positivityoutsiderecovery - Tumblr blog

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

you know disabled rights include the rights of disabled people to have children. regardless if those children are also disabled. any mesure to restrict disabled people from having children is simple eugenics

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

disabled people are allowed to be slutty . it’s not kink or special or unique for disabled people to have sexualities

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

I think it would really benefit people to internalize that mental illnesses are often chronic and not acute. Some of us will never be able to jump the hurdle of managing illness, much less sustaining a sense of normalcy. Many of us will never "recover," will never manage symptoms, will never even come close to appearing normal - and this is for any condition, even the ones labeled as "simple" disorders or "easy-to-manage" disorders.

It isn't a failure if you cannot manage your symptoms. It isn't a moral failure, and you aren't an awful person. You are human. There's only so much you can do before recognizing that you cannot lift the world. Give yourself the space to be ill because, functionally, you are.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

psa to able bodied people: if you see someone with a limp in public, you don’t have to ask them why they’re limping, or “what happened”. you can actually simply just mind your business.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

i wanna say fuck you to anyone who shame disabled, chronically ill & neurodivergent people, especially homebound folks, for "spending too much time on their phone/on the internet/etc." when it's the only (Somewhat) accessible way for them to experience the world. many people don't get to get out much even if they want to because of their disabilities. shaming someone for trying to connect with the world, make friends and engage with hobbies in ways that are accessible to them is beyond cruel and unnecessary

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

Ruby

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

YOUR DAILY REMINDER: DO NOT TOUCH A DISABLED PERSON'S MOBILITY AIDS.

if you randomly push a disabled person's wheelchair. you are taking part of their autonomy.

if you knock away a disabled person's crutches. you are taking part of their autonomy.

if you grab a disabled person's cane. you are taking part of their autonomy.

if you move a disabled person's rollator/walker. you are taking part of their autonomy. I don't think people understand that our mobility aids are an extension of our bodies. You wouldn't kick an abled person in the shins or grab their arms and twist them just to see how they would react, or see if they'd be able to get around and function. You treat us like a joke. Our mobility aids aren't toys that you can play with and fidget with and god forbid potentially break. They're part of us. You have no right to touch them. If you take my fucking cane away from me, I can't walk properly.

If you touch my fucking mobility aid, you take away part of my autonomy.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

When I was younger and researching the autism diagnosis criteria and symptoms, I thought “oh I couldn’t POSSIBLY be autistic.” Because when I read “takes everything literally” I thought it literally meant EVERYTHING and I was like “I don’t take EVERYTHING literally, just most things!” And I just realized the other day that it didn’t actually mean EVERYTHING and that was an overstatement.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

“if you’re working a full time job you should be able to afford to live on your own and have access to food and transportation” gonna be real with you brother. everyone deserves this. Not just people working 40 hrs a week

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

Me: *to my therapist* I had the spoons, so I did heaps of stuff and now I'm so exhausted I feel sick.

My Therapist: This is where you got to treat spoons like cash. Just because you have them, you need to figure out if you have enough to spend, or else you're going to be in debt. Remember, you're autistic, so you regain those spoons slowly and use them quickly. Everything, good and bad, uses that cash for you. You may enjoy the activity but it's going to exhaust you just as much as a bad activity if you're not careful.

Me: Goddamnit....

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

[Image #1: drawing of a shark. Caption: “I used to be obsessed with the small things I might have done if I weren’t sick, things like dance with somebody or go to the beach with friends. Technically, I could still do them. I’m not well enough to do as much as the average person, but I can still do things. But people stopped inviting me when I got sick. Even the ones who still wanted to talk to me stopped treating me normally unless they were sick too.”]

[Image #2: drawing of a shark with flowers on it. Caption: “So I stopped being normal. I decided to be myself instead. Now I do the things I want without waiting for someone to do them with me. I dance by myself. I spend my days making little things. I read as many books as I want. When I feel well enough, I go out and take pictures of trees. I don’t concern myself with impressing anyone or being likable. If people want to be in my life, that’s great. If they don’t, that’s okay too. I could have lived a great life if I weren’t sick. But I am sick and I’m just going to go ahead and live a great life anyway.”]

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

i've seen posts talk about psychs restricting or withholding medication and want to add the opposite, there are psychs who push or require patients to take unneeded medication and overmedication is also a problem of autonomy not often brought up because it's done to patients where people consider it "necessary", like psychotic patients. we are then excluded from treatment programs or treatment itself for questioning this or refusing the medication. schizophrenic long-term patients have loss of brain tissue as a result.personally I have diagnosed neurological conditions now.

so both restriction of meds and overmedication should be considered same issue with lack of autonomy of the patient and there is not enough awareness of the effects of the medication, mostly because it's *assumed* the psych "knows best"

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

As a wheelchair user I'm trying to reframe my language for "being in the way."

"I'm in the way," "I can't fit," and "I can't go there," is becoming "there's not enough space," "the walkway is too narrow," and "that place isn't accessible."

It's a small change, but to me it feels as if I'm redirecting blame from myself to the people that made these places inaccessible in the first place. I don't want people to just think that they're helping me, I want them to think that they're making up for someone else's wrongdoing. I want them to remember every time I've needed help as something someone else caused.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

Irritates the hell out of me when people respond to a post or comment like, "everyone does this, it's not just [disorder/illness/neurotype], it's called being a person."

Yeah and everyone coughs once in a while but it doesn't mean someone with pneumonia doesn't cough?? It doesn't mean pneumonia doesn't cause coughing??

Everyone gets dizzy once in a while but it doesn't mean vertigo doesn't exist??

Just about every symptom or group-common trait is going to be experienced by people who don't belong to those groups or have that disorder. It's about the frequency and intensity with which that symptom or trait comes up.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

btw something im working on learning is that disabled is something that im allowed to be in public.

im allowed to lay down on the living room floor if im in middle of a conversation & enjoying it but feeling too lightheaded to sit up. im allowed to sit at the table to do meal prep and to sit on a stool at the stove to cook. im allowed to use my cane while i run errands.

if people are uncomfortable with my disabled existence, it’s their responsibility to work on that, it’s not my responsibility to try to hide my disability from the view of abled people.

i shouldn’t be relegated to my bedroom or to my house or to places where no one else will be just to have accommodations. im allowed to just exist & not have to pretend to be able bodied for the comfort & convenience of others.

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

sometimes your disability actually does stop you from achieving the things you want to do

[positivityoutsiderecovery]

I think the topic of consent is very important, and I think as an intellectually disabled person, it’s even more important to talk about what I was taught, and what my mom did.

My mom, who was a single woman at the time, explicitly taught me about consent. Why? Because she knew that I, as an intellectually disabled person and autistic person, needed to know it. And it needed to be drilled into my head the importance of consent. Not only did she teach me this, but she taught me how to communicate to trusted people if something happened. She knew that if she didn’t, the chances of me not knowing, or not understanding certain aspects of consent and sex in general, would be profoundly higher than my peers.

She noticed, she did the research, she taught and did what she could. And I am forever grateful for that. Intellectually disabled people, who have a higher rate of things happening to them and being abused, NEED to be taught about sex education, consent, and how to communicate if something were to happen. We are at a much higher rate of being sexually abused than our peers. And it is so so important that these things are taught to us so we are aware and able to protect ourselves and know when it’s time to contact a trusted adult.