#disabled not special needs

[clownrecess]

You do not have the right to touch someone's disability aid without asking, whether that aid be a wheelchair or an AAC device.

"It's just a tablet, though." No, it is not. It is my voice. Touching or moving my device without my permission is like touching my mouth without permission, it's weird, gross, invasive, and rude. Stop.

Pushing someone's wheelchair without permission is like picking them up and moving them out of the way eithout permission, its weird, invasive, gross, and weird. Stop.

[august-beee]

I am begging non disabled people to please be normal about disabilities and please be more accommodating

Please stop staring at people with mobility aids or medical devices, it’s just uncomfortable for everyone.

People with visual disabilities don’t need to be told they’re “beautiful anyways”, they more than likely know that they don’t fit societal beauty standards and that’s more than okay!!! There are 5 million other things to compliment that mean way more, tell them you like their style or just something else that is actually below surface level.

Stop fetishizing and infantilizing people with incontinence. This one really bugs me. The amount of diaper fetishists is so weird and gross. Stop putting your fetish content under incontinence or disability hashtags.

STOP BRINGING PETS INTO AREAS THAT ARE NOT PET FRIENDLY!!! This is for multiple different reasons, some people are severely allergic to pets and a service dog that is working does not need to be yapped at or harassed by your pet.

I’m autistic but call me out if I say something that makes you uncomfortable. Like you would with anyone else. I may not understand some social things but that doesn’t mean I don’t care to.

ADHD is not a disability in any sense and people with mental disabilities also need to just stop acting like they are treated the same as people with physical disabilities, especially ones that people can see. As someone who is autistic with a physical disability, it is not the same.

And finally, please stop acting like disabled is a dirty word. “Specially abled” or “differently abled” just sound demeaning.

[neuroticboyfriend]

once again thinking about how fucked up it is that special ed used me and other disabled children as unpaid, coerced labor. i worked enough to be making $100 a week. i was "paid" in fake money redeemable only at the school cafeteria, which i worked at, and was forced to do things that distressed me. they gave us $1 a week, if they remembered to give it to us at all.

this was while i would sometimes go the entire day without eating because i didn't have the money to buy food and the free food was not sensory safe. we also worked outside the community - grocery stores, warehouses, shoe stores security tagging items. all under the guise of job skill development, we did $100 of labor a week without ever getting paid. and we were demeaned while we did it. and we were just teens.

so no, i don't want to hear about how special education is good. not with the way me and my peers were treated and taken advantage of. death to institutionalization, in all forms.

[1980s-slasher-film]

Accommodations are not special, they’re not a leg up, they’re not a benefit. They’re not putting anyone ahead in the race, nor are they taking anything away from others.

They exist to put us on a level playing ground to everyone else, and nothing more.

[ditzydoodiary]

i feel really bad for saying this, but something i struggle with regarding my autism is trying to sound interested in other people's interests. i try so hard to seem interested because i know that feeling of being ignored when infodumping about your interests, but also, my own interests are so restricted that i cant get into/seem interested in anyone elses interests.

i cant get into things people recommend me, at all, no matter how hard i actually want to because it just feels like a demand. i also cant get into anything else even if i myself really want to get into it. especially if someone else's interests involve anything with real humans. cant watch anything thats live action, it needs to be animated and usually has to involve animals in some way.

[genderimpala]

update the obnoxious nt staying in my house just told me, a deaf auDHDer, that "we're all a little bit disabled☺️!"

SHUT THE FUCK UP

[dragonjadearts]

I wanted to draw Archimedes with different mobility aids. He usually uses a cane, but I wanted the practice lol

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click for better quality

if you like it, PLEASE REBLOG IT

[heather-elissaaa]

Statements about autism that shouldn’t be controversial -

If you do not meet the diagnostic criteria for autism, then you are not autistic

Autism is a disability, not a different ability

Support needs labels are not the same as functioning labels. They are beneficial and often necessary

Parents of autistic individuals are entitled to be a part of our community

It really should be that simple

[tatsumi-rin]

Moral Orel doesn't seem 100% like a show I'd feel seen in if you don't know me but then I remember the episode with the special ed kids and underneath the usual satire on extremist bible belt religion it reminds me WAY too much of how actual special ed departments treated me and other kids growing up.

Like the writers must HAVE BEEN THERE IN LIFE, man. I'd kill to sit down with Dino Stamatopoulos and find out what the fuck inspired him and the other writing staff that day.

[clownrecess]

AAC users (and any other disabled people) are not "mentally children", and quite honestly, "mental age" in general is very ableist. Stop infantilizing us.

Needing aids does not make you a perpetual child. Liking "childish" things does not make you a perpetual child. Being nonspeaking does not make you a perpetual child. Having high support needs does not make you a perpetual child.

(This post is not about agere, so please do not bring that up, its irrelevant right now. Btw agere is very cool and valid)

[august-beee]

I wish the disability symbol was something other than a person in a wheelchair. I’m someone with a mental disability and an invisible physical disability and it just feels weird to use or like it’s not for me. I know there’s the flag but it’s not as recognizable and it’s not just a symbol I can put in my bio.

[neuroticboyfriend]

the phrase special needs isn't actually referring to the needs of disabled & neurodivergent people.

it's about how abled people view us and our needs. they see our needs as excessive or unnecessary. they see us as unable to have autonomy, as if we're too incapable for it. they see our needs as things they need to do to "normalize" us.

the "special" in special needs isn't out about us - not the real us, at least. it's all about who they think we are, or who we should be. they think we're broken - that our needs can't simply be natural needs. it's ableist and dehumanizing.

[barelyfunctioning-amber]

Mobility aid in Animal Jam! I just had to get all colors /lh

No spoons for id

I appreciate disability aids shown in games this way. I have a pair of these irl. I am unable to use them currently due to a lot of reasons.

-Amber

[briarpatch-kids]

I get why people hate the term "special needs" but like... For the most part they're not really the reason the term exists. The term exists for people who cannot attend things without their needs being met and those needs can be out of the ordinary.

For example I'm going on an adaptive skiing trip, the group putting it on is very used to physical disabilities and will have all the usual stuff for disabled people, but the medical staff had to do some special asking around at the place we're going to confirm that they had a power outlet close to the bed I'd be sleeping in because I'm connected to a machine at night that needs to be plugged in. That's not an average access question they get, that's a special need for my specific medical issues. Other people might need access to a refrigerator, or a lift to get out of their wheelchair, or even a quiet place to feed their baby because not all special needs are even medical.

Special needs are needs beyond the basic accessibility that's already been worked into the program and if you don't need that then you don't need to be complaining about it.

[ditzydoodiary]

daily reminder that if youre an autistic person who struggles with independence, you are not alone and you are 100% valid. you dont owe anyone an explanation; if you need help, you need help. and thats perfectly fine !! 💞