#discussing mental disability

[lordmushroomkat]

I find disability perplexing, sometimes. Because.. what counts as a physical disability? Which things are only mental disabilities? Which things don't count at all?

Physically disabled people often tell us mentally disabled folk to be careful not to talk over them because the things are not the same. But uh. At what point do I qualify? At what point can I contribute to the conversation? At what point are my symptoms inconvenient enough to be valid?

Because like. I need glasses to see. And sure I have access to the corresponding disability aid for the problem (glasses), but I can't see to full capacity. My eyes physically do not function as intended. Most of the time it doesn't inconvenience me, but even with the glasses I experience difficulties. For example if I want to see something beyond a certain distance (about half a room away) I have to consciously focus my eyes in on it so I can see details. Frequently this causes mental fatigue and headaches. I also get nauseous when I try to read (or just focus intently on specific parts of a stable object) in a moving vehicle. Sometimes taking off my glasses helps with that, but most of the time I have to just stop reading or I might actually throw up. This is a major inconvenience. Is that considered a physical disability?

I have exercise-induced asthma. When doing aerobic activity my respiratory system --from my mouth to my lungs-- starts to ache more and more until I have to stop to catch my breath. This affect can be reduced by using an inhaler first, but I frequently forget about it because I spent most of my early life not knowing what the problem was. This experience hurts, it is painful, it is debilitating. It didn't used to be so obvious to me because my muscles got tired at a similar-enough pace that I simply assumed I get tired fast, but now? The flesh is strong but the lungs, the lungs are so so weak. I want to run and hike and dance and I know that I could --that the strength I have would support me-- if only I could just breathe! I always feel like I'm just doing it wrong and that if I just learned the trick, just learned how to breathe right, then I could do anything! And maybe there is a trick to breathing while moving! But my lungs still don't work the way they should! My body can't function! I have to stop to take a rest repeatedly during any aerobic activity, including running for longer than very short distances or just walking long distance; any amount of exertion eventually requires me to stop completely and wait for my body to stop aching before I can continue. Is that a physical disability?

And hey, here's something interesting that not a lot of people know about! Autism often comes with some degree of hyper-extension of the joints! Which sounds like a good thing: until you realize that this means your knee joints lock further back and it messes up your posture. Until you realize that you have to routinely crack your joints to remove the stiffness and maintain dexterity. Until you realize that your legs and arms are constantly trying to escape your hip and shoulder joints; and you have to realign them and keep them in place. Until you realize that you are predisposed to straining leg muscles. Until you realize that your joints started aching in elementary school. Until you have to teach yourself not to lock your knees so you have actual reliable stability. Until you realize that you stand weirdly. Until you realize that none of your joints stay where they're supposed to. My body requires regular maintenance (cracking my joints back into place every hour or so) to have full mobility. Is that a physical disability? It's only an extremely common side-effect of a mental disability, so does it count?

I also have auditory processing issues from the autism. Too many layers of different sounds can get overwhelming such that I can barely hear what's in front of me. And sure, that's because of my brain not filtering out the extra noises, but it's still a hearing problem. I still can't always hear things. The meat computer in my skull refuses to do its job and as a result my ability to hear what I need to be hearing is inconsistent. Is that a mental disability because it's in my brain, or a physical disability because it's not the mind part of my brain failing here?

And I have some sort of heat regulation issue! I always ran hot and sometimes that's convenient (when it's chilly out) but whenever it gets hot it's extremely debilitating! When I overheat I can't move as well and I get fatigued and my brain starts to melt (by which I mean that I get so warm that my brain ceases to be able to process things at anything like usual speed). Overheating is a major problem for me and there's very little I can do about it! Ice only goes so far. And I can't very well live in a tub of water for the whole summer (trust me I've thought about it, extensively) because it's just not practical! Heat is overwhelming and renders me non-functional and it kinda hurts too. Having an overly-warm body is debilitating in an environment that experiences summertime. Anything over 75°F and I start to become uncomfortable, anything much more than that and my brain gives up on the concept of thoughts and I start seriously considering the underwater lifestyle. For most of summer and a good deal of late spring/early fall I have two modes; overheated or underwater. That's debilitating. That's dis-able-ing. Does that count as a physical disability?

