Disability Advocacy - Tumblr Posts

A small thing, but marking food locations for people with food seeking tendencies and PWS to avoid would be great too. I know there is a PWS convention in disney every year and it would be very helpful to know if there are any food free gift shops or what rides have gift shops containing food at the end. It would allow for a serious decrease in anxiety for both visitors with PWS and their families and care givers and would help create a more food-secure vacation.

Disneyland and Walt Disney World now have guidebooks for guests with cognitive disabilities (such as autism). They include the above charts of what to expect at each attraction (strong smells, loud noises, restraint types used, duration, and more), lists of quiet areas for when you need down time, and answers to frequently asked questions, among other tips.

They are available to download in PDF format: Disneyland | Walt Disney World

If you don’t want to download a PDF (or prefer to click the download link on Disney’s site directly), here are their pages for Services for Guests with Cognitive Disabilities: Disneyland | Walt Disney World

first adventure in the new wheelchair:

boyedfriend and i walked/wheeled over to some fast food places for lunch now that i could tag along! i've been having an awful flare-up for the past three days that has left me unable to stand for even short periods without discomfort, so being able to get the wheelchair today was great!!

i was already pretty aware of just how inaccessible some of the sidewalk in my neighborhood is, but actually BEING in the wheelchair showed me even more (rolling up over ramp curbs is way scarier than i thought LOL)

also, a LOT of buildings around here could work on their level of accessibility. i struggled a lot with narrow doorways, automatic doors that didn't open fully, slopes and ramps that were too steep, counters that were too tall, etc. (i made sure to point these out to the boyfriend so that he was aware, too)

it wasn't my first time using a wheelchair (the local mall has complimentary wheelchairs that i use frequently), but it WAS my first time using a wheelchair that I OWN (!!!) so overall the experience was great!

i might talk about more experiences and adventures i have with the wheelchair in the future!

Growing Up Disabled

Maybe I’ve always been this way.

Always in need of a helping hand

Always in need of more support.

Would my parents love me any more

If I was born

The way I was supposed to be

Without the pain

Without the awkwardness

Without the need?

But I grew up this way,

It’s all I’ve ever known

So why be sad

When I can be glad

That today is better than most.

@thepromptfoundry

For July 2024 we're keeping the party going here at the Prompt foundry, celebrating diversity, solidarity, and triumphs won in the fight for rights as we roll right from Queer Pride in June to Disability Pride in July with Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo!

If you use this list, please tag me here @thepromptfoundry, I’d love to see your writing and art!

Feel free to combine different days' prompts with each other, or combine them with other seasonal events! Use your OCs, your favorite characters from media, your own experiences, whatever tickles your fancy.

Respond to as many prompts as you want or as interest you, don’t worry about missing or skipping any. Remember, this is supposed to be fun!

If you have any questions or musings, check our FAQ, and if you don't find your answer, shoot me an ask.

Plain text list below the cut:

1 We’ve always been here 2 Growing up disabled 3 Mobility aides 4 Curb-cut effect 5 Memory loss 6 Dignity 7 Limb difference 8 Sensory sensitivity 9 Autonomy 10 Invisible disability 11 Family 12 Nonverbal 13 Communication 14 Deaf or Hard of Hearing 15 Support 16 Technology 17 Pain 18 Rest 19 Facial difference 20 Space for us 21 Neurological disability 22 Neurodiversity 23 Becoming disabled 24 Allergy 25 Chronic condition 26 Genetics 27 Skin difference 28 Maintenance 29 Respecting limits 30 Solidarity 31 A future for us

Have fun!

I don’t have a poem/art work for the curb-cut effect so ima just talk about it!

Basically, the curb-cut effect is when something accessible helps multiple groups of people, disabled or other wise. One of the most common examples is the curb cut (the little drop off that curbs have primarily for wheelchair users). It can be helpful for people with strollers, wheeling around big items, etc..

Another example are automatic doors, which are usually for disabled people but can also help people who have a lot to carry and possibly even little kids if the doors are really heavy.

Hope this helps anyone who was wondering!!

For July 2024 we're keeping the party going here at the Prompt foundry, celebrating diversity, solidarity, and triumphs won in the fight for rights as we roll right from Queer Pride in June to Disability Pride in July with Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo!

If you use this list, please tag me here @thepromptfoundry, I’d love to see your writing and art!

Feel free to combine different days' prompts with each other, or combine them with other seasonal events! Use your OCs, your favorite characters from media, your own experiences, whatever tickles your fancy.

