ornange:

if fat acceptance is okay,

let us also have acceptance of organ failure, heart disease, cancer, sleep apnea, asthma, and diabetes!

I mean, YES. If you treat people with organ failure, heart disease, cancer, sleep apnea, asthma, and diabetes the way you treat fat people, then STOP FUCKING DOING THAT. THAT IS AN INHUMANE WAY TO TREAT ANYONE. WHAT KIND OF A FUCKING MONSTER ARE YOU THAT YOU WOULD THAT TO ANYONE LET ALONE TO A CANCER PATIENT?

crpl-pnk:

you ever realize how able bodied people just are not expected to do things that cause them excruciating physical pain? like they’re just. not

if i shouldn’t use my cane because i can sometimes technically walk without it, it would just hurt like a motherfucker then abled people should no longer be allowed to use potholders to take things out of the oven because i mean

well they could technically pick up a hot pan with their bare hands. it would just hurt like a motherfucker

*sees an abled person using potholders*

i just think it’s really sad that you’re giving up on yourself like that

meeresbande:

If you want to make the world a better place for mentally ill and neurodivergent people, get into the habit of shutting down people who mock/laugh at/sneer at “odd” or “weird” but harmless behaviour. Just refuse to laugh with them and say “That’s not funny.” or “They’re not doing any harm.” Do this whether or not anyone who’s directly negatively affected hears it. This is both about protecting people from ableist verbal abuse, AND about teaching ableists that their attitudes are not being tolerated and that you’re not going to bond with them over ableism (or, hopefully, any other form of oppression).

No Excuses: Shining a light on abuse and neglect of people with developmental disabilities in Washington’s institutions | Disability Rights Washington

autisticadvocacy:

““No Excuses” sheds light on the pattern of unsafe conditions and lack of treatment in WA’s institutions”

One take on Helen Keller that was just too impressive not to share:

Despite being blind and deaf, she was a revolutionary advocate for the removal of stigmas associated with sight and hearing disorders, and became a world recognized author and lecturer.

That’s an odd enough description of what she did anyway, but…“despite”. Sure.

(The guy seems stuck on that one, anyway. Stevie Wonder? “Despite being blind since birth, his dedication resulted in stardom as a soulful singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer.” Not quite as crap funny as the other despite, but still.)

On the not-so-related note that turned up that page in some search results to begin with, another interesting take:

In 1923, President Henry L. Schloh and Treasurer Charles I. Hausmann of the Rego Construction Company discovered 17th century farmland in Forest Hills West, owned by Chinese farmers …and began developing 525 8-room one-family frame houses.

As you do, when you “discover” land inconveniently owned by Chinese farmers. Possibly in a pocket universe a few centuries out of sync with the rest of NYC.

A little more on that interesting bit of history I saw mentioned in passing elsewhere, before getting distracted by “despite”: #14: Chinese Farms in Queens

(Apparently from the 1870s-1880s, when a good number of Chinese people left the West Coast thanks to the widespread racist violence, through later immigration–and up until developers did drive them all out during the early 20th century. Haven’t had a chance yet to look through some of the other interesting-looking stuff on that blog.)

alarajrogers:

betweenthebinaries:

trashgender-neurotica:

quetiapine400:

here’s the thing: trump is not mentally ill and his behavior isn’t indicative of mental illness–it’s indicative of white supremacy

so no there’s no point in pop psychologists diagnosing him for clickbait articles and for people to make snappy tweets and posts about his sanity

it’s not funny and it does nothing but reinforce the stigma around mental illness and perpetuate the belief that mentally ill people are inherently dangerous and abusive

He’s not mentally ill, he’s just got a fucked up ideology. It’s not the same.

!

The evidence actually suggests both. He’s extremely narcissistic, might be suffering the onset of dementia… and also a white supremacist asshole. They aren’t exclusive.

Exactly. These are very different things. It’s certainly a big problem the way some people prefer to conflate them in extremely ableist ways, and try to put terrible abusive behavior off on someone’s presumed mental health difficulties. But, being largely separate issues doesn’t make them mutually exclusive.

It’s also totally possible for already abusive-acting people to lose some inhibitions with dementia, which can be a very bad situation all around. I’ve seen that happen up close. That also wouldn’t even be a thing if they were not abusive going in.

Dementia doesn’t make a decent person suddenly turn into a horrible jerk, any more than drinking magically turns them aggressive. The loss of inhibitions can unmask some things they were able to cover up better before, and make existing manipulative behavior look much less smooth.

Trump has kept up a public reputation as an impressive level of bigoted jerk at least since the ‘80s. (From the NYT: 1973 | Meet Donald Trump. Involving the first discrimination suit against him.) The style may have changed some, and appallingly so has his level of influence.

But, the man has never come across as anything but a bigoted asshole. Regardless of anything else that might or might not be going on with him now.

fierceawakening:

soilrockslove:

To take a quote by Julia Serrano that was mentioned in this article (in a different context):

the “activist language merry-go-round” is fueled by stigma: Trans
people are stigmatized in our culture, and this stigma latches onto the
words that are used to describe us and our experiences. As a result,
many activists may feel compelled to focus on changing language (i.e.,
swapping out “bad” words with new words that feel more neutral or
empowering). However, so long as trans people remain stigmatized, these
newer terms will eventually become tainted by that stigma, and there
will be even further calls for newer and supposedly better replacement
terms. I argue that there are no magical “perfect words” that will make
everyone happy. And the “activist language merry-go-round” will not stop
until trans people are no longer stigmatized, at which point there will
be no compelling need to replace existing trans-related terms.

Also applies a lot to disability.

See how “special” and “special ed” quickly became insults soon after they were coined and used for “special education kids” to keep from having to speak about their disability more bluntly. To the point where one of the worst things I remember being called as a kid was “Special” with that certain pattern of intonation.

And now we use the words “exceptional education” and I can already see that starting to being re-purposed for insults in the schools I’ve worked in.

The merry-go-round will continue until the underlying prejudice that’s driving it goes away. So I think it makes more sense to work on addressing that than getting into language fights.

“Twice exceptional” sounds like an insult to me and I wince whenever I hear it.

Don’t call someone exceptional unless they did a good job on something, imo.

Source: paxamericana

That’s one thing that actually keeps surprising me, dealing with my partner. He’s so much better with the “soft can’ts” than I am.

“Wait! Don’t do that, you’re going to hurt yourself!!!”

Yeah, I’m not so used to that being much of a consideration. Especially if it’s something that wouldn’t be a problem for someone with less shitty connective tissue, no history of certain injuries, etc.

It’s not just things as blatant as direct physical harm, of course, though that is one example that really has me going wtf whenever I think about it. Avoiding overload, rationing energy, and other “softer” considerations get treated as totally legit too.

I’ve kept feeling guiltier as the list of “soft can’ts” has grown, and still keep bracing myself for the snarking and sniping and concern trolling and pushing. Hasn’t happened yet. Even in the middle of burnouts, including lately.

That really should not be so unusual from people close to you, who are supposed to care.

It can be really hard to learn to recognize reasonable limits for yourself. But, no wonder, as much history as a lot of us have of the people around us pushing us into the burnout zone. And then acting amazed and disappointed when we sooner or later do crash spectacularly. Or get ourselves hurt in seemingly ridiculous/careless ways.