a whole lot of joint pain

Walkable cities and public transit mean nothing if they’re not accessible to disabled people 

#like are there places to sit down?????? are there stairs everywhere? are the sidewalks uneven? #can your buses and trains actually accommodate a wheelchair user?

I get weird looks when I’m out on a walk and have to get up to fix my smart drive motor, when I cross my legs, when I pull my own chair out of the trunk and put it together. But none of those things mean I’m not disabled and don’t need my chair. Use your mobility aids!

I had some GREAT nurses when I was in for my colonoscopy. After, in recovery, my nurse went so far as to spend 10 minutes using alcohol wipes to gently remove my IV bandage, because I told her it rips my skin because of my fragile EDS skin. Did she have to do that? No. Did she have other stuff to do? Yes. Did I really appreciate it? SO MUCH YES

One of those times I was even traveling with someone. Apparently traveling with a disabled person makes you both incompetent because fuck Ableds.

Hell even my nerve pain is affected by weather changes. Extreme cold, extreme heat, and changing front systems all mess with me.

My nerve pain flares like a BITCH in the winter. It sucks.

Congrats man! I’m about to attempt my first meal (at 6pm, I know, I know) and I’m dreading the fallout tbh. GI problems are a bitch.

I've worked in retail stores before where I had to argue with management over the placement of displays and racks because their placement would make the store inaccessible to someone in a chair, or even a baby stroller. Management will try to cram as much as they can into the store in the hopes people will buy it, they don't care about making or keeping their store accessible unfortunately

Funnily enough they start caring when they have to explain to the DOJ why they’re violating federal disability laws. If you’re disabled you can and should report them.

Under the ADA the measurement isn’t made from the base, it’s made across the narrowest point. If that’s not at least 36” someone is eventually going to report him (if he’s lucky) or sue him (if he’s unlucky).

Oh wise @phoenixonwheels, does this apply to local, small stores that are in, say, historic towns? I love the local shopping district, and when I was there last I went into a store where I couldn’t get around at all with my rollator, it was such a shit layout. Does one have the same ability to report access issues in this instance?

Imagine if you will leaving the house without having an encounter with an Ableist asshole.

I haven’t had my cane for that long but I’m already fucking sick of how people react to it, I’ve had people literally stop their conversations to turn and openly stare at me for walking past them with it like I’m a fucking alien or something. The other day I had a group of teenagers point at my cane and hysterically laugh about it and just, why the fuck do people think this shit is okay

It’s alarming too how uncomfortable disabled people get when someone asks to pet the service animal when there is a vest on them thay says don’t touch. Then the disabled person has to be the “bad guy” and say no, firmly.

I’m not sure if this applies to me, but I have seizure disorders and I NEED my sunglasses on while I’m outside, sometimes inside. People including my close friends see me with the glasses on and TAKE THEM OFF ME so that they can wear it?? I am absolutely terrified of my disorder and need to go to the hospital if I have a seizure

i cant count how many times somebody saw me jogging/ switching from a wheelchair to my cane and was like “I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT ALL ALONG!!!” 

Fuck allllll the people in these stories and those like them. Someone having a disability isn’t dehumanizing or a chance to joke or be an asshole. People need to get their head out of their asses and be decent fucking human beings for ONCE. Ugh this makes me so mad for folks with health conditions!

May I add: touching/grabbing/moving someone’s physical aid (cane, crutch, wheelchair, etc.) without permission is physical assault, and the person who’s aid you’re touching (WITHOUT PERMISSION) can take legal action against you, IIRC. So ASK if you can touch, BEFORE you touch it, WAIT until they answer, and remember that THEY CAN SAY NO. Just some food for thought.

I get some stares with my cane, but what drives me nuts is the assumption that it’s fine to joke about if needs look different than expected. Went out with my partner the other day and grabbed my walking stick because I’d left my cane in the car. While out at a butterfly house we ran into someone from shul, and her first joking comment was “are you going to squish the butterflies with that?” I don’t dislike this person, but I swear to G-d every time I’m out with that stick I get at least one joke about hitting people and I’m very done

I’VE SEEN LITERAL DUMPSTERS–

I could’ve sworn I took a pic of how this walk for suicide awareness event I went to put the port-a-potties in the handicapped spaces but I can’t find the pic 🙃 they blocked four disabled spaces!

it also looks like he parked right where the curb ramp is too, so now literally any disabled person who can’t step up onto a curb won’t be able to get onto the sidewalk, regardless of if they needed those parking spots as well.

Holy shit he did. How can we get him fired?

I don’t have photos but I’ve seen people put banners in the disabled parking space outside a store that sells mobility aids. I was going to get my wheelchair wheel re-aligned which made it particularly ironic. Leaving ladders in front of the button to open an automatic door is another one I’ve seen more than once. That’s not to mention the amount of times I’ve seen bars/pubs/clubs put huge ashtrays on the flat sections of ramps, because that’s not a safety hazard at all. People have moved my cane from where I have leant it behind me while sitting down so that they can put their backpack where they want it, while I was sitting there glaring at them. Abled people put their convenience on a higher priority level than our ability to exist in public at all.

It’s so obvious that they see accessibility accomodations as some arbitrary imposition, and that they don’t see the people who need them as people, or as needing them. The bare minimum of accomodations will be present and those will still get rendered useless by ableism.

In the past month or two, I’ve seen bags of sand, and traffic cones being stored in disabled spots. Because that’s where they belong...

every goddamn morning

Thoughts on power chairs vs. manual chairs with power assist devices? I’m debating between them, but most of the sites don’t seem to have customer reviews which doesn’t help.

My shoulders are permanently subluxed and pretty crappy, so I can’t push myself in a manual chair, but I assume that some manual function for small areas may be useful, which is why I’m stuck between the two. Plus I’m also working on getting a mobility dog, which could possibly be trained to pull a chair.

Ableist: “That disabled person on TV can swim a mile despite their disability, so what’s your excuse??” Disabled Person: “Well, that non-disabled person is playing for a national team, what’s your excuse for not being able to do that?”