#people with epilepsy

[brain-buddies]

[brain-buddies]

So funny story. In 9th grade, my math teacher was on this long ass lecture, b*tching us out for one thing or another and finally he says, "do you all have brain damage?"

I simply said, "yes, some of us do." Well I got in trouble for talking back and sent to the office. My mom was called in. She listened to the whole thing and all she said was ," Susan has Epilepsy."

Instantly, my teacher felt terrible and started apologizing. Obviously I didn't get in trouble

"Brain damage" only sounds like a harsh and offensive way to describe brain injuries because people constantly use it as an insult. It's a totally neutral descriptor of what it is. I have brain damage. My brain is damaged. It's not ableist to call it that, it's ableist to call people you don't like brain damaged because you think it's an inherently bad thing to be.

(Yes abled bodied neurodivergents, that includes you)

[phleb0tomist]

tumblr users will have the most inaccessible, unreadable, low contrast, flashing carrd you can possibly imagine, with a dni full of insider acronyms with no translation and numerous link buttons labelled with cryptic captions, and then go ahead and put “ableists dni and kys!” on that carrd

[cryptkeepersshadow]

BAND SPACES ARE NOT SAFE FOR DISABLED PEOPLE.

Not because we haven’t spoken up.

We have. Repeatedly.

Quietly.

Loudly.

Through pain, burnout, fear of being pushed out.

But no one listens.

Not until someone who isn’t disabled says the exact same thing - and suddenly it matters.

Suddenly, it's “a valid concern.”

Suddenly, people care.

We’ve been asking for:

* ⚠️ Strobe warnings

* 🪑 Seated options

* 🧠 Quiet/sensory spaces

* ♿ Basic access

For years.

And we've been met with silence. Shrugs. Eye-rolls.

“You're just being dramatic.”

“This isn’t a show for people like you.”

But the moment an abled voice says

“hey, maybe they have a point,”

People act like it’s brand new information.

Disabled people don’t become believable when abled people speak.

They’ve been telling the truth the whole time.

If you only start caring about accessibility when it’s repeated by someone without those needs, you’re not being inclusive.

You’re just comfortable with erasing us.

[carolxdanvers]

Able bodied neurodivergent people when physically disabled people ask them not to use physical disabilities as rhetorical devices to win arguments:

[perturbedgnome]

Sometimes I forget that some people don't have to keep their body alive on the daily. Like I'll sit down for dinner and everyone can eat while I have to run and change my insulin, I'll be having a bad day and right before lunch is over I'll have to stab myself with a contraption that might bleed and be sore for the rest of the day, I'll have to dip out of work at least once a month to pick up my prescription and get told I'm away a lot by my boss, I'll have to schedule my whole day around dips and ups in my blood sugar while reading posts about " low energy levels? just go to the gym." I have to keep myself alive and it can be the worst day of my life and I'll still have to do bare minimum stuff people around me don't even have to think about

[drawotion]

. ݁₊ ⊹ Star of Dark and Light ⊹ ₊ .

((It be a 4th attack for ArtFight, against @fablegate ~!))

[midsummersmorn]

I was checking the warnings for Moana 2 and felt the need to share this after seeing the flashing warnings. I personally won’t be able to see this film because of how much there is.

[cobra-creampuff]

the fact that they made it illegal to make ads louder than programs on tv in 2010 but haven't updated it to apply the same regulation to streaming. who do i have to call.

[moonpool-system]

Your disability is real even if it's not causing you suffering 100% of the time. Your disability is real even if you don't bare your suffering constantly to the masses to gain acceptance. Your disability is real even if you wouldn't trade it for being abled. People on the outside cannot see you, and cannot see how the intricacies of your disabilities affect your daily life. They can't see all the details of what makes your disability real because, quite frankly, they don't want to. You needn't debase yourself at the altar of public opinion in order to treat your disability as real. You know your body and your mind best, and your experiences are real. You are allowed to understand and accommodate your bodies and minds for yourselves.

We don't need to be their suffering idol in order to be disabled.