What counts as a physical disability? At what point are my struggles valid? When am I inconvenienced enough to be part of the conversation? Are my aches and pains and hurts profound and frequent enough to qualify for the label "physically disabled"?

Should I just shut up because my problems aren't big enough? Should I just bear it without comment because my body mostly works? Are my problems too pedestrian and basic to be valid considerable struggles? I lived my whole life blaming myself for my achey lungs and my weird joints. I spent my whole life overwhelmed and frustrated because I couldn't quite see, couldn't quite hear, and couldn't function at all when overheated. Is that a part of the conversation? My body hurts sometimes, and it doesn't always work the way I want it to, and actually now that I think about it I think my body always has some kind of low-grade muscle ache going on that I just sorta stopped noticing.

I don't dare call myself physically disabled --because that's not up to me to claim-- but if you asked me if I considered my body to be functional I would say an emphatic no. Like sure, I can get through the day, it carries me where I need to go; but I set up my life on purpose to avoid physical (or mental) strain wherever possible. I rarely go places, I rarely go do activities, I rarely go see people, I rarely exercise, I rarely do any of the things that my body struggles to do because I can't trust that my body will continue to support me if I make it attempt anything that might pose any challenge at all. There are very very few exceptions to this. Only a few events per year do I actually push my body in any meaningful way and it always takes days for me to feel like I've recovered from the aches and mental strain.

Is that what a physical disability is? I don't know. I don't know if it's enough that I hurt or if I have to actually be broken for it to count. I don't know.

So yeah, conversations around disability confuse me sometimes. Because mental disabilities are rarely just mental.

And autism in particular comes with ow-my-senses-don't-work and ow-my-joints-don't-go-there. Which seem like very physical problems to me.

A lot of mental disabilities seem like they have more to do with the brain as a malfunctioning meat computer (the brain as an organ) than the mind as a consciousness (the brain as a person). But I don't know if we actually consider that difference at all. This confounds me greatly.

How do we even define how debilitating something must be to be considered a physical disability?

[autie-hobbit]

"The gap between high-functioning and low-functioning Autistic people is too wide. This is why they need to be two separate diagnoses."

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

There is no gap, there are people there.

THERE IS NO GAP, THERE ARE PEOPLE THERE!

MSN Autistic people exist. Separating the spectrum is to leave us behind. Stop forgetting about us.

[glitchdollmemoria]

please can we stop describing bigots as delusional. please. im so fucking tired. someone being sucked into a hate group surrounded by others who believe minorities should be oppressed and encouraging them to believe in conspiracy theories that the rest of the group believes, is fundamentally different from someone having a mental illness that causes delusions.

delusions, by definition, cannot be explained by things like cultural background - such as having a belief constantly reinforced by intentional attempts to rationalize it for the sake of maintaining power over minorities. yes, someone can be both delusional and a bigot, and yes conspiracy theories can feed into delusions, but the two are not fucking synonymous.

i did not spend my teen years convinced that i was being stalked by demons just to hear so many of you people equate my disability with incel behavior and genocidal propaganda. stop reinforcing harmful connotations about mental health struggles.

[eternallysluggish]

I think the mental impacts of chronic illnesses and disabilities should be talked about more.

Because it's absolutely soul crushing having your body betray you. How can it not have an effect on your mental health? That's not even going over the grief, trouble socialising as a result of how bad your symptoms can get or the constant fear of getting worse.

