#language disability

[perplexingluciddreams]

Recently it occurred to me that when I want to show Mum something, I can take a video on my phone and send it!

Ever since I had the realisation that I can use WhatsApp or text messages to tell Mum things, I have been able to say so much more to her. And now I can add videos to the collection of communication options!

Of course it still does not always occur to me that I have the opportunity to communicate, at all. Some days I forget I can reach other people at all. I am so far deep in my own world that I don't have this awareness. And I most often simply don't have the words, therefore can't say anything at all even if I want to.

But I am so proud of the improvement I have made! My new AAC also helps a lot, very much. And thank goodness for WhatsApp existence!!

Words never stop being hard - it is a constant fight to get anything out, and an uphill battle to hold onto the skills I have in this area, to not lose it to regression. But I fight and fight and fight. And keep on fighting.

[mogai-reblog]

hate it when ppl say that language disability dont mean anything

have both receptive and expressive

means have hard time understanding new words, learning new words, connecting new words to concepts, saying words, recalling words, putting words in right order, spelling words correctly, etc.

ofc i would have trouble with new pronouns

i am not "hypothetical"

i am right here and /begging/ for accomodations only to be brush aside as ableist or transphobic bc "no one actually like that, stop using disabled ppl"

not saying have to use he/she/they/it. can use name or aptnouns or any other thing

btw i use neos too before anyone tries to say something

[nonspeakingkiku]

Kiku has question for other non and semiverbal/speaking peoples. Do anyone know anything about communication disabilities that not speech related/apraxia of speech? Because Kiku think have a language disability as well as Kiku's speech disability. But it hard find resources about them and what can find is vague or not easy to read/not make sense.

[brooklynislandgirl]

tiny language/communication hc:

The Nurse Shark || Beth Riley When she first meets someone, she tries to speak as perfectly polished “Haole” {regular American English}. When she starts to relax with a person, she also relaxes and starts to slip into pidgin, which is way easier for her and less taxing in a way that she doesn’t have to think about. Which lets her communicate faster, if not clearer. The hardest part of most English for her are consonant digraphs {th, ch, etc}. She tends to drop certain digraphs, or substitute letters she thinks she’s heard. EX: Breath is more likely to come out as “brea’d” if she’s being “lazy” or “casual” or as “breat’” if she’s trying harder to express herself.

She might engage in conversation with weird, random non-sequiturs, likely due to mishearing/misinterpreting something spoken to her. There are also certain words or terms that she may not even realise she’s incorrectly pronouncing. {{Granberries rather than cranberries, Bads instead of bats.}}

~*~ All of that being said, as a mun with ND and differently abled friends, if you need me to write her dialogue in “plain” English or some other way to make it easier to interact, please do not hesitate to let me know. I want this to be fun for both of us, and that means not making *you* struggle.

[livsworld-ndstyle]

the moment you know you’re no longer a group person… is when you prefer to be in a quiet social group instead of a crazy social class that you get graded on how many times you initiate in conversation! and you just sit there until someone realizes you’re actually a mortal who acts immortal.

also my parents want to declassify me before my therapist can even assess me for autism or spcd? no way!

[magpiedminx]

From Misa on Wheels

[zebulontheplanet]

Just a reminder that people who still live with their parents as adults deserve respect and for you to stop being ableist. There are multiple reasons someone could still live with their parents! From invisible to visible disabilities, finance issues, and more!

Stop using the “well they’re gonna turn into a creep living in their parents basement” punchline! It’s disgusting. STOP. BEING. ABLEIST. STOP. FORGETTING. THE. POOR.

[quotesfrommyreading]

When I’m out with Deaf friends, I put my hearing aid in my purse. It removes any ability to hear, but far more importantly, it removes the ambiguity that often haunts me.

In a restaurant, we point to the menu and gesture with the wait staff. The servers taking the order respond with gestures too. They pantomime “drinks?” and tell us they learned a bit of signs in kindergarten. Looking a little embarrassed, they sign “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day” in the middle of asking our salad dressing choice. We smile and gently redirect them to the menu. My friends are pros at this routine and ordering is easy ― delightful even. The contrast with how it feels to be out with my hearing husband is stunning.

Once my friends and I have ordered, we sign up a storm, talking about everything and shy about nothing. What would be the point? People are staring anyway. Our language is lavish, our faces alive. My friends discuss the food, but for me, the food is unimportant. I’m feasting on the smorgasbord of communication ― the luxury of chatting in a language that I not only understand 100% but that is a pleasure in and of itself. Taking nothing for granted, I bask in it all, and everything goes swimmingly.

