#life without communication

[lastoneout]

Saw a post talking about this and didn't want to derail it, but like, honestly, at this point, I'm becoming less and less tolerant of people acting like straight/cis passing privilege is a real, very serious thing that needs to be taken into consideration every time someone speaks on queer issues bcs I swear to god the only time I ever see it actually brought up is when someone is trying to deny someone else a seat at the table. Like first it was used against bi+ people to explain why we're not queer unless we're in a same gender relationship, and then it was used to shit all over ace and aro people for not being "visibly queer", then they turned on nonbinary people who "look cis", and now I see people throwing it at trans men for some reason like???? This is legit becoming an exclusionist dogwhistle to me. Any merit to this concept is completely obliterated by assholes who are so addicted to playing oppression olympics they're meticulously crafting pokemon type advantage charts to categorize all the gays based on who actually has "real" problems and who doesn't, it's agonizing.

Like putting "straight/cis passing privilege" up on the shelf next to "comphet" until people can learn how to use it in a way that doesn't invalidate someone else's queerness.

[cy-cyborg]

Limb difference vs amputee

I've been seeing a rise in people using the term limb difference and also rise in (what I think are well meaning) folks shouting "Amputee is not a dirty word, stop talking over disabled people, just say amputee" and while I love the energy, that's not what's going on here lol.

Amputee refers to anyone who has lost a limb or was born without one/multiple of their limbs.

Limb difference is a broader umbrella term to refer to anyone with a physical disability the effects the person's limbs specifically, usually (but not always) in ways that are visible to others to some degree. It can refer to amputees, but also people with single-limb paralysis, people who's limbs didn't develop properly (even if it's not severe enough to be considered an amputation) and more!

All amputees have a type of limb difference, but not everyone with a limb difference is an amputee.

As far as I'm aware, the term actually started in congenital amputee circles (people who were born without a limb) because they felt the word amputee didn't really fit them properly. amputee implies they had the limb but it was removed, but they never had it to begin with. It eventually spread to become an umbrella term, but it was created by and for disabled people.

I do understand some people's hesitation with the word, it does sound kind of similar to "differently abled" but I promise, it's not.

[owlheartt]

Something I really like about timebomb is that Ekko actually knows what he's getting into.

I'm not really seeing it get talked about but in season 1 they mention that Ekko and the firelights help people addicted to shimmer get off it and lead more fulfilling lives within the community. I should probably rewatch the scene for the exact wording (might be misremembering tbh) but that comment implies A LOT.

First: Ekko's mission is helping people where he can, he would probably try and help Jinx even if he wasn't in love with her

Second: He has experience dealing with severe mental illness as that often goes hand in hand with drug abuse, namely depression/suicidal ideation like what Jinx was exhibiting

Third: He's probably mapped out best course of action FOR dealing with this and has already figured out his own limits/boundaries. Meaning he knew what he was getting into trying to talk Jinx out of suicide, and was thus more equipped to deal with the aftermath

Fourth: He's probably helped ex members of Silco's gang. The firelights seem to have a theme of healing and repairing and recovering, so they've probably also learned to forgive. If they're mission is to rebuild the lanes into a safe space, they can't exclude people they don't like, they have to make room for them. I think they fought Silco out of necessity, and I doubt Jinx would be the first person they help who's killed one of them.

These all might be a bit of a stretch but I think it really fits. Beyond that, it shows that Ekko can ACTUALLY help Jinx. As much as unconditional love can do, Ekko has the tools for Jinx's recovery and a path ready for her. He also probably knows that her "healthy" will look different from AU Powder's "healthy." On top of that, I expect he knows how to respect her even in the middle of psychotic breaks and won't agitate her already frail mental state

[lyrashifts]

when you're shifting for the plot but the plot is legitimately a war

[y-elleven]

i dont think sae would ever fall out of love with you once he gets serious. neither time nor routine could ever dull his affections, because loving you meant clawing his own chest open to get to the battered and vulnerable heart he'd kept hidden behind walls of sea-rotted boards for years. he fought for that softness, for the ease and surety of having a love that's returned, brittle edges and all. there's no way in hell his heart would ever stop bleeding with want and pure affection for you. that's just not how he's built

to begin, being in a relationship with him isn't easy. he knows this. he's made you cry enough times in the beginning to carve a resolve to never make you cry ever again for the rest of your lives together now. sae will always be grateful for your patience and persistence, for not giving up on the two of you (on him) when he already had so many times. for all his effortless cool and nonchalance, he's a messy adult with even messier feelings and a tongue sharp enough to keep almost everyone right where he wants them: at arm's length. his words cut like burred steel and the hurt that comes with them always fade into scars people resent him for, but the fact that you still persevered and met him where he stood, even when he refused to meet you halfway, means so much to him. he'd never be able to put into words even if he tried, so he shows it by doing his best to be a better man for you every day instead

