Disability - Tumblr Posts

Disability Writing Guides

Collecting all of these in one convenient place! If you have any requests, questions, comments, and especially concerns about what/how I’m writing these, please let me know!

Writing Chronic Pain

Writing Deaf Characters

Writing Disability and the Idea of Cure

Writing Wheelchair Users

General Disability Etiquette for Writers

Overused Disability Tropes

Writing Blind/Low Vision Characters

Writing Facial Difference

Writing Seizures

Writing Visible vs. Invisible Disabilities

Writing Disability and Eugenics

Asks!

If anyone wonders what it's like to be a parent in 2024, I just had a special needs van driver tell me and my disabled 6 year old to "hurry the fuck up" getting him on the bus because he got excited/distracted by a fallen leaf in our yard for like 0.5 seconds.

This should’ve been said earlier, sorry!

Happy disability pride month!

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!

One of the funniest things about being a disabled artist is trying to use the tips. I’ve always been told “use your own body as a reference!” And so I would.

And for years people where like “your anatomy is wrong feet don’t bend that way”and I was so confused bc I watched myself do it what do you mean it’s wrong???

My spina bifida caused my feet to not be lined up properly with my ankles

I didn’t notice until today, looking at my feet while planning a costume.

What’s even funnier is I know I needed leg braces as a kid, I just didn’t know why. I thought they where to support my legs not fix my foot alignment

on colors and being different and not being enough for yourself

(please reblog instead of liking)

To whom it may concern .

Disability Tax Credit Redux

Navigating the Disability Tax Credit process for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It seems like a long and winding road, but you can get it done. This is my continued journey to reapply for my son's DTC. #DTC #CRA #RDSP

My continued work with the CRA seems to have reached its logical end. Since my son’s diagnosis of being on the Autism Spectrum, we have had to reapply for his Disability Tax Credit every 5 years or so. This year, we had to reapply for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). Unfortunately, we let things lapse, thus stopping his RDSP payments (for now). My son is now 19 years old, so more paperwork will…

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Oh my god I get that feeling so so much. Currently using a cane (my joints suck so bad lmao) and people are so stupid about it!!!!!! Legitimately this is part of the reason I had to leave my former school, people are so rude and stupid about younger people having canes sometimes. Ya either have people acting like you can’t do anything for yourself or like you’re making everything up.

I think the most unfortunate thing is that a lot of the people who give me issues are older people who *also* have canes, they tend to think I’m faking or doing it for the aesthetic just bc I’m younger.

But yeah pretty much the point of all this is that you’re so valid bestie, people should butt out of your business and you should do what’s best for you, good luck!

My knees are getting bad again to the point where I'm considering using my cane again. I don't mind using it, it really does help, but there's always the annoyance of people asking questions or being like "Oh, I'm so sorry for you" with the pity route or "You're young, you don't need that" with the ignorance route. Or, gods, the fucking looks people give me.

I want to be able to use my cane in peace if I need it, thank you. I feel like I walk through a minefield everytime I try and bring it up in conversations about needing it again.

Will never get over the time that a friend’s mom looked me dead in the eyes at a restaurant and said “You know, I could never do what you do.” In reference to me living life as a disabled person.

Thanks for the reminder that being put in a wheelchair would immediately drive you to suicide, I guess.

Hey yall, looking for advice since I might temporarily be in a wheelchair :}

I just spent half an hour having to chase my Mamie’s dog through a gulley, mostly without my crutches since they couldn’t fit through the brush, so understandably I’m sore as hell.

This will be my first time using a wheelchair, so any advice/support is very appreciated

Makes more sense to me now. Maybe I should admit to myself that I have higher support needs than I thought/than I used to, regardless of why, instead of wasting precious time/energy trying to find EXACTLY the reason. Knowing stuff is important but taking care of self should be more important to me.

Btw, "support needs" aren't there to describe how your autism impacts your ability to perform IADLs and BADLs - they're there to describe how much support you need with IADLs and BADLs in general.

If you can't perform IADLs, it doesn't matter why. What matters is that people know that you need help with IADLs.

I often see autistics say something like "I don't know if I'm low support needs or medium support needs because I have so many additional things, I don't know what's because of my autism and what's because of these other things" - it doesn't matter!

Are you having bad motor skills and balance issues because of your autism or because of another developmental thing? It doesn't matter, these things influence each other and make you you. You're struggling with IADLs and maybe BADLs, that's what's important, not why.

If you're focusing on autism, that's support levels as in the DSM-5, but the DSM-5 doesn't care if you can perform IADLs and BADLs to assign you an autism level.

This is the difference between autism/support *levels* and support *needs*.

Support needs are about the ability to perform IADLs and BADLs, not about why.

Ok? Ok. 👍🏼

To add what constitutes "flashing," for extra context.

I found this online:

What rate of flashing light can trigger seizures?

Between 3-30 Hertz (flashes per second) are the common rates to trigger seizures but this varies from person to person. While some people are sensitive at frequencies up to 60 Hertz, sensitivity under 3 Hertz is not common.