Until I accidentally say the word “soup” out loud.

Pointing at the menu, I let the word slip out to the server. And our delightful meal goes straight downhill. Suddenly, the wait staff’s mouths start flapping; the beautiful, reaching, visual parts of their brains go dead, as if switched off.

“Whadda payu dictorom danu?” the server’s mouth seems to say. “Buddica taluca mariney?”

“No, I’m Deaf,” I say. A friend taps the server and, pointing to her coffee, pantomimes milking a cow. But the damage is done. The server has moved to stand next to me and, with laser-focus, looks only at me. Her pen at the ready, her mouth moves like a fish. With stunning speed, the beauty of the previous interactions ― the pantomiming, the pointing, the cooperative taking of our order ― has disappeared. “Duwanaa disser wida coffee anmik? Or widabeeaw fayuh-mow?”

Austin “Awti” Andrews (who’s a child of Deaf adults, often written as CODA) describes a similar situation.

“Everything was going so well,” he says. “The waiter was gesturing, it was terrific. And then I just said one word, and pow!! It’s like a bullet of stupidity shot straight into the waiter’s head,” he explains by signing a bullet in slow motion, zipping through the air and hitting the waiter’s forehead. Powwwww.

Hearing people might be shocked by this, but Deaf people laugh uproariously, cathartically.

“Damn! All I did was say one word!” I say to my friends. “But why do you do that?” they ask, looking at me with consternation and pity. “Why don’t you just turn your voice off, for once and for all?” they say.

Hearing people would probably think I’m the lucky one ― the success story ― because I can talk. But I agree with my friends.

  —  I'm Deaf And I Have 'Perfect' Speech. Here's Why It's Actually A Nightmare.

[flowercrowncrip]

Wheelchair users use the word “walk” all the time when talking about how we get around! For a lot of people it feels like a natural part of speech and gets the point across fine. And I can’t believe I have to say this but it’s absolutely never ever ever an invitation to accuse (jokingly or not) someone of faking being disabled.

Context means that the following sentences all make sense about me:

I can’t walk, I can’t even weight bare.

I love going for walks!

The shops are in walking distance from my flat

I walk home from the station instead of calling a taxi!

All the wheelchair users I know will casually describe walking (or running) places in their chairs, and I’ve only met a couple of people who will regularly say “push” or “roll” or “drive” and usually only when making a point about using a chair.

And whatever you do don’t be like the smart arse station employee who “jokingly” said I must be like a TV character who famously pretends to be disabled because I said the station I was going to wasn’t far from my flat so I just walk home instead of getting a taxi.

[comfymoth]

mcyt physically disabled week day two: sign language | deafness/HoH

i did say i’d try to do at least a few days of this week! i guess this kinda counts for both prompts, since tallulah is canonically HoH? i think of her as a bimodal bilingual, or someone who speaks vocally and gesturally, so here’s a small drawing of two sign language greetings, in LSM and BSL! i just couldn’t decide which one to go with haha

[linguist-breakaribecca]

Today, in “I’ll take any good news I can find”:

A production of Romeo and Juliet with Deaf actors signing their lines has been referred to as bilingual! Not just “accessible” or “diverse” but also BILINGUAL!

This makes me happy because the general idea of ASL (and other signed languages) is that they’re just a manual version of the spoken language. By that logic, Norwegian is just a higher-latitude version of German. Signed languages are languages of their own! With unique vocabulary, grammar, and dialects!

[perplexingluciddreams]

Using the internet and technology with high needs autism

I have been trying to put this into words for a while, but due to the exact thing I am making the post about, it has been very difficult.

First of all, a short (ish - I am not the best at concise) background of me and technology: Used to play games on dad's phone, and later watch YouTube videos on family tablet (with parent restrictions). However, ability to navigate devices was very limited, and if something went wrong I just panic and give to an adult.

We used computers a bit in school for work and educational games. Every time we went to the "computer area" I would cry because I knew I wouldn't be able to find the webpage on my own, or sign in to something, or type in a word document. At these times in school, usually another pupil would just sigh loudly and then come and do the computer thing for me over my shoulder.

