thank you thank you thank you yesDISABILITY HIERARCHY IS FUCKED UP AND HURTFUL
DISABILITY HIERARCHY IS FUCKED UP AND HURTFUL
DISABILITY HIERARCHY IS FUCKED UP AND HURTFUL
DISABILITY HIERARCHY IS FUCKED UP AND HURTFUL
DISABILITY HIERARCHY IS FUCKED UP AND HURTFUL
DISABILITY HIERARCHY IS FUCKED UP AND HURTFUL
HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO SAY THIS??????
Intelligence just is. Deal with it.
Can I talk about intelligence for a moment? Or not really intelligence, not the way we understand it, more like…brain capability. I don’t know, I need a better word. How we are able to function and engage with the world based on our brain’s capabilities.
We always assume the ability to be articulate means intelligence, inarticulate means lack. That learning disabilities are separate from intelligence in a way that means that intelligence can win out over them, and not that learning disabilities actually inhibit. That a little number expresses all their is about a person’s brain functions in every aspect of life.
Going off intelligence tests, I’m not very bright. I’m not unintelligent, but I’m not very bright either. Low average. I have dyscalculia, and visual processing disorders. These are not just “school” problems to work around; these are daily things that I have to deal with.
This isn’t actually a post of “we are all intelligent in our own way” or whatever, because actually I want to talk about the reverse of that. We have this tendency, when brain capability things are not readily apparent, that everyone is functioning at the same level of intelligence and capability or greater that we see ourselves as. And we make value judgments when they don’t live up to that.
But it’s not always the case. I don’t know how many times I’ve been assumed unwilling or lazy. I don’t know how many times I’ve had my “I can’ts” questioned. “Don’t say you can’t! Just try harder!” No seriously, there are some things that are can’ts. These things are other people assuming how well my brain can functioning, and overriding my own knowledge of myself to say that no, really, they know why I’m not doing it.
People assume, for instance, that I should have the mental capability to walk out the doors of this house and deal with life on my own and simply figure it out. Because those people probably could. Those people are probably not people who need things constantly explained to them and shown to them, and have to be told more than once before they get it down. Those people probably weren’t ones who learned how to do something in school a few years after teachers started teaching it. They probably weren’t the people who suffered from timed tests because their brain needed a lot longer to work through it. Those kinds of things.
I haven’t even brought up PTSD or my current brain fog. I haven’t brought up the ways that my brain thinks differently, approaches things different, and sometimes I do things completely backwards to everyone else because it makes sense to me. No one except another person with PTSD will understand what I feel. No one except another person with visual processing disorders will understand what it’s like for me trying to see the world.
A lot of social justice activists have stopped using “stupid” as an insult, saying that intelligence should not be a moral judgment, but the concept still is one. I’m still assumed to be failing because I can’t do what other people can do as fast as they can, as good as they can, on my own like they can.
This is why I get angry. Because no one, in all the advice and “help” I’m doled out, ever really considers working with me where I am. At my capability. It’s just assumed that I can do things that other people can do, and saying I can’t is a refusal, is a sign of laziness, is not a legitimate can’t, when it is.
If lack of intelligence is truly not a moral judgment, then people will start accepting other people who do not have as great of mental capacities as they do. Actually accepting them, not just saying they do while trying to force them to be “better.”
yes yes yes
"Not everyone who uses a wheelchair is paraplegic, and you don’t have to be paraplegic to use a wheelchair. Did I just repeat myself? Not exactly. Let me explain."
—
— Disability 101: Not everyone who uses a wheelchair is paraplegic
Quick & simple educational article about the variety in wheelchair users. I don’t use a wheelchair to get around my house and can walk up stairs (&because of various reasons, including the unpredictable future prognosis of my illnesses and finances, don’t own a wheelchair — I have a transport chair that I use sometimes on outings, which can’t be pushed by the user and requires someone else to maneuver it, and this transport chair was much, much cheaper) but whenever I’m able to get out and go somewhere that supplies wheelchairs, I use them. Standing up and walking aggravates my symptoms, and I wouldn’t be able to survive long outings (or even consider going a lot of places) without a wheelchair.
However, the sort of looks (“you must be faking it!” “you must be so lazy!” and, in my case, because I’m in my late teens, “that irresponsible teen is fooling around and playing, how immature!”) we can get as wheelchair users who can stand up and walk short distances can be quite ridiculous. So keep an open mind if you see something you’re not expecting when someone’s in a wheelchair and/or using any sort of walking aid! And, if you’re disabled and have been afraid to use a wheelchair when you need it, (seriously, it can be SUCH a help for many CFIDS and POTS patients, but we tend to be afraid to use a wheelchair because we don’t “really need it” from what we’ve been taught, regardless of how false that statement may be) take advantage of any resources provided to you! And, hopefully, we’ll end up educating people to the fact that disability is a huge umbrella term that covers complex, multi-faceted realities with various degrees of capabilities and restrictions, and it isn’t nearly as clear-cut as the media and society portrays.
(via alemonlemoned)
amen to this. I can walk independently and do around my house/dorm. When I’m walking outside short distances, I use crutches, and when I’m going distances I use my scooter/chair. I get the “lazy” looks and comments all the time.
(via flutterflyinvasion)
I want to spread this around some. This is a big deal. I spent a long time agonising over this before using a wheelchair stopped being a choice and started to be the only way I can move more than a few metres.
Odd thing there, I could _choose_ to stand up whilst I’m using a wheelchair, but I daren’t. I don’t know if I’m going to fall over if I do stand, and how long it would take to get back up? The last time I ended up on the floor in public there were hands everywhere, so many hands, reaching out to me, grabbing and pulling.
Thing is, if I had the choice, I’d choose to use the wheelchair anywhere I could around the house too, because even the few metres I can use crutches for is more pain than it really seems worth.
Ah, stairs, my old enemy.
(via girl-in-a-wheelchair)
This is a thing. It’s been a thing for Ezekiel and I, for R as well - for everything it’s been a process, from using a stick onward to being on wheels.
Hearing/seeing/reading the words above and these examples is important, and can mean feeling like it’s ok to use some fuckin liberating and enabling things sooner instead of being stubborn and/or guilty about the possibility of.
(via nothingbutsurrender)
[tw: ableism, rape culture] Common arguments on the “derpy hooves” thing, blah blah blah
- “It’s ableist to say that people with different faces are disabled” — Um, no, no one ever said this was about ALL people with disabilities, or that people with different faces are somehow automatically disabled. What’s ableist is not acknowledging that some people with “derp faces” do exist.
- “We should all just stop back off and stop fighting, give peace a chance, blah blah” — The majority of what I’ve seen has been people spouting off ableist shit. I’ve seen people who criticized Derpy threatened with rape and death, harassed multiple times, etc, but I have yet to see a person who thinks “derp” is okay call out their fellow Bronies on said behavior. I’ve gotten some shit myself but I haven’t posted it. So no. When someone is being a racist dick, and they refuse to acknowledge it, you don’t say, “hey let’s be friends!” This is not about moral relativism. It’s either ableist or it’s not.
- “It’s just a cartoon! You’re taking this too seriously!” — Cartoon characters can send political and social messages to people as much as real people. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but MLP has a lesson about friendship in every episode. If it can do this, why couldn’t it also be ableist? And also, this is really funny given how some people have responded with threats, harassment, etc. I guess it’s only serious if the word is some pretty little meme that matters to you, right?
- “The creators of the show didn’t mean for it to be ableist!” — Intent is not magic. The end. If a little kid says X expletive about People of Color, they are still being racist even if they didn’t mean to. It is very possible to say or do offensive things without meaning to.
- “People will always find something to be offended by, blah blah” or “it’s just the internet, it won’t change!” — No. Actually, people get offended when they encounter something that demeans their existence or their identity. It is incredibly possible to be funny without hurting people through ableism, sexism, homophobia, etc. Go look up Mitch Hedberg, he’s a standup comedian who is incredibly funny without being offensive. This kind of response reeks of self-interested, self-convenient fatalism. Maybe if you actually took on some responsibility and acknowledged what’s going on, you could change something.
- “Derp just means ‘awkward’ or ‘silly’” — Okay, then don’t use faces and images that make fun of people with disabilities. And there are plenty of other words that mean “awkward” or “silly”, without being ableist…such as…”awkward” or “silly”. Or potatoes. Or jujubes. It’s not hard.
- “Someone who is disabled told me it doesn’t bother them” — Okay, and it bothers other people with disabilities. Your point? No one elected some grand representative of all of the disabled people to speak on our behalf. It’s not some popularity contest. It’s about actually figuring out if this is a problem or not.
- “It’s not ableist, you’re wrong, you’re being too sensitive” — Cool story. I guess the people with disabilities who are telling you it’s a problem don’t matter as much, right? Oh wait, that’s ableist.
if anyone can refute these, I’d love to see it. I haven’t yet.
