Normalize people with chronic illness taking sick days, coming in late, cancelling plans, not being able do do something in time. People's illness should not be held against them like a threat and people should not act surprised if someone who is chronically ill aczually falls ill. This is not "we are ok with you as long as your illness is under control and you function normally" this is "we are aware that you are chronically ill and will actually show understanding when your illness keeps you from performing".
The worst part about being disabled?
Ableism.
certain people need to learn how to accept a ‘no’. when you tell them you are in too much pain to do something, too fatigued or too depressed, they need to accept that.
you know yourself, your body and brain better than anyone else. do not let them force you into doing things you are not currently physically or mentally capable of doing. you deserve better.
it is okay to be ‘dramatic’ when you are in pain, you have every right to express yourself and complain and to do whatever you feel like doing. pain is hell, and you deserve to talk about it without people dismissing you and your pain.
you’re allowed to be mad about being disabled, by the way. you’re allowed to complain and feel the way that you feel and hate ableds for making you feel out of place. you’re allowed to not feel positive.
If you are doing better with your symptoms right now, please know this does not mean you faked your disability or that you were being “dramatic”. You are still valid. It is normal for symptoms to fluctuate.
Preventative care is equally if not more important than symptomatic care / aftercare.
Protecting yourself from pain before it happens protects you from long-term repeated damage, and mental and emotional exhaustion.
Use the damn accommodation.
i’ll be honest even if all schizophrenic and psychotic people heard commands or saw the freakiest fucking visions or had super intense paranoias and delusions and could do 0 things for themselves. they would still deserve care and they would deserve to have meaningful happy lives and it is very bad of people that when there’s discussions of care to go ‘well actually not all of us are like that’. what about all of us that are. huh.
disabled people who are forced to have jobs but probably shouldn’t i love you
disabled people who are forced to work more than you should i love you
disabled people who have to push aside their health for financial reasons i love you
disabled people who hate having to work i love you and i am with you
Anyways, support people with low/no empathy, sympathy, and/or compassion.
Those things are not required to be a good person, and nobody should feel like those things are a requirement in life.
i'm just thinking abt how many providers i've had who heard my story abt psychiatric abuse + immediately individualized it. "oh, you're so smart + kind+ obviously sane! you didn't deserve that! i can't believe they gave you that diagnosis when you're obviously not like that! they shouldn't have treated u like that when all you did was xyz! they shouldn't have assumed you were crazy like that!"
there is always a third person haunting this interaction- the patient who does deserve that, who is "actually" that evilscary diagnosis, who did Have To be treated like that. if i want to soak up the affirmations of these providers, i must be careful to never become this third person. i must affirm myself by setting myself apart from her- i did not deserve to be treated like that because i am not like that.
i reject this. not only was i like that, she + everyone else like that deserve everything i deserve. they are my siblings + my friends + my lovers. i do not need to cut them out of me to believe i deserved better. i refuse to comfort myself through the lens of someone else's dehumanization. the tragedy is not that psychiatric violence was applied to someone who not insane enough to warrant it. the tragedy is the violence.
Anonymous asked:
This is going to sound horrific but sometimes I wish it was worse so people would take me seriously. I'm depressed but too self-aware to self harm, so people don't believe me. I'm autistic but my support needs are so low I barely count, so I have no right to speak in those circles. I have a chronic illness but it's invisible and under control so nobody but the doctors believes me. I have chronic pain but it's "just your jaw, how bad can it be?" I was abused but it was emotional not physical so, again, nobody believes me. I wish it was worse, specifically in a way that was visible and impossible to deny, just so someone would understand that I am in fact struggling, and so I could have some kind of proof I could point to when I break down "over nothing". Sorry for venting, but I needed that off my chest. Am I a terrible person for thinking this?
No. But one thing you gotta realize is that there is no point of disability or trauma which will make ableists believe you and treat you well. The people who self harm, the autistic people with high support needs, the people with obvious physical disabilities, the people who were physically abused... All of these people are ALSO getting invalidated and facing ableism. There is no way to win this game.
You can still want positivity for your disability even if you genuinely struggle with the symptoms and wish you didn’t have it. Both of these things can co-exist and you’re valid.
Please don’t feel guilty for using your spoons on something you love. On something that is deemed “not productive”.
Doing the things we love is crucial to our mental health and I think that’s pretty damn productive.
the effects of schizophrenia being widely treated as “psychosis disorder” and nothing else are very apparent to me as someone who, a lot of the time, is more heavily affected by my negative + nonpsychotic positive symptoms of schizophrenia than my psychosis. i have lost a job to speech issues before. i struggle with motor skill loss that on some days impairs my abilities heavily. speech loss and flat affect affect my ability to interact socially and find work. there’s many more examples of this as well. it’s frustrating to see schizospec disorders treated as psychosis disorder and nothing else when the other symptoms can be equally, if not more, detrimental.
The thing about psychosis, in particular the delusions, is that in the moment, the beliefs are our reality. A delusional person doesn’t just believe they’re the reincarnation of Christ. To them in that moment, they are the reincarnation of Christ. They don’t just believe the cops are after them, the cops are after them. They don’t just believe their family members have been replaced by aliens, their family has been replaced by aliens.
This is one of the reasons psychosis can be so traumatizing. We don’t just believe in bizarre and unusual things, we’re actively experiencing them. We’re prone to such outrageous and scary beliefs that are out of our control, and to us, they’re as real as the air we breathe. Keep this in mind when considering the mental state of someone in psychosis.
The most punk thing you can do as a disabled person is love and value yourself and not push yourself past your limits for the sake of other's approval
Quick shoutout to everyone whose disability directly conflicts with their passion.
People who love light and color and photography but have extremely sensitive eyes. People who love food but have digestive disorders and intolerances. People who would play every instrument they could get their hands on but lack dexterity and muscle strength to play. People who can’t make themselves focus long enough to study the field they want to be in. People who want to paint and draw and sculpt but can’t coordinate their hands well enough, or cramp up every time they hold a brush/pencil/tool. People across all passions who face a massive barrier to learning because following a set of instructions is difficult when they don’t feel specific enough.
There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing you’d be good at something and that it’s not your fault you can’t prove it. Especially in a world that seems to only recognize top level picture perfect talent at all times. Your passion isn’t negated by not being able to follow it, and neither is your potential. You’re not lazy. Do what you can and fuck ‘em if they think it’s not good enough.
I don't believe laziness exists, but even if it does: I promise you are not lazy for resting, or feeling burnt out, or taking the time to do nothing at all.
Not being 'productive' doesn't make you lazy!