When dealing with the day‐to‐day challenges of living with a disability, it’s easy to be discouraged by limitations or obstacles that don’t really exist. We often think that, because we can’t accomplish a task the same way other people can, we can’t accomplish the task.
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When I was in college I took a class on problem solving. One day, the teacher drew nine dots in a grid on a sheet of paper and asked us “how can I connect these dots with a single, straight line?” After everyone had given up on finding the answer, the teacher proceeded to roll the paper into a spiral and draw a single line down the spiral to connect all the dots.
The teacher wasn’t trying to show us how clever they were or to give us something to do at parties. Instead, they were trying to teach us about avoiding artificial constraints when faced with a problem.
When dealing with the day‐to‐day challenges of living with a disability, it’s easy to be discouraged by limitations or obstacles that don’t really exist. We often think that, because we can’t accomplish a task the same way other people can, we can’t accomplish the task.
The laundry hamper is too heavy or big to move into the laundry room, so we can’t do the laundry by ourselves.
It’s too dangerous for us to move a pot of water boiling water from the stove to the sink in our wheelchair, so we can’t make pasta at home.
We can’t easily use the gym equipment anymore so we aren’t able to exercise.
The truth is, the laundry hamper doesn’t need to make it into the laundry room—the laundry needs to make it into the washer. The pot doesn’t need to be drained into the sink—the pasta needs to be removed from the water. Exercising is about moving your body—not using specific equipment.
When faced with barriers to our health or independence, it’s important to evaluate each situation clearly and not dismiss a possible solution simply because it’s unconventional.
Tag: disability
‘Fake It Till You Make It’ Doesn’t Work With Chronic Illness
Instead, the options are:
‘Fake It Till You Are So Ill You Can’t Get Out Of Bed’
‘Fake It Till You Have A Flare’
‘Fake It Till You Have A Flare, Continue To Fake It Till You’re Hospitalised‘
OR
‘Accept That You Have One Or More Chronic Illnesses, Adapt Accordingly And Look After Yourself’
Thirteen-year-old activist with autism wants to close seclusion rooms at schools
Nov. 23, 2018
POWHATAN, Virginia — Alex Campbell was just 7 years old when, he says, his principal dragged him down the hall to the school’s “crisis room.”
Administrators reserved the room, a converted storage closet, for children who acted out. He still remembers the black-painted walls. The small window he was too short to reach. The sound of a desk scraping across the floor, as it was pushed in front of the door to make sure he couldn’t get out.
Alex, who has autism spectrum disorder, says he was taken there more than a half-dozen times in first grade, for behavior such as ripping up paper or refusing to follow instructions in class. The room was supposed to calm him down. Instead, it terrified him.
“When I asked for help or asked if anyone was still there, nobody would answer,” Alex said. “I felt alone. I felt scared.”
According to the latest data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, public school districts reported restraining or secluding over 120,000 students during the 2015-2016 school year, most of them children with disabilities. Families and advocates have documented cases of students being pinned down, strapped to their wheelchairs, handcuffed or restrained in other ways. Both practices, experts say, can traumatize children, and may lead to severe injuries, even death.
Alex is determined to close the seclusion rooms for good. Last week, the 13-year-old told his story to legislators, congressional staff and advocates to mark the introduction of the Keeping All Students Safe Act, a bill that would bar the use of seclusion and significantly curtail the use of restraints in schools that receive federal funds. No federal law currently regulates the use of such practices on students.
“We believe schools should have a safe environment for students to learn and grow,” said Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District. Scott sponsored the legislation with fellow Democrat Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia’s 8th District.
“It’s a civil rights issue,” added Scott, who serves as the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. “Children should not be subjected to practices that are counterproductive, endangering their safety or health.”
Alex tried to keep the “crisis room” a secret.
No laws required school administrators to tell his parents what was happening. Alex says the principal warned him that if he said anything, he would spend the rest of the year locked in the room.
But Alex’s parents said they could tell something was wrong. They noticed unexplained bruises on his knees. He became increasingly anxious. His father Sean Campbell, who works as a data specialist in a public school system, thought it was especially strange when Alex visited the school where he worked and asked where the children got “locked up.” He stopped wanting to go to sleep.
