demi (old profile) @demisapiens@witches.town

All your life, numbers pop into your head whenever you see different people. Over time, you realize this is the number of times you will see these people again. Loved ones have numbers too large to process, and most strangers have 0's. One day, you meet someone new, but instead of 0 you see -1.
#writingprompts #writing

I am The Cloud *sheds some hair on you*

I would really like to retreat to this nice and cozy Mastodon world but the #ableist language on here is just bad. Really bad and I don't see any discussion about this shit.

Would you please just stop hurting people like that thank you.

I think that one reason (not the only one, but one) for people using ableist terms and metaphors here is the "im mentally ill or otherwise neurodivergent myself, so I can't be ableist / my ableism doesn't count" mindset.

Which isn't true. Trans people can perpetuate anti-trans bigotry and harm each other. Women can say sexist things and harm each other. Plus, no one can speak for a whole group.

We all have internalised lots of oppressive bullshit, and purity is impossible, but responsibility is not.

Let's make a little thread about #ableism.

Ableism is the name for the specific discrimination #disabled people experience.

Yesterday I touched on the subject mostly by talking about ableist slurs. But these are only one small outgrowth of the deep seated ableism of our society. I'll start from there because it's as good a starting point as any.

So you see me talking ableist language.

You see me saying:
"Don't call someone an idiot."
"Don't use blindness as a metaphor for incompetence."
"Don't use deafness as a metaphor for ignorance."
"Don't call bigotry a phobia."

And you think: why not? This isn't new. Synonyms for stupidity have been used as insults for millenia, and so have comparisons of #disability and helplessness, ignorance, incompetence & hate. It's just language, I'm not saying anything about disabled people.

But ableist language is a reflection of the larger problem. It's a tiny aspect, but one that serves to remind disabled people about how unwanted we are, every single time, like a thousand bee stings.

Yes, ableist language has existed for millenia and so has ableism. Throughout history, disabled people have been neglected, abused, tortured and murdered. We still are.

Ever asked yourself how disabled people lived in, say, the Roman Empire? Not well.

What happens to disabled children in places where children are needed to support the family?

What happens to disabled people under the rule of ruthless dictators?

What happens to disabled people during wars?

What happens here, now, to disabled people trying to live their lives?

Under the Nazi regime, disabled people, deemed "unworthy" of live, were among the first ones to be melodically murdered,especially disabled children. This was called Aktion T4 if you want to look it up.

In asylums of the 19th & 20th century, disabled people were tortured and murdered.

Involuntary sterilisation of disabled people still happens today.

And so does the murder of disabled people, mostly children, by their parents and caregivers.

Something like I think 50% of disabled people get sexually abused, usually by family members or caregivers.

Institutions that are supposed to care for us often abuse us by taking away or communication devices, forcefully medicating us, denying us choices and freedom that are basic human rights, when we have broken no law. And when we, overwhelmed from being trapped, unable to communicate and with no one helping us, act out, we get punished with more violence.

Corporations make money by studying the genes that make us, promising to make us disappear forever.

Associations that pretend to speak for us openly campaign for our eradication. (Autism speaks. Look it up.)

Parents join together, use our disability to build their identity on (eg "autism parents" or "special needs parents"), publicly post our most vulnerable moments & give each other tips on how to quell our stress reactions & our natural communication, which they call "behaviours".

Public space is inaccessible for us. An elevator? A ramp? Oh, we didn't think about that.

A sign language interpreter is too expensive.

Maybe someone could carry you...

The state keeps us in poverty, or outright murders us by denying basic assistance like the DWP in the UK. Can't work? Can't live.

The medical system denies us diagnoses, medication, therapy, mobility devices & support, and then are proud of themselves for "helping" us.

People build capital on our exploitation, our stories, turn us into inspiration porn & think they're doing us a favour.

We get abused & excluded at every corner, we get blamed for everything wrong in the world - mass shootings ("mentally ill"), fascism ("s*ciopaths", "narcissistic personality disorder"), lack of money for public services ("scroungers", "fakers", "malingerers")

And then
On top of all that

You say it's completely okay to use our identities as insults & as metaphors for badness.