It's not exactly something thats easy to just be fine with

[psychiatricwarfare]

hey btw everyone- people with mental disabilities can and, very often do, experience sexual attraction, get horny, have kinks/fetishes/paraphilias, masturbate, have sex, etc. this includes people with intellectual disabilities and/or any kind of developmental disabilities.

please stop acting like mentally disabled people Never have Any sexual wants/needs when that is so unbelievably untrue that by saying that, youre just admitting that you have obviously never interacted with more than a handful of mentally disabled people, if any at all.

i see it all the time (particularly irl when i talk about my job) where people will try to say that mentally disabled people cant have sex because they're basically children or because they dont understand it or because they cant make their own choices or it would always be coercion or they never ever want it themselves and that just isnt fucking true????

mentally disabled people can make their own choices, they know what feels good to them and what doesnt, they understand when they want to do something and when they don't. mentally disabled adults are not "like children". mentally disabled people are capable of being sexual. sure, some mentally disabled ppl are asexual, just like some able minded people are asexual. because mentally disabled people are human beings, just like everyone else

[psychotic-tbh]

I think section 8 and disability income sources (and welfare in general) shouldn’t be so stigmatized.

They help people. They help the poor in difficult circumstances. They help the disabled. They help the elderly.

When folks associate/describe everyone who uses these as necessary options as those who don’t need them in order to survive on the most basic level and are being “‘lazy’”, they’re inadvertently creating shame in those who do need them to survive.

You never know why someone is using welfare, even if they’re in a “good” spot. Don’t assume, especially if you don’t have all the information. And especially don’t say things like “everyone who uses welfare who isn’t xyz is abusing the system.”

[salt-baby]

gentle reminder that human health does not fit into a binary system and nothing is ever really fully a mental or physical disability

stress can have significant effects on physical health, more than you'd think

and the basis of any mental disability is still physical, that's why it's possible to develop medications for it

[director-yomi-hellsmile]

Why is so many people's response to (neurodevelop/)mentally disabled people being sad over skill regression on this supposed Neurodivergent Website always something akin to like "don't worry the skills can actually come back if you work hard enough to learn them again :)))" Okay and if they won't then what. It's the same with "if you have low/no empathy then it's fine cause with Therapy you can learn and develop normal/higher levels of empathy if you really want to :))" One I don't fucking want to. Two I shouldn't have to. Three I probably literally can't because guess what a disability is. Is anyone even capable of being fine with existing near disabled people that can't just Get Better If They Put In Enough Effort or what

[dancing-lex]

This page in the hidden inventory arc (Suguru speaking) made me realize that the way Suguru thought about non-sorcerers was hierarchical, maybe even paternal to begin with. He ALWAYS thought of them as weak in the way that a non-human animal is weak (see: "monkeys") because they can't see or fight curses. In his mind, a jujutsu sorcerer is a higher evolution of the average human that must care for its younger, unevolved counterpart.

That distinction between sorcerers and non-sorcerers makes his ideological switch inevitable imo (it's almost as if viewing people as part of a "natural" hierarchy or seeing them as less than human leads to demonization and genocide). At this point in the manga, he's realizing that the average people he protects can be cruel, stupid, ungrateful, etc. - character flaws that he implicitly attributes to their inherent weakness as non-sorcerers. He already considers them to be less than sorcerers, so these additional shortcomings make them completely unworthy of his protection.

[iamf0rtis]

alright this one might get me in some online fights here on tumblr but i feel like *someones* gotta bring it up

aborting a fetus with a genetic or mental disorder because you cannot take care of them is not eugenics.

bringing a fetus into the world when you can not care for their disorders is cruel.

if you can not care for a kid, you shouldn't have it. yes, that includes kids with autism, kids with down syndrome, kids with cystic fibrosis, etc. its not eugenics, its wanting the best for yourself and any kid you bring into the world.

its not bad to abort a fetus you can not care for. its bad when you know you cant take care of that child but have it anyway.

genetic testing doesnt necessarily promote eugenics, it allows parents to make educated choices about their family and the children they are bringing into the world. frankly, i think it makes the lives of disabled people better.

if you could make sure your child doesnt suffer from a chronic disability, wouldnt you do it? i dont think thats a bad thing.

