#i need support and a community

[inkskinned]

you were raised in comparison.

it wasn't always obvious (well. except for the times that it was), but you internalized it young. you had to eat what you didn't like, other people are going hungry, and you should be grateful. you had to suck it up and walk on the twisted ankle, it wasn't broken, you were just being a baby. you were never actually suffering, people obviously had it worse than you did.

you had a roof over your head - imagine! with the way you behaved, with how you talked back to your parents? you're lucky they didn't kick you out on your ass. they had friends who had to deal with that. hell, you have friends who had to deal with that. and how dare you imply your father isn't there for you - just because he doesn't ever actually talk to you and just because he's completely emotionally checked out of your life doesn't mean you're not fucking lucky. think about your cousins, who don't even get to speak to their dad. so what if yours has a mean streak; is aggressive and rude. at least you have a father to be rude to you.

you really think you're hurting? you were raised in a home! you had access to clean water! you never so much as came close to experiencing a real problem. sure, okay. you have this "mental illness" thing, but teenagers are always depressed, right. it's a phase, you'll move on with your life.

what do you mean you feel burnt out at work. what do you mean you mean you never "formed healthy coping mechanisms?" we raised you better than that. you were supposed to just shoulder through things. to hold yourself to high expectations. "burning out" is for people with real jobs and real stress. burnout is for people who have sick kids and people who have high-paying jobs and people who are actually experiencing something difficult. recently you almost cried because you couldn't find your fucking car keys. you just have lost your sense of gratitude, and honestly, we're kind of hurt. we tell you we love you, isn't that enough? if you want us to stick around, you need to be better about proving it. you need to shut up about how your mental health is ruined.

it could be worse! what if you were actually experiencing executive dysfunction. if you were really actually sick, would you even be able to look at things on the internet about it? you just spend too much time on webMD. you just like to freak yourself out and feel like you belong to something. you just like playing the victim. this is always how you have been - you've always been so fucking dramatic. you have no idea how good you have it - you're too fucking sensitive.

you were like, maybe too good of a kid. unwilling to make a real fuss. and the whole time - the little points, the little validations - they went unnoticed. it isn't that you were looking for love, specifically - more like you'd just wanted any one person to actually listen. that was all you'd really need. you just needed to be witnessed. it wasn't that you couldn't withstand the burden, but you did want to know that anyone was watching. these days, you are so accustomed to the idea of comparison - you don't even think you belong in your own communities. someone always fits better than you do. you're always the outlier. they made these places safe, and then you go in, and you are just not... quite the same way that would actually-fit.

you watch the little white ocean of your numbness lap at your ankles. the tide has been coming in for a while, you need to do something about it. what you want to do is take a nap. what you want to do is develop some kind of time machine - it's not like you want your life to stop, not completely, but it would really nice if you could just get everything to freeze, just for a little while, just until you're finished resting. but at least you're not the worst you've been. at least you have anything. you're so fucking lucky. do you have any concept of the amount of global suffering?

a little ant dies at the side of your kitchen sink. you look at its strange chitinous body and think - if you could just somehow convince yourself it is enough, it will finally be enough and you can be happy. no changes will have to be made. you just need to remember what you could lose. what is still precious to you.

you can't stop staring at the ant. you could be an ant instead of a person, that is how lucky you are. it's just - you didn't know the name of the ant, did you. it's just - ants spend their whole life working, and never complain. never pull the car over to weep.

it's just - when it died, it curled up into a tight little ball.

something kind of uncomfortable: you do that when you sleep.

#writeblr #warm up #my dad was actively doing bad shit to us and we STILL were told we were lucky . and to a point i do think im lucky #i just think also there's somethin to be said about like. how about we stop using comparison to dismiss ppls individual struggles #yes there are people who have no perspective. for the reference tho having perspective actually made me really unwilling to get help #for what was a serious and debilitating mental health issue. bc i thought i didnt DESERVE IT #and i would rather have 600 ppl who aren't THAT bad get help and get heard and get seen #than make any 1 kid. do the math that i did: look at the world that is dying and the people who are hurting and say #''oh. okay. others have it worse. they are probably better people than i am. i am being unreasonable. i cannot ask for help #i am not good. i am taking too much space. i am not worth saving.'' #bc our WHOLE lives we are taught a scarcity mindset - that you can 'steal' from someone. so that instead of changing a system that doesn't #actually offer fair support to everyone #we put the impetus on the individual to just... demand less. #and here's something - there are probably ppl who think i DIDNT deserve to get help #bc i DID have it better than other people #and something about that is ... so sickening. bc i think all of us in some way at some point WILL need help. #we were supposed to make communities. we were supposed to offer our hands. we were supposed to raise the barn #instead we said: it could be worse. now handle it yourself

[800-dick-pics]

Help a Black Disabled Caretaker!

