mrsq8geek

[mrsq8geek]

While I agree with the message, "if something is hindering you from functioning like most people do, you're disabled"...

I'm going to be nitpicky about the wording here, because there is a sign. It's held by the doctor at the disability office. My particular sign said "you graduated university x years ago and are currently able to drive, therefore you are not disabled enough".

There is no sign that says "you must suffer this much to be disabled".

If you cannot function in society to the same level as every single other person around you without an external device or accommodations, you are disabled.

Yes, if you require glasses, you are disabled. It doesn't matter that you think it's not "bad enough" to be considered a disability. There is no required badness level for a disability. You literally require an external manufactured device to be able to function in society. You are disabled.

Yes, even if it's "only" because you're getting older, and you need reading glasses now.

[mrsq8geek]

Whumpee is so used to denying their own needs until Whumper ‘allows them’ no matter what because that’s what Whumper wanted.

“Pets don’t have needs. They take what is given to them without complaint.”

So when Caretaker attempts to give them independence thinking they’re helping — “Just help yourself to whatever you need! And let me know if there’s anything else I can get you. You are your own person here! I won’t tell you what to do.” — Whumpee just… forgoes their needs.

Maybe they just aren’t sure what their own needs are because they’ve always just been told what they can and can’t do. This freedom is confusing and scary.

Maybe they think Caretaker is testing them. Theres no way they’re allowed to do all these things themself!

Maybe they just simply don’t even realize they are doing it and end up harming themself by denying themself of their needs accidentally.

[mrsq8geek]

vampire who you’ve been voluntarily giving your blood to for the past month or so because she got prescribed a medical device that turned out to have silver wiring and she hasn’t been able to do much since while you save up for treatment. Turns out that vampires don’t need a ton of blood to survive and you barely even feel dizzy afterwards, but every time you have to reassure her that no, this is not some horrible thing that she’s forcing you to do for her own selfish reasons, you just care about her and don’t want her to die. She grew up constantly being told that by their nature all vampires could do was take, and when she was turned she almost didn’t survive it not because of the process itself but because she thought she’d never be able to do anything positive for the world anymore. There are words that she’d heard so often that they’ve sunk into her brain and repeated themselves in the back of her mind over and over until it was her voice that she was hearing them in, and it’s probably going to hurt like hell to pull them out.

[mrsq8geek]

[mrsq8geek]

everytime i kill a bug in my house i think of nikki giovanni’s “allowables”

[mrsq8geek]

the most disorienting thing thats ever happened to me was when a linguistics major stopped in the middle of our conversation, looked me in the eye, and said, "you have a very interesting vernacular. were you on tumblr in 2014?" and i had to just stand there and process that one for a good ten seconds

[mrsq8geek]

it came to me in a vision

[mrsq8geek]

99% Invisible also talked with Brian Merchant about this!

It's a fascinating story and makes me wonder about the AU where they won instead.

Reblog got turned off on this post but I want to share it anyway.

Because like, the thing the Luddites were railing against still hasn't been solved! Like. Your boss brings in a shiny new set of tools to make your job more efficient. Okay!

Does it make your job easier? No, you're still on the clock so they'll find something else for you to do with the extra time. But how about that extra pay? It's about +$0.50 an hour. Well, okay, I guess nothing's really changed.

Oh, except now they're doing mass layoffs, since there just isn't enough demand for everybody to be working at this higher efficiency.

[mrsq8geek]

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Bradward Boimler. But no, not like that, sorry.

It's just that he's set up as kind of a "Loser" archetype, especially in the beginning. A square, follows rules to the letter, has trouble being flexible, seeks validation through achievement. A Starfleet nerd, as Mariner puts in.

But here's the thing. Every time Boimler falls, he keeps getting up. When he fails, he's dissatisfied, yes, and he might even take time to be upset about it, but then BUT THEN he tries again.

Like, watching it happen, it's funny, right, this noodly skinny guy, failing time and again at things other people breeze through, often with a shrill shriek accompanying it. And it took me a while to see it, but once I did, I couldn't unsee it.