"Disability is approached in most science fiction narratives as something that is inherently bad. It’s something no one would want, and thus something that wouldn’t happen in a society where people exert tremendous control over the body; people cannot be born with disabilities, they cannot acquire disabilities, thus, there is no room for disability. Disability is simply erased from view. It is no longer a social or political issue in a world where there are no people with disabilities, where the heroes of war have no physical injuries to mark their experiences, and often curiously appear to be entirely lacking in mental health legacies from their time in combat."
—
s.e. smith, No Disability at the Final Frontier: Science Fiction, Cures, and Eliminationism (via splatterdick)
This is a really good article, and it made me think of something. I’ve read that the character Geordi on Star Trek TNG, who was blind, was (at least according to the creators) created to add some disabled representation to the Trek universe in honor of a real life quadriplegic fan Gene Roddenberry knew. Geordi was able to see via a high tech visor and later cybernetic eye implants. Would this fall under the point the article brought up about sci-fi narratives erasing disabilities via supposedly Utopian medical technology?
(via fyeahlilbitoeverything)
[Content warning: mental illness, ableism, psychobigotry] xoJane: I'm Crazy, But It's Not Glamorous
I get pretty pissy about glamorization of mental illness, which takes a lot of forms. As a creative professional, I often encounter the idea, for example, that mental illness makes people creative. In fact, I was struggling to work over the last few months, was doubting my ability to continue working, and getting on medication has helped me focus and tighten my work.
Or I encounter depictions of mental illness that seem to suggest we spend a lot of time lying around on furniture looking bereft, or being high-functioning and living the high life in fancy shoes before going home to sit in the bathtub, drink wine and be sad.
*
That “hello is it me you’re looking for” post reminded me how much I hate watching seeing actors play blind characters.
A great actor can sell it I guess, but there is nothing more jarring than a seeing actor out of their depth in the role of blind character. ”If I don’t look people in the eye then the audience will know my character is blind, right?”
[Image: a cat, judging you]
There are really talented blind actors who should be able to represent themselves.
Mm. This is true for all disabilities!
"
I am a gimp. a crip, disabled with cerebral palsy. The story of me lurching up the mountain begins not on the mountain, but with one of the dominant images of disabled people, the supercrip. A boy without hands bats .486 on his Little League team. A blind man hikes the Appalachian Trail from end to end. An adolescent girl with Down syndrome learns to drive and has a boyfriend. A guy with one leg runs across Canada. The nondisabled world is saturated with these stories: stories about gimps who engage in activities as grand as walking 2,500 miles or as mundane as learning to drive. They focus on disabled people “overcoming” our disabilities. They reinforce the superiority of the nondisabled body and mind. They turn individual disabled people, who are simply leading their lives, into symbols of inspiration.
Supercrip stories never focus on the conditions that make it so difficult for people with Downs to have romantic partners, for blind people to have adventures. for disabled kids to play sports. I don’t mean medical conditions. I mean material, social, legal conditions. I mean lack of access, lack of employment, lack of education, lack of personal attendant services. I mean stereotypes and attitudes. I mean oppression. The dominant story about disability should be about ableism, not the inspirational supercrip crap, the believe-it-or-not disability story….
I can not tell you how tired I get of some of these things, especially all the looks I get when I park in a handicapped space or use a motorized cart at the store. I’ve gotten everything from a “what the fuck” look to a lady who recently sneered at me when she saw me loading groceries into my car when I was parked in a handicapped space.
Also I am so sick of “We all get tired/sad sometimes”. No, I don’t think you understand the fatigue that comes with fibromyalgia or the depression that comes with clinical depression AT ALL. It’s not getting a little ~tired~ or a little ~sad~. Stop trying to appropriate your problems and make them seem like they are equal to mine!
And the whole “just eat healthier/take some vitamins”? Shut up. Or “you don’t really need psychiatric medicine”. Sorry, but psychiatric medicine is one of the few things keeping me surviving and ALIVE. Just in general, people telling me advice they think is ~helpful~ when they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about.
Not to mention the entire “but I have a friend with x disabilities and they don’t complain, clearly you’re faking it and want attention!” angers me to no end. Look, I’m really sorry your friend doesn’t like talking about their psychological conditions… but just because I do doesn’t mean I want attention or I’m making it up. I just would prefer to fight against stigma and not be afraid to open up about the things that affect my life.
I once had someone tell me I “mentioned my Asperger’s too much” as the reason why they unfollowed me, and I’ve had people who defriended me on Livejournal because I talked about my psychological conditions “too much”, apparently. Fucking really? I’m not going to apologize because I talked about it. Stop trying to dictate how much I’m “supposed” to discuss something.
