this is important – Page 38

When someone says these days sexism and misogyny don’t exist anymore show them this.

I am not confined to my wheelchair. More than half of wheelchair workers can stand and walk at least a little. Quit harassing us when we do. But even for those who can’t stand at all, a wheelchair is not a metal cage or medieval torture rack. It’s a custom medical device that frees us, that allows us to live fuller lives.

I had to fundraise for my wheelchair because my insurance didn’t cover durable medical. While I waited to get a wheelchair, that’s when I was confined. People had to come to me. The only place I could go was the grocery store, because they had scooters. Once a week I got to spend an hour outside the home. Other than that, I was unable to leave the house.

My wheelchair freed me. I could work until I got too sick (but many people work full-time in wheelchairs). I can visit friends, go grocery shopping by myself, go to the park or museum, excercise, go shopping. I can live life. It’s a changed life, but it’s no less full than an abled person’s life. I can’t work anymore, and I need more sleep. I’m in pain all day and can’t visit for long periods. I can’t spend all day at the museum anymore. But that’s my ME/CFS and fibromyalgia, not my wheelchair. I’m not confined. Without my wheelchair, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but sit on my porch.

In truth, the only thing confining me is lack of accessibility. Sidewalks that are more crack than concrete. Entrances that are non-ADA compliant. The lack of ramps and accessible parking. And society’s lack of care. The people who harass me for standing up in my wheelchair to grab a bottle of shampoo. The people who make disability benefits so hard to get. The businesses that ignore the e-mails I send asking for a $49 fix to their entrances so I don’t have to rely on two strong folx to get me through the door. The ableds who spread myth and misunderstanding. When I can’t get a parking spot, I’m confined. When there’s no ramp, I’m confined. When I can’t get the benefits I need to live, I’m confined.

Wheelchairs are not a prison sentence. The first thing I did after my wheelchair arrived was drive (all by myself!) to Home Depot. I bought a set of Allen wrenches for the chair I named Loka and then just rolled up and down Home Depot’s long, tall aisles. I rolled until my arms ached. I did it because I could.

Don’t ever look at a person in a wheelchair and pity them. They’re lucky to have a wheelchair. Could Stephen Hawking have done all the great, world-changing scientific work he did without his wheelchair and voice synthethiser? No, of course not. His wheelchair meant greater freedom; the opportunity to travel and spread scientific learning and inquiry. It meant getting around Cambridge, doing interviews, meeting the public. It meant being a more active father and husband.

Our wheelchairs drive our lives forward, literally. We are no more confined to them than you are to your sneakers.

braidsnglassesblog:

spend-arab:

momo33me:

#Ask_Gaza | Episode 4: Do You Hate Jews?

~

THINGS THEY WON’T SHOW YOU ON THE NEWS Because media likes to pit people against each other, enraging people, make people look bad and make more money for themselves.

Because GOD FORBID, Muslims, Arabs and especially Palestinians be showed in positive light.

angryfishtrap:

argumate:

bubobubosibericus:

catleidh:

lierdumoa:

What we all need to understand about AI in a nutshell:

There’s an algorithm that can reliably predict, from aggregate facebook posts, the onset of a manic episode in a person suffering from bipolar disorder – more reliably even, than a trained psychotherapist, who only has access to the information a patient provides them in therapy sessions.

“Won’t technology like that help people with bipolar disorder?”

Theoretically, it could. But this algorithm wasn’t designed to help people with bipolar disorder.

This algorithm was designed to sell plane tickets to Las Vegas.

[source]

Guys you gotta click the link. Because this was not just an accidental outcome- it’s click bait based on algorithms.

the AI knows you’re about to hit mania so it pushes Las Vegas Airfare Adverts to you so when you hit the mania you buy one, because it’s figured out that bipolar people that have hit mania are more likely to start gambling/making impulsive decisions – and that will sell a ticket.

They didn’t explicitly mean to target bipolar people who have hit mania, but the algorithm is really good at learning shit and the more things you like or sites you visit the more accurate it’s recommendations are, so it basically started pushing ads at people with bipolar disorder and nobody knows what exactly it’s picking up on.

Seriously click the source link it’s a TED Talk about 23 minutes long.

@argumate relevant.

arguably as with most AI risk it’s just the intensification of an existing trend, in this case “advertising takes advantage of people for profit”

No, seriously. If you spend any time on the internet, you need to watch this and be aware of what’s going on behind the browsers. This is not some conspiracy theory. This shit is real, it’s happening right now, and there are major ripple effects through all our online experiences, whether you know it or not.

strangeassortment:

hecallsmehischild:

victorianho:

actuallyblind:

I love having a therapist who is also a millennial because we communicate so fucking well like today she called something “so meta” like folks if you’re considering going to therapy I highly recommend the training clinic at your nearest university because those grad students have been the best therapist I’ve ever had and they always have a sliding pay scale and I literally pay nothing because I make less than 10,000 a year and get fantastic mental health care

#seeing a grad student is a great idea #because 1) they’re actually current and up to date on research and they’re gonna be all about EBP and give you the best most current treatme #and 2)#their caseload is fraction of any therapist’s in the real word so all of their focus is on YOU and they care about you so much!!!#ok not all of their focus is on you because a lot of their focus is also on being in school but all their CLINICAL focus is on you #you’re one of their first clients ever! they want to do their best!!#and 3) (I was gonna do two but I thought of a third)#they’re being supervised and scrutinized and held accountable #and yes this is coming from a speech language pathology grad student not a counseling grad student #but it is a kind of therapy #and I know the same thing applies to other clinical programs (@boxofpigeons)

I am intrigued. Filing this away for later.

As a millennial grad student therapist, I wish more people knew that free or low-cost, up-to-date treatment from closely supervised, highly motivated individuals may be readily available to them. If you’re looking for a training clinic, this website is a good place to start, but also googling “[your city] psychology training clinic” or “psychology training clinic near me” works. Any university with graduate programs in clinical or counseling psychology should have an associated clinic, often separate from their on-campus health/counseling centers (which are another good, typically free resource for anyone enrolled there).

It’s important to note that student therapists will usually leave after a year or so to continue their training at other sites, which can be difficult for individuals looking for long-term treatment. But if you’re in need of something shorter-term (which most of the empirically supported treatments for problems with mood, anxiety, phobias, and substance use are designed to be), or if you just want someone to talk to during a difficult time, your local training clinic might be just the thing!

darkbookworm13:

resilienceofabee:

Emotional Labor: What It Is and How To Do It

via Celine Loup

^^all of this