I am taking care of one of my elders very soon, I need PPE, transportation funds and help getting groceries (for two households). I also need to get my updated C19+flu shot before I do any caretaking! My elder is relying on me so I need to be safe. If youre able please share n dono.

$275 Goal!

CA: $sleepyhen

VN: wildwotko

DM for Paypal

#community care #community support #dono post #cfunding #I have been offline bc life has been a lot but I am again the only one who can take care of my elders so like i need help doing that!

[stealingfromwoolworths]

Im gonna be a hater

I get that autism is a spectrum and all but Jesus Christ some of y’all need to realise that you are in a more privileged position by being low(er) support needs.

Even I, your local whiny bitch who has an army of aids everywhere I go (one is literally watching me type this), have significant privilege over autistic people who are non verbal, autistic people who are not smart, autistic people who live in poverty, autistic people who attend special schools, autistic people who have other disabilities ect.

I can recognise that my situation sucks and also recognise that I have the ability to read and write in two languages, speak (most of the time) English fluently, live decently with disability benefits as someone who is lower middle class and be able to exist within the public school system.

We cannot achieve full liberation for ourselves and other mentally disabled people if we cannot objectively realise that some of us have it worse. I’m so so so so so so so so tired of having to explain this over and over again.

And I love you guys so much but I swear to God a low functioning autistic person explaining how being autistic has worse affects on them and impairs their daily life in a more severe way then it does yours is not invalidating you.

Also a lot of you still have alot of anti autistic ableist sentiment because you are still able to present yourself to the world as neurotypical but let’s not unpack that today.

(NOT TALKING ABOUT ALL LOW SUPPORT NEEDS AUTISTICS‼️ IF THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU ITS NOT ABOUT YOU‼️ IF TOU FEEL ATTACKED MAYBE YOU NEED TO EXPLORE THAT FEELING IDK)

#actually autistic #disabled #autism #mentally disabled #disability pride month #this was in my drafts from disability pride month #lmao #low functioning #low functioning autistic #high support needs #low support needs #autism community #autistic community #listen to our voices I beg of you

[kikker-oma]

Fan Joy July!

Coined by the sweet @isasan347 , Fan Joy July is an art challenge I've created for myself!

I will be drawing one piece of colored fan art every single day of July that corresponds to a scene in various Linked Universe Fanfics.

This challenge is meant to push myself to draw daily, give back to writers who make this fandom so much fun, and give others a chance to read something new they may enjoy 😄

I will be choosing some fics myself that I've read and enjoy, but I would love if others recommended their favorite LU fic. This way I can pick one LU fan fiction to draw for all 31 days. Feel free to self promote as well!

To recommend me a fic, please comment or reblog this post with the link so that I can see it easier. Please avoid sending asks if you can, just because I tend to get overwhelmed when my inbox gets full 🥴🥲 hehe

I'll be taking recommendations from April 11-30. After that I'm going to start drawing so that I can be ready to post in July! ( This is gonna take me a while so I need all the prep time I can get haha).

**I'm not asking anyone else to do this challenge, but I would ADORE if anyone wanted to join me! Even if it isn't for the whole month. **(I can be your excuse if you've ever wanted to draw for a writer but were too shy hehe)

I've also seen one or two writers interested in how they could participate. I think that maybe if there is an artist you enjoy you could write something for a drawing they've done? I know there are a ton of very talented LU artists in the fandom, so that could be a good challenge for writers 😀

--- General Notes:

Please note that I will only be doing 31 drawings and a recommendation does not guarantee I will draw for it ( I love you all, but I can only do so much)

I will be tagging my challenge as "FanJoyJuly" and will try my best to note posts appropriately

I will be tagging writers (if they have a Tumblr and I can find it)

I will be linking the story for each day in the post

I will not be releasing which stories I'm drawing for until I post them (for the DRAMA😉)

As we get closer to July, I'll create a master post and update it with each post I make in case people are interested in following along ❤️

Thank you all for the initial feedback for this idea, and I'm excited to get started!