he loves your routine. loves the life the two of you have begun building together. loves the simple reassurance of being able to kiss you goodbye in the morning and kiss you hello in the evening. loves the press of your body against when he goes to sleep and the warmth of breath against his collarbone when he wakes up. loves brushing his teeth next to you and running his fingers through your bedhead to try and tame it. loves having you sit with him in the kitchen while he fixes a quick snack for both of you. loves when you're chatty. loves when you're quiet. loves you when you're sweet on him. loves you when you're pissed to hell. loves when you're all cleaned up and gorgeous, dressed like you're his to show off and adore. loves when you've got sauce stains on your shirt and dressed for a night-in of crappy reality tv and gossip where you talk and he just listens

he loves that simple life. even when you stress him out with your antics sometimes and your own messy feelings make you listen to your insecurities instead of him, he wouldn't trade it for the world. not when you've looked at him and all his mess and decided he was still worth the effort. you've met him where he refused to budge so many times, so he has no problem pushing against his own anxieties and fears to find you when you get too lost in your own head

he's come so far from who he was in the beginning of your relationship and he's proud of that. sae's still a little difficult sometimes, especially when it comes to your health and comfort (two things he refuses to compromise on; he wants a future with you and won't let anything, not even your self-destructive habits, get in the way of that), but he doesn't hide from you anymore. when you've seen the worst of him and still offered the best you could in return, how can he ever do anything but love you forever?

[bylrndgm]

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS (2020) // JULIE E OS FANTASMAS (2011) 1.01 - Wake Up // 1.01 - Enfrentando Fantasmas -> Julie meets the Band.

[nonspeakerlibrary]

https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/may-2025-issue/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKq6XpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlffSBtg21kaEz7BBmRo9lurlziL5Vi2XO8m1BHUXTeAwC_VV2UTS-y8h75R_aem_3XtCwTlEkjZWCHk_Iq7x3w

A volume of the literary magazine Skipping Stones with all writing and art by nonspeaking autistic people! It is separated by 3 parts:

Part I: Being

The works in this section address common themes of being a nonspeaker, such as feeling relegated to the sidelines of human discourse, being underestimated, and having a restless brain and dysregulated body. Many autistic nonspeakers experience synesthesia and hyperesthesia, which can be at times joyful, but other times exhausting and overwhelming. Noah McSweeney adds: [This section] speaks to how we are inside. From my perspective, synesthesia is a mixed bag, not high or low, but an agony I must try to develop tolerance for, especially when I am in a group. When I am alone, it can be pleasurable.

Part II: Becoming

These works explore the joyous transformation that nonspeakers undergo when they finally have a means of communication. Love and gratitude figure prominently in these works, and there is a sense of blossoming. Joy is expressed not just in communication, but in being with others and in dancing.

Part III: Belonging

These works are about finding one’s place in the world, and pursuing one’s dreams and passions. Spellers want what every person wants—respect, friendship, love and the space to be their authentic selves. Guest Editor John-Carlos Schaut writes: “I would emphasize chasing our dreams may be realized through the liberation of communication. The path to freedom is through spelling to communicate.

[staticshipstation]

This is your sign to draw your self ship with their concept designs!

Taglist!

@berryshipbasket @squeakadoodle-doo @orchidshroomgardenselfships @grubgrotto-selfships @juunebuugz @theselfshipcafe

[24601orwhatever]

WILL CALLAN AS MARIUS PONTMERCY

a heart full of love 📷 : @callmelasagna

[transmasc-rose]

I'm thinking about the horror of the Doctor from the perspective of non-companions again, especially as it relates to people those companions know.

Rose? "Ran away" (not wrong) for "a year" (a week) with a "man" (alien) "twice her age" (approximately 50 times her age but yeah, he is Time Lord middle aged), and then gives absolutely no explanation for how or why that happened, except that she was "travelling".

Then when her mum does get an explanation (which, frankly, is only comforting because of the unfamiliarity of the alternative given. The devil you know.), Rose barely checks back in.

She almost dies for him. When she thinks he's dead, she's changed in a way her family doesn't know how to handle. Then she's gone for who knows how long and comes back with the Doctor wearing a new face.

When her original tenure as a companion ends, and Rose lives in Pete's World, she works for Torchwood/UNIT (they become the same organization). She volunteers for the Dimension Cannon. She explains to the alternate earth how to rig up a time machine.

She's changed in ways that no one else can really understand.

Amy? There's everything with River Song of course (though I'm still not there in my viewing), him running away with Amy the night before her and Rory's wedding, and also the connection between the Doctor and the Time Crack being the reason all of Amy's family's dead. Obvious stuff.

However he's also the strange man who broke into this child's house and made a mess of her life that she never got over, that promised to take her away from here, that she wrote about and drew and carved and made her friends dress up as.

