Writing Accessibility PSA

You’re still chronically ill if you have a good day. You’re still valid. Your chronic illness is still valid if you have one good day out of a hundred bad days.

collection of useful things tumblr has taught me:

even if you can't fall asleep, laying down with your eyes closed will still rest your body

you don't have to brush your teeth standing up

you don't have to do any chore standing up, from dishes to showering

you don't have to shower with the lights on

if you can't brush your teeth, flossing and a tongue scraper gets rid of plaque and bad breath

if you can't do that, mouthwash kills a lot of bacteria

eating "unhealthy" food is better than eating no food

you can make the same meal everyday for however long you still want it

some pills come in syrups or chewables if you can't swallow them

kids nutritional shakes can be a quick way to get fuel if you can't eat/don't have time

if walking hurts/exhausts you on a regular basis, canes and rollers are for you, no matter how young you are

we have free will—if doing something "out of the ordinary" makes life easier for you, do it

"All autistics have low empathy" - This statement is wrong.

"Autistics having low empathy is a MYTH, we actually have HIGH empathy!" - This statement is ALSO wrong.

Autistics can have low empathy, they can have high empathy, they can have learned empathy. The myth would be that all autistics only experience one end of the empathy spectrum.

In spreading around misinformation that autistics actually have high empathy, you are disregarding the autistics who do have low empathy. And vice versa.

(I bring a sort of “Everyone has inherent worth regardless of their productivity” Vibe to every conversation that ableists don’t really seem to like)

hey, disabled person! do you feel tired all the time? do you feel like you’re working twice as hard as abled people for half the outcome? do you take longer to do every single little thing than an abled person would see as reasonable? well. I would like to introduce you to the concept of crip labour (I first came across this in Smilges, 2023 but I cannot verify whether they came up with the term)

crip labour is a term to describe all the extra work disabled people do on a day-to-day basis. it’s also a form of labour that is invisible to abled people, because they just don’t have to think about most of it. it includes:

the extra labour required to get ready to leave the house in the morning (e.g. the extra steps involved in getting dressed or having a shower)

the social labour required in order to communicate your needs to abled people

the labour involved in having to plan ahead (e.g. knowing where accessible toilets are, knowing where ramp access is, knowing which venues are safe for you to be in)

the administrative labour involved in gaining access to particular institutions (e.g. applying for disability welfare, applying for education access plans, etc)

having a term to describe all the labour involved in keeping yourself alive and happy helps to make that labour more visible. it gives us a way to point out that we are doing more and with less capacity, and it helps to explain why so many of us are so exhausted all the goddamn time

so I hope this is a helpful term for people to bring into their lives!

[Image ID: A white background with black text with red shadows "Intrusive thoughts can" (can being all red text) "and will" (will being in all red text) "be about anything." The next points are bulleted out in a list in black text. "There is NO limit to what they can be about whatsoever. They WILL be about things you don't want them to be about by DEFINITION. NO topic is evil or weird enough to be exempt. NONE. NO LINE IS DRAWN. THE SUBCONSCIOUS DOES NOT STOP. It MAY make you uncomfortable to hear about and that DOES NOT give you an excuse to be fucking ableist about it. They cannot be controlled, you cannot expect people to try. They are NOT indicative of someone's true wishes or feelings. REPREMINANDING SOMEONE FOR HAVING THE "WRONG" INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS WILL ONLY MAKE THEM WORSE, ESPECIALLY FOR SOMEONE WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER. Lastly, in large black text at the bottom of the image is big red text that reads "YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN SOMEONE WITH INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS YOU FIND GROSS OR MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE. YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN SOMEONE WHOSE INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS DO NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU, EVEN IF YOU EXPERIENCE INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS OF YOUR OWN. IT IS A SYMPTOM THAT CAUSES ENOUGH SUFFERING ON ITS OWN. DON'T JOIN IT." End ID]

For this Disability Pride Month, I saw a post that was shittybad and it made me angry. So have this

physically disabled people quietly wishing there was a cure or treatment for their debilitating medical conditions are not “eugenicists” yall need to seriously stop pretending like disabled people’s innermost and darkest thoughts govern the universe and society around you. it’s getting weird

me when the disability disables me: oh what the fuck? this sucks. what the hell man!

being referred to as a "new system member" is funny because no. not really. I've been here since before that situation with the church like four years ago

btw if you can't, won't, or don't want to brush your teeth for any reason, i extremely strongly recommend orbit gum.

it's sugar free and ideal to chew it after eating--when you do that it helps prevent cavities according to the american dental association :3 your teeth will feel and be cleaner and also like it's fun to chew gum

[personally a fan of their sweet mint flavor because it's minty without being painful/overpowering but there's also a lot more of them--bubblemint's good too]