“One fun fact I learned while on the air with Keith Olbermann was that humans on the Internet are scumbags. People say children are cruel, but I was never made fun of as a child or an adult. Suddenly, my disability on the world wide web is fair game. I would look at clips online and see comments like, "Yo, why’s she tweakin?” “Yo, is she retarded?” And my favorite, “Poor Gumby-mouth terrorist. What does she suffer from? We should really pray for her.” One commenter even suggested that I add my disability to my credits: screenwriter, comedian, palsy.“
There was a split second there where his like, “wait, what? bro what are you doing?”
On more serious note, PTSD dogs for veterans are so fucking therapeutic. They’re like the one person you can spill your guts to and never worry about ever being judged or have that secret divulged. There are times when I definitely prefer the company of a dog over a human.
Therapy animals save lives.
These dogs are even still so much more amazing. They check rooms before their handler enters, so they can clear it to help the person feel safe. Like in the gif, they are there when panic attacks or nightmares occur, to be something for the person to help ground themselves on, or yes just to turn on the lights. Even more amazing, many people are able to reduce their medication when they have a PTSD service dog there to help them. These dogs are useful for not just veterans, but also victims of abuse, accident trauma, natural disasters, and others. Their training allows them to be useful in situations where medical assistance is needed, as well. Some PTSD dogs are trained to recognize repetitive behaviours in handlers, and signal the handler to break the repetition and stopping the behaviour and possibly injury.
Service dogs in general are just awesome. Remember to respect any that you see out in public. They are not there for you to walk up to and play with, even the puppies!
I was reading an article of a service dog helping a person with schizophrenia. she stated that when she was seeing or hearing things and notices the dog is not reacting in any way, then she is able to ground herself, realizing what she was experiencing was not real and could work through it easier and is more able to ignore the delusions. And she pointed out she feels more comfortable with a service dog as well because well, dogs don’t judge and get angry for things like this
I teared up about this whole post to be honest.
i’ll never not reblog this post. it is so important.
Living your life now and doing things you care about.
Not putting your life on hold waiting for a cure
But, some kinds of acceptance talk end up putting destructive kinds of pressure on people. And I think:
It’s ok to like or dislike being disabled. It’s ok to like some aspects of your condition but not others
It’s ok to want treatment and to be frustrated that it isn’t available
It’s ok to pursue treatment that *is* available
It’s ok to work hard to gain or keep certain physical or cognitive abilities, and to be happy or proud that you have them
It’s ok to decide that some abilities aren’t worth keeping, and to be happy or proud about moving on from them
All of those things are very personal choices, and no one’s business but your own
None of them are betrayals of acceptance or other disabled people
The point of acceptance is to get past magical thinking.
It means seeing yourself as you actually are, without being consumed by either tragedy or the need to focus on overcoming disability. It means accepting where you are, and living now, without putting your life on hold waiting for a cure.
Acceptance creates abilities. Acceptance makes it easier to be happy and to make good decisions. But acceptance does not solve everything, and it does not come with an obligation to love absolutely every aspect of being disabled.
loving how my old history teacher talked about them like a terrorist group
boost me up
Wow okay so for those skimming, there’s a memo up there from THE DIRECTOR OF THE FBI that sets a mission to LIE about the good things the Black Panthers were doing, spread rumors of them being terrorists, and terrorize the communities supporting them.
If you think the Black Panthers were terrorists and you’ve never heard of the community-building, it’s because there was a literal government conspiracy to make you and people 45 years ago think that way.
i’m reblogging again (bolding mine), because people need to fucking know this. especially white americans.
To show how far the terrorist lie spread – I’m white, on the other side of the world, and until I first saw this post, that lie was about the only thing I ‘knew’ about the Black Panthers.
in the tumblr tagging system, unsourced artwork is considered especially heinous. on this blogging platform, the users who source these felonies are part of an elite task force called the source your fucking artwork unit. these are their stories.
Alfter that, Stabler punches a wall. HAS HE GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME?
I love their relationship. It’s one of my absolute favourite things about season five onwards, and I think that they both have this amazing chemistry, this found-family brother-sister dynamic that I don’t know if was planned and exquisitely executed by Nicholas and Michelle, or if it evolved organically on-set once they started working together. Either way, it’s beautiful. Because for all that Dawn began as a magical macguffin, she stuck around and grew and evolved into something that wasn’t just a splinter of Buffy, wasn’t just a spare, wasn’t just dead weight. She had her own arc of growth, change, and self-determination, like any other member of the core cast, and that made her into a character that almost every viewer could identify with, by the end.
For the last few days, like many other disenfranchised communities across the country, the disability community has watched what is happening in Ferguson, Missouri. Our hearts are heavy with sorrow, anger, and fear for what is happening to individuals, families, and communities so similar to our own.
Even following the release of the name of the police officer who was ultimately responsible for Michael Brown’s death, we must still come to terms with the tragedy itself. This is a tragedy not just because of the precious loss of life or the actions of one person, but is also a tragedy that is caused by the criminalization and dehumanization of our own citizens. It is a tragedy not only for Michael Brown’s family but for the entire country.
Perhaps, it is more honest to for us to say, it is yet another tragedy that has become all too common for communities viewed as “other” to the American majority – young men of color, people with disabilities, lgbt individuals.
“They didn’t comply.” They were “bad kids.” “They were being belligerent.” “They looked suspicious.”
