which is why when people say the Percy Jackson series is good rep for ND ppl I have to point to thsi Reddit post by an actual person with ADHD 👇
Also this isn’t related but not only is R*ordans ass working with Disney who you may not know is currently donating money to Itsnotreal to ethnically cleansed Palestine (aka a literal GENOCIDE) but is also a Zionist himself with his recent blog post:
So really think about where your so called “rEpReSeNtAtIoN” comes from
Any @full-timel-lurker
I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.
I would like to thank the Percy Jackson fandom for the reason that neurodivergent people are infantilized on a daily basis as well as R*ck R*ordans shitty rewrite on ADHD and Dyslexia and making it like superpowers not actual disorders people suffer from on a daily basis while most of the characters act like neurotypicals.