Day: July 15, 2017

Maori words minted for autism and mental health issues – BBC News

cydril:

The word they chose for autism is ‘takiwatanga’, meaning ‘his or her own time and space’. How cool is that?

Keri Opai, the civil servant who helped devise the words, said they had been chosen not only to fill gaps in the Maori vocabulary, but also to ensure that the terms are non-judgemental.

“In my experience, people with autism tend to have their own timing, spacing, pacing and life-rhythm, so I interpreted autism as ‘takiwatanga’, meaning ‘his or her own time and space’,” he told government-funded Maori Television.

Mr Opai consulted the Maori disabled community in order to develop variants that differ from what he called the “sometimes condescending English terms”, and instead emphasise “gaining strength and ability.

Maori words minted for autism and mental health issues – BBC News

kelpforestdweller:

datascully:

sylviasybil:

lowoncliches:

lesbianfreyja:

what’s with the weird stigma that being closeted is okay but only if it would be physically unsafe for you to come out? coming out is YOUR business, if you know it would be fine & nothing would happen to you & nobody would care, but you don’t want to anyway, that’s your choice and it’s perfectly valid.

Also this is not binary. It can be physically safe, but endanger your job/education, your living situation, your professional or personal contacts. And sometimes you just don’t know if it does.

Do you ever just stop and think about how just being queer is immediately considered an action of deception and hiding? How weird is that, right? If a stranger walks into the room, suddenly I’m no longer out of the closet. I’ve taken no action to declare my identity one way or the other, but now I’m considered responsible for this stranger’s mis-assumption.

Coming out is continuous. You know that thing where two mirrors face each other and you can see infinite mirrors? Coming out is like walking down that mirror passage – there’s always another closet door after the one you’ve just opened, there’s always another person waiting to hold you responsible for their assumptions.

Fuck that noise. If it’s unsafe in any way for you to open the closet door, you don’t have to. If it’s completely and perfectly safe, you still don’t have to. You didn’t put that door there, you’re not responsible for anyone else’s judgments of you. Fuck that noise.

The only reason coming out exists as a concept is because society has codified heterosexuality as the default value.  Then instead of recognizing the absence of information as a null i.e. no value, an unknown orientation, we treat the absence of information as confirmation of the default value.  So unless otherwise specified, everyone is considered straight.  And further if a non-straight individual doesn’t actively work to challenge the default, society holds them accountable and calls it “deception.”  So I’ll reiterate from above- fuck that noise.  Just because society has established a shitty set of assumptions doesn’t mean you have to play that game.  Tell what you want to who you want and sleep well at night knowing you don’t owe anyone anything.

people assuming things about me is their problem

dank-tiddy:

telnaga:

telnaga:

donations for me are halted. my friend is pregnant and needs an abortion. it’s $650 and she needs that within 7 weeks. I’m going to set up a fundraiser for her tomorrow. this is really important to me

Fund Koren’s abortion

My friend Koren is pregnant at 17, and has no help from her family. The cost of planned parenthood intervention is $650. She has limited funds and little help. PLEASE donate, and PLEASE spread

Hey, I clicked the link and her goal has been met!! – this is as of today (July 14, 2017).

pinkcheesegreenghost:

chamfrons-checques-n-champignons:

prochlorperazines:

black-to-the-bones:

Desiree Fairooz, a 61-year-old activist with the Code Pink group, was arrested for “disorderly or disruptive conduct” in January after laughing when an Alabama senator testified that Sessions had a record of “treating all Americans equally under the law.”

Our justice system is just ridiculous. Every time i see something like this on the news i’m shocked. How could you possibly convict a woman for laughing and acquit a police officer,who murdered a black person for nothing? She will serve time in prison FOR LAUGHING at some BS Sessions said and racist police officers will spend their time looking for more black people to kill. When will the justice be served?

Source

this is the kind of thing you’d expect from a totalitarian police state, and it sets a dangerous and disturbing precedence.

this is a totalitarian police state, it’s just not completely finished.

judge threw it out, she is still at risk for retrial though.