The Memory Palace

Where Are All the Disabled Creators? – this ain't livin' blog

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:54:37 -0500

Where Are All the Disabled Creators? – this ain't livin' blog:

an excellent discussion of disability in pop culture and how creative work by those with disabilities featuring persons with disabilities is considered too outside of the norm for mainstream audiences.

i am disabled. there are many things i cannot do because of my severe carpal tunnel caused by a workplace injury over a year ago. i was laid off because of my disability. it was humiliating, demoralizing, and i spent a great deal of time and money seeing therapists to help me cope with this time of change. i hurt every day, sometimes a little, and sometimes a lot, depending on what i do and sometimes not even that. i will have sharp, stabbing pains that run up my arms that come from nowhere, and i will have days where i do more than i did in the previous week put together with little effect. this creates a problem, because i am unable to work because i have no method to predict the whims of my body, but i can usually count on any repetitive act (especially lifting small things, like books) to cause pain, so i avoid it as best i can.

i am a creator. i embroider, i write, i draw, and i sing. i can only do a little bit of the first three everyday. guess which one i do most often. and guess which one i long to do with every fiber of my being. well, split that desire between writing and embroidery, because i find the most peace and joy from them, actually. i have a story in the works about a woman with my sister’s mental handicap, and i am endeavoring to learn as much as i can. but it will end up being a specialty book if i am not careful in my presentation. that is the fine line i must dance, being disabled and writing about disabilities. the disability must not be overt, or editors will be uninterested in publishing it as anything but a curious work of genre fiction (already a problem, since i plan for this to be a science fiction story). the disability must still be recognizable for those who know what to look for, a sort of nod and wink to family and friends of those with this particular disability. and it’s sad, really. quite sad.

"Doctors at the Odense University Hospital refrained from operating a 65-year-old woman with..."

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:56:20 -0500

“

Doctors at the Odense University Hospital refrained from operating a 65-year-old woman with pancreatic cancer, noting as a reason in her medical journal that she was ‘slightly retarded’.

Six months later, the woman was re-admitted to hospital in a serious condition, with her cancer having spread so much that it was not possible to operate. She died six months later.

”

- Denmark: No op for retarded patient - Politiken.dk

I don’t think I can add anything articulate to this. Words fail me.

(H/T inessita)

Fuck these murderers.

Have some more Doctor/Master Valentines! Please say yes, Doctor....

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:54:00 -0500

Have some more Doctor/Master Valentines!

Please say yes, Doctor. Now it’s just getting creepy. :(

(Roberts!Master picture found on stupidfacesofdoctorwho.tumblr.com)

Some Doctor/Master Valentines. Doctor, please say yes already....

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:33:26 -0500

Some Doctor/Master Valentines.

Doctor, please say yes already. For the universe’s sake?

gallifreygal: Doctor: Look at that, fish! I like fish! Doctor/Rose shippers: CHIPS. FISH AND CHIPS....

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:06:48 -0500

gallifreygal:

Doctor: Look at that, fish! I like fish!
Doctor/Rose shippers: CHIPS. FISH AND CHIPS. HE’S THINKING ABOUT ROSE
Doctor/Amy shippers: FISHFINGERS AND CUSTARD. HE’S THINKING ABOUT AMY.
Doctor/River shippers: JIM THE FISH. HE’S THINKING ABOUT RIVER.
Doctor:
Doctor:
Doctor:
Doctor: I really just meant fish.

—-

A good reminder that the Doctor Who that I watch isn’t necessarily the same Doctor Who as what someone else watches. Maybe we all start off with a neutral “viewer” stance (i.e. someone who watches the show and enjoys it enough to continue to watch it) and then our own experiences and preferences add to that “viewer” stance. So you have the fic writers, who want to add to and reinterpret what canon gives us. And then you have the shippers. And also the cosplayers (who themselves cosplay for different reasons).

The thing is, we all love the show, and it’s great when we find others who love the show for the same reasons, but not all of us will love the same things about the show that everyone else does. But Doctor Who is like that, it’s a big sprawling thing that’s nearly 50 years old but still resonates with people for whatever reason.

For me, the appeal of Doctor Who is that of the found family, that a man exiled from his own people travels all over time and space to create friendships and bonds which changes the lives of the individuals he meets, as well as his own. The bonds aren’t necessarily sexual or romantic in nature, but they can be.

(This is also why Lilo & Stitch is my favorite Disney movie ever, BTW. The idea that love and friendship can significantly change someone for the better, and that a found family is just as important as blood ties.)

I guess I’m rambling too much but it’s a good thing to keep in mind in the days before a lot of Whovians who love the show for all sorts of different reasons congregate at Gally.

