Day: July 20, 2017

You’ve heard about Mom Friend and Dad Friend, now get ready for….

jidashia:

Grandpa Friend™:

– almost always grumpy
– bad at showing affection but cares about their friends a lot
– “what did you say?”, “Sorry i didn’t hear that, can you repeat it?”
– often reminisces about their youth (even though they’re probably only in their twenties. Alternatively: “kids these days…”)
– too old for this shit (see above)
– totally not down with the youth
– bad back (and everything else hurts too)
– likes to complain

Well, that worked out better than it could have.

I did just get the package which was supposed to be out for Royal Mail delivery yesterday. Not this morning, as I had hoped, but around 1 p.m. Not nearly as good with my already kinda messed-up sleeping schedule (and about 3 hours’ sleep before I got up at 9), but hey. At least it did come before I dozed off or something.

But, of course that was during probably the worst maybe 3 minute window since I got up. I’d been trying to hold off, with the way these things seem to work. But, I finally had to run to the bathroom!

And, you probably guessed it. I didn’t even hear a knock or anything, with that near the front door. But, it must have been this one postman I honestly wish could do this route all the time. Who apparently figured out that our outer door doesn’t latch properly, so he will just pop it open and drop anything that won’t fit through the slot inside! Without getting a signature unless somebody is standing at the door when he comes. I’m not about to inquire further, but yeah this was supposed to need a signature too. Comes with the tracking. (I also kinda wish so many businesses wouldn’t default to tracked postage, but it probably saves them enough trouble.)

No aggravating slips through the door with that guy on the case… 🙄

(Yeah, that is pretty much the only good thing about the door situation. There is indeed another locked door inside that one. And if anybody really wants to take some old shoes, this wooly hat that I’m not even sure where it came from, the actual coat hooks that lives on, and/or maybe some takeout flyers and junk mail that haven’t gotten picked up? They’re welcome to it, and it would save me needing to clear out the little entry. But, I still want to get Wonky Door fixed/replaced, because yay exterior doors that lock properly.)

sabot-sister:

shit working class leftists and ppl in general don’t need to hear:

– you making fun of our schooling

– you belittling us for working actual jobs instead of going into higher education

– you complaining that we don’t “do enough about our situation”

– you looking down on us because we might not have the time or the patience to read heaps of irrelevant political theory

– again, these fucking jokes about us having no idea about politics when we’re the ones living them

– you patronizing us about health, parenting, and literally anything else

– you asking why our families didn’t just buy a house (that happened more often than you’d think)

– you making fun of our dialects and mannerisms

– you using a lack of education as an argument against your political opponents

– you pitying us like we can’t be proud of our roots

– you ignoring our self-organization and community work because it doesn’t live up to your ideological standards

– the fucking LEFT in general being classist as fuck which should be a paradox but isn’t

for real I’m just really fed up with the academic left sometimes and y’all should really look at yourselves first when you ask why the new left is so out of touch with working people.
We don’t have to read Marx to know that capitalism sucks. Believe us, we know.

This has been a PSA.

aegipan-omnicorn:

a-game-is-the-foot:

Here’s something I never see discussed anywhere:

Disabled/chronically ill young people who are able to work but haven’t always been able to (and may still have restrictions), and how that stops them from getting work even now.

It doesn’t matter if they’re able to do the work fine and they have all the necessary skills, because of how competitive the market is now there will always be at least one other candidate with more experience than they do. And this is simply because during an important period of their life when all their peers were out getting some work experience (even if it was in completely unrelated fields), they couldn’t because they were ill. They may not even be able to do what all their peers consider something they can “fall back on” like waiting tables, because they physically can’t. Disability/chronic illness stopped them from getting work then, and it stops them from getting work even when they can now, even when they excel in all other areas you want from an employee. And of course it can’t fall under discrimination laws because no one is actively discriminating – no one is at fault – it’s the screwed up economy we live in that’s the problem, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it unless we can actually get some work experience that counts.

So Much This.

Even something as “simple” as not being able to get odd jobs as a younger kid – like mowing the neighbor’s yard, or running a lemonade stand – things that would-be employers use as “proof of someone work ethic,” or “evidence of organizational skills.”