[sagradachoir]

"You are more than a diagnosis. You can't let it define your entire life."

To all those who have known me, now and before, but especially to the many psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, pedagogues and even teachers, I ask one question: how?

Because like it or not, schizophrenia does define my life. Do you really think I can be really free or, as you like to say, "functional and independent"?

Will you be the ones who will lie in bed with me, every night, as I rot like a corpse while worms eat my flesh and feast on my blood? When I see moving ants under my skin and feel that my pores are penetrated for that monstrosity that dwells inside to come out? When I can't speak or formulate a thought without hearing a mocking cacophony of voices that no one else seems to hear? When I am surrounded by the lady in white, the clock, the rag man, or the shadows with smiles, when I look around me and people I have known all my life suddenly look empty, soulless, like puppets whose names I know by memory but whose faces I don't recognize? When everything familiar becomes foreign, and I feel like the sole survivor? On those nights when I can't close my eyes because I am certain there will be a tomorrow?

The answer is easy. No, it is not you who are in those moments. Therefore, you cannot tell me how I choose to define myself.

And I'm only talking about my nights, what would you do if you walked through my days?

[tiefling-queer]

it's really disheartening hearing white trans people talk about 'who i will be safe with if i need to be hidden' when they talk about the possibility of a trump presidency, completely unwilling to engage with the fact that this is already a reality for latine people in the country. like, so divorced from the world immediately outside of small white communities that many talk about persecution and imprisonment as though it's a theoretical thing that can happen in the future and will target us, rather than something that's happening currently and targeting people at greater risk than we are.

[jesseisstuckinside]

hey so I just saw a post about physical disabilities and it mentioned tourettes and now I'm interested - is it physical or mental? The answer I'll probably get is "both" but I want to know more.

If I use the wrong word or say something outright false or hurtful I apologize and I will edit this post upon request. Current thoughts below the cut

Physical - it affects impulse control, right? Not, like, impulsiveness as a personality but nerves firing in ways that they do not for people without tourettes. And it moves your body, your lips, your fingers, all that. I don't think it changes the way you think, or the way you feel, or the way you respond emotionally, but I don't actually know. @patlikesart argues that tourettes is physical, but tics can be triggered by a mental illness such as anxiety. @merricat, as someone suffering from no other mental illnesses or disabilities, furthers the physical disability argument for tourettes in saying that tourettes can just fire without the assistance from anxiety, depression, etc. Mental affects from it are referred to as "Neuropsychiatric" and are individual, despite stemming from neurological disorders.

Mental - it affects your nerves. For an octopus, most of their brains are spread out along their body as their nerves. Do nerves count as part of your brain? Tourettes doesn't affect muscle tissue or bones, it's just the nerves controlling those things. Where is the split between mind and body?

Again, if you want something updated, added, worded differently, removed, just tell me and I'll get on that.

[rachymarie]

Guys how do i keep missing schizophrenia + psychosis awareness day/week!! 🤦‍♀️

But to my credit I do spend literally nearly every other day of the year going on abt schizospec and my lived experience, so in a way i guess schizospec day is kind of a chance for us to sit quiet drinking our tea and hope, usually in vain, to reap the fruits (or rather lack thereof??) of our labour i.e. watch to see who of the non-schizospec/non-psychotic around us has been paying literally any attention to our (important!!) cause (of fighting against stigma and for our rights, dignity, respect, etc) and is posting/donating in our defence/being an ally

Hope it wasn't as bad/neglectful on social media as I, a long-time practitioner of healthy skepticism, am imagining it was (crickets, tumbleweed, silence, etc). Kia kaha (stay strong 🇳🇿*)

[slugass]

am i the only one who’s sick of “one/no braincell haha” “look theyre sharing a braincell haha” humor

like it feels so ableist

like it’s mocking mental disability

it’s so uncomfortable to me

am i the only one who doesn’t like this kind of humor /gen