Declutter Tumblr
The new layout it a whole mess. Thankfully Xkit can already help with a bunch of this! I'm sure it'll give more options soon.
Vanilla Tumblr:
(I have marked in red what can be removed. The tabs can be set not to stick, so you will really only see them at the top of your dash. Empty box on the left for hidden notifications and shop sparkle, i just didn't have any. I'm EU so no Live for me).
Xkit Rewritten Tumblr:
The settings I use:
what's wrong with her. why is she like this.
reblog if you sit at a computer and download faggot information to use later in life
The winning horse of the 2024 Kentucky Derby will be named Cisgender Female
High off my shit on a manchurian scorpien edible Munchiese were so bad i ate a whole ass base ball
this episode of bluey is called:
A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)
Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!
This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.
This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!
The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!
A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.
Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height will make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)
(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)
When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane, then the good leg, and THEN the leg that needs help.
Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.
In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.
Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!
(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)
The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!
Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.
The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!
This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!
However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.
Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)
Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.
Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)
(my canes, for reference)
If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!
When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!
For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.
When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)
When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)
That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!
Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!
Adding to this! My experience is very limited (as I only just started using a cane full-time about a month and a half ago with no instructions), but I would like to take a moment to talk about some cane-related struggles a character might run into, especially if they came flying in blind like I did!
- Theft
Yep. Theft. I actually got a cane around this time last year, but within the first two weeks of my having one, it got stolen. I don't know why, but I have heard from other cane users in my area that that happens a lot, surprisingly. My cane was taken by a fellow college student, though I was never able to figure out who did it or even when, as I was still adjusting to it and kept forgetting it when I left rooms.
2. Forgetfulness
Adjusting to having a cane, especially if it's not medically diagnosed, is weird. You suddenly have to keep track of a stick you need all the time, and for characters who have ADHD or otherwise have terrible memory, that can be a challenge at first. I know I often had to return to classrooms to go get it because I was just used to walking around without one, and would typically only remember I was missing it when my hips/legs started to hurt or I would go to lean on it and there was nothing there.
3. Big clunky stick needs to sit somewhere while you do.
I have an aluminum adjustable cane, so this is specifically in reference to that type. Trying to find somewhere to set your cane down while you sit can be surprisingly difficult at times. You can't lay it on your lap since it's too long and could disrupt those sitting next to you, you can't lean it on a table if the edge is too low/high (might trip someone), sometimes walls aren't super nearby, and sometimes the floor is really, really dirty or you just can't lean down to pick it back up on that day. I've taken up a bad habit of leaning my chin against the top of my cane in car rides to help with that, which is actually a hazard and you should not do.
4. Transportation / needing both your hands
If your character needs to help bring in the groceries and cannot set their cane down anywhere reliable, trying to adjust and find a reliable way to carry their cane can be hard. I made the mistake of just letting it drag behind me the first time I had to carry groceries home from the bus, and when I got there the rubber part had filed down by quite a lot. But I couldn't use only one hand to carry, I had to use both. I am still figuring out how to do this to this day.
'Course, groceries aren't the only scenario a character might find themselves in, it's just the most immediate example to me since I live pretty much on my own and keep making the mistake of bringing my cane with me whenever I go grocery shopping (and if I leave it home, there's a chance I'll need it and won't have it).
5. "...So, do you actually need a cane?" "Oh no, what happened?!"
If your character was usually seen without a cane and then magically had one the next day, it would definitely raise questions. The thing is, the questions never seem to stop. More people and more strangers who just know them (if they're a retail worker or a bartender or something) will assume that an accident must have occurred for the cane to suddenly appear, when that's not always the case. Like I said, for me, I actually got a cane a year ago before it got stolen 2 weeks in, and both times, I have been getting nonstop questions about where it came from. It was endearing at first, but now it's just frustrating. No, nothing happened, I've always needed a cane, was just hesitant to get one because I didn't want it to be stolen again.
And that's all I've got for now! Don't be afraid to make the cane continue to add to the character's struggles instead of them having one being a fix-all. Yes, having a cane can make life a lot easier, but they also come with their own set of problems and struggles, too. I'm sure I'll find new ways that having a cane makes life a bit harder (I haven't taken it on a plane yet, that's gotta be fun. I have no idea how that works), and I'm sure your characters will, too.
Have fun writing, and happy disability pride month!
It feels like @staff and @humans have really lost the thread on what tumblr actually is, because tumblr is theoretically not a social media site
Back in ye olden days having your own personal blog with like blogspot was all the rage, it was clunky to find other blogs since they were entire other websites AND THATS WHAT TUMBLR IS
Tumblr is a hub that lets you look at all the new content from your blogs in one place, that’s why it’s so different fundamentally from what I’ll call the MySpace model of social media, that’s why I think redditors as forum users fit into the ecosystem so much faster than twitter people, because Reddit is tumblr but for forums instead of blogs
Trying to make tumblr look and or function like twitter, a fundamentally different product, will just end up making people leave en masse like we did in late 2018 to find greener pastures, and especially pastures that don’t roll out updates in vague corporate speak and with no specific prior notice (because staffs recent post was worded towards shareholders and not Us)
i saw pjack walking down 3rd avenue when a stick of butter he was trying to stuff in his pocket slipped out of its wrapper onto the pavement in front of him. he started slipping on the melting butter sliding on the pavement all the way down the block. might of made it all the way off the tip of manhattan
Ok but i saw u slappin a hot dog out of a old mans mouth for no reason then U stomped on it like a real jerk
