deilann ,
@deilann@tech.lgbt avatar

i've talked before about disability masking

the goal to appear as able as possible to both not be a "burden" on others & to not receive harassment

the cabin we're in this week due to how things needed to be shifted around is the wheelchair accessible cabin

i am not a wheelchair user at this time

but i often downplay the O&M realities i face because i can "make do"

having a tub is huge because i have 0 usable vision without my glasses and showering with glasses is the same. having grab bars for this reason, to orient my self, is massive

obvious delineated spaces with clearer paths are huge for O&M

and @TV4Fun pointed out that I do have a claim to the "ADA" cabin and I was like yeah and immediately pointed out that if someone who was a wheelchair user needed it, they'd have more claim to it as i can make do in a way a wheelchair user may be unable to

i couldn't just say that i "need" because i know i can survive, as if want and need are a true dialectic

deilann OP ,
@deilann@tech.lgbt avatar

i've discussed the opposite phenomenon with other legally blind folks where to be taken seriously and not harassed we have to pretend to have less usable vision than we have

deilann OP ,
@deilann@tech.lgbt avatar

it's always the same things over and over too, which are so exhausting

even when i have no usable vision i can:

look (generally) at someone who's talking to me well enough to mimic eye contact

tell if someone's walking way too fast towards me and likely to collide with me

walk a known route that's decently clear/accessible (especially if it has any tapping points i can reach) without my cane

use my phone and type on a keyboard

...hear other people. you're not sneaky. i know how many of you are there pretty reliably.

but all of these have been used to justify that i'm "faking"

deilann OP ,
@deilann@tech.lgbt avatar

and it really sucks because in the exact right environment i have a lot of usable vision

i rely primarily on my rods so my central vision is shot and it's very light sensitive. but as long as i don't have to change focus a lot my peripheral vision is pretty darn good in dim settings

but everything must be a dialectic

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •