guy who has chronic pain and fatigue: man why can't i do more stuff
body neutrality is NOT, "so long as you're happy and healthy, your body is a good body". it's about getting rid of the idea of a "good body" at all. it's saying that your body is A BODY, and having a body is a neutral feature of all humans. it's saying that specific bodies shouldn't be focussed on more than others, because all bodies are bodies
when you say "so long as you're happy and healthy", you're not actually helping. because. unless you've put in the hard work of deconstructing what you think "happiness" and "healthiness" look like, I can guarantee "happy and healthy" is just going to loop back to ableism and fatphobia
per @chemical-x-glitch : "I am unhappy and unhealthy and I still do not deserve to be shamed for anything about my body"
YES! that is what I'm trying to say here! I am disabled and mentally ill. sometimes I'm unhappy, and I'm probably never the picture of "health". while the phrase "so long as you're happy and healthy" may seem like a neutral thing to say, it's still (at its root) shaming certain kinds of bodies... the bodies that aren't their version of happy and/or healthy
it's also a perception thing, right? I could probably go along pretending that I'm happy and (mostly) healthy. but there are people who very much ARE happy and healthy who might be judged otherwise, because we still have a very strict view of what happiness and health look like
anyway. there should be absolutely zero barriers someone has to overcome before they earn the right to not be shamed about their body. you do not have to be happy and healthy. your body is a body, and therefore not deserving of shame!
You might think that I'm joking when I say that we need cyborg rights to be codified into law, but I honestly think that, given the pace of development of medical implants and the rights issues raised by having proprietary technologies becoming part of a human body, I think that this is absolutely essential for bodily autonomy, disability rights, and human rights more generally. This has already become an issue, and it will only become a larger issue moving forwards.
No but seriously we need cyborg rights, in case you don't know how many people count as cyborgs here are some examples;
- People with cochlear implants are cyborgs
- People with pacemakers are cyborgs
- People with insulin pumps are cyborgs
There are even edge cases revolving around how much electricity and integration into the body are necessary to make someone a cyborg.
- People with replacement hips or other bones are by some definitions cyborgs
- People with implanted medical devices such as artificial valves or stents are by some definitions cyborgs
- People with prosthetic limbs are by some definitions cyborgs
- People with ostomy bags are by some definitions cyborgs
- People in wheel chairs, electric or not, are by some definitions cyborgs
The list could go on but I think I made my point that cyborgs are a lot more than just people with robot arms, they are the disabled deserving of the rights to the technology their lives literally depend on.
This is needed.
Earlier this year, a woman was forcibly deprived of a brain implant that was treating her epilepsy because the company that made the implant went bankrupt. Here's a link to one of several articles about it:
This story happened back in the 2010s according to the first article but is still relevant. Also if my cochlears were repossessed by the company for some asinine reason I would literally stop being able to do 80% of the things I do and my future would be ruined. Cyborg rights are necessary and should have been codified decades ago
Your business is in fact, not accessible, when there are stairs leading to your bathrooms, no matter how step free your front door is.
brendanicus asked:
Tell us about the wellness to fash pipeline tho
cryptotheism answered:
“Wellness” is not just alternative medicine, it is essentially a theory of the body which posits if something makes you feel better, you are better in some meaningful way. I would argue it one of the most commonly held nonreligious magical beliefs in the modern world.
Wellness as a concept has its genesis in the 1950s with “workplace wellness” programs, a sort of budget alternative to offering employee healthcare benefits. This was an era soaked in itinerant business preachers offering classes on things like “hypnosis at a management level” and “yoga to improve leadership abilities”. I am exaggerating for effect, but not by much.
The capitalist medical system regularly abandons people. We’ve all heard stories of profit driven pharmaceudical companies holding the ill hostage for extreme markup on life-saving medicines. People have real, legitimate, reasons to mistrust medical professionals.
Let’s say you have chronic pain, and everything your doctor offers you is either ineffective, expensive, or addictive. You are desperate for literally any release, so you start looking into other solutions. You will find an OCEAN of snake-oil salesmen willing to sell you “the secrets doctors don’t want you to know.”
What is frustrating, is that pain is actually partially psychological. Some wellness techniques may have an actual, medical, benefit on some patients. The worst thing a conspiracy theorist can have is a point. So now you actually do kinda feel better, and you have a sense of loyalty to the grifter selling you 300$ Sumerian Cock Oil Pills. These people are the core of the wellness industry. They are the examples that everyone else points to and says “Well it worked for them!”
Reactionary thought blooms in environments like this. If the medical industry can’t be trusted, what else can’t be trusted? At any given time, you are two clicks away from “vaccines cause autism.” Three clicks away from “Cavemen were 15 feet tall because they only ate meat.” And four clicks away from “The medical industry is controlled by The Jews to drain our wallets and keep us sick.” Echoes of Nazi attitudes towards German-Jewish doctors are a common backbeat.
Wellness itself is relatively harmless, (compared to the things it is adjacent to) but it acts as a sort of idealogical airport that exposes the curious to a deluge of potentially radicalizing communities. The longer you spend in communities like this, the higher the chance you’ll come across something that meshes perfectly with your own biases.