This is awesome. :) And makes me sad I’m missing Gally even more!

~~Doctor/Master shippers: FUCK THE FISH HE WANTS THE MISTER MASTER!~~

Things I don't get about South Florida part 259295

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:39:24 -0500

When I lived in a suburb of Salt Lake City, I could literally find a 24 hour grocery store.

Salt Lake City has a population of roughly 250,000 people.

In South Florida, virtually everything shuts down at 10 p.m. except for fast food places.

The Ft. Lauderdale area? Has far more than 250,000 people.

I just…

What?

slecwelb: Doctor Who (classic and new) character...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:07:37 -0500

slecwelb:

Doctor Who (classic and new) character photosets

Tegan Jovanka

“I’d love to stop and chat, but you’re a real bitch.”

I love Tegan so much I can hardly type this. What a strong, capable, amazing lady!

Crazy Cloud: ableism

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:38:41 -0500

Crazy Cloud: ableism:

cuitlatlaza:

People need to stop talking about suicidal people and people with mental illness or disabilities like it’s some mystical, mysterious thing. “I’ve never met anyone who was bipolar.” “OMG, I don’t know what to say to a suicidal person. I’d never think about killing myself…” Like there’s not a…

ihaveabsolutelynoidea: people who say things like “where there’s a will there is a way” or...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:36:45 -0500

ihaveabsolutelynoidea:

people who say things like “where there’s a will there is a way” or “happiness is a choice” are probably people who have never had to rely on a medicine regiment to regulate and sustain their moods, and therefor need to take their clearly misinformed and unwarranted advice and fuck off.

mental illness, treatment, and tumblr

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:39:15 -0500

melonary:

This is a post that was originally on unpopularsjopinions. I’m posting it under tags on this tumblr so people can respond to me if they want to.

Also, I apologise for the abrupt start. It began as a response to a brief comment about mental illness and treatment, and morphed into a larger discussion about the way different mental illnesses are perceived and talked about.

Re: “…but have mental disorders, and I think it’s perfectly alright if you don’t want to be cured”? From context here, I’m taking “cured” as ‘treated’ since often chronic or severe mis can’t be entirely cured, please correct me if i’m wrong. I agree with your answer - that people shouldn’t be allowed to refuse treatment if they’re hurting others - but I’d say it’s important sometimes when they’re hurting themselves.

I feel like this is another issue of conflating different mis with different problems, honestly. I see this opinion around a lot on tumblr, and while I definitely agree that it’s a complicated issue and that patients should be active participants in their own treatment to a degree that’s extremely rare today, I have to wonder if these people have ever been so delusional or so psychotic that they were unable to reasonably make decisions about their own wellbeing.

I have been. I’ve fought with the police, I’ve been handcuffed and arrested (under the mental health act) and I’ve been sectioned. And as much as I’ve gotten mostly really shitty care and treatment in the mental health care system, treating me against my will was a lifeline. I’ve also had other really bad times when I look back and thing, wow, I was really fucking crazy, why didn’t anyone do something? Because in the long run, the only person that hurt was me. I lost time, I alienated people, and I came very, very close to death.

Again, I’m not saying it’s not complex. I know people have had really horrific experiences with forced treatment - I mean, I’ve had some horrific experiences even though I feel it was necessary overall, and those are a drop in the ocean compared to some stories I’ve heard. I overwhelmingly think that institutionalization (forcing patients to become reliant on being institutionalized or keeping them in hospital for long periods of times) is wrong, but I also realise that hospitalizations of a shorter nature are necessary for some of the population some of the time. I recognize that the system of community care that should have replaced the old psychiatric hospitalizations after de-institutionalization is in shambles or, more often, was simply never built. The fact that the system that exists is entirely inadequate, both in terms of active patient participation, community care, and care in-hospital doesn’t in my mind negate the fact that sometimes treatment is necessary for a small percentage of the population a small percent of the time who are unable to make that decision for themselves.

All of the above are serious problems facing the mentally ill population today, but just like in terms of other care, the fact that the system is criminally inadequate does not mean that treatment is unnecessary.

However, I do think this is a conversation in which experience matters. Mental illness and disability cannot be represented in a yes or no manner. Different mental illnesses carry different problems and different stigmas. People with chronic mental illnesses often have different needs than those with shorter-term (but still debilitating) ones. Furthermore, not all mental illnesses are disabilities.

