proud-shy-slytherin - Tumblr blog

[proud-shy-slytherin]

i used to be so good at writing strong, thoroughly-researched, thoroughly-edited essays.

as a kid in hs, my teacher literally came up to me, holding my 40 page essay on the intersection of the European witch hunts and capitalism/exploitation/gender roles (it was supposed to be 7 pages...whoops) and went like "this is literally a master's-degree level thesis. what are you doing?? you could literally use this as your final dissertation in a master's program, what the fuck."

NOW??? NOW?? you'd think I'd be oh so skilled. but alas. i can barely piece together two ideas. adhd skill-regression is so so real. im SOBBING

[proud-shy-slytherin]

It’s absolutely bonkers how many healthcare workers refuse to wear a mask. Like, even on the cardiac ICU floor, my family was the only ones wearing masks. None of the nurses or doctors were wearing them despite the fact that Covid would likely kill every single patient on that floor who are recovering from major cardiac surgery. Even the nurses that were coughing were not wearing masks, endangering every single one of their patients.

I gotta say the Orwell quotes are getting way less snappy these days.

"the pandemic is over but covid is a leading cause of death" isnt as good of a soundbite as "war is peace freedom is slavery ignorance is strength"

[proud-shy-slytherin]

Sorry for the formatting, I’m on mobile so idk how to fix it lol.

Sometimes people actually become nicer to you when they see you using your cane. Idk if it’s because they pity us, or feel bad for us, or maybe they just didn’t realize before that we’re disabled but sometimes people become nicer.

Sometimes you might trip over the cane while walking. I find that sometimes I don’t raise the tip of the cane off the ground enough and accidentally trip myself lol. This might be less of a potential issue if you use a cane that has multiple tips rather than just a single one.

I’ve found that my cane is actually not super noticeable when I’m using it in the winter times despite it being bright red. I keep it tucked closely to my side as I walk because that is what works best for me and I prop it against the back of my chair to keep it out of the way in class. I’ve definitely had people watch me walk into the room and have no idea I even used a cane until I walked past them in the hallway later.

You don’t have to be in pain to use a cane. I actually most frequently use my cane as a way to prevent pain in the future. Sometimes I can tell that my back is on the verge of something shifting out of place and causing pain but it isn’t quite there yet. On those days, I’ll use my cane as a way to both prevent the pain from occurring and also to give me support if something in my back does decide to shift mid step.

What I found work best for me is to have my cane in the hand that is opposite whatever hurts. So if my right knee hurts, I’ll use my cane with my left hand. I move the cane forward at the same time as I step forward with my right leg, so that I can spread my weight between the cane and my bad knee. I also keep my cane at a height where the handle comes up to just at my wrist when I have my arms relaxed and down at my sides. It isn’t too low or too high for me and it works well in my case. But everyone is different so if you don’t want to have your cane at your wrist height or don’t want to use it on the opposite side of your body, you don’t have to. Whatever works for you is what you should stick with.

I found that as I got more used to my cane, I actually moved much faster than I had when I first started out. So while you may be moving much slower than you anticipated at first, as you get used to using it and moving it as you walk, you might start to get closer to your typical movement speed.

If the building has an elevator, try to use it if possible. While you can use your cane to walk up and down stairs, I move quite slow and feel very unstable whenever I do that so if elevators are available, I use them.

Lastly, it’s ok to be a “as needed” cane user. You don’t have to use it everyday if you don’t need to or don’t want to. If you feel that a cane would be helpful for you, even if you might only use it once a month or less, please try it out. I started off with only using it once or twice every few months until I realized how much it was helping me. lately I’ve used it about once or twice every other week or so. And that’s ok, it’s totally fine to use it sometimes and not need it other times.

If you are considering using a cane or if you think a cane might help you, please use it. I promise that you are “disabled enough” to use a cane. I promise that you are not “taking a cane away from someone who really needs one”. I know that it’s scary and I know it feels that you aren’t disabled enough to have the right to use a cane but I promise you, it’s ok. Your disabilities (invisible or visible) and your use of mobility aids are valid. The struggles you go through are enough. You, no matter what symptoms you have or disabilities you have, are allowed to use a cane. You are disabled enough, regardless of whatever someone else might tell you. Please do whatever you need to do to be in less pain, it’s worth it and you are worth it.

personal observations made by a new cane user:

you do not need to be in constant pain to own a cane.

folding canes have a clasp or band to keep them folded. losing the band is a pain in the ass.

you will get dirty looks

it does not matter what age you are. you will get dirty looks.

you have to hold it in the opposite hand as the disabled leg. this is fortunate, as I am right handed, so i hold it in my left hand to support my right leg.

people will try to steal your cane from you.

when standing still, I hold it in my right hand unless i need to do something right handedly. this does not work as well as i thought it would.

being visibly physically disabled is difficult. having a mobility aid will help with pain and movement, but some people don't get them because visible disability is treated with disgust.

if someone meets you for the first time, and you don't have your cane, then they will like you more, but they will not believe you are actually disabled.

if someone meets you for the first time, and you have your cane, they will not treat you the same.

the majority of other cane and mobility aid users I have met are homeless. I live close to a big city.