#FanJoyJuly #linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu fanart #art challenge #tbh I feel kinda pretentious making this #since this is only a challenge for myself #but I'm a strong supporter of communication so I'm gonna get over myself lol #I'M SO EXCITED THO!! #This will be tons of fun #I laugh at myself saying I'd take a couple days to think about this #and then make this post the next day lol #but I've been thinking about this NON STOP #and I know I'd only be delaying on something I've subconsciously already decided to do #and I need time to read all these fics #pick the scene #and then draw everything #so yeah.. hehe

[caelanglang]

The Language of Messed Up Kids (who never bothered to talk)

⚠️ blood and weapons

#they’re too gay to communicate your honor #bsd #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #nakahara chuuya #soukoku #skk #double black #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bsd fanart #bsd comics #tw blood #tw guns #i tried to go for a dry medium/color pencil style for this hhhhh the bane of my existence #was inspired by another person’s post here abt how they don’t need to communicate but they badly need to talk and that’s so true lmao #imma reblog that post after this post :3 #how come i don’t see people talking enough abt the piggy back ride in sb—? #also rip timblr ate up a lot of the quality fffff #hope its still understandable thank you for all the lind support so far! here’s my holidays gift to yall here hehehe <3 #spoilers #bsd fifteen #bsd stormbringer #bad dead apple #my art #my art and writing #poetry #my comic

[spectrumgarden]

Anyways food that requires no prep/ very little prep to be edible is accessibility. If you supplied me with a weeks worth of veggies I have to cut up and boil and season and fucking stir fry, and pasta and rice (...) I'm still going without food for majority of my meals. Unless you personally want to prepare 3 meals a day for me you better shut up about me relying on frozen / instant / pre cut (etc) food.

#actually autistic #autistic adult #medium support needs #autistic community #actually disabled #i was at a holiday home without a water cooker and it significantly reduced my food intake simply because the step of boiling water for my- #-instant food got prolonged. #if i cant fucking boil water in a pot reliably how ft am i gonna do any cooking reliably #pitch in or shut up

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

What would it be like if people in your community looked out for you?

What would it look like if people outside your most-texted friends and closest family knew you and were invested in your wellbeing and were willing to make deliberate effort to contribute to it?

What would a healthy supportive community, full of a wide variety of people who aren't all necessarily friends, look like?

What would make your community more like that?

What structures or opportunities already exist that might enable that? Are they sufficient? Why or why not? If you don't know what kinds of organizations etc exist in your community, how could you find out? If they aren't sufficient, what could you do to contribute or create new opportunities for relating with each other?

What barriers interrupt opportunities for healthy connection and support in your community? What would effectively addressing those barriers look like?

What would be the easiest possible first step that one busy person could take to start to make your community more connected? Can you think of anything that you personally could do?

What kinds of skills or ideas would be necessary that you can't provide? How could you find people with those kinds of skills or ideas who are also interested in community care and who might be willing to work together?

You're probably marginalized by at least one form of oppression. Most people are. You're probably busy and tired. Most people are. What would make it possible for you to contribute anyway? What would make it possible for other busy tired people to contribute?

If you want your community to care for you—if you need that, as I'm convinced all people do—you might have to figure out how to care for your community first. If you wanted that, how would you start?

#being deliberately vague wrt 'community' here because it can look like many things #your neighborhood? people who go to your school? your local cultural or religious community? your local music scene? #but i specifically mean larger groups. not just friend groups. #a functioning community that actually works as a broad support system requires a lot of people #with a lot of different perspectives/experiences/skills/needs etc #it can start from almost any large group #but to become effectively supportive there has to be some catalyst to encourage ppl to value&cultivate care and respect #as well as difference and personal autonomy #thatdiabolicalfeminist

[swordsonnet]

lately, i've seen more people in the online autistic community acknowledging the struggles of people with higher support needs, which is of course an important development. but for some, that seems to come with the implicit assumption that low needs autistics "have it easy" or experience no stigma at all, which is just wrong??? people with low support needs are still disabled by their autism and still face discrimination because of it. sure, they are impaired to a lesser degree than those with higher support needs, but that doesn't mean you can just erase their struggles, y'know?