Respond to as many prompts as you want or as interest you, don’t worry about missing or skipping any. Remember, this is supposed to be fun!

If you have any questions or musings, check our FAQ, and if you don't find your answer, shoot me an ask.

Plain text list below the cut:

1 We’ve always been here 2 Growing up disabled 3 Mobility aides 4 Curb-cut effect 5 Memory loss 6 Dignity 7 Limb difference 8 Sensory sensitivity 9 Autonomy 10 Invisible disability 11 Family 12 Nonverbal 13 Communication 14 Deaf or Hard of Hearing 15 Support 16 Technology 17 Pain 18 Rest 19 Facial difference 20 Space for us 21 Neurological disability 22 Neurodiversity 23 Becoming disabled 24 Allergy 25 Chronic condition 26 Genetics 27 Skin difference 28 Maintenance 29 Respecting limits 30 Solidarity 31 A future for us

Have fun!

For today I’m doing memory loss. Made it all fuzzy to represent that (ik it’s not super creative but yk)

@thepromptfoundry

For the disability pride boogaloo

Dignity

My dignity was lost

On the day I needed help.

Help to bathe

Help to walk

Help to talk.

My dignity was lost

But my bravery still stands

Because what makes me brave

Is to still be living

With no dignity left

@thepromptfoundry

So this is gonna be a double…

I’m doing this for both Children Of The Stars art challenge thing (@poemsofanentomologist ) and for limb difference for the disability pride boogaloo (@thepromptfoundry ) (hard to see but the child is missing a hand/part of their arm)

This is the next day for the disability pride boogaloo by @thepromptfoundry!! It was “autonomy”! Took some inspiration from the puppet boy audio from TikTok lol. This mainly catered to my tics but feel free to interpret how you wish!!!

Puppet Girl

Dance dance dance

Sway sway sway

Do as they wish

Move as they wish

You are not allowed

To have your own moves

You are a puppet, girl

you move when they want to

Day 10 of @thepromptfoundry disability boogaloo!! Today it’s invisible disability. Mainly talking about my tics again :p but idc how you interpret any of my poems!!

No matter what you do

I’m invisible to the rest

Yet annoying to you

I won’t go away

No matter what you do

I’m always there

Stuck in the shadows

Yet never there

When you say “appear”

I am apart of you

No matter what you do

Nonverbal for todays Disability boogaloo by @thepromptfoundry!!

Speak

I can’t speak

Can’t even try

While others around me

Are noisy

And refuse to be quiet

Its all too much

And I can’t stop it

Speak

Speak

Speak

Next up is communication AND Hoh/deaf for @thepromptfoundry Disability boogaloo!!

Communicate

Talk, talk, talk

Chatter, chatter, chatter

Can’t we speak

The way I need to?

Can’t we communicate

The way I can understand?

Talk, talk, talk

Chatter, chatter, chatter

Please let me communicate with you

(yes it’s bad I’m burned out so this is the best I could do)

I usually don't talk about this on this blog, but I'm going to anyway. If you have a disability, you don’t need to consider yourself disabled. You just don't! Have autism? You don't need to say ur disabled (altho you def can)! This goes for Tourettes and tic disorders, as well, and really any disorder. Just because its a disorder does not mean you need to say your disabled

Wait what's a buildings fire evacuation plan if you aren't supposed to use the elevator to get down

hey now that it’s disability pride month can you please remember to include people with Down syndrome and other chromosomal defects into your activism. they’re so often left behind. I literally never see anyone spreading Down syndrome awareness that isn’t close family of someone with Down syndrome. They exist and they’re living breathing humans who deserve just as much activism as every other disabled person

idk man. i just think itd be really cool if sign language classes were mandatory throughout primary school. yeah because it would make communication with deaf kids and autistic/nonverbal kids much easier. and those kids would be accessible to the others so they could make friends and have healthy relationships. yeah. and kids would eat that shit up man. like their own little secret language? they love that.

I wanted to make a very blunt post about hearing people using sign languages for speech loss episodes because I think a lot of people really need to hear this.