Citation:

https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/epileptic-seizures/seizure-triggers/photosensitive-epilepsy

Please stop trigger tagging with #epilepsy tw/cw/warning/etc.

I need every single person to understand how horrible tumblr’s tagging system is

I go into the tag for epilepsy and its all flashing lights. We can’t use our own tag because people without epilepsy fill it up with improper warnings.

Use ‘flashing’ in place of ‘epilepsy’ in your tags. You aren’t warning people of epileptics, you’re warning us of flashing lights. Please please tag properly. Epileptics say this endlessly and constantly and it’s ignored. You are risking lives by doing this.

Here’s proof of what I mean:

THIS POST IS 100% OKAY TO REBLOG, I ENCOURAGE PEOPLE WITHOUT EPILEPSY TO ESPECIALLY DO SO!

any wise words, advice or insight?

so i've been decently confident that i have POTS , especially because i started to feel this way about 8-ish years ago after i was bedridden sick.

^ (but for almost as long as i can remember, i never liked standing up for long times, and felt faint often, so i really don't know for sure) more context below cut

even so, i don't move around often, aside from when i'm at work 3x a week (5-6hrs each) or going out with friends. i usually stay in my room crumbled up in my desk chaid or in bed. i also have arfid and so i don't have the best eating habits too

because of this i'm not sure if i an physically built wrong or if the fainting, weak knees & arms, and dizziness (+other POTs-like symptoms) are just a result of my habits? i used to be fairly active in elementary school + middle school, but cannot remember if that ever helped me. i know that even when i was active, by ribs would feel broken with cramps and bruises. so i really can't tell if i was just living like this or only now am feeling it.

my doctors aren't listening too much, but that seems normal for my healthcare system/hj

i find that if i can sit and eat every once and a while during my time i do go out, i can suffice with only a little bit of dizziness, but i still fear leaving the house without any secure way of breaks or snacks, so i'm using the world's most painful hand-me-down wheelchair and i don't even know if i should get a new one because i don't feel justified since i've 'lived long enough' like this without one. (even though, i have to admit, i only stopped leaving the house because of my symptoms over a decade ago)

fyi things like insulin, hearing aids, wheelchairs, glasses costing money at all is a form of structural ableism

👍👍👍

Ableism in Subtitles

Something that really pisses me off is the litany of ableist issues found in subtitles. So, let's talk about 3 huge issues that need to stop.

Subtitles should never ever say [Speaking -language-]

When a hearing person is watching a TV show, or a stream, if someone starts speaking another language, if that hearing person knows that language, they will get to know what the person said, regardless of if the average viewer knows that foreign language.

Deaf and HOH viewers deserve the same opportunity, and to rob them of that opportunity by putting [speaking -language-] in the subtitles is ableist.

Every word spoken in a show or movie, unless given translated subtitles in the uncaptioned version of the show or movie, should have every word captioned exactly as it's spoken. If someone starts speaking Spanish, the words spoken in Spanish should be subtitled in Spanish. If someone starts speaking German, the words spoken in German should be subtitled in German.

When a show or movie is created, if you want a character to speak a foreign language, you get an actor who can speak that language. When you hire someone to transcribe a show into subtitles, your hire someone who can speak the languages spoken in the show, or you have them mark points where a foreign language speaker will need to assist and then have someone who speaks that language add in the parts that the transcriptionist can't.

Subtitles should never be cut short for convenience

This is something I see constantly. Shows and movies will frequently cut out words or even large chunks of a sentence from the subtitles to make the subtitles shorter.

When you remove descriptive words, parts of a sentence, or even whole sentences to cut down on the amount of subtitles in a given segment, you are completely changing the attitude, mood, and expression of those sentences. You can completely ruin all of the implicit feelings in a sentence if you remove words that show feelings or the way a person phrases things.

It is not your moral right, as a company or transcriptionist, to decide that deaf or HOH viewers shouldn't get the original phrasing.

I am not deaf or HOH. I have APD and have to use subtitles to keep up with what's being said, or I won't process it fast enough. Because of that, I get to see all of the ways subtitles deviate from the original wording all the time. This isn't an issue that just happens here and there. It happens in pretty much every episode of every show I've watched. And it's unacceptable.

Even if we ignore the way this impacts the intent of a sentence, this is ableist by its nature. When subtitles are made, they are made to fill the gap in a deaf or HOH person's TV experience. When you don't accurately fill that gap, or fill it partway, or half ass it, you are cutting corners on a disability aid. It's like if you sold someone a wheelchair with the wheels not pumped with enough air, or giving someone a hearing aid with damaged battery capacity.

When deaf or HOH people watch TV or movies and they use subtitles, they are relying on those subtitles to give them the most accurate wording possible. So why are companies directing or allowing their transcriptionists to half ass or cut down their subtitles? Every piece of media should be having its subtitles checked for accuracy before they're approved, and subtitles that cut corners should be amended before a show with subtitles is published or aired.

Subtitles should never censor words that aren't censored in audio

If a show or movie has swearing in it, of any kind, the subtitles should accurately depict what is happening audibly. If the audio has swear words censored, the subtitles should depict the noise - or lack thereof - that is used to censor the word. Subtitles should never be censored when the audio isn't.