#sometimes i see posts that are like 'its unfair to say that autistic people have it easy and arent really disabled...' and go yes! exactly! #but then they'll continue like '...because not all autistic people have low support needs' #and i'm like. okay nevermind you dont understand this at all #i have comparatively mild autism (was diagnosed with aspergers back when that was still a thing) #and my autism has still significantly impacted and impaired my life #i think its important to acknowledge the huge range of experiences in the autistic community #and that many others have struggled much more than me #but that doesnt mean its all easy breezy for me and other lsn autistics yknow? #(i guess i would technically be considered medium support needs or something but that's because of my chronic illness not my autism) #i wish people would just. like. listen to other peoples experiences before just assuming that they know everything about their lives #ofc a huge part of this is also some lsn autistics distancing themselves from hsn people and pretending that they're not actually disabled #but not every lsn autistic is like that. and even the ones that are are usually (consciously or unconsciously) downplaying their symptoms #autism #actually autistic #actuallyautistic #this isn't really about the post i just reblogged btw it just reminded me of it #because some of the notes on it went in that direction

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

This election day, I'm thinking of my Nana.

I'm thinking of how as a young woman, she fled political violence in her native Colombia to build a new home in a more stable country. I'm thinking about how she lived a long life, but not long enough to see her home country elect its first ever progressive president (just a few months ago!).

Coincidentally, I was living in Colombia at that time (in the very city she grew up in), and I was able to witness what felt like a miracle. A very conservative country, suffering from the violent inheritance of colonization and catholic invasion and the war on drugs, against a backdrop of the dangerous global rise of the far right--this unlikely country managed to elect one of the most progressive heads of state in the world, in 2022. That's a pretty big deal.

And I'm thinking about this, this election day, because that election was won by a very thin margin. I'm thinking about how it almost didn't happen. I'm thinking about how it was only possible thanks to the highest voter turnout in 20 year. And I am thinking about the countless number of voters who chose to vote for the first time. I am thinking of the poorest and most disenfranchised citizens who showed up at the polls. I am thinking of the indigenous women who rode 12 hours on public buses to vote at the 'nearest' polling stations. I am thinking of all the money and corruption that went into preventing minority citizens from voting, and I'm thinking about how they showed up in the millions and voted anyway.

I am thinking that I would like to see a miracle like that in my own home country.

So if you're on the fence about waiting in line today to cast your vote, I hope that you will think--about the country you want to live in, the future you hope will unfold, and about all of the people it takes to make a miracle.

Because history may deem us nameless and faceless, but when we show up en masse, we are the ones who make history happen.

And yes, maybe also spare a thought for my Nana. Who was in fact a very angry and judgemental woman who supported the republican party for 50+ years, and who would be turning in her grave right now (if the family hadn't had her cremated). Think about the mean angry ghost of my Colombian grandmother, who very much wants you to not show up at the polls to support abortion and other sinful progressive values. Think about her. Do it for her. Do it for Nana.

#Do it! for her #not a shitpost #serious post #politics #ask to tag #I love you Nana but i disagree SO vehemently with almost all of your personal political and religious values #also you should have treated my mom SO MUCH BETTER when she was a kid. all of your kids really #i see you very much as a victim of religious trauma & childhood poverty #followed by the cultural isolation of being a first generation immigrant with no local hispanic community to provide support #plus the failure of late 20th century mental health care almost certainly compounded by medical sexism #recognize sympathize and am indignant on your behalf for all of those reasons and more #but that truth can also coexist alongside the truth that #hot DAMN Nana you and Papa very much failed to provide your children with an emotionally safe and stable environment in which to grow #and me and my sibs are still dealing with the generational trauma #and who knows how many of my cousins. I HAVE TWENTY-ONE COUSINS AND I DON'T TALK TO ANY OF THEM #that is too many cousins to not be in contact with any of them #(and fyi that's on *one* side of the family. on the other side are a dozen half-aunts-and-cousins I've never met #because Other Grandpa was a Certified Piece of Shit) #Anyway. ANYWAY... #apparently i really needed to overshare today. know what? no judgement. judgement free zone #i have no judgement thoughts or opinions i am finally FREE #........gosh that sounds so relaxing #ANYway #yeah. break the cycle of abuse or your descendants will grow up and critique your parenting choices on third-tier social media platforms #when people say 'they will always be remembered' at a funeral--that is a THREAT #what they actually mean is 'OH HONEYBUN YOU DONE FUCKED UP' #.........i want that in my eulogy actually

[astraltrickster]

I want to introduce a disability concept that I've been calling paradoxical stigma.

