Fruit Will Last 3 Weeks Longer….

collection of useful things tumblr has taught me:

even if you can't fall asleep, laying down with your eyes closed will still rest your body

you don't have to brush your teeth standing up

you don't have to do any chore standing up, from dishes to showering

you don't have to shower with the lights on

if you can't brush your teeth, flossing and a tongue scraper gets rid of plaque and bad breath

if you can't do that, mouthwash kills a lot of bacteria

eating "unhealthy" food is better than eating no food

you can make the same meal everyday for however long you still want it

some pills come in syrups or chewables if you can't swallow them

kids nutritional shakes can be a quick way to get fuel if you can't eat/don't have time

if walking hurts/exhausts you on a regular basis, canes and rollers are for you, no matter how young you are

we have free will—if doing something "out of the ordinary" makes life easier for you, do it

depression tips™

shower. not a bath, a shower. use water as hot or cold as u like. u dont even need to wash. just get in under the water and let it run over you for a while. sit on the floor if you gotta.

moisturize everything. use whatever lotion u like. unscented? dollar store lotion? fancy ass 48 hour lotion that makes u smell like a field of wildflowers? use whatever you want, and use it all over. 

put on clean, comfortable clothes. 

put on ur favorite underwear. cute black lacy panties? those ridiculous boxers u bought last christmas with candy cane hearts on the butt? put em on.

drink cold water. use ice. if u want, add some mint or lemon for an extra boost.

clean something. doesn’t have to be anything big. organize one drawer of ur desk. wash five dirty dishes. do a load of laundry. scrub the bathroom sink. 

blast music. listen to something upbeat and dancey and loud, something that’s got lots of energy. sing to it, dance to it, even if you suck at both.

make food. don’t just grab a granola bar to munch. take the time and make food. even if it’s ramen. add something special to it, like a hard boiled egg or some veggies. prepare food, it tastes way better, and you’ll feel like you accomplished something. 

make something. write a short story or a poem, draw a picture, color a picture, fold origami, crochet or knit, sculpt something out of clay, anything artistic. even if you don’t think you’re good at it.

go outside. take a walk. sit in the grass. look at the clouds. smell flowers. put your hands in the dirt and feel the soil against your skin.

call someone. call a loved one, a friend, a family member, call a chat service if you have no one else to call. talk to a stranger on the street. have a conversation and listen to someone’s voice. if you can’t, text or email or whatever, just have some social interaction with another person. even if you don’t say much, listen to them.

cuddle your pets if you have them/can cuddle them. take pictures of them. talk to them. tell them how u feel, about your favorite movie, a new game coming out.

Listen up!

You see a post like this? Where OP might hurt/kill themselves? You hit that button that I circled

Hit that.

Click Suicide or Self-harm Concern

Yes.

Fill in the rest of it, and hit submit. The "content you reported" will fill itself in

Tumblr will follow up and help them.

Warning: this is only for mobile. If anyone knows how to do this for desktop, please add it!

This could SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.

YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE NOT TO REBLOG THIS.

I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF IT DOESN'T GO WITH YOUR BLOG'S THEME.

And yes, REBLOG. Liking does no shit at all. This isn't ig.

You reblog, people see it. You don't, people don't see it. This shit's that simple.

This could save someone's life. It's not a joke.

so there’s a dynamic that is at least true in my life and might be part of a much broader trend. I don’t know for sure whether this is widely applicable but I wanna throw it out there in case it is, or in case it just makes sense to others in some way that is useful.

the dynamic is this:

when I’m in spaces of predominately disabled people, and/or spaces in which accessibility is at the forefront of people’s minds, there is a default assumption that everyone is doing their best to be kind, and that our interpretation of others body language, manner of communication, etc. should always err on the side of assuming they are being genuine and engaged to the best of their ability, that there is nothing malicious going on.

