sometimes I get so jealous of other people’s social skills. like damn. they can talk to people?? and people like them?? look at all those people who like them. wtf. illegal

me: *has to be at a place at a certain time*
place: *is 2 hours away, tops*
me, unable to accurately process time: Well, I’d better leave at least 5 hours early

Well, that is certainly some variety in recommended blogs 😨

A problem with “behavior is communication”

alexeidarling:

butterflyinthewell:

realsocialskills:

In certain contexts, just about everything a disabled person does will result in someone following them around with a clipboard, taking notes on their behavior, and designing a behavior plan for them.

This is often called ‘listening to what the behavior is communicating’ or ‘keeping in mind that behavior is communication.’

I know that nothing I’ve ever done was intended to communicate ‘please put me on a behavior plan’. If anyone asked me, they would know with certainty that I don’t want them to do anything of the sort.

I’m not alone in this. Very few people would willingly consent to intense data collection of the kind involved in behavior analysis. Far fewer people would willingly consent to the ways in which that data is used to control their behavior.

A lot of people never get asked. People do these things to them that very few people would willingly consent to — without asking, and without considering consent to be a relevant consideration.

Somehow, an approach that involves ignoring what someone might be thinking gets called ‘listening to what is being communicated’.

That is neither ethical nor logical. Behaviors don’t communicate; people do. If you want to understand what someone is thinking, you have to listen to them in a way that goes beyond what any behavior plan can do.

Collecting data is not the same as listening, modifying behavior is not the same as understanding what someone is thinking, and disabled people are fully human.

I think a better phrase might be “people use behavior to communicate” because I know I do. I have very specific stims that pop out when I’m in distress and they’re a warning signal that might as well mean “I’m in trouble!”

My mom can tell when I’m in pain by how I’m acting. She can’t tell what part of me is in pain, but she knows my pain cues. (I get very quiet and listless unless I’m having a full on SIB meltdown from said pain.)

Soooo yeah, I think “people use behavior to communicate” is probably better.

Because everybody does that! We nod our heads for yes, shrug for “I don’t know” and point to indicate something. Body language can express things words don’t.

It’s just when autistic people use their own body language, it gets called weird and “therapied” to look not-weird.

…I mean, that’s what I always took “behaviour is communication” to mean. That the behaviour had a purpose (so to speak) and didn’t need to be therapied away.

Reblog this if headaches are a regular nuisance in your life

kipplekipple:

Wheelchairs aren’t furniture.

• Don’t move them unless the wheelchair user in question says you can. Even if we’re not in them at the time! Shout-out to the nurse who, during my last hospital trip, tried to put my wheelchair in the nurse’s station, thus effectively stopping me from going TO THE TOILET without asking someone. And, of course, various shout-outs to people who thought *I* was furniture and moved my chair while I was in it.

• Don’t lean on them unless you have permission from the wheelchair user in question. Again, they aren’t FURNITURE. They’re part of us. Lean on stuff that’s stuff, not stuff that’s people.

• If you walk into someone’s wheelchair, while someone is in that wheelchair, you’re walking into a person. You’re jolting us, shaking us, and potentially causing us pain (I have chronic conditions, and YOU ARE HURTING ME). Do what you do anytime you walk into someone, and apologise. It doesn’t need to be any more than, “Oop, sorry,” it doesn’t have to be a big thing (please don’t make it a big thing) but ACKNOWLEDGE US jesus christ this is so alienating. I get walked into all the time and excepting my loved ones I can’t even remember the last time I got an apology.

Wheelchairs are not furniture. They’re assistive devices. They are, for all intents and purposes, part of us and it is frankly incredibly rude not to treat them as such.

Source: hilariouspixies

takingapartcomputers:

sbroxman-autisticquestions:

To other autistic people, did/do you ever struggle to take notes during classes?

I don’t even try taking notes anymore. I’ll write down a due date or something a long those lines if need be but not much else. I can’t write and listen at the same time so if I try to write something down, even if I’m just copying from the board, I will miss what the teacher is saying. I can do slightly better if I’m typing instead of handwriting but not by much. Mostly I just focus on listening and have my hands stim with something.

Pretty much the same here. I’m also HOH besides the auditory processing problems, and it’s really hard to try to lipread and take many notes without getting totally lost. Typing might help some, but handwritten it just doesn’t work.

isabelknight:

slashmarks:

kelpforestdweller:

squidsqueen:

bannock-and-biopolitics:

tbh I want to do a mass study on the poor health of younger people being linked to the fact that so many student-oriented homes that I’m finding on Craigslist/Kijiji that are under $1,000 don’t have ovens and stoves, but proudly boast about having hot plates and microwaves.

I literally screamed and threw my phone the other day when I saw someone in my city advertising their BASEMENT. UNFURNISHED. Just a dank fucking basement, with no kitchen or kitchen access, just a microwave!! for ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS/MONTH.

$1,425
/
Month.

For a fucking kitchenless hole in the ground.

mold in basements and shitty housing doesn’t help either

Personally I’d be interested in the frequency of health problems related to exposure to mice.

My last apartment had some kind of foul-smelling yellowish….gunk that oozed out of the walls whenever it got humid. I vaguely assumed it was related to the “no smoking” renters policy being relatively recent, and the building being pretty old.