Hi I'm a former gifted kid and if I do not get it perfectly the first time, I consider it a shameful failure. Probably a familiar story on this webbed site. So watching Boims fail and then take that as a cue to just try again and again until he's satisfied with the result, not until he meets other people's criteria, it's... eye-opening, actually. Because make no mistake he's a perfectionist too, but it doesn't slow him down -- instead it's the driver behind his constant strive.

I just... wow? The resilience, the perseverance, the strength it must take to keep at it no matter what. Because that's what you want. And on the ~Fliiip~ side, that means that if something doesn't interest you anymore, you can just... stop. No harm no foul, maybe you learned something and maybe you didn't, but now you're moving on, and you don't consider that to be wasted time.

The way Boimler is set up, how is he not a blubbering mess on the floor? How is he not being destroyed by his own neurotic anxiety?

(Part of the answer, per the show, is the friends, because seeing William handling things, and how he reacts to seeing Mariner, it's just... oof. Not only is the Cerritos staffed by competent people, and he has to learn to put his trust in them, but his friends are actually his strength. Yes duh that's the main theme of the show but man it's hitting me in the meow meow)

Unlearning shame is such a complex journey but the thing about Bradward Boimler is there is no shame in learning.

It's one of those things you know as a child but you learn, time and again, to tamper it down. You asked something everybody knows. You tried and made a mistake. You embarrassed yourself or, even worse, you embarrassed someone else. You dared to exist as a flawed human. May the ground open up and swallow you!

The pain, the discomfort, becomes survival-level instinct. So you don't get beaten, or deprived, or whatever punishment you had to endure for being imperfect.

Real life isn't Starfleet. It's organic and messy and contradictory and yes, sometimes there will be losses and consequences to your failures and they might even be spectacular, but then what?

I think, maybe, that perhaps then I could stand up and say I can do better, hit me again.

It wasn't possible before, but it might be possible now. I'm in a safer place, with safer people. It's safe to fail.

[mrsq8geek]

On conservation and survival

[mrsq8geek]

ratish

ratish

[mrsq8geek]

dogs might look like their owners but cat people always have a cat with the same mental illness as them

[mrsq8geek]

the space race may be the funniest point in history period and i'll stand by that. the US is like "yes whoever gets into space first will prove once and for all that our economic model is superior and that we are, in general, the superior country of superior and smarter people." then the soviets just went and did it and the US freaked out and needed to cover their ass so were like "WE MEAN THE MOON, WE MEAN THE FIRST TO LAND ON THE MOON."

[mrsq8geek]

Albany Ledger, Missouri, June 17, 1898

[mrsq8geek]

""Tied to a throne" is nice and all when you're visiting the planet of the day and moving on, but I would love to see an exploration of what it's like to be the one tied to the throne.

Some restraint prompts!

Hands tied together in front of whumpee's back or in front!

Hands put above whumpee's head. Right above? Spread apart?

Hands tied tight to the body.

All in a net (merwhump?)

Magically restrained in an invisible way. Compulsion, stunning, pain if whumpee tries to escape...

Ankles bound together with minimal slack.

Rope? Metal? Leather? Plastic? Some sort of sci fi or magical hard light?

Complex shibori style knots that're meant to be humiliating or simple and practical.

Completely unnecessary collars.

Chained to something! A wall? A throne?

Tight enough to almost cut off circulation?

Seemingly excessive amounts of restraints for someone small. Is it really unnecessary?

Tie up your whumper! Are they really defeated? What are they telling the supposedly victorious whumpee from their position of "weakness"?

[mrsq8geek]

“if you’re sensitive to sounds when sleeping, just use earplugs!” i cannot stress enough that the sensory feeling of having my ears fully blocked AND now being able to hear my own heartbeat and breathing and every other sound that’s happening inside my own body is a million times worse than whatever ambient noise may be keeping me awake

[mrsq8geek]

ATTENTION ALL OF TUMBLR!

THIS IS AN URGENT MESSAGE.

IN 2014, IN SCHAUMBURG , ILLINOIS, USA

THERE

WILL

BE

A

TUMBLR CONVENTION!!!

THESE ARE THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN

SIGNAL BOOST THIS GUYS

I WANNA SEE EVERYONE THERE!!