People do not want to see you being disabled.

you will not hear of the benefits of using a cane from anyone who does not use a cane.

no one will prepare you for the world of being visibly physically disabled. however bad you think we have it is usually not from the disability at all. I can deal with pain and I can deal with an indisposed left hand.

the hardest part of being disabled is the fact that no one will care until you make them care.

the disabled seats on trains are a suggestion

the disabled seats on buses are a suggestion.

you will have a different experience with using a cane than I have had.

your hand will become tired. you are using it as a leg.

your cane is legally a part of your body. this will not stop some people.

you are not your disability. but it will affect you.

i love you

theres always an invisible someone who has it worse. that person will not be affected or offended by your use of a cane. take the damn ibuprofen. put the folded cane in your bag. ask your friends for help. gd knows they need help sometimes too.

you will have to learn that things will be impossible to you. you may not run as fast anymore. you may not become a skater, like you always wanted to be. you may be left behind when everyone else runs ahead.

you deserve better.

your cane handle gets dirty. wash it.

some days pain is worse. some days you will feel it the moment you wake up.

no one deserves pain. the human condition is not to suffer. we deserve better. we deserve to be loved and not tolerated. we deserve to be seen better than from the corners of eyes. we deserve to be heard better than an afterthought at a meeting.

be quick to care for yourself. I love you.

[proud-shy-slytherin]

[proud-shy-slytherin]

In even more terrifying internet news, long story short, there’s a big committee happening in the US Copyright Office to try and talk about whether they should expand Content ID to the entire internet, and they’re asking for public input.

So, tell them how much automated Content-ID-type systems suck and how Copyright enforcement needs to be relaxed not tightened.

Here’s the EFF Overview on this and why it’s so important, here’s the rules/guidelines for submitting your form (Pay special attention to the Statement of Interest Questions, because it’s those they’re asking about), and here is the form itself.

Again, the deadline is February 8th, so get on it as soon as you see this post! Don’t delay, the answers don’t have to be long, as long as they’re loud and clear!

[proud-shy-slytherin]

There’s still been users still getting their accounts hacked and used by the Ray Bans bot. It is still a threat.

⚠️DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK IF YOU ARE TAGGED IN IT. It’s tagging masses of people in one go and targeting them directly now. Even using trusted users who were once a follower of yours.

[proud-shy-slytherin]

Those rayban tag bots are going around again. I have two factor authentication for this blog and I’ve changed the password recently, but please tell me if you see anything on my blog that is spammy. I checked the queue and didn’t see anything, so hopefully I’m ok.

[proud-shy-slytherin]

[proud-shy-slytherin]

[proud-shy-slytherin]

ok this post is for everyone that gets hacked and posts the ray ban scam thing

after changing your password, go to queue and delete the other posts that they added in there. there were 4 of the same post in my queue and so it would’ve tagged everyone again if i didn’t delete it

sorry if this doesn’t make sense i’m not amazing at english

[proud-shy-slytherin]

Your blog was hacked: what to do?

If you see weird pics of ladies with dubious links posted on your blog out of the blue, here’s a step by step way of stopping this and preventing it from happening again that I think might work.

Important : this only works if you can still access your blog!

Changing your password is important, but it won’t do you any good if your hacker still has an opened session on your blog and can still access it. So the first thing you wanna do is close your hacker’s session.

For that you need to go in your blog’s settings:

On the new page opened, scroll all the way down. There, you can see something called “Active Sessions“. The first and oldest one (”current session” in green) should be yours, the new one should be the hacker’s session. To close your hacker’s session, click the gray X next to it.

Now that their session is closed, they can’t access your blog anymore unless they enter the password again.

So don’t lose time, go all the way back up and change your password immediately. Make also sure your hacker didn’t change your email address.

Now you should be safe from your hacker. But it won’t prevent you from getting hacked again.

If you really want to be safe from hackers, you should turn on the “Two-factor authentification” option (on the same page).

It requires you to enter your phone number, which is a bummer. But if it’s turned on, everytime you wanna log on (so not if your session is already opened, but only if you log off and try to log on again), it will send a code on your phone that you’ll have to enter (in addition to having a password).

That way if someone tries to hack you again, even if they get your password right, they won’t be able to enter your blog without having that code.

There it is. I hope it will help some of you, since I see more and more people noticing blogs being hacked

[proud-shy-slytherin]

I got tagged in the spam/virus thing that’s going around. If you see something that’s about sunglasses, I did NOT post it.

I reported the post I saw and blocked the person who posted it temporarily but I don’t know if just viewing the post is enough it to tag everyone who follows me or not or if I needed to click the links.

Either way, don’t click links and report any suspicious posts. I’ll be changing my password soon.

I changed my password and enabled two factor authentication. I suggest y’all do the same and maybe check on your email that’s associated with your tumblr account.

[proud-shy-slytherin]

Hello! Thanks for doing this, this is so cool! I voted by mail a few days ago, could I request a dinosaur? Or free choice!

Thank you for voting! Here's a dinosaur. :D

(how to request voter art)

[proud-shy-slytherin]

I guess this is how I’m processing what we’re all going through right now. I had the stray thought, “What is Spider-Man doing during all this?” and this happened. On the one hand, it’s kinda sloppy and inconsistent, but on the other hand, I had the idea Sunday night and I’m posting this Wednesday night. 5 color pages in 4 nights is pretty good work. Anyway. Hope everyone’s safe out there.

[proud-shy-slytherin]

[proud-shy-slytherin]

Writing Mood

Oof. That writing mood when it’s been two hours since you’ve last made an edit on your open google doc page, and when you figure out how to continue it, you only write 134 words before getting stuck again 😅

Idk why this is so difficult, I know what I want to write next. I have some of the next part planned out on a notecard. Why is it so hard to expand on those ideas? 😭

[proud-shy-slytherin]