AuDHDArly

So if someone is chemically sedated, doesn’t understand that’s what’s happening, but doesn’t complain then they could be seen to be “consenting” to that treatment. That’s true even if they don’t know what the medication is, what the effects are, how long they last or that there might be other options.

Because the presence of “consent” means that a restriction wouldn’t be considered “Deprivation of Liberty” it means these people aren’t entitled to deprivation of liberty safeguards, which including having independent checks to make sure that any restrictions to their freedom is proportionate and that they’re not being abused in that setting.

They tried to "justify" removal of DSA by saying "dont worry it won't affect you, it'll just affect the next generation of uni students". They are trying to use selfishness to get us to ignore what they're doing.

They removed the rights for disabled people in care settings bc they believe nobody will fight for them bc those who can fight aren't affected.

I have a phobia of them ;-; it's stupid but it's rooted in sensory things so.

Also my blinds block air flow so I can't have them closed if I want air flow.

I have a phobia of them ;-; it's stupid but it's rooted in sensory things so.

Impaired ability to sense if food, especially meat, is rotten or past due.

Impaired ability to detect smoke or gas leaks.

Impaired ability to gauge the cleanliness of laundry.

Impaired ability to gauge the difference between strong and weak scents, like when picking a soap, detergent, or deodorant.

(and because of that often requiring the assistance of another person when picking cleaning or hygiene products)

Social impairments including difficulty detecting body odor or the smell of shared spaces like cars, rooms, and living spaces.

Impairment gauging environmental dangers such as cigarette smoke, vape smoke, car emissions, and chemicals which can still trigger allergic reactions or asthma attacks.

Impairment recognizing, locating, and disposing of dangers in the home such as living and dead pests, animal droppings, and rotting things, especially when they're not visibly obvious.

It's not just food that's not good that has a scent, your first line of defense against bad water is gone too (cheers to that time I drank bleach water on accident...)

Under the 'unable to smell smoke' category- it can mess with your cooking, since you can't smell if something is burning (the number of grilled cheeses I have turned to charcoal-)

Impairs the ability to enjoy food- ranging from my congenital bum not being able to appreciate Indian cuisine to individuals with acquired anosmia experiencing sudden weight drops due to loss of appetite and depression tied to the large change in the flavor of their food

The sheer anxiety that comes from all of this- whether that's a consistent worry that you smell bad, paranoia surrounding the safety of food, or like me for like a decade having to get up and check every third time I got a weird sensation in my nose because what if that's smoke and the house is on fire

Medically it also takes away a warning sign- there's more than one situation (such as some infections) where one of the signs you need to get looked at is a change in scent or in your smelling ability (I don't want to know how many anosmiacs accidentally spread covid because they were unaffected by a common and distinct symptom...)

The simple fact that you're missing a sense, and one of the core ones at that- there's this tendency to brush off disabilities as 'not actually' if they're not on par with missing a leg or 100% blindness something (it's also part of why you'll see people claim disabled characters aren't 'really' disabled because of stuff like 'he's got a cool prosthetic that works like a real limb'), but low impact disabilities are still disabilities

I forget that things are supposed to smell, so even though I know infections smell i don't actually consider it as a thing.

Tbh I thought everyone could feel smoke in their lungs! I didn't realise most can't. It must be terrifying not being able to.

I've never accidentally drank something I'm not supposed to but everything is always labelled properly and in correct places, so the risk of me actually doing it is always negligible. I imagine it would be a lot harder if things were left where they weren't supposed to be and unlabelled, though idk if thats what happened for you. I only drink out of certain containers.

I find it interesting that certain tastes rely on smell. Does coffee rely on smell too? Bc it kinda tastes like nothing to me. (Thats a bit of a lie it tasted like whatever milk was used with a bitter aftertaste).

Impaired ability to sense if food, especially meat, is rotten or past due.

Impaired ability to detect smoke or gas leaks.

Impaired ability to gauge the cleanliness of laundry.

Impaired ability to gauge the difference between strong and weak scents, like when picking a soap, detergent, or deodorant.

(and because of that often requiring the assistance of another person when picking cleaning or hygiene products)

Social impairments including difficulty detecting body odor or the smell of shared spaces like cars, rooms, and living spaces.

Impairment gauging environmental dangers such as cigarette smoke, vape smoke, car emissions, and chemicals which can still trigger allergic reactions or asthma attacks.

Impairment recognizing, locating, and disposing of dangers in the home such as living and dead pests, animal droppings, and rotting things, especially when they're not visibly obvious.

- I can't distinguish "good smells" and "bad smells". Everything smells bad to me (if I can smell it). This means sometimes things i normally like to eat can be uneatable bc i can smell it that day for whatever reason. Though soaps/cleaning things have their own category of smell i still don't like it.

- I go off expiry dates, colour changes and texture changes for if produce has gone off. It is rare that I ask someone else for help with this, but I also generally don't deal with food anymore and if i do it's dry or frozen (unrelated to the lack of smell though)

- I go off texture for how dirty laundry is. They feel different; dirty laundry feels "softer".

- my lungs are sensitive to smoke (thx asthma) and in the past I've been able to "smell" through them. Not to the degree someone could through their nose but I can. They particularly don't like aerosols.

- I am now sometimes able to smell soap or cleaners, especially strong ones if they are near/under my nose. I never used to and i didn't care.