In contrast, when i am in more general settings (esp places that do not forefront disability and accessibility) there is a default assumption that any atypical way of behaving or communicating indicates some level of negative emotion or underlying social/interpersonal tension.

I got thinking about this after I saw that post where a HoH person was mentioning someone immediately getting angry and defensive towards them for not hearing them and then immediately becoming apologetic when they were informed the person was deaf in one ear. And in the notes someone was defending the initial reaction of anger by saying that the person probably assumed they were being deliberately ignored.

It got me thinking about other things like this. I remember in middle school getting a quiz that was a blank seating chart and we needed to write down the full names of everyone in our class and where they sat. I stayed after class and asked if I could have extra credit to make it up because I have a very bad memory and do not remember names easily. The teacher told me that not remembering people’s names meant I did not respect them and that I needed to care about other people. I burst into tears having this stated so plainly that my inability was interpreted as cruelty.

I was thinking about how my wife is autistic and for her it takes conscious effort to make facial expressions and prefers to use as few words as possible to conserve that specific kind of energy. And I was thinking about how many stories she has of people assuming she didn’t want to be someone’s friend or was being passive aggressive or something just because she didn’t overly emote or because she used few words or texted K instead of “okay!! ☺️” or whatever.

I was thinking about how often physical inability to do things is cast as “laziness” and laziness carries the implication of feeling entitled to others’ work. I think about visibly physically disabled people who (for example) complain about service workers discriminating against them (e.g. a driver refusing to provide service when someone has a service dog or wheelchair) where people readily assume the disabled person holds a feeling of superiority and entitlement towards workers.

I was thinking about how the inability to pronounce things or to do certain tasks is immediately assumed to mean “not caring about” those things. The idea that if someone cancels last second due to a pain flare up or a mental illness trigger that they are enacting a deliberate cruelty towards the friend they cancelled on.

And then I was thinking about how…

disabled people who are not adept at the way that able society functions with a default assumption of malice are often bullied or made fun of specifically because they assume good faith from other people by default.

Someone asks them out and they assume the person is being honest because their default is to assume good faith. Someone asks them what they mean when they say a common word and they give an in-depth explanation about what it means and everyone laughs because “obviously we know what it means, we were just fucking with you.” Someone asks a question and they assume they want to know the answer to the question, and then find out it was a trick question or a social test and there was already a “right answer” and “wrong answer.” Someone doesn’t respond to them so they repeat their question over again, or write it down and give it to them, or try to find alternate means to communicate, and then the person says “I dont want to talk to you, take the hint!”

Like there just seems to be this dynamic at play where broad accessibility really does require an effort to assume good faith and default to kindness, but functioning in the rest of the world requires constant suspicion and always looking for ways in which people might be trying to be mean for some reason.

And I do think that in scenarios like the HoH person described in that post, where the only information someone has is that they said something and the other person didn’t respond—of course after a lifetime of people being mean we might suspect someone being mean, but like if we have to choose one default or the other with a stranger—why can’t the default be assuming good faith? Like can’t we please be kind as our default? I feel like adapting to a default of assuming unkindness and social tricks should not be expected of disabled people. This is something where rest of the culture needs to make an effort adapt to defaulting to kindness and patience.

Sure maybe someone is being an asshole, but you don’t have to be. if you assume someone just didn’t hear you and repeat yourself or write it down and someone is mean to you about it, you didn’t do anything wrong! The person being an asshole (about you simply trying to communicate and assuming kindness) is clearly the one messing up that social interaction. We should all give each other grace.

"homosexuality is unnatural! there's only two genders! it's a sin-"

I'm sorry, have you seen NATURE???

and there's so many more species than this that exhibit homosexuality, varying genders, etc. SO! MANY!

it's very much a natural thing. it always has been. unfortunately, while homosexuality is found in many species, homophobia is only found in one

Could you maybe reblog this post if you think respecting trans peoples' names and identities is a basic right and not a political opinion?

No pressure. Just seeking some validation of my sentiment. Due to some. people