In my experience, the people who are heavy users of the public mental health care system (by which I mean psychiatric hospitals, emergency rooms, police, etc) and who are mostly likely to be treated against their will are often hard to hear in the conversations about mental illness. It makes sense - mental illnesses that cause the kind of disconnect from reality that I’m talking about are statistically rarer than those that don’t. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, bpd, appear in the population at rates of 1-2%. Psychotic depression and anxiety are similarily fairly rare. So it makes sense that our voices are often hard to hear, since there are less of us. However, it also means it’s incredibly important to listen to people with other mental illnesses, and not speak over us just because you also happen to be mentally ill.

My incredibly long-winded point is this: Mental illnesses are incredibly varied; in experience, stigma, treatment, disability, severity, and chronicity. I would like to see more voices of those who have been heavy consumers in conversations like this, and people with psychotic symptoms, since this is an issue that disproportionately affects us.

Thanks, and sorry about the far-too-long post.

(and, just in case anyone asks - I am not at all trying to belittle what people with depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses go through. I have struggled with a fairly severe anxiety disorder as well for much of my life, so I am not at all trying to make a hierarchy of mental illness oppression. Rather, I’m just asking that we don’t speak for those with mental illnesses we don’t have, experiences we don’t have, on behalf of the entire mentally ill community, or on behalf of the entire disabled community.)

shh-im-wondering: I think Tumblr needs more Mini Master Honey,...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:06:05 -0500

shh-im-wondering:

I think Tumblr needs more Mini Master

Honey, I shrunk the Master!

Last word on that whole Dad Shoots Laptop video bullshit

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:32:07 -0500

sprackraptor:

oddlyclad:

feministbecky:

misswednesdayaddams:

missvoltairine:

This is the Domestic Violence Power and Control Wheel. Related trigger warnings apply (and note that it is based specifically on male/female relationships where the man is the abuser).

Note the following points included on the wheel:

-Displaying weapons

-Destruction of (victim’s) property

-Humiliation (of victim)

-Monitoring and controlling the victim

Now look at the section of the wheel on minimizing and denying.

One thing abusers are really good at is making their victims feel like no one is on their side. They isolate by triangling in third parties and then getting said third parties to back them up. In this case, this abusive father has brought in the entire fucking internet to yuk it up about his abuse, because if so many people can see it and think it’s admirable/funny/etc, it CAN’T be that bad! The message sent to the victim by this is: no one is going to help you. I’m right and you’re wrong and this is how it’s going to be forever.

If you think you’re not playing into the cycle of abuse YOURSELF when you laugh and and celebrate that video, you’re wrong. You are. That girl and her dad may never know it, but you CERTAINLY are.

THANK YOU. People on facebook have been praising that video and it’s really upsetting. I tried to explain that because he shot the laptop and video taped it, instead of just taking it away, he was being threatening and abusive. Unfortunately people just responded with “back in my day, things were way worse, blah blah blah…”

Thank fucking GOD someone gets it.

I really don’t know what happened, I didn’t watch the video, and I don’t want to. It’s disgusting. Shooting a child’s possession (whether it’s a child or teen or whatever) is not only dramatic but I guarantee it’s going to leave some sort of lasting emotional scar. It screams abuse in my mind, and I don’t even want to know, if the video is online hopefully someone who can do something will see it.

YES. Thank you, OP, for articulating my problems with the video so well. Other thoughts I had: Threatening behavior with a gun as a way of controlling your child’s behavior? Removing your child’s social contacts and destroying an unknown amount of personal property (she may have had writing, pictures, or music of her own stored on that thing)? Removing a tool that by your own statement she needs for school? Shaming and humiliating her in a very identifiable way on the fucking Internet? THIS WILL FOLLOW HER FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE, ASSHOLE. And do you really think that some Anonymous/4Chan person isn’t going to get hold of this, look up her information, and do shit like shop her face onto porn? And when -that- shows up on an Internet search (probably attached to her first and last name—you gave -plenty- of identifying information, more than enough), you’ll get all pissed off all over again. What will you do if she comes to you and says she’s pregnant? Or gay? Or trans? Oh, right—by doing this you have pretty much ensure that she will never come to you with any of these things, because SHE HAS NO REASON TO TRUST YOU ANY MORE. What she was doing was perfectly normal teenage behavior, and destroying her property was the wrong way to deal with it. Filming that and putting it online? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING.

Parenting: UR DOIN IT RONG. And you’ve given thousands of parents the brilliant idea that destroying their children’s property and publicly humiliating them is the best way to deal with behavior problems. Oh, and if your daughter runs away, attempts suicide, or simply moves far away when she’s done depending on you and never speaks to you again? Look back on that video and wonder if maybe, just maybe, that might have had something to do with it. JACKASS.