“That’s when it hit me,” Campbell, Alex’s father, said. “He doesn’t want to wake up because he doesn’t want to go to school.”
Eventually, Alex broke.
“He started babbling like crazy,” Campbell said. “‘I can’t go back to that room. I can’t go back.’”
The idea of the school not notifying them appalled Alex’s mother, Kelly Campbell, who has taught in public schools for 11 years. “If a child falls on the playground and bumps their head, I’m obligated to call the parents,” she said. “I’ve been told that in every school I’ve worked with. Something like that could happen to Alex, and nobody has to know about it? Like it’s some dark secret?”
While a landmark piece of federal legislation called the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, mandates that all students with disabilities are provided with a free public education tailored to meet their needs, regulations governing the use of restraint and seclusion in schools vary from state to state. Many states don’t require school administrators to notify parents when their child is restrained or secluded. According to a recent analysis published by the Autism National Committee, only 28 states provide “meaningful protections against restraint and seclusion” for children, including those with disabilities.
Thirteen-year-old activist with autism wants to close seclusion rooms at schools
@ all disabled peeps who have any type of food issue
dont be afraid to refuse things at thanksgiving dinner, if you think its gonna have a bad affect on you, then dont eat it.
dont be afraid to eat more than others want you to, if your illness makes you overeat/overly hungry or in general you need to eat more due to meds or something, then do it. dont let anyone stop you (this includes yourself)
dont let people call you picky because you dont want to/cant eat a certain thing.
dont let people make your illness out to be a burden on them because you need to have something different to eat/something cooked differently so you can eat it. they arent cool if theyre picking traditional eating/their way of cooking over your health.
and if they do this and get upset when you bring something for yourself, do not let them hate on you. your health issues are not your fault.
its okay to eat alot
its okay to not eat alot
and if you think something bad will happen if you eat, its okay to not eat anything at thanksgiving dinner.
if someone tries to tell you some ignorant shit my guy come right @ them, do not let them take your issues lightly.
if you wanna add anything, feel free but thats all i can think of, have a happy and safe thanksgiving, my disabled peeps.
Look after yourselves
I used to wear cute clothes with super cute shoes like heels and boots and flip flops. Now I don’t even own any cute shoes because I know if I wear them I’ll be in major pain (or in the case of heels not even be able to walk while wearing them or later. )
Mood.
I Was Denied Health Care for Months Because of the Gender Marker on One Form – Rewire.News
“For trans people with disabilities, the refusal to officially codify and otherwise recognize our genders as simultaneously self-determined and legitimate can put our health and lives in even greater danger.”
Disability and the Weight of Loneliness
“The only futures we’ve looked forward to are ones of disappointment, where people require us to shrink ourselves in order to access human connections we desperately need.”
One in five Britons with disabilities have their rights violated, UN told
“One in five British people are suffering erosion of their rights because they are disabled, the government-backed Equality and Human Rights Commission has said in a damning report to the United Nations.”
One in five Britons with disabilities have their rights violated, UN told
You’re not faking it.
People who fake things do it because it makes their lives easier to fake it.
Of all the people I’ve met who are so worried that they’re faking their chronic illness, or autism, or adhd, or depression, or whatever else,
Not one single one has had their lives made easier because of their condition.
It makes their lives harder, and the guilt they feel because they think they’re faking it only adds to that.
You wouldn’t fake something to make your life harder.
So don’t worry about it, okay?
You’re not faking it.
And you deserve support and treatment.
Disabled children struggle to get through to their parents all the time. When a disabled child struggles with something, they usually have to jump through hoops to convince their parents to believe them. Many times, nothing ever works. But they’re expected to have perfect self control. If they become violent whenever their parents refuse to accept them, they’ll be locked up. If they so much as yell, roll their eyes, or simply look angry, they’ll most likely be punished.
But when parents assault their children because “it’s the only way to get through to them”, I’m supposed to sympathize with the parents?
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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