What is paradoxical stigma? It's the stigma against:

1) The actually disabling traits of a disability that's in the spotlight for the parts of it that are convenient to accommodate, and/or

2) The diagnosis of such a disability itself,

Due to the assumption that the spotlight renders it "destigmatized" and no longer in need of support.

As of right now, at least around this corner of the internet, the most obvious examples of this are autism and ADHD. It's become disturbingly common for people to treat those like Diet Disabilities That Don't Actually Count. It's been really interesting to watch the popular attitude about these disorders shift from "autism is either a tragedy or an excuse depending on 'severity', and ADHD is just a myth used to drug kids into complicity instead of teaching them actual skills", to "actually these are real disorders that affect people in all aspects of their lives", to "I GUESS they're real disorders but honestly EVERYONE has them can't we worry about more SERIOUS ones?" and...not in a good way.

It comes up...partially as a legitimate backlash to people with these disorders who think that invisible disability and/or neurodivergence begins and ends at their experience, and...yeah, that's a problem all right, in fact if I had a dollar for every asshole who looked at my struggles with things like keeping my space clean or not fucking up my medication doses DUE TO ADHD and went "well I have the same diagnosis and I don't have THAT problem to THAT extent, obviously you're just lazy and careless", or saw me having an AUTISTIC meltdown and called it "bullying" or worse because I get loud and insisted that I NEED to CONTROL that CHOSEN BEHAVIOR if I want to not be a Bad Person, or heard about how AUTISTIC overstimulation defense measures play into my trouble with cleaning and insisted that well THEY'RE autistic too and don't have that specific problem so this is clearly weaponized helplessness because I just don't WANT to learn to do better, I'd...probably have a lot more assistive tech. I also get really, really frustrated and upset when people use RSD to mean "if you ever criticize me that's the height of ableism, no matter how much I'm actually fucking up and hurting you" - especially since it's so often invoked as a defense against being lightly criticized for ACTUALLY harmful behavior and as much as it sucks there IS no substitute to make that more emotional-dysregulation-friendly beyond basic kindness in criticism. That attitude exists. It's bad.

And yet, theoretically, I think we could all agree that the response to that should NEVER be to reinvent the old "ugh, those aren't REAL disabilities, those are just EXCUSES that LAZY PARENTS make for kids being kids, what they need is DISCIPLINE" stereotype of the 90s-2000s, just now aimed at those same kids as adults, in ostensibly supportive spaces - or arguably worse, to revert all our understanding of support needs to the externally judged high-functioning/low-functioning dichotomy.

What really sets this apart as paradoxical stigma, rather than just garden-variety lateral ableism, is that 1) we CAN theoretically all agree that reinventing those stereotypes is a terrible response, yet many people do it anyway, and 2) these stereotypes are invoked not only because of that intracommunity misbehavior, but both within and outside of disabled spaces, because of the illusion that you can bring up those disorders and have them taken seriously because fidget toys and stim videos and weighted blankets are popular now. An event having quiet rooms, or backlash to Autism Speaks being visible outside of autistic spaces, will be taken as "proof" that autism stigma is over forever and anyone who complains about it is just a whiner who doesn't know how good they have it...even when what they're complaining about is, say, being barred from migration. Paradoxical stigma is enacted by people who think that they, alone, are standing up against someone who's throwing others under the bus to continue to progress their own limited agenda...when in fact they're speaking a very popular shitty opinion, that MANY of the people making that claim would disagree with HEAVILY once separated from the "crab bucket reflex".

As a personal example, the result is that when I'm looking for assistance, I'm...hesitant to bring up those diagnoses, because I know I'm going to be written off as "obviously a high-functioning low-support needs scammer who just doesn't WANT to CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY and EARN things" - even by people who otherwise agree that people should be allowed to survive even if they truly are the living strawman lazy bum who has nothing wrong with them but just WANTS to lay around eating junk food and doing drugs all day, AND that disability deserves to be respected, isn't black-and-white, and affects everyone differently; somehow when these combine in the context of my diagnoses that have had a very sanitized version of themselves "destigmatized" on TikTok, they cancel out into blatant reactionary sentiment indistinguishable from what I'd hear from my shitty token Republican uncle.