SO much agreement with sprackraptor, here. Guy is an absolute loser and clearly has anger issues. If the laptop and internet use were really problems, I can think of about 20 ways right now that he could have dealt with this that didn’t involve a public tantrum, irresponsible use of a firearm, and potentially putting his daughter in danger.

Gally One

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:36:00 -0500

I’m so jealous. I wish I could go this year. But barely have enough to attend business cons and I found out that Gally was this month…a month ago.

Gally ‘13, though!

Last word on that whole Dad Shoots Laptop video bullshit

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:34:58 -0500

aaronburrlesque:

feministbecky:

misswednesdayaddams:

missvoltairine:

This is the Domestic Violence Power and Control Wheel. Related trigger warnings apply (and note that it is based specifically on male/female relationships where the man is the abuser).

Note the following points included on the wheel:

-Displaying weapons

-Destruction of (victim’s) property

-Humiliation (of victim)

-Monitoring and controlling the victim

Now look at the section of the wheel on minimizing and denying.

One thing abusers are really good at is making their victims feel like no one is on their side. They isolate by triangling in third parties and then getting said third parties to back them up. In this case, this abusive father has brought in the entire fucking internet to yuk it up about his abuse, because if so many people can see it and think it’s admirable/funny/etc, it CAN’T be that bad! The message sent to the victim by this is: no one is going to help you. I’m right and you’re wrong and this is how it’s going to be forever.

If you think you’re not playing into the cycle of abuse YOURSELF when you laugh and and celebrate that video, you’re wrong. You are. That girl and her dad may never know it, but you CERTAINLY are.

THANK YOU. People on facebook have been praising that video and it’s really upsetting. I tried to explain that because he shot the laptop and video taped it, instead of just taking it away, he was being threatening and abusive. Unfortunately people just responded with “back in my day, things were way worse, blah blah blah…”

Thank fucking GOD someone gets it.

Sorry for all the abuse blogging today, I’ve been thinking about stuff.

Holy fuck, I’m about 1 minute into it, and he’s already a raging, abusive motherfucker.

So…teenager acts like a mouthy teenager (as many teens do), and Dad reacts violently. Douchetank.

"You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they..."

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:29:13 -0500

“You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”

- Oscar Wilde (via vouth)

Cars weren’t mass-produced for sale until 2 years after Wilde’s death

-Me

(via aaronburrlesque)

Also not nearly witty enough for Mr. Wilde to have said. He probably would have said that good looks, fancy clothes, and a nice ride were the only reasons to love somebody…

…and then all of the upper classes would have had coronaries.

"Nearly 99 percent of women have relied on contraception in their lives. Yet nearly half of women..."

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:21:24 -0500

“Nearly 99 percent of women have relied on contraception in their lives. Yet nearly half of women ages 18 to 34 have struggled to afford it. No woman’s health should depend on who she is, where she works, or how much money she makes… This basic principle is already law in 28 states across the country.”

- President BARACK OBAMA, during a press conference to announce that all women will have preventive care, including contraceptive services, regardless of where she works — even if working for a faith-based group.

Something tells me this won’t be enough for the Catholic Church.

(via inothernews)

Cue Focus on the Family and every other conservative group, religious or not, melting down in 3…2…1…

shh-im-wondering: Ok, now I’m done Have some knocked out...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:13:29 -0500

shh-im-wondering:

Ok, now I’m done

Have some knocked out Master

Anthony Ainley is so beautiful here.

fuckyeahmasterdoctor: Never enough 3/Delgado on my desktop :)...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:48:44 -0500

fuckyeahmasterdoctor:

Never enough 3/Delgado on my desktop :) Dimensions are 1920x1080.

It’s absolute junk that my OS won’t let me have anything but a basic, blue wallpaper. *sigh*

Awkward Timelords

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:47:35 -0500

dangerpro:

Pretty sure this actually happened as described.

What boredom does to Whovians

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:38:18 -0500

soundsfromsilence:

I was REALLY bored today (and in a library) and I started tapping my fingers. At first it was normal, non-Who-related tapping. But then, subconsciously, I started tapping a…certain…beat of four.

It was so quiet that everyone in the vicinity turned to stare. Most of them just glared or hissed, “shut up.” A few (a very awesome but sadly few) looked over, recognized it and gave a thumbs up. It was a very small gesture, but nice to know that my fellow Whovians are so omnipresent.

It amazes (and overjoys me) that Whovians are everywhere.

Hee.

would it surprise you to know that I tapped something very similar to that rhythm (four count but faster) long before I saw the show? In my case, though, it’s related to my anxiety disorder.