this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
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disabled

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Mask up, love one another, and stay alive for one more week.

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I actually hate being alive, being trapped in a physical body that's falling apart and literally rotten, painful, infested with infection, doesn't work, requires drugs to stay just barely alive, requires endless maintenance not to mention food, all of which takes time, effort and money. And for what? It's not like these issues are going to be solved, all that can be done is just try to keep on top of them as much as possible. You could probably be prosecuted for animal cruelty if you kept a pet alive in this condition, but a human must be forced to drag it out for as long as possible, for literally no reason whatsoever.

From the ages of about 18/19 to about 21/22 I went through a stage of sometimes having what I can only describe as intrusive visions, although they weren't unpleasant at all. I'd be doing something and suddenly I'd get an actual (maybe mental, I can't describe it exactly) vision of myself (from two perspectives at the same time, first person and third person) as a blonde Australian girl doing exactly the same thing in an alternate life. One time aged about 18 I was walking through a forest, I started jogging and suddenly my entire vision was taken over by this image of me as a blonde Australian girl running through a forest. It was accompanied by intense feelings that this was me in an alternate life. This other me was a total opposite version of myself, blonde where I'm dark, Australian where I'm British, and most of all she had the most positive, uplifted mood imaginable. (Even before my life became as bad as it is now I had depression and physical health issues and money and living situation problems so my mood wasn't brilliant). This Australian version of me was absolutely filled with hope and joy and love of life.

I had this experience several more times over the next few years. Aged around 20/21, I was with two friends, one was playing guitar and listening to it through headphones. He took the headphones off and gave them to another friend. As soon as this person put the headphones on I had another intense vision of us both as Australians, in a small private plane, about to take off. He was the pilot and was putting his pilot headphones on. Again I felt that sense of joy and love of life, we were clearly having great lives in this alternate reality.

It happened several other times, and after a few years it just stopped happening. I don't know whether it was a mental illness, a coping mechanism or what, I mean my life wasn't as bad then as it is now but it doesn't happen any more. It really felt like there was this parallel life out there somewhere, where I was the opposite of myself, living the opposite life where everything was brilliant. Sometimes I've wondered, if that version of me is actually real somewhere then maybe to balance the scales and pay for that great life I also have to live this life where everything is terrible and miserable and hopeless. Or maybe it's some cosmic learning experience, experiencing the best and the worst of life. Maybe it was just a coping mechanism to feel good for a few moments but then why don't I get it any more? I wish I could swap places and be that Australian.

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 9 points 5 days ago

It should always be around 15 c around me at all times. Its too hot.

[–] BountifulEggnog@hexbear.net 10 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I try so hard to be understood and it just doesn't work out :cri: like I know NTs get misunderstood too, idk. Its very frustrating running over and over what I'm going to say, what I'm hoping they'll say, and they just immediately misunderstand and I walk away with them not getting it at all. At least this latest thing was not terribly important but its frustrating regardless.

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 5 points 5 days ago

Mood. I'm right there with you lately. Feels like walking on eggshells.

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm sorry to hear you're struggling so much with being understood. If you want a hug, here is one cuddle

If I may ask, and only if you're comfortable with talking about it, what do you think makes being understood so difficult in a conversation? Like, what do you feel is missing?

[–] BountifulEggnog@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thank you cuddle

I'm not really sure what I can do better. Sometimes people just interpret what I say like, completely differently from how I anticipated. Or people will latch on to one part of what I'm saying too much when it wasn't meant to be the whole meaning. Sometimes I also just, don't know how to explain something. idk, maybe this is a 'tism thing, maybe I'm only misunderstood a typical amount.

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago

Anytime meow-hug

Do you have an example?

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The pharmacist heard my accent and switched to English. I have never been this owned.

[–] SterlingPooper@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Idk. I'm having a hard time with people infodumping in that I straight up tune out and start wondering "this has no relevance to me, why on earth are they still talking"

Like I can't pretend to care about something I straight up don't give a shit about. I can't listen to a recommendation and an indepth review of a show that I haven't seen and will never see.