..... I really do not know what you guys are expecting to get out of sign language as an alternative to speech

let's start with some facts:

sign languages are their own distinct and separate languages from spoken language. ASL is not English with your hands, ISL is not Irish with your hands, and so on and so forth.

sign languages have their own unique vocabularies, grammar, and syntax

learning a sign language is exactly as hard as learning a spoken language. the idea that learning a sign language is easier is a myth. it is a second language and will be as difficult to learn as every other second language

sign languages rely on a complex system of facial expressions for grammatical reasons. facial expressions are not optional. [PT: facial expressions are not optional.] you will not be understood without facial expressions

from my understanding the majority of people who experience speech loss episodes lose their ability to speak because they are overwhelmed, overstimulated, upset, tired, or otherwise in a state that's upsetting or overwhelming. from my understanding, the majority of people who experience speech loss episodes are losing their ability to use language, they are not losing their ability to use their mouth.

if you are not losing speech in a way that exclusively affects your mouth then a sign language will not help you. full stop.

[PT: if you are not losing speech in a way that exclusively affects your mouth then a sign language will not help you. full stop.]

as I mentioned above a sign language is a second language for you* unless you have grown up signing you will be stuck translating your thoughts into a second language. if you're struggling to use language you will only struggle more to use a second language. it's like if you were monolingual English speaker and you lost speech and decided the solution would be to try speaking Spanish instead.

*okay, there are hearing people who learned sign as a first language**, but that is not the majority of you

**baby sign is not sign as a first language

I also feel like a lot of people seem to forget the experiences of Deaf autistic people when they're trying to figure out using sign language as an alternative to speech during speech loss episodes. Deaf people lose speech too. [PT: Deaf people lose speech too.] as it turns out the complexities of sign language can become too overwhelming and difficult when we are overwhelmed too, and sign language is often our native and/or primary language. if you are not someone using a sign language as your native and/or primary language then what makes you think you'll be able to communicate with it during a speech loss episode better than us?

you are going to find it very difficult to communicate in a second language when you're losing speech.

now for those of you whose speech loss episodes exclusively affect their mouth:

you are treading in dangerous waters. let's start with: sign languages are not AAC. Deaf people, who ultimately control the sign languages and were the people to create them, do not have a communication disorder. we are speakers of a non-dominant language. sign languages are more than just a communication tool for us, they are also endangered languages and cultural languages. they should be treated with respect in regards to those facts. if you treat sign languages as AAC (which therefore treats them as tools for your use as a hearing person) or outright call them AAC you are disrespecting the language and its cultural significance. if you would not call English "AAC for Americans" do not call sign languages AAC.

if you decide to use sign language to assist you during speech loss you should also be using your knowledge of sign language to protect and preserve this language. hearing people can be part of the Deaf world if they sign. you shouldn't shy away from communicating with Deaf people.

If you decide to use sign language to assist you during speech loss you have to [PT: have to] understand the culture behind the language and treat the language with respect to that culture. Deaf culture is a closed, minority culture. it is not free to take from and use as you please. us allowing you to use sign language is a gift, it is not something to take for granted. if you view sign languages as a tool for your use as a hearing person you are stealing.

but back to practicality, I'd encourage you to use AAC over a sign language. you don't tread the same dangerous waters by using AAC and it will also allow you to be understood by more people. most people do not know any sign language, and most people who do know sign language are unwilling to use it.

if you want to commit to learning a second language in its entirety and want to commit to doing so with respect I will not stop you but you should consider whether your motivations are yourself or whether your motivations align with and protect the Deaf community. your motivations should not be selfish.

[ID 1: a userbox saying "this user is deaf"

ID 2: a userbox saying "this user has autism"

ID 3: a userbox saying "this user communicates via sign language]

all right fuck it, i can't find a community anywhere so i guess i have to make one.

here's my discord server for disabled people who have caregivers, whether family or friends or partners or paid staff or in an institution.

please reblog this. disabled people with caregivers desperately need a space to talk about navigating these complicated and often fraught relationships. there's infinite spaces for caregivers to talk about their experiences with each other. and that's good, they need that. and so do we.

this is a public server in the sense that any disabled person with caregivers can join. but there will be a degree of privacy because people won't be able to see all the channels until they are manually approved. also, i will try and implement something I've seen in another server, which is the ability to post anonymously.

How about y'all just, let disabled people complain, instead of shut us down whenever we bring up anything shitty that's happened to us, instead of make everything about you every time?

We get shit for not being independent and on our own, for living with family members, for being unemployed, for depending on caregivers. People call us losers, leeches, burdens, lazyasses. Like, all of this happens to us all the fucking time. We literally live this.

It doesn't matter one jack bit, doesn't mean a rat's ass to us, that it hasn't happened to you. You are not what these conversations are for.