Holy shit tumblr live just hit a high of 4 concurrent viewers
Holy shit tumblr
live just hit a high of 4
concurrent viewers
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
(I couldn't get the soundcloud link to show today. I'm sorry.)
🖤~Song Of The Day~🖤
The song of the day is: Loreley -by- Blackmore's Night
WARNING! This song contains mentions death, murder, and hypnotism. Please stay safe Darlings.
The challenge is to write something based off of this song, be it the name, the cover, the lyrics, or the tune itself. Let your imagination go wild and see where the music takes you.
Have at it Darlings!
Wheelchair user: shows up for a flight ready to put their wheelchair in the in-cabin wheelchair closet
Gate agent: “We’ll see if there’s room.”
Move your fucking personal bags out of the goddamned wheelchair closet you ableist fucks.
Gate agent: “We usually check wheelchairs.”
And leave the wheelchair closet available for the flight attendants’ personal bags. How convenient for you. The wheelchair closet that was only ever built into the damn plane because it was required by law for wheelchairs under the ACAA.
Of course you never tell wheelchair users about it you fucking ableist shits, do you? In fact you actively argue with anyone who wants to use it. You. Ableist. Fucking. Shits.
.
“14CFR 382.67 (e) As a carrier, you must never request or suggest that a passenger not stow his or her wheelchair in the cabin to accommodate other passengers (e.g., informing a passenger that stowing his or her wheelchair in the cabin will require other passengers to be removed from the flight), or for any other non-safety related reason (e.g., that it is easier for the carrier if the wheelchair is stowed in the cargo compartment).” (Source)
“14CFR 382.123 What are the requirements concerning priority cabin stowage for wheelchairs and other assistive devices?
“(a) The following rules apply to the stowage of passengers' wheelchairs or other assistive devices in the priority stowage area provided for in §382.67 of this part:
“(1) You must ensure that a passenger with a disability who uses a wheelchair and takes advantage of the opportunity to preboard the aircraft can stow his or her wheelchair in this area, with priority over other items brought onto the aircraft by other passengers or crew enplaning at the same airport, consistent with FAA, PHMSA, TSA, or applicable foreign government requirements concerning security, safety, and hazardous materials with respect to the stowage of carry-on items. You must move items that you or your personnel have placed in the priority stowage area (e.g., crew luggage, an on-board wheelchair) to make room for the passenger's wheelchair, even if these items were stowed in the priority stowage area before the passenger seeking to stow a wheelchair boarded the aircraft (e.g., the items were placed there on a previous leg of the flight).”
It’s not the “first class closet” it’s the wheelchair closet you ABLEIST FUCKS.
“14CFR 382.141 What training are carriers required to provide for their personnel?
“(a) As a carrier that operates aircraft with 19 or more passenger seats, you must provide training, meeting the requirements of this paragraph, for all personnel who deal with the traveling public, as appropriate to the duties of each employee.
“(1) You must ensure training to proficiency concerning:
“(i) The requirements of this part and other applicable Federal regulations affecting the provision of air travel to passengers with a disability;
“5) You must ensure that all personnel who are required to receive training receive refresher training on the matters covered by this section, as appropriate to the duties of each employee, as needed to maintain proficiency. You must develop a program that will result in each such employee receiving refresher training at least once every three years. The program must describe how employee proficiency will be maintained.”
Super fucking tired of your ableist-ass “But I didn’t know!” and “Gee I’ve never heard that before” excuses. Just saying you don’t know the law is a violation of the law you ableist shits.
Adding a screenshot of this gem from Coffeespoonie on Twitter, who had the same sort of ableist shit given to them approximately 5 months before this thread came to be, and was able to get their chair stored properly:
[A screenshot of a tweet by @coffeespoonie on Twitter, which says "Oooop the flight attendant just made an announcement and very frustratedly said that "we're getting a late start with boarding", and when she closed the closet she grumbled "but now nothing else fits in there [highlighted in yellow] as if I give a shit that the wheelchair closet is full of wheelchair.]
I added the highlight to the bit about the wheelchair closet being full of wheelchair because a) I found it hilarious and they turn a good phrase, and b) it's infuriatingly pointing out that the airline crew was mad that the closet was being used for its intended and legally mandated purpose.
Because she stood up for herself and the chair was in the closet, when she arrived the chair was, GUESS WHAT, not broken!
Jsyk the flight attendants are mad every time the wheelchair closet is full of wheelchair and have on occasion been known to point out the disabled person “to blame” for this to every passenger who wants to stuff their shit in the wheelchair closet.
They’ve definitely let the whole plane know I’m to blame that the flight is leaving late. Because, ya know, I had to spend a lot of time arguing with the flight attendants to move their bags out of the wheelchair closet which slowed everything down. But of course that’s my fault not theirs, right?
There’s nothing quite like a long flight on a plane full of hostile flight attendants and passengers. Which is pretty much every flight I’ve taken since I got a wheelchair.
It’s so weird because when I don’t have my wheelchair some flight attendants are really great about stuff like me asking to stretch in the flight attendant area so I don’t get blood clots during long flights but I’ve never had even one flight attendant be anything less than hostile about mobility aids