I had an MP3 player that I got for I think my 8 or 9th birthday. The only thing I knew how to do, was play music and google search. But I still didn't really understand what a "link" was, or how to find important information. We were supposed to learn online research skills in school, but nobody ever explained the most simple stuff to me, so I lack the basic knowledge.

I got my first phone at age 10. This was when I also first get Instagram, my first social media (parents set up for me). I was in a group chat for my school year, but the only time I put a message there is when mum asked me to ask a question, about a non-uniform day for example. Nobody interacted with me in there, and apart from the messages I don't know how to navigate the app. I posted a few pictures a few times, but only when someone else recommended, and I didn't interact online.

I have poor language comprehension, slow processing and take longer to learn new skills. My computer skills and especially typing skills are majorly behind my peers. I have slowly learned some skills allowing me to be even on Tumblr in the first place, but I still need a lot of support and it makes me very anxious. Part of my difficultly on social media, is the social interacting part. Mostly due to low interest.

But my biggest challenge is poor comprehension. I get very anxious and upset when I come onto Tumblr and all the posts I try to read don't make sense to me. Especially when the post is about a topic I care about - if I read it and I can't know what people mean, then I will just be very upset for the rest of the day.

Second biggest challenge, not being able to express opinions on important topics. Often, I can't even understand something. Then, I can't form an opinion because it's too complex. Or, I have an opinion, but I don't understand if someone agree or disagree with me from what they write.

I work so hard to gain skills and learn enough to even be here, and then all I can find about people like me is other people arguing about our existence. Want to express my frustration at this. To even write this post I had support from mum, and it takes all my mental energy.

It is true that I have low interest in socialising - direct impact of autism. So social media maybe not best place in the world for me, by default. But I still want to understand and be included. Not be treated like place to just ask "am I counting as high support needs". I don't understand even my own needs enough to answer this for myself - I definitely can't answer for anyone else.

A lot of my challenges, come direct from autism. That's just a fact. Wish it was easier, very often. But also wish it was easier online - I can't be part of outside community, only online.

I post here to express thoughts and feelings, that is also just what this post is doing. I did less big big edit on my words this time, wanted words to be closest to how I think it (don't think in words so not possible to show abstract thoughts direct, but closest to first translation).

[cryptid-aac]

Love post for ppl who type " weird "

Love you ppl who type " weird " because use AAC to type (hi, sometimes)!!

Love you ppl who type " weird" because have language disorder (hi)!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because have I/DD!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because have severe autism/higher support needs autism/Level 3 autism/however you identify (hi)!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because English not your native language!!

Love you ppl who type " weird" because rushing thoughts (hi)!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because blind!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because that's how brain thinks!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " just because!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because semiverbal (hi)!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " because nonverbal!!

Love you ppl who type " weird " for any reason not mentioned or no reason or reason that not know of!!

[thecorvidforest]

just a reminder that insulting the way people speak because it’s “weird” (i.e. too fast, too slow, too monotone, too animated, slurred, etc) is ableist. many of us with intellectual disabilities, developmental disorders, autism, traumatic brain injuries, physical disabilities, and other conditions speak “weird” because of our conditions.

i see posts all the time like “POV you’re talking to that person who talks like they’re in an anime” or “people who speak monotone are so creepy, they’re like robots” or “people who slur their speech gross me out”. it’s ableist and dehumanizing. insulting the way “certain people” speak may seem harmless on the surface but under the surface those “certain people” are almost always disabled, and these traits are just traits of our disabilities.

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

So the members of the discord at @bfpnola were explaining to me why BASL (Black American Sign Language) is a separate language than ASL (American Sign Language) because I was wondering if it was for a similar reason as AAVE (African American Vernacular English).

Fun fact. It's because of segregation. So when Sign Language in America was being taught. The schools were segregated, so they each dealt with deaf accommodations in their own way. White schools were taking a more integration approach so they highly frowned on the use of Sign and they were trying to get deaf kids to practice speaking.

However, Black schools were more opening to the use of Sign, so they had a lot longer to develop their Sign Language than White schools, as they were encouraging Sign at a time when white schools weren't.

Follow and support @bfpnola because they teach me so many things and it is so cool. 😁

-fae

[starfishinthedistance]

Shoutout to neurodivergents who were punished or marked down in assignments for using too complex language, and also shoutout to neurodivergents who were punished or marked down in assignments for using too simple language, and also shout out to neurodivergents who were punished for both of these depending on the most recent way they fucked up