So, that's paradoxical stigma. Feel free to use the term if you find it useful.

#disability #serious tag #and yes it is applicable to issues other than disability #if youre seeing parallels to this in how same-sex marriage passing nationwide in the us #was the beginning of a big downswing in support for queer rights because what ELSE could these entitled freaks POSSIBLY want #you are correct! they are VERY closely related! not quite identical because it wasnt almost equally intense within the community as outside #but i wouldnt call you wrong if you wanted to use the same term! #speaking of bringing back the high-functioning/low-functioning dichotomy - it is NOT lost on me #just how many people dont take me seriously as a Real Autist because im usually ''well-spoken'' #therefore i CLEARLY cant have support needs that are hard to aestheticize right??? #as if that kind of misconception isnt EXACTLY WHY we moved away from functioning labels in favor of discussing support needs

[immunetoneurotoxin]

EMERGENCY CAT SURGERY | Pickle needs HELP!

I never thought it would be my turn to make one of these posts.

TW; CAT INJURY

Sunday night, my 6 month old kitten, pickle, had a really bad fall down a hardwood staircase after getting startled, and upon impact with the first floor, his little femur took the entire force of the impact and it snapped clean in half. My heart dropped to my stomach when I heard him thump hard against the ground and he began to cry, we immediately dropped everything and rushed him to the emergency vet nearby.

Turns out, the injury was worst than we thought. He needs orthopedic surgery to fit his femur with a metal plate. This will help him recover faster with the best successful outcome for his quality of life, but this is going to cost a staggering $4,000 dollars. He hasn't even celebrated his 1st birthday yet, he's still just a baby and this terrible accident happened. Pickle is truly my best friend, he has been my little beacon of light through it all, he is the one who sits with me while I write long chapters for my novels, and I will do absolutely anything for him.

My heart is fucking shattered seeing my normally happy and high-energy baby have such a traumatic injury like this. I know this is hard on his mental health, too. Please, if you can, help us help pickle. If anyone is willing to donate to our GoFundMe to help us alleviate the burden of surgery costs while I'm literally still desperately job hunting, it would help me and my partner more than you can imagine. If you can't financially support it at the moment, don't worry, I completely understand. But please, share this post as far out into your friends list as you can. Sharing will still help us out so so much.

Whether you donate or share, Pickle thanks you for helping his little leg get better. ❤️‍🩹

VISIT GOFUNDME

CA$HAPP: $EricEdrington

#gofundme #help needed #please spread #community support #cat #if you've read entanglement or incendiary and have the funds to spare #please donate if you can out of support for my work for pickle's sake #the funds will be used to pay for his medications and his surgery and post op care #I haven't eaten or slept since the accident I am absolutely ruined over this #knowing my baby is alone in the hospital is agonizing #he is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning but it’s going to be a long day until then

[neroushalvaus]

Koko the gorilla didn't know ASL but, like, you could say that without invalidating the existence of speech-supporting signs

#apparently english doesn't even have an established term for them so i'm not that surprised #but basically for many people with severe intellectual disabilities using individual signs without the proper sentence structure #that is obviously a part of sign languages #is a very important part of communicating #so yeah please criticize the gorilla and her handlers i literally don't care but there are actual people who actually use singular signs #and while it is not asl it's still important and it's still communication #edit:// and obviously it's not just people with intellectual disabilites; that's just the group i'm the most familiar with #but for example many non-verbal autistic kids use speech-supporting signs #and for them it's a very important part of communicating what they need #so idk stop acting like sign languages are the only languages on earth #where saying ''hunger eat food hunger'' doesn't communicate that you're hungry

[spectrumgarden]

You dont take the bus because its loud, so you get noise cancelling headphones or ear defenders and its okay now. I cant take the bus because I get overwhelmed trying to understand the timetables and stops and having people brush against me and dont know what to do when a single thing goes wrong without someone helping, only way it works (outside of simple one way routes that were practiced with me for years) is someone being there by my side at all times start to finish.

You dont like to go shopping because its overstimulating. I cant make it to the store without someone driving me there, accompanying me on the bus, walking with me inside, helping me get what I need, helping me pay, helping me back home.

