Since Pride Month Is Literally Right Around The Corner, DO NOT Be Fooled By Companies That Change Their

I think, in an able-bodied world, and most importantly, in a able-bodied medical system, we as physically disabled people have to stop trying to assess our impairments from the POV of our own thresholds of pain, fatigue and other dysfunctions.

I struggle with this a lot as well, but if we're trying to get accommodations and treatments in a system created by and for abled and usually healthy bodies we have to speak their language and it really is a matter of having to constantly translate back and forth.

If I want an able-bodied person to take my state seriously I can't just say "I'm a little tired today". Even if to MY chronic fatigue standards that really is just a little more tired than usual. MY "a little more tired than usual" doesn't look like what an able-bodied person understands as "a little more tired than usual" and it sure as hell doesn't require the same care as what they understand by it... But they're the ones with the power to concede or deny me the level of care or at least basic consideration I do need.

Same with pain. The things I consider to be ok regarding pain and discomfort are things an able-bodied person would call in sick for. Same too with the cognitive dysfunction when I'm flaring.

If we as individuals want to get anything from a little understanding to (God fucking forbid) tangible help for our impairments then we have to start articulating what we're going through in terms they could understand. It's why I tend to tell people to "exaggerate"; because most of the time we won't be exaggerating, we'll be more accurate than we otherwise would.

Don't articulate your impairments to able-bodied people based on the bullshit you're used to on a daily basis, articulate them in relation to what's gonna get you the help you need.

In WWII, in 6 years, 67 journalists were killed

In the Vietnam war, in 20 years, 63 journalists were killed

In Gaza, in 70 days, 89 journalists were killed

So with everyone abuzz about the Britney Trial, and appalled and shocked and horrified at what she has had to go through, I want to take the time to state that this is commonplace and a very real threat for neurodivergent folks of all stripes. If you have a paper diagnosis of something it can and will be used against you by abusers. If you are disabled and/or neurodivergent you are owned in the eyes of the law and society by the people you depend on. This obviously and predictably creates situations where abuse is prevalent.

What Britney revealed in this trial did not shock me at all because this is the reality of many many people. This is the threat that hangs over people like me if we dont conform and burn out to please an arbitrary standard of normal and don't lie like hell to doctors.

At any moment if my mother felt like it, she could simply take my autonomy away legally because I can't live alone. If I didn't censure myself all of the time around certain people regarding neurodivergence, I could end up in a similar position because a doctor decided I was too crazy to have rights, and unlike Brittney, there is no mass movement for justice for us common people.

I want everyone to realize that what Britney has said is commonplace for people deemed 'too crazy to function' and disabled people in general. We are abused at startlingly high rates by our caregivers (parents, doctors, etc), society thinks that our rights should be taken away for our own good. I want people to extend the horror and desire to see change to the rest of us who arent high profile and use that horror to enact real change.

Not just hashtag freebritney, but push to pass laws to protect the autonomy and freedoms of those of us who are effected by conservatorships, institutionalization, and general stamping on of the rights of neurodivergent and disabled folks in every area of our lives.

If you live in the U.S. and you’re 12+, you’re eligible for the updated bivalent anti-omicron booster shot, and it should be available in your  local pharmacy. 

Please reblog this post, as there’s been very little news coverage and shockingly little propagation of information about the availability of updated boosters.

i’m sorry to say this, but bad things are going to happen. it is pretty unavoidable. but when bad things do happen, you can have a support system in place and you can trust that you will be okay. it does not have to be the end of the world even though it may feel like it right now.

Just a reminder that we aren't gatekeeping Pride.

I know it's only April, but I just saw such a rancid take on Tiktok (and the person blocked me, woo!) That I need to vent somewhere.

The argument went "bi/pan/queer people with cishet partners shouldn't bring those partners into queer spaces/Pride because it makes those spaces unsafe for lgbt folks."

Which is a frankly awful take for many reasons.

First of all "makes a space unsafe" is not an identity. It is a behavior. And ANYONE who is making those spaces unsafe, regardless of their identity, *shouldn't be there.* Whether they are a cishet man or a lesbian, if you are making people unsafe, you shouldn't be there.

Secondly, it's blatantly unenforceable. You can't clock someone's identity at the door. You don't know if they are bi or trans or nonbinary. And no one should have to out themselves to a bouncer.

As a caveat to this, you also don't ever know *why* someone might bring their cishet partner to pride. Whether that's because this is an important part of their life they want to share with their partner, or they are disabled and need help managing their meds or mobility aides, or the partner is a designated driver. You just don't know. So even if you did know they were cishet, maybe they have a "good reason" for being there.

So between it not solving an actual problem to not being enforceable, all this discourse does is create an EXTREMELY hostile environment for, well, bi/pan/queer folks especially. Always. We always get targeted for this kind of stuff.

But also anyone who might worry that *they* aren't queer enough or not look queer enough. Trans folks who haven't socially transitioned, non-binary folks who aren't androgynous enough, ace and aro folks, people who are newly out- they see this rhetoric and think "Oh no. What is someone sees me and thinks I'm cishet? What if someone tells me I can't be there? What if I don't really belong?"

So we aren't doing it. It's shitty snd hostile and biphobic and exclusionary.

Everyone can come to pride.

Except cops.

Fuck cops.

(through gritted teeth) sometimes what's good for your mental health isn't another do nothing day or a little treat sometimes what's good for you is putting in some of the work. Not all of it at once but sometimes you have to finish that essay or at least take the next step or you have to clean your room or at least dust the shelves or you gotta do the laundry or at least put it all in the hamper and it's not fun and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks but you have to because i read a post on the internet that told me that's what being nice to yourself is sometimes

We need representation

We need representation so kid's eyes aren’t covered by parents who sense danger in two men holding hands

We need representation so women can kiss and not feel ashamed or sexualized

We need representation so bi and pan and omni and anyone with a heart so big it can’t love just one gender isn’t told to choose

We need representation so the people with multiple partners aren’t condemned for cheating

We need representation so kids don’t run up to people asking if they're a boy or a girl when in reality they are neither

We need representation so trans kids don’t grow up feeling dysphoric without the words to express themselves

We need representation so aro and ace kids don’t grow up thinking something in them is broken