If I were asked, I'd talk about it politely. Like, idk.

[–] SterlingPooper@hexbear.net 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Wish someone cared that I had a bad time, that I felt left out. I'm gonna die a third wheel. Being around people is triggering, hearing about people who have transitioned is triggering, I'm ready to run into the woods. Fuck all of this.

Am I figuring out neurotypicalsI'm supposed to be honest but also not overshare how fucked up I am even though that is honesty, I'm supposed to want people not to care if I'm any gender when I want people to affirm my feminine side, and I'm supposed to get people to help me without realizing that they're helping me otherwise they'll say "not on your life, squirt." Or I'm supposed to ask endless questions like I'm filling out a form, I guess, to get to know them

::: spoiler not good, folks If it had been up to me, the right people wouldn't have left in the first place and I wouldn't have had to sit and figure out what the hell is wrong with me. I don't know if others are supposed to care. Maybe I just get therapy and transition and never tell anyone. But Hot Fuck it would be nice to have some sort of standard, or baseline, or average for what to shoot for, to start, for now.

It would be nice to have someone actively engaging with my problems because that's always what I've done for others. Checking in to see if they're making progress. Asking how they are. Maybe that's codependent and fucked up and gross and betrays boundaries. But it's what I want. Is it bad that I want some of the attention in my life to be unprompted? Am I a sinful beast for wanting the energy I have given to reciprocate in some recognizable form? Maybe I am awful for wanting that.

[–] SterlingPooper@hexbear.net 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

fuckLike literally I might have to get worse to get better. I just don't see a path forward. I'm too old and too lacking. Do I really have to work this hard to find my people? Nobody else has to work this hard to get someone to have a conversation with them.

I don't want to die but like there's no life so it makes you think

Kill MeI can only really deduce that something is wrong with me because nobody will validate my concerns and that it's a reflection of me in some way. I am doing something to make people feel horrible when they talk to me or read my posts and they correctly decide that I suck

Doesn't matter that I'm nonbinary or autistic, people think I suck for some other secret reason being kept from me I guess by everyone. Like I don't know what I'm supposed to be making of situations where nothing I do is actually enough to get attention.

I'll be honest, I thought someone would at least pity me. I'd accept pity under the right circumstances. I wanted mutual emotional support, but clearly nobody is ever going to want to talk to me about emotions or processing thoughts or anything like that and it was a lost cause from the beginning.

I see people every day who just connect and talk about things and have no anxiety and I want to be like that so much and I resent that everyone else learned and nobody taught me. They all know what I don't and they won't tell me. And I'm supposed to be strong. God forbid I find myself feet-up at the bottom of a creek in the mountains. I get less support because I'm suffering.

Like, I'll start speaking up, and I guarantee that it'll be a problem, and I won't give a shit because no one ever bothered to even try to help me work through this. I don't know how to justify taking blame for behavior that I perceive to be someone else's fault. Seems like the person who made me upset shouldn't have done that.

Maybe help the person you know is struggling, the person you know is going through something you went through, or something you can help with. "No, I'm gonna wait for him to have the idea himself to put down the razor. He'll talk himself out of it, I mean, he talked himself into it, could work" 🤔

I'm genuinely confused as to why people don't notice and why people don't say more. Here and irl. It doesn't matter, obviously you decided not to care.

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[–] un_mask_me@hexbear.net 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

60+ new comments

I'm back. How is everyone?

[–] DisabledAceSocialist@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] un_mask_me@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago

Thank you, I appreciate you

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] un_mask_me@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago

Thanks, love

[–] DisabledAceSocialist@hexbear.net 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

This month is proving even more difficult than usual. Two recent foot surgeries, now infected, the endless struggle to get even a bit of medical treatment, the non stop tingling and pins and needles, starting to go bald, the car breaking down and needing repairs, the neurologist stopping the only migraine meds that work for me because "they aren't working well enough," and the endless struggle to get assistance. Several people came through after all my reposts, eventually we managed to get enough to fix and fill the car but that used up almost all the money on that, and it's so difficult to get replies to mutual aid posts now, thanks to the most recent reply, I can get by with food for maybe a week now but after that I'll have to keep reposting and if no-one responds I'll be screwed. Apparently someone was accused of being a scam artist on mutual aid and now people are less likely to donate for fear they are being scammed?

