A woman whose epilepsy was greatly improved by an experimental brain implant was devastated when, just two years after getting it, she was forced to have it removed due to the company that made it going bankrupt.

Specifically, because she couldn't afford to buy the implant from the company. They basically took her implant back to recoup their losses. This is what happens when you privatize healthcare and health research. The group providing her with this implant should not have been able to go bankrupt in the first place, let alone repossess her implant to pay off their debts.

This is what disabled people mean when we say that cyberpunk horror is just a reality for us. This woman was literally forced to undergo a surgery because she couldn't pay to keep the implant already inside her brain. How long till companies start repossessing pacemakers and transplants?

yeah.

people also do get their cpaps, their ability to breathe, repossessed. i don't know enough about that, but i want to mention it.

Lil Penguin Studios/Autism Happy Place

When someone with no medical training tells me what I should do to cure myself...

Me

nonverbal communication is valid communication

Neurodivergent Passport

A wee update with some exciting news about My Neurodivergent Passport: a tool to communicate your needs, strengths, and sensory/communication profiles.

This is why I get meal kits. Do I need them? No. Can I easily make them myself? For way cheaper? Yes. WILL I??? No.

Other tips: if you are going to buy things that aren’t pre-taxed, you need to make a habit of always doing the prep AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME. it will NEVER HAPPEN if you don’t.

Get the bulk pack of steaks! But you are never gonna eat them before they go bad. If you freeze them in individual ziplocks as soon as you unpack you probably will?

Get the celery, but you need to cut it ALL UP and store it in the fridge in water or it will rot.

And don’t do all tgese at once, get like, one or two prep things a trip. You aren’t gonna get it started if it’s a huge task.

Don’t pass by these tips because you don’t have ADHD! 

These are valid points for the busy parent, the overstressed college student, and the person working the “wrong” shift. 

Real story - I have thrown away SO MUCH meat and produce in my time. Frozen veggies can even be better than fresh, since they are picked when ripe and frozen rather than picked early and expected to ripen in shipping. My local grocer will sometimes pre-chop less-than-desirable veggies and sell them in the discount cooler - a chopped onion is more useful than a whole one! Meat in bulk packs is WAY cheaper, but you have to make breaking up that huge pack part of putting away the groceries. Also, having a place to put the groceries away helps make the process easier. It’s taken me more than one decade of life to figure these things out. 

It’s not lazy if it is efficient. Professionals call it “time management.” 

im so fucking serious when i say that no one is crueler to visibly disabled people than girlies with blue wolfcuts and sharp eyeliner wearing hundred dollar sweaters from shein.

like. there's a weird misconception that it's old people, but i have never once had an issue with anyone over the age of, like, 55. they are fine with me muttering to myself or making weird faces or not hearing them the first five times they call my name. that's not a problem for them. when my brother goes out with a cane, they're the ones who compliment it, and tell him the spikes and ribbons are a cute addition.

yesterday this pink haired girl in the bathroom told me that i needed to stay away from movie theaters if i was going to act like a schizo. ten minutes later an 80 year old woman complimented me on my bright red hearing aids and said she wished she had that confidence when she got hers.

anyways to the anon who just said that maybe i shouldn't be in public spaces. thank you for proving my point

a very important addition.

craicboimental on tiktok

Source ~ Ed Wiley Autism Acceptance Lending Library

Image Description:

Purple cartoon narwhal on a turquoise blue background.

White text reads:

“Many autistic people experience intense anxiety that looks very different from social anxiety*

*This is not intended to minimize what people with social anxiety experience, but to illustrate the differences in how many (but not all) autistic people experience a different kind of anxiety as a protective skill in an ableist world!

Text framed in light gray reads:

Autistic Anxiety:

-is not the same as "negative thinking" or over thinking or worrying

-has physical symptoms such as difficulty breathing or concentrating & increased heart rate

-can be related to anticipating overwhelming & painful sensory experiences that we are unable to avoid a lot of the time

-can be related to fear of being misinterpreted, tone policed or being harshly judged & even punished for communication differences

-having your access needs constantly overlooked or ignored leads to increased anxiety

-telling an autistic person that "anxiety is lying" to them feels like gaslighting behavior

-in some situations, what is called anxiety can be seen as a tool to help us navigate & prepare for a world that is not kind or accessible to autistic people

neurodiversitylibrary.org

source: https://www.facebook.com/HVPPYHANDS

Hvppyhands

 Can we talk about gatekeeping diagnosis, how it’s considered a great stroke of fortune to encounter a medical or mental health professional who has read a word about autism since they went to school two decades ago,

how race and socioeconomic status further compound our ability to seek a diagnosis, and about how self diagnosis is valid for these reasons and more?

We are common, and we are often invisible to the systems we face barriers in navigating.

 This needs to change.

Our community’s concerning mental health statistics, unemployment, poverty, and disenfranchisement don’t discriminate

based on whether or not we’ve met someone competent enough to diagnose adults who’ve learned to mask throughout their lives.

The barriers are there for us regardless.

Thank you @autism_sketches

"STIMMING: What it feels like from the inside"

In the beautiful images that follow, Autistic artist & storyteller Anouk of @Autism_Sketches depicts the experiences of some of their Autistic followers on Instagram. It is so important to learn from Autistic voices. These descriptions are exquisite.

Autistic Unmasking

Lil Penguin Studios/Autism Happy Place

Source ~ The Psychology Group

[Image ID: Black text on a white background.

Title: What Does Alexithymia Look Like?

End ID]

I think the simplest way to understand that just because many mental illnesses benefit a great deal from being treated with various chemicals, that does not mean that mental illnesses are all therefore uniformly and necessarily caused by chemicals in the brain, is to remember that an aching back is not in fact the result of a deficiency of acetaminophen, nor is malaria a condition brought on by the body producing an inadequate supply of quinine. Health conditions have both external and internal causative factors. The same is true of psychological conditions.

Reference for sign of hypermobility

unironically I would salute this

oh nvm this is my new favorite

WE AUTISTIC WISCONSIN MOTHERFUCKERS GIVE ME YOUR WALLET

(via @flowerygraves)

autism is living by vampire rules. light sensitivity. eating the wrong food makes you want to die. need to be explicitly invited places. weird sleep schedule. eating the same thing every time. specific rituals and routines. burst into flames at the sight of a crucifix. etc.

Disabled people are not public property for your kids to learn from.

Disabled people are not public property for your kids to learn from.

Disabled people are not public property for your kids to learn from.

I think any reasonable perspective on mental illness needs to include the fact that it can make you really fucking unpleasant to be around, and honestly it would be kind of odd if that wasn’t the case.

can also make you believe you’re really unpleasant to be around when you’re actually not, just to keep things interesting.