These statements that have no real discernable meaning often warrant a death sentence for the individuals upon which the observations are based.
Eric Garner, 43, who had asthma, was pulled to the sidewalk onto his chest and restrained in a chokehold by an officer. The medical examiner cited that Garner’s cause of death was “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” (New York)
Robert Ethan Saylor, 26, who had Down syndrome, went to see a movie and refused to leave. It was customary for Saylor to see a movie twice. Deputies put Saylor on the floor, held him down, and handcuffed him with such force that he suffered a fracture in his throat cartilage and died of asphyxiation. (Maryland)
Keith Vidal, 18, who had schizophrenia, was tasered, then shot, and killed when his family called law enforcement for help calming their son down. Vidal’s stepfather said, “”They killed my son in cold blood. We called for help, and they killed my son.” (North Carolina)
Gilberto Powell, 22, who has Down Syndrome, was beaten by police outside his home and was left with horrible bruises and scars on his face when law enforcement suspected he was carrying a weapon and tried to pat Powell down. Powell did not understand and ran. The suspicious bulge in his pants? It was a colostomy bag. (Florida)
Barry Montgomery, 29, who has schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome, and is non-verbal ,was harassed and then beaten and tasered for 25 minutes by sheriff officers when he was confronted about the smell of marijuana in his general area, and Montgomery did not respond. Montgomery sustained massive permanent injuries. (California)
Eric Garner, Ethan Saylor, Keith Vidal, Gilberto Powell, and Barry Montgomery – these are the names of a few people with disabilities who were brutally injured and killed because of who they are. There are many who were lost before them, and there are certainly others whose names we will never know because the brutality against them was never reported.
When a system that is designed to protect and serve is fueled by fear and anger, that is not merely a surmountable problem. It is a catastrophic failure of the system, and it demands transformation. Such a failure represents a lack of leadership, a corruption of institutions, and a distressing willingness to purposely and violently silence the voices of entire communities marked as different, non-compliant, and suspicious.
Perhaps what is most disconcerting however, is that the failure to support our young men of color, who are gay who have disabilities, who are poor, is not just to be laid at the feet of an intolerant police force, self-interested politicos or even a sensational hungry media. The fault lies in our own hearts.We have not taken enough of the responsibility to manage and maintain the values that we believe are right. We have been complacent in our engagement and been comfortable enough to declare that the problems are with other people. We have allowed ourselves to be separated into tiny groups of associated individuals rather than communities participating in a collective conversation about the state, direction and makeup of our society.
We have allowed problems of marginalization, exclusion, inaccessibility, dissemination, sexism and bigotry — problems that affect us all — to instead be addressed by a few, and have been content to say that it is a disability problem, or a race problem or gender problem or sexuality problem rather than admit that it is a problem for all of us. As members of a community that supports justice and inclusion we do not have the luxury to stand by when injustice is blatantly taking place in any form, and nor should we be satisfied to wait for other communities to ask for our help.
Civil rights, respect, and justice are due to all. We will not remain silent. The disability community, like the LGBT community, and so many others around the country, stands with the family of Michael Brown and with the people of Ferguson, Missouri. We call on the national and local media to be responsible and steadfast in their coverage of this story and others like it. We call on policy makers on all levels of American government not to shrink from action, and we are deeply grateful to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice for their immediate commitment to a thorough investigation. Let us all come together, not only to rally and mourn but also to plan for action and collaboration.
Lastly, we specifically invoke the words of Justin Dart in “a call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all.”
The Lead On Network
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Ollibean
Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective
Queerability
Ramp Your Voice!
Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD)
If you are a disability organization and interested in signing on to this statement, please contact us at LeadOnUpdate@gmail.com. If you are an individual with a disability who cares about this issue and supports this statement please share it widely. Also, we know you have your own thoughts to express and urge you to do so in the comments. We will not remain silent! The events of the last week touch us all.
We are honored to join leadonupdate, queerability, and others in signing on to this letter of solidarity with the Community of Ferguson, MO. Not only do we face related struggles, but there are undoubtedly Autistics in Ferguson, and definitely Autistics of Color who face the issues being struggled with and protested against in Ferguson across the nation and the world.
If you are a disability org, please join us in signing on to this letter. Instructions are at the end of the text.
Reasons to support this sign-on letter:
SOLIDARITY, All marginalized communities ought to stand in solidarity with each other;
INTERSECTIONALITY, When racism prevails, this often has the most disproportionate impact on people of color with disabilities—disabled people of color cannot be freed until freed of both ableism AND racism;
ITS TIME FOR PAYBACK, because people with disabilities (of all races) wouldn’t have some of the rights we enjoy today in the U.S. if it wasn’t for the help we received from Black Panthers in 1977: http://socialismartnature.tumblr.com/post/76951614367/black-history-of-504-sit-in-for-disability-rights-more So if you’re thinking, “Do we really “need” to get into what’s happening in Ferguson” … well, the Black Panthers didn’t really “need” to get into the 1977 section 504 disability rights sit-in protest either, but they still did. And they did it with actual dollars and cents that I’m sure they could have found a thousand other uses for that were more directly and more unmistakably relevant to their own struggles for the liberation of black people in America. The least we can do in return is to talk to disability organizations you’re familiar with about signing onto this sign on letter. Let the people of Ferguson know they’re not alone in their struggle.
knitting in the dark 