- I don't care what I smell like. I choose masculine soaps bc i like the idea of smelling like a man. It means nothing to me other than ik men generally smell different to women, and i don't generally want to use the "women scents" for gender reasons. Also the men soaps are greens & blues and I prefer those colours more. If "women soaps" are what are available i just use them. Not like i get dysphoria from it bc i forget 5 minutes later.

- impressively, I do not appear to have ever had a bad body odour. I have asked my dad and he said he's never had to tell me I stink. Same with my gf. Idk how but it might be a hormone thing.

- I generally identify vape/smoker smoke via my eyes & lungs.

- I 100% agree with the last one. While I can smell a few more things (strong scents) I doubt I'd be able to pick up that something was wrong unless the smell was RANCID. Though I can smell poop now so thats nice.

- I can, somehow, know what a smell is even though I'm pretty sure I've never smelt it before. I knew what bakery esq stuff smelt like despite never having actively been able to smell it before. I mistook cake smell for bread smell I think once. I have never been able to smell either since.

I've never considered it a disability bc it generally didn't & doesn't affect me. I've actually had a bit more difficulty since gaining a bit of smell. I find it interesting that it's a disability, and how I ended up dealing with a lot of what is disabling about it, and the difference between someone who lost smell & me who is slowly mildly gaining it.

I also understand where you're coming from on having conflicting feelings about the term/it's status as a disability. For me I feel it's kind of similar to like, astigmatisms, in that it's easy to forget what it impacts until it's suddenly very relevant. It is also definitely the most convenient sensory loss out of the six-ish senses.

Apparently the lungs have some smell receptors, and I'm asthmatic as well so it looks like those two work together for the smoke? I can "smell" it with my lungs plus my asthma gets irritated so I notice it more. Same with various aerosols. I can also taste them. I'm also autistic with generally heightened senses, so i imagine that'd interact too. But as far as i can remember I've been good at "smelling" smoke.

I also find it interesting how the body smells is such a big thing people bring up. I've never cared (though I did think it would be cool to smell like roses briefly) but I'm also not massively socially driven (and people don't smell of anything anyway). "I want to smell nice" was something that happened in media, not my life. That and "this smell brings me back to a childhood memory". Apparently that's a big thing.

With the finding it interesting that it's a disability, it's kinda like my glasses, or milk allergy. I've had them my entire life and known about them my entire life and generally speaking they don't impact me in ways I find important, so idc.

Impaired ability to sense if food, especially meat, is rotten or past due.

Impaired ability to detect smoke or gas leaks.

Impaired ability to gauge the cleanliness of laundry.

Impaired ability to gauge the difference between strong and weak scents, like when picking a soap, detergent, or deodorant.

(and because of that often requiring the assistance of another person when picking cleaning or hygiene products)

Social impairments including difficulty detecting body odor or the smell of shared spaces like cars, rooms, and living spaces.

Impairment gauging environmental dangers such as cigarette smoke, vape smoke, car emissions, and chemicals which can still trigger allergic reactions or asthma attacks.

Impairment recognizing, locating, and disposing of dangers in the home such as living and dead pests, animal droppings, and rotting things, especially when they're not visibly obvious.

- I can't distinguish "good smells" and "bad smells". Everything smells bad to me (if I can smell it). This means sometimes things i normally like to eat can be uneatable bc i can smell it that day for whatever reason. Though soaps/cleaning things have their own category of smell i still don't like it.

- I go off expiry dates, colour changes and texture changes for if produce has gone off. It is rare that I ask someone else for help with this, but I also generally don't deal with food anymore and if i do it's dry or frozen (unrelated to the lack of smell though)

- I go off texture for how dirty laundry is. They feel different; dirty laundry feels "softer".

- my lungs are sensitive to smoke (thx asthma) and in the past I've been able to "smell" through them. Not to the degree someone could through their nose but I can. They particularly don't like aerosols.

- I am now sometimes able to smell soap or cleaners, especially strong ones if they are near/under my nose. I never used to and i didn't care.

- I don't care what I smell like. I choose masculine soaps bc i like the idea of smelling like a man. It means nothing to me other than ik men generally smell different to women, and i don't generally want to use the "women scents" for gender reasons. Also the men soaps are greens & blues and I prefer those colours more. If "women soaps" are what are available i just use them. Not like i get dysphoria from it bc i forget 5 minutes later.

- impressively, I do not appear to have ever had a bad body odour. I have asked my dad and he said he's never had to tell me I stink. Same with my gf. Idk how but it might be a hormone thing.

- I generally identify vape/smoker smoke via my eyes & lungs.

- I 100% agree with the last one. While I can smell a few more things (strong scents) I doubt I'd be able to pick up that something was wrong unless the smell was RANCID. Though I can smell poop now so thats nice.

- I can, somehow, know what a smell is even though I'm pretty sure I've never smelt it before. I knew what bakery esq stuff smelt like despite never having actively been able to smell it before. I mistook cake smell for bread smell I think once. I have never been able to smell either since.

I've never considered it a disability bc it generally didn't & doesn't affect me. I've actually had a bit more difficulty since gaining a bit of smell. I find it interesting that it's a disability, and how I ended up dealing with a lot of what is disabling about it, and the difference between someone who lost smell & me who is slowly mildly gaining it.