myelasticheartblog

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let it be known that i learned how to use Instagram Reels i'm so stressed about the Section 504 lawsuit

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Judy Heumann passed away today. She was an amazing disability advocate who was on the forefront of disability activism for literally decades. She founded Disabled in Action, lobbied for independent living for disabled people, partipated in the longest sit in of a federal building in the United States with the 504 sit in, worked with multiple presidential administrations to improve disability rights, and so much more. I cannot stress how much she did for disabled people and how much she'll be missed. May her memory be a blessing.

[image description: a black and white photo of Judy Heumann during the 504 protests in 1977. She has short hair and glasses and is wearing a "Sign 504" sticker on her jacket. She is speaking into a microphone]

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Jenny Holzer, “in a forest of words”, 1994

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I never truly knew the meaning of friendship until I became chronically ill and disabled. When my health declined I had people leaving left and right because I couldn’t keep up with other teenagers. I stopped having people check on me, I stopped getting invited to stuff, stopped being included, until I just got left behind. Now as an adult I found friends who check up on me, make sure whatever we do is accessible to me, always making me feel included, they are my support system.

Check up on your chronically ill and disabled friends, keep including them in stuff even if they have to end up canceling it. Being excluded for something you have no control over is horrible and no one should go through that.

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Michael A Davenport, 3,090 Degrees Fahrenheit (Oil on canvas, 2025)

30in x 48in

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No clue if anyone from TikTok has come to tumblr in the wake of the mess, but for anyone who used to find me there, I am also here! (And have been for some time). If you don't know me, i'm Britt Belwine (also known online as myelasticheart), a chronically ill/disabled law student who works at the intersection of disability rights and mass incarceration. i talk a lot about disability justice, living with chronic illness and chronic pain, law, medical anthropology, and disability history. Feel free to drop me an ask anytime!

(Unless it's a legal question because then i am obligated to inform you that i am not a lawyer and nothing i say is legal advice).

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When the despair gets heavy, please stay alive. Your existence is revolutionary. They're afraid of the power you hold. Don't let them extinguish your light.

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obsessed with her vibe

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Feeling a bit emotional saying goodbye to TikTok. Even if it comes back, it's coming back on Trump's terms and i don't want that. But that silly app is what gave me a platform to talk about disability and accessibility to so many more people than i ever thought possible. It's the reason i got to meet so many of my favorite long-distance friends, it's why i got invited to speak at Harvard, it's how i was able to afford my 1L summer job and pay down some of my medical debt. That space led me to so many opportunities i wouldn't have had otherwise, and for that i'm grateful.

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*grits teeth* im hopeful i believe there is good in the world im fucking hopeful

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Every person need to be taught disability history

Not the “oh Einstein was probably autistic” or the sanitized Helen Keller story. but this history disabled people have made and has been made for us.

Teach them about Carrie Buck, who was sterilized against her will, sued in 1927, and lost because “Three generations of imbeciles [were] enough.”

Teach them about Judith Heumann and her associates, who in 1977, held the longest sit in a government building for the enactment of 504 protection passed three years earlier.

Teach them about all the Baby Does, newborns in 1980s who were born disabled and who doctors left to die without treatment, who’s deaths lead to the passing of The Baby Doe amendment to the child abuse law in 1984.

Teach them about the deaf students at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts school for the deaf, who in 1988, protested the appointment of yet another hearing president and successfully elected I. King Jordan as their first deaf president.

Teach them about Jim Sinclair, who at the 1993 international Autism Conference stood and said “don’t mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we’re here waiting for you.”

Teach about the disability activists who laid down in front of buses for accessible transit in 1978, crawled up the steps of congress in 1990 for the ADA, and fight against police brutality, poverty, restricted access to medical care, and abuse today.

Teach about us.

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i need to read the Trump v. United States opinion in full but i haven't reached the level of self-loathing necessary to do so yet

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when the literal times of israel is going full mask off

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i need to play Baldur's Gate 3 for many reasons but first and foremost because Karlach and i would be besties