[brain-buddies]

[nightmaretour]

I keep seeing people put accommodations for people with epilepsy on the same level as sensory accommodations for autism and like... no??? Obviously both are important but epilepsy can kill people, SUDEP is a thing. If you expose someone with photosensitive epilepsy to strobing lights they could suffer permanent brain damage or die. Epilepsy is a condition with physical, sometimes deadly consequences. I'm not sure how many different ways I need to say this before it sticks, but epileptic seizures are physical neurological phenomena that can cause lasting neurological damage or death. Epilepsy can kill you. You can die from epilepsy.

[bonefall]

i’m hoping moonpaws “sinister” voice is some kind of misdirect. Like if the voice is moonpaws absorbed sibling then maybe it growing crueller in tone is a result of frustration with moonpaw or being stuck without control, a legitimate reason that will get resolved as opposed to just being Evil Voice In Her Head. Not to say this alternative would be perfect, it would still definitely tap into that stereotype, but at least it would be more well intended i think?? I don’t know. Maybe if they’re lucky the erins will even stumble into accidentally representing real struggles that people in systems have with their headmates

They have a slim chance to make this work, especially since they've probably maybe plotted out their story by now (who am i kidding. its the erins lol change on the fly bozos), but I think they could clutch this with a simple trick;

Treat The Twin like a person. That's all. Just. Allow it the courtesy of being a fully fleshed out character with actual feelings and motivations, not just spite at "having not lived", and absolutely not "we're a genetic anomaly and I'm EVIL because of it, so im haunting your bones for funsies"

Mind you, they're not great at writing nuanced antagonists... so I doubt the idea that they would even think to pull a misdirect with the "sinister" description. And it's still not great that they seem to be going in the direction of an "absorbed twin" and unironically doing Moonpaw And The Fetus Ghost...

BUT.

It is only a preview. They've changed lanes based on feedback before, with serious story overhauls, even (we die like warriors, Night/Sun Divorce Lovers). So... maybe they will end up doing something more subversive, treating both Moonpaw and her headmate with sympathy.

At the very least, we'll have fun rewriting the Terrible Cat Books together. We'll make something of it.

[cryptkeepersshadow]

Disabled people are only “believable” once someone without our struggles decides our pain is real enough to echo. We’re only visible when someone more palatable repeats our words. Until then? We're treated as inconvenient, dramatic, or just not trying hard enough.

You don’t get to call a space inclusive when it only starts listening once an abled voice speaks. That’s not allyship. That’s erasure.

Band spaces aren’t truly safe for disabled people - not until someone without those struggles barges in, speaks over them, and decides how accessibility should be handled.

Because it’s never about listening. It’s about control.

[r0b0friend]

probably not a hot take but if your visual media relies on flashing lights to provide "quality", you need to find something else to use instead.

if you "need" to use flashing lights to make your horror scene "scary", your horror scene isn't scary.

if you "need" to use flashing lights to make your scene "impressive" or "interesting", your scene is neither impressive nor interesting.

people, from indie spaces to corporate ones, need to stop using flashing lights in place of substance. it doesn't make your work better, it makes it inaccessible and hazardous; moreso if those scenes are used in advertisement.

if you "need" to add flashing lights in your work, please add a proper warning at the very beginning of viewing it. hell, i'd personally appreciate it if more works provided "safe" versions that omit the flashing lights altogether; be it a separate copy of a film/video or a button in a video game that toggles them.

[justepilepsy]

Okay uhm - I need to say this because I am noticing this a bit in the responses to Somerton's "Apology" video. Do people really think, just because ableism in the workplace is forbidden, that workplaces don't discriminate?

Even if insurance stuff covers your health issues, I won't put it past an employer to let you go with the made up argument it doesn't. Because non-epileptic people are generally very uncomfortable with seeing seizure activity and some of them will prioritize their comfort over sticking to anti-discrimination laws.

I think Somerton's video is full of BS, but I am even more uncomfortable with how happy people are to dismiss Somerton's medical history/symptoms, just so they can argue against him. As if people with disabilities can be absolved for being dicks by accepting their stated medical and discrimination history.

When you don't even have to do so to point out the harm Somerton's logic does?

I mean - I think it's warranted to question James' statements because of his complicated relationship with telling the truth, but I am just kind of bothered by how people argue "this could not have happened because laws/policies" No. Let it have happened. It makes his apology worse if you choose to believe him on this, trust me.

If our response to disabled people acting terrible (stealing other people's material and presenting it as your own), is to accuse said disabled people of lying about their symptoms and diagnosis, I think we are missing the point and problem.