Pi is Infinite

gimme that!

III'M JOKING

I remember talking to a psychologist: guy was like "are you absolutely sure you weren't abused as a child? I am literally a therapist, so you can tell me". when I demurred, he was like "truly? because you really really come across like you were, and I meet a lot of people with that history".

This had to happen. I had advancing diabetic retinopathy, and without the injections to dry up the blood vessels my eyes kept creating, I would have gone blind. My vision is permanently damaged, but I am not blind. I needed - and still need - those injections.

Unfortunately, the first doctor I went to had no patience for the idea that this might be traumatic and painful. He was brusque, and rude, and his way of convincing me to do it was "well, it's either this or go blind." It was terrible. I hated it. I considered whether it was worth stopping and just letting my eyes deteriorate.

It wasn't until I went to a different retinal specialist that I even learned there were smaller clamps they could use, which hurt much less! There were other methods of numbing, so I didn't feel the needle! The staff there was patient with my fear and pain. They worked with me to successfully make the process much more tolerable. They encouraged me to get a situational anti-anxiety (Xanax) prescription from my PCP, and even offered to write one for me if I couldn't!

And unlike the first doctor, they didn't require me to: sign a consent form for the procedure, then take the pill, then wait half an hour for it to kick in, before finally starting the procedure - and if I had to take medication to survive the appointment, I needed to go through this process every single time.

🐱 Domestic Shorthair

📸 Voices of Change Animal League

🎨 Tortoiseshell with White [Mosaics, Chimeras & Tortie Tomcats]

many cops make no effort to use alternative communication with Deaf people even after we have identified ourselves as Deaf.

audism is also the fact that our signing is considered threatening and something that warrants murder. audism is the fact that our signing is labeled as gang signs and is used to justify murdering us. (and, for the record, actual gang signs also don't justify murder)

audism is the way Deaf people are accused of lying to "get out of things" when we identify ourselves as Deaf.... which is then used to deny us accommodations like interpreters or written communication.

I hate to say it, but if you can hold a job with minimal accommodation from others, drive a car or take public transport independently, and handle most bADL’s and iADL’s with self-management strategies, you are not high support needs.

I've been able to hold down a job with a lot of accommodations (and only barely hold on to it, and only by cutting everything else out of my life to manage it, and only because my only other option is literally dying in the street). I can't drive but can take public transport to a handful of places that I've been to many times. And I can do most bADLs but struggle with most iADLs.

The amount of times I’ve been approached in public when I have my cane and “prayed” for or have to then listen to a story about someone’s mom’s aunts friend… I would have enough nickels to get more medical research.

(id in ALT text)

For example, walking down the aisle or doing a dance at a wedding. Going on stage during graduation. Doing a religious ceremony (ie; baptism.) Doing a performance on stage.

For a lot of these people, the physical therapy that they do for months in advance is extraordinarily painful, exhausting, and non-beneficial. There's no actual reason to do it, aside from looking "normal" or having an awe factor.

And yet, non-wheelchair users swarm to these people, praise them for torturing themselves just to do something in a way that imitates typically-walking individuals.

???