You struggle to shower, so you set up a reminder system and you use rewards and make it fun by playing music or something and now you shower like twice a week reliably with very rare exceptions. If I try showering by myself I often end up catatonic on the floor, or hitting my head against the wall, ... and still only do it once every 7-12 days. Reminders dont work. Music doesnt work. Rewards dont work. The only thing that actually gets me to shower safely and enough is someone verbal prompting on good days and some hand on help for bad days. Same with brushing my teeth.

You struggle to work because its exhausting to mask. I wont get hired because I cant make it there without someone taking me and picking me up because taking the bus doesnt work and I cant drive, I can't speak to them without AAC and I dont understand what they say to me and I elope and I injure myself and I freeze and I can't stop myself from making noises and rocking and shaking my hands and pacing and jumping. my body refuses to make many (gross) motor skill movements right and I break stuff, walk into stuff, ... All I have is work at a sheltered workshop for like 1€ an hour.

Etcetc. Driving. Getting dressed. Going to a doctor. ... and yet you want to tell me is the same autism? That support needs labels dont matter? When this is my every every day?

#actually autistic #autistic adult #medium support needs #actually disabled #aac user #autistic community #found this in my drafts? oop #once again disclaimer. if this doesnt fit ur experience it isnt abt u! wild! i know!

[plushpile]

Currently frustrated (again) abt how little it feels like we can talk about certain things in the plush community, mainly when it comes to politics and stuff like that

A huge example on my mind rn is the whole squishmallow/jazwares thing

It frustrates me to see ppl in my servers and on other sites continuing to buy squishmallows right now, and I feel like it's only gonna get worse as the holidays get closer

I can't help but think that a lot of these people just don't know (I mean shit, posts about it were literally hidden/deleted on the main squishmallow subreddit), and I want so badly to tell them but in multiple places that's not allowed, because of the nature of the community and people wanting to keep it a certain way

In a way I get it, but the silence is deeply upsetting when support of genocide and disgusting misinformation is what's on the table

I know a lot of us are in this community for comfort, or to connect to childhood, whatever it could be but as adults in this community we should not let our own comfort take precedence over the lives of innocent people, it doesn't matter if you're political or not

On the other hand, I feel like we're avoiding this topic to specifically avoid discourse, but frankly I don't care because I don't want to share a community with anyone who would oppose the beliefs fueling the boycott of this company

I don't want to share a community with people who would defend genocide, specifically the killing of innocent people in Gaza, for any reason, and it's disheartening not knowing who I could be rubbing shoulders with in this community because of the specific lack of conversation about these important topics

I don't really have any profound point here, I don't have a solution, I'm just frustrated and disgusted

Fuck Jazwares, stop buying squishmallows, and FREE GAZA

#not just squishmallows btw Jazwares makes a lotta shit #including commonly found pokemon plush #do your research and dont support this shit #inform your friends and speak up #also i dont fucking care if you think this is unsafe for kids #so many of the victims of this genocide are CHILDREN #age regression does not give you a pass to look away #if youre an adult you need to acknowledge this #spider.txt #plushblr #plush community #plushies #squishmallow #squishmallows

[kathaynesart]

KAT K A T OH MY GOSH KAT I JUST FOUND OUT YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO BE MY MOM PLEASE ADOPT ME AND TEACH ME HOW TO DRAW TURTLES

Haha! Didn’t you know? I’m the community’s meemaw/peepaw! I am not ready to live the single mom life, but I will gladly be a stand in grandma/weird aunt for those in need of a safe space. It’s the time of year where I always have a fresh pumpkin pie cooling on the stove, warm tea to clam the soul, and my cat Heidi (aka lil’ Bean) to curl up on the laps of wayward visitors. I will gladly give pointers where I can though I think it’s way more fun seeing people’s interpretation of the turtles! Visitors are always welcome!

#I should probably give myself a proper OC #but this is how I've doodled myself since college haha #I'm always on the lookout for people in the community who may need some added support #a little bit of kindness can go a long way #hope you're all doing well and keeping safe and healthy #q&a #oc #kathaynesart

[sparkystarlight]

anyway forcing ppl to conform to the exact description of the orientations/identities they choose is completely against the spirit of queerness

#discourse #lgbtq discourse #lgbtq #i dont care if straight men call themselves lesbians anymore. it doesnt make them part of the community. #and ousting mspec lesbians is forcing out ppl who need our support #its mostly nb lesbians saying shit abt mspec lesbians too. youre in no place to talk