Writing A Blind/Visually Impaired Character: Canes, Guide Dogs, O&M

Reminder from someone with actual literal brain damage from a brain injury to stop fucking using "brain damage" and "brain injuries" as a means of describing someone whose opinions you don't like or deem as stupid.

It's ableist and offensive as fuck, and for some reason a lot of leftist people think it's okay to use. I've seen posts replying to right wing racists calling them "brain damaged if you believe this" and "do you have a brain injury? do you not understand X?". Just now I saw a beautiful post about fat people throughout history that was absolutely ruined by opening with "How do we break it to boomers with actual brain damage and nostalgic brainrot..." before continuing to say that fat people existed throughout history.

Brain damage does not make you racist. A brain injury doesn't make you ignorant, or fatphobic, or unaware of history and politics. Stop fucking using my disability as a catch all to describe people you think are shitty. Y'all use it like it's a replacement for how people used to use the R-slur, which shows you learned absolutely nothing about why the R-slur was wrong to use and decided to throw in other disabilities instead. Fuck off and stop doing it.

(And don't do it with other disabilities either, because I know y'all do.)

I know a lot of people with brain injuries. They're smart, and funny, and compassionate. They learn about the world and care about social issues and wish they could go to protests if their disability won't allow them to. Are there right wing people with brain injuries? Sure, absolutely. But they are not right wing because they have a brain injury, and using any disability as an insult is still fucking ableist.

Tldr - stop using brain damage and brain injury as an insult. It's ableist and incredibly offensive.

Love, your local brain injured/brain damaged pal

Is there anyone else who doesn't remember the "before my TBI" time? Like, you were super young (I was eighteen months) when the TBI happened, and there was never really a "before" for you, this has just always been your reality?

Gotta love when your manager, who knows you have medical-emergency migraines when exposed to loud, high-pitched noises, forced you to be constantly exposed to loud, high-pitched noises.

And then I'm just there in back drive lowkey freaking out because I can barely see, I'm confused, disoriented, struggling with motor control, and I can barely speak, all of which are signs that I need to be in the emergency room, wondering if it's just a migraine or if I'm finally having a stroke or something, freaking myself out, but I'm too scared of her to ask to leave so I just have to stay back there worried I might be dying.

Fun times (sarcasm)

Stop saying differently abled when you mean disabled.

Stop saying gited burnt out kid when you mean disabled.

Stop saying the c-slur when you mean disabled.

Stop saying 'super power' when you mean disabled.

Stop saying senile when you mean disabled.

Stop saying special needs when you mean needs for someone who is disabled.

Start saying disabled when you mean disabled.

Disability isn't, nor will it ever be, a dirty word. The only reason you think it's dirty is because you walked on it with muddy shoes.

wish for smart autism people to STOP saying things like "most autism people actually smart ! ". is not true! is just so erase big part of autism community ! of people like Pixie, and intellectual disability autism people !

STOP say , is not okay ! people like Pixie, people with intellectual disability , are BIG part of autism community ! we deserve be part of own community !

STOP try push out of community, is ableism !

just a reminder that if you yourself are not autistic, don’t use the actually autistic tag. i know it sounds like it goes without saying, and i see this more on instagram and tiktok than on here, but it bears repeating; this tag is for us to talk about our experiences and relate with one another without allistics speaking over us. we direct the conversation. it is not for allistics/neurotypicals to interject with their opinions on autism and autistic people or to discuss their autistic sibling/friend/whatever. these posts clog up the tag so that it no longer serves its intended function, pushing us out of our own curated spaces. leave the tag alone if it doesn’t concern you

if you do post about autism and need advice for your autistic friend/sib/etc or just want to understand better, just use the ‘autism’ tag, clarify that you are not autistic, and ask for help from autistic people. im sure someone on the spectrum will be more than happy to give you their pov because understanding and respect is all we really ask

i think some people forget intellectually disabled people in conversations about disability.

i dont feel included in a lot of conversations because people prioritize how they sound over accessibility. they use words i just can't understand to explain concepts. people find it more important to "sound like an intellectual" than to take a step back and realize a lot of people wont actually understand this.

i want to be included in conversations about activism and justice, but no one makes it accessible. when i ask questions, its taken as "oh my gosh do you really not know what that is!! youre a bad activist/advocate/etc.".

i have tried doing my own research, but thats not accessible to me either. its the same issue. i cant understand what im reading, nothing makes sense. its a cycle im trapped in until someone eventually explains. but by then, im not updated and informed like id like to be.

TLDR: use smaller words!!! please!! i cant understand you!! /lh

i just wanna say, as a feeding tube haver, that it's so much more possible to get used to invasive medical devices than you might fear.

i grew up horrified by even being reminded organs exist. i was just so severely grossed out by human anatomy. i got a lot better about it through years of chronic illness, since you just have to get used to it. but that's the baseline i started from originally, in case you are also squeamish and wonder if it's possible for that to change.

so when i needed a feeding tube, i was pretty distressed by the idea. having a tube sticking through a new hole in my abdomen was a seriously horrifying concept, and i couldn't imagine coping with having a stoma (the hole) and caring for it etc. i did it because i needed it to survive but thought i might never get used to it.

and yeah, it freaked me out at first. but eventually i did just get used to it. it just feels normal now. i even feel affection towards it, because it is keeping me alive.

Every time I see another ibuprofen post on this site I'm like STOP

STOP

Stop.

Take that after a meal. Take it with a big glass of water. Don't take it on an empty stomach EVER. Don't take it with alcohol. You will destroy your stomach. You will end up with an ulcer. You will vomit blood. I'm not exaggerating.

Yes, you. Yes, it will happen to cute little you. With your cute little bottle of miracles. Ibuprofen really does that to your body.

Love, an adult person over 35 who can't take NSAIDs anymore