All avenues of help are closing. My local council cut the Household Support Fund (a small amount given out to the poor twice a year) right down, it started off as £150 twice a year, then they cut it down to £100 once a year, and then they decided they were only giving it to old age pensioners. So that support is gone. I was due to receive a £300 grant from the cancer charity macmillan in November, but they decided not to give grants any more, so that lifeline is gone. There is nothing else I am eligible for, the food bank takes up to two weeks to access and gives a tiny amount of food, mostly drinks like tea, coffee and milk, which all runs out long before the next food bank appointment, how am I meant to get by on that? Mutual aid is the final lifeline, and I am immensely grateful for all the help I've received here but it's getting more difficult to get responses there too, and with prices going up drastically (by about two fifths these past few months) money just doesn't go as far. Is it just a bad time of the month, far from payday, or will I have to keep reposting every week or few days from now on? I even made my mutual aid post as helpful as possible, multiple food voucher links with various different payment methods, amazon gift card link (can get dried/tinned food off there) and even paypal (as my need for food aid right now is bigger than my worries about the DWP checking my accounts). Don't know what I can do to make it easier. That's why I'm up so late tonight, i thought if I waited long enough and kept checking my emails I might get a gift card and could go to sleep in peace but it's 1.30am now and I'll have to go to bed worrying.

On top of this, the fact that I've been almost housebound for so long is really wrecking my mood even more. I need to get out and walk around in the fresh air but due to all my foot surgeries, foot infections, and the repeated injuries in my left side thanks to the weakness caused by my stroke, I can't wear closed shoes or walk for more than a few minutes right now. Like hobble into a shop, pick up a few items and out. I want to hike. I live right by the southwest coast path, a 630 mile hiking route that goes around the entire south west coast of England. I've got a free bus pass from the council (as I'm partially sighted) and a ferry pass from before all my walking problems started, that still has about 8 free journeys left on it. If I wasn't almost crippled I could use these things to go out on day hikes and then get the bus home, get the ferry to other towns and hike all around, which is what I used to do before all these problems began. It's not much to ask, wanting to walk around outside but the universe won't even grant me that. I feel like whatever controls this world is taunting me, placing me right by a brilliant hiking area and then crippling me so i can't use it.

And everything costs money, constantly. It's hard enough getting the necessities of life, never mind anything for pleasure. I'm a huge Outlander fan and the new Outlander spin-off series is starting on amazon next month. Will I be able to watch it? No of course not because you have to pay for that! Why does life have to suck so damn much all the bloody time? Maybe I was evil in a past life and this is my karma. stress

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I just want you to be able to go outside and forget your worries for a spell. Oh love, you did nothing to deserve this cuddle

[–] un_mask_me@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm so sorry it's one thing after another, love. Please know you didn't do anything to 'deserve' what's been forced on you. I don't know if it makes it better or worse, but it's not your fault. cuddle

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tiny human on public transport: :D

Tiny human having a meltdown on public transport: D:

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 10 points 6 days ago

How is the tiny human still melting down. I want to help you little human but your mom can't get you to say what's wrong.

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I'm going through it, but I'm trying my best.

I can't always be me, I hope people understand.

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago

We do understand, and you don't have to be anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. Hang in there, we believe in you cuddle

[–] roux@hexbear.net 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My therapist says I have to take a mental health day on Friday. The nerve of that woman...

But yeah I'm on the verge of mental collapse so it's probably for the better. Thinking about just marathoning Mad Max or something.

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The nerve of that woman...

She's right tho. Please do take the mental health day, you need it, love meow-hug

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

People are already starting to study up for next semester. It starts in the beginning of september/very end of August. I am one of the late starters of the nerds because I am just starting myself.

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You start in your own time and as long as you feel prepared, the time you start is irrelevant Care-Comrade

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I thought I was getting a head start cri

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