#accessibility tools

They're specifically designed to not spill until you drink from them, so you don't need to sit up to use them. They're also easy and quick to use, and are usually light enough that you can lift them without much strength. They've also got ones with hand straps that help with limited mobility!

I started keeping a small running water bottle beside my bed for when I rest and it's been a fucking game changer - now I can take a drink without sitting up, which is super helpful for the kind of rest I need, especially as someone who gets dry mouth from my meds!

Look for a small water bottle like those for a running belt specifically - mine looks like this! You can also get ones like the second with a hand strap, which is helpful for limited mobility/hand strength. They're not very big so need to be refilled more frequently, but I like that it keeps them light enough to lift easily while lying down.

[ID: two photos, both of small water running water bottles. One is held in my hand, and is slightly bigger than my hand, while the other has a small carrying hand strap around it. Both have a lid with a spout that can be opened with your teeth, and doesn't leak unless open. End ID.]

Camelbacks (or more generic hydration backpacks) are also a good option if you've got a place to hang them! They store a lot more water if you're in bed longer than I am, and they have a hose/nozzle type mouthpiece. You can also buy just the water sack if you don't want to buy the whole backpack!

[ID: product photos of a CamelBak backpack and hydration pack. It is a backpack with a plastic sack for water, the plastic sack has a thin straw like hose and nozzle for you to drink from. End ID.]

first up is an app called Remote Mouse. it allows you to connect your phone to your computer and use your phone screen as the mouse and keyboard for the computer! as someone who doesn’t have use of their hands, this has been an absolute game changer for my technology use. i hope that it can be helpful for you guys as well(:

i have a solution!

get the browser extension "substital"

it's available for firefox and chrome for desktop, as well as firefox. it even works on the chromium mini-browser in hyperbeam if you like watching with friends (tho i haven't figured out if/how i can make it run srt files in hyperbeam or android)

to use it:

you first navigate to your streaming website of choice.

then click play and then pause on your video (this is necessary on some streaming sites to make the video visible to the extension, idk why)

then click the substital icon (it looks like an S in a square) in your browser extension list. then the name of your video should pop up.

then click the name of the video

you'll see a popup with two boxes: one that says "search subtitles" and one that says "upload your own subtitles file"

you're gonna wanna try the "search subtitles" box first. look up the name of the episode or movie you want to watch. if you find an option in your language, then just click it and you'll be good to go

if you can't find the right subtitles in their database (or the ones in their database suck/are broken) the unfortunately you're going to have to use the "upload your own subtitles file" option. (and to do that, you're gonna first need to go find and download an srt file of your desired show/movie and language from a 3rd party website. (my favorite subtitle souce is addic7ed.com, another common source is opensubtitles.com)). then you can either click and drag the srt file from your downloads folder, or click the "upload your own subtitles file" and find where you have the set downloaded at like that.

now that you have your subtitles on your video, you may find that you want to change the size or colour of the subtitles for easier viewing. or that the subtitles are a few seconds behind or ahead of the audio/video. to fix that, just click the little S icon that will appear on the bottom of the video alongside the play/pause and time bar and volume and whatnot, and the options will appear to fix that.

happy streaming everyone!

EDIT: apparently hyperbeam recently stopped allowing browser extensions :(((

EDIT EDIT: apparently on hyperbeam if you use the old chrome webstore it works but not the up to date one???

There's this weird internalized ableism in the community (especially with non-physically disabled systems) who view these ways as being too much or "taking up space" in some aspects.

"Oh I can't have all my friends download this just to know who's fronting," if it helps you then it shouldn't be a problem for your friends. "I have other methods to track switches," well if this is the easiest way for you to do that then that's okay. "DID/OSDD doesn't need accomodations like other mental illnesses/disabilities," but it does and if meeting those accommodations helps you function better, then it's an accessibility tool.

For some people I understand it's not much of an accessibility tool, sometimes when it conflicts with other disabilities. I saw once someone say that the way Pluralkit and Tupperbox work on Discord causes a sort of flashing problem with how it replaces messages, and this can be a lot in large servers with multiple people using it. I get that and similar complaints. Something should either be done to fix it or (unfortunately) have one of two groups suffer from the use or loss of it.

Downloading a small app to know who is fronting, however, is not a big ask for friends or staff whose job is to care for you. I have all my trusted friends download SimplyPlural. It wasn't that hard to set up so they can get notifications of us switching. I did this because to us it is an accessibility tool. We cannot function properly without it.

Our switches can be erratic and very fluid, and it makes day to day living hard. With these apps, we can not only track who is fronting, but also it literally makes us feel better. I feel like a blurry mess without it, headaches galore, unable to untangle thoughts and feelings the longer I go without it. When we use it, our communication is literally better with it. We can track events and things better in our lives with it. It makes living in a world not made for us easier to handle.

It's also important to our identities. Snails is not ghost, ghost is not Rocky, and we will not be treated as the same person simply for living in the same body. It's upsetting and makes us feel like we purposely have to hide parts of ourselves, resorting back to masking around our own peers. We hate that.

If it doesn't work for you, if it's too much and complicated for your own use, if it conflicts with other disabilities or issues you face, that's fine to not call it an accessibility tool for yourself.

But these are my accessibility tools just as much as our crutches or other mobility aids are. This world was not made for systems, and there is no time soon of that changing. There are other ways of doing this without an app or online tool, I understand, and I have implemented that too. But this is what works easiest for me, and if I don't have that accessibility then it is literally harder for us to live our own lives.