And they sent her to psychiatrist after psychiatrist without any help. In their perspective, to work through what she imagined. In her perspective, to tell her that her reality wasn't real.

And then he comes back.

And to some extent, later, when he shows himself to everyone, isn't that more frightening? That the story your child told you, of the strange man she met as a child, of time travel, of nearly being stolen away, hadn't been a lie, or a misinterpretation, or an imagining?

And so he shows up at her wedding. And steals her away again.

Donna I feel like has the least horror until her final episode. I think exploring the in between section of her meeting the Doctor and finding him again would be interesting, but not exactly horror. More an exploration of how obsessive the companions can get about him, how it eats their whole lives with even one encounter, even as it makes them better people.

And then, obviously, the horror of having your mind altered and erased against your will by someone you trusted. For your own good, of course. Because he knows best. How could you know better than him? He's ancient. He's practically all knowing.

Shouldn't you be grateful?

(And he's forgiven.)

[mail-me-a-snail]

thinking back to all the times people irl have told me, in an insulting kind of way, that i don't talk much like yeah. got nothing to say so i ain't saying at all. u could learn to do that too. crazy ik

[nondelphic]

me: trying to write realistic dialogue.

also me: accidentally gives all my characters a doctorate in sarcasm.

[superchat]

its just so fucked up to me that ppl do what they can to enjoy life, they find a hobby, they find a community, they find a habit, an identity, and other people go "yeah lets make fun of them for trying in a way thats different from me, in one i dont understand. we should belittle them, we should consider them an Enemy who needs to change or be removed"

worry about your own self bud, if youve filled the hole in your life and youre still making fun of others for being weird then i dont think youve really filled it

[nonspeakerlibrary]

to you i am a girl who found her voice but i am a bird who has taken to the sky .

i am a hyena who laughs at the world .

i am a frog who jumps for joy .

i am an aard vark who . play s all day . with worms .

i am a lion who rulles the day.

i am a giraffe standing talle r than ever .

i am free.

something i want to say is that autism acceptance starts with people believing that everyone deserves a chance to access a fair education. i hope to help other autistic people like me become advocates because this is the only way to make our voices heard. i hope people will listen to our words because we have a lot to say to the world about what it means to be autistic.

many people think they know but they do not. autism is a complicated disorder. not everyone is impacted as much as me. but i am smart and i hear music in numbers and trees and grass. i am happy to be autistic even though its hard most of the time. so much of my words come from God. he is helping me live this life. to have my voice heard means the world to me. to have people encourage me also means the world. to have a company of encouragers is the best gift. thank you for listening to me.

to be autistic is to be a gorilla in a tutu. your clothes never fit quite right .

to be autistic is to be a dinosaur making large footprints on the earth . your body is not for this age .

to be autistic is to be an eagle with too strong eyes . your eyes see the miniscule details others miss.

to be autistic is to be a hippo with birds on your back. you still feel the itch.

to be autistic is to be a lizard who basks in the sun. you feel the heat and it invigorates you and drains you.

to be autistic is to be a telescope seeing the world with microscopic detail .

to be autistic is to be a megaphone every thing is too loud .

to be autistic is to be a beautiful idea of how to experience the world

to be autistic is to be a butterfly ready to fly .

this is me.

[thergbvision]

After years of questioning, gaslighting (from others and myself), and feeling like I was just being “too sensitive,” I finally have a name for what’s been happening to my body: Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD).

My rheumatologist believes it may actually be hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), but due to the diagnostic overlap and current criteria, I’m officially diagnosed with HSD for now. I scored 7/9 on the Beighton Scale, and for once, a medical professional looked at my history and actually listened.

It’s incredibly validating—but also a lot to process. I had physical therapy today, and after I shared my diagnosis, my PT adjusted our entire approach. He introduced me to a low-impact strength training program made specifically for people with hEDS/HSD called Bending Without Breaking, I believe? (Which is such a good name, honestly.)

Turns out, my core is way weaker than I realized. I’ll definitely be feeling today’s session later… but it feels like the right kind of hard. The kind that means I’m actually working with my body now instead of fighting it.

Since I can’t take NSAIDs because of my bariatric surgery, the only medical treatment I’m on now is gabapentin; at six times the dose my psych originally prescribed for anxiety. It’s wild how pain management is often trial and error, especially with conditions like HSD.

I also have blood tests coming up, some routine, some autoimmune panels I’ve never had done before. I can feel my B12 is probably low, and my protein intake hasn’t been ideal lately. I’m anxious about what those labs will show… or won’t show. But either way, I’m doing what I can.

This diagnosis doesn’t change who I am or magically make things easier, but it does lift this unbearable weight I’ve been carrying, like I finally have permission to stop doubting myself. I shouldn’t need a diagnosis to feel valid, but after so long, it means everything.

Here’s to healing, to answers, and to not bending until I break.