Or not being able to participate in extracurricular activities after school or on weekends – things people often put on their first resumes in lieu of paid work or internship experience – either because those activities weren’t accessible (even getting accommodations for academic needs is like pulling teeth from a hungry, unsedated, tiger) or because all your “extra” time was spent with physical therapy sessions and doctor’s appointments. Because when you’re a disabled kid, the only thing authority figures around you (often your own family, too) think is important is managing your condition, and not the rest of your life around that.

Add in to that mix that there is, frankly, a lot of bias and discrimination against the disabled (it’s just not provable), and so you never get a chance to build a resume at all, because no one will hire you for a “first” job – unless you’re lucky enough to have a non-ableist family member or neighbor who’s well-enough off to give you a chance – and potential employers often look askance at that, because they consider it nepotism.

And yes, I’m bitter about this.

spoonie-life-hacks-owner:

crpl-pnk:

crpl-pnk:

a culture fixated on sniffing out “fakers” to protect “real disabled people” inevitably harms every single disabled person within that culture & only maybe a relative handful of “fakers”, who are usually mentally ill or economically disadvantaged to the point of having no alternative. stop saying your skepticism is for my benefit. stop saying my oppression is for my benefit. yes the idea of people with no grasp of my struggle claiming it is infuriating & insulting beyond belief. yes that is also oppressive. but in practice, i’d rather a dozen able bodied people successfully pass themselves off as disabled than one disabled person die in poverty because they couldn’t “prove it” to an abled person’s content

setting aside the fact that People Die From This, just the impact of faker witchunting on the emotional wellbeing of disabled people is enough to make it inexcusable
i’ve heard someone crying, literally sobbing & vomiting from pain frantically promise me that they’re not exaggerating when i never indicated for a moment that i disbelieved them, because they’re so used to the accusation. i’ve heard someone in the aftermath of a seizure quietly mumble as they regained lucidity, “are you sure i’m not faking?”
i don’t know a single chronically ill person who hasn’t at one point or another seriously questioned if they were ever really that sick at all because we’ve been so brainwashed to challenge the validity of disability that we begin to doubt the reality of our own definitive lived experiences

I became ‘disabled’ very suddenly 2 weeks after my 18th birthday. The first few months were the worst because my pain tolerance wasn’t accustomed to my new body. For a few months I wouldn’t even call myself anything close to disabled despite the fact that I was completely dependant on others to survive.

Eventually I applied for PIP. It’s an English benefit, but it also makes you ‘officially’ disabled. So not only could I buy some disability aids that would help me do basic things on my own, but it also meant that I could use things that are designated for the disabled.

I had no idea that I would have to spend an entire year being accused of faking and lying. I had to read every accusation they threw at me and somehow prove each one wrong. Even when I did they threw more.

It’s not just about frauds. It saves money. The assessors can only approve a limited number of disabled people per month or they don’t get a bonus.

I was lied about. They were supposed to ask me questions and write my answers. Most of my answers weren’t there. The ones that were, were reworded to look bad.

I said: My health has made me depressed. Its because I suddenly have no control over my own life. I can’t even go to the toilet without help now. I have had breakdowns where I can’t stop crying no matter what. I’ve even tried to take my own life.

What my assessor wrote: I shout and scream when I don’t get my way.

This is how they handled every single point that I had to prove.

That year, my depression got worse. I wanted to give up but I refused to let them win and I needed this to survive. It was the worst and hardest period of my entire life and I nearly didn’t survive it.

There are millions who go through that struggle but either don’t have the strength for it, or simply are rejected.

I was lucky. My Mum’s work has a program that allowed me to use £500 to see a private specialist. I told her my situation and so she examined me and noted every issue she could diagnose (my condition works that way). She then wrote a report of my general health and emailed me a copy. This gave me just enough proof right at the end of the process for me to finally get the support I need. Most don’t have that money available.

Im in online communities for certain conditions. At least once a month, someone commits suicide because of the accusations. Everyone who doesn’t have a visible condition feels a need to prove their self.

But it’s all worth it to stop the people who falsely claim right?