Not only does this touch on the same issue from the last section, it's also ableist in another way. Not only are you giving deaf and HOH people a different experience than hearing people, you're also infantilizing them by disallowing them from hearing swear words that hearing viewers can hear.

Deaf and HOH adults are not children. They have just as much right to read the word "fuck" as a hearing person does to hear it. Censoring subtitles is disrespectful, ableist, and infantilizing and it needs to stop.

Make a change

I'm not familiar with the details of the ADA and how it regards subtitles, but if anyone would like to work with me to do something about this, I would really like to fight for subtitles to have more regulation.

If the ADA prohibits inaccurate subtitles, we should be reporting companies like Netflix who constantly provide inaccurate subtitles. If it doesn't, we should be fighting to amend the ADA to include regulations for subtitle accuracy.

Anyone who's researched this before or who knows more about it than I do, please tell me what you know or give me some sources I can look into myself. I would research from scratch but I'm disabled and don't have a lot of spoons for it, which is why I'd like to work together with others.

able bodied allies of disabled people when your disability genuinely has no secret upside and makes you useless to a late stage capitalist society

Say you break your ankle. You could know everything there is to know intellectually about the injury. Even with this vast knowledge, you will still experience physical pain.

Now take this logic and apply it to things like ADHD, autism, clinical depression, and other less visible/divergent disabilities. You cannot think your way out of feeling.

That is to say: you are not a bad, lazy, or selfish person for struggling, even if you know why you are struggling.

It should be a crime to have an ad with things likely to trigger epilepsy punishable with 6 hours in the bad room per view

this obviously doesn't apply to every disabled person but one of the things you don't really hear about for being disabled or chronically ill is the boredom. being stuck in bed and like. not having the ability to do anything meaningfully intensive with your hands, not being able to sit up, not having the concentration to read or watch things (from pain or brain fog or something else) and just kinda. lingering around online and hoping for something to happen or someone to talk to even if you have nothing good to say bc nothing has been going on for like the last day, week, month anyway

so i saw some posts about how izuku too easily overcome his quirklessness after receiving ofa, right? mostly people in and under those posts say that it's a shame that we don't see the difficulties of re-thinking his identity and this situation is kinda unrealistic. well i can understand the upsetting feeling of not receiving an interesting point of character's self-discovering and stuff but i have a thing to say about how this thing will make sense (possibly).

so let's make an assumption that quirklessness in the world of bnha is some kind of disability. as far as i know we don't have clear statement in canon but it make sense, right? like if you search the word "disability" you will find something along the lines "the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society". sooo in REAL world quirklessness isn't a disability because... well non of us here superpower, right? BUT on bnha world quirks are seen as an extension of human being like leg or hand. so it will be logical to assume that person without quirk can't be seen as fully capable as quirked one within society.

let's not bring the paranormal liberation front stuff because it's a topic for different post and I'm already getting far from point of this one.

so izuku is disabled in the beginning of the story, yeah? then why the hell he overcome his disability with a simple snap of fingers and why did it make sense?

now i will be coming from my perspective. I'm disabled and was like this for good chank of my life. and what usually come with it? disability becomes a part of person's identity. not only for people around disabled person but for them too.

now my rambling make even less sense but wait I'm getting to the point.

from interaction between izuku and bakugo + tone of voice of izuku's teacher in aldera we know that deku suffered from bulling BECAUSE of quirklessness. moreover when izuku asked all might can he become a hero, all might didn't ask him about his skills or why he feel a need to be a hero, no. all might just write him off solidly because of izuku's quirklessness and let me be honest: i believe that that wasn't the first time deku was given such "reality check".

can you smell that? oh yeah the good old ✨trauma✨

why did i wrote that i'll view this situation from perspective of my personal experience? well, i was bullied because of my disability back in school and guess what? most of the adults in my life didn't give me a chance to prove myself before they decide that I'm useless.

and that's the main reason why my disability become the thing that I'm activity trying to hide and don't let this abomination become a part of what make me who am i now.

can you see where I'm getting? izuku viewed his quirklessness as a thing that made his life harder and what made other people see him less of a human. so when The Miracle happened izuku just signed with relief and went ahead leaving behind the thing that made him miserable.

the last part of this ungodly long post: why do i believe that izuku doesn't let quirklessness become part of his identity and rather ignored it? well this is the part where i stop pretending that i have some Absolutely Logical Conclusions and become delusional. so we all remember that for the good part of plot izuku keep telling that he's gonna be hero like all might. well make sense because of ofa and all this razzle and dazzle with all might's successor, right? BUT this also can be applied to quirkless izuku. he WANTED and WAS GOING to become hero like all might, and i see it as if he didn't come in terms with his inability to become Just Like All Might. according to this statement izuku was ignoring differences between him and other (quirked) people. this make me believe that deep down he refuse to accept disability as part (or ex-part according to canon events) of himself.

is it healthy? no.

does izuku have a healthy image of himself? probably not.

did i just come up with unshaped pile of thoughts at night before bed and decide to vomit it straight into the internet? yes, i did.