I give credit to my mother for teaching me that. She was active in environmental and social justice from the time I was five years old, and I got to witness politicians and corporate execs square their shoulders and straighten their ties when she walked in the room. š
I don't have an Instagram account, BTW (I stay away from all things Metaā¢ as much as I can).
I assume you're talking about the blue (or cyan, depending on how you categorize it) stripe on the Disability Pride Flag. Correct?
ALT
I chose those colors for the flag (black, red, yellow, white, blue, and green) because they are all of the six "standard" flag colors. Together, they represent a global community, united by common experiences, rather than national borders (just as the official flag of the Olympics has all six colors, to unite, at least in theory, the global community of athletes). Swapping out the blue stripe for a non-standard color would break that symbolism.
That said, Tumblr user @intervex has also raised concerns about each stripe representing a specific medical category of disability. And back in September, 2024, they proposed having each stripe represent a different conceptual model of disability, instead.
But that raises a similar problem: there are a lot more than six models of disability, and trying to pin down a single meaning for each stripe will always leave someone out.
So (perhaps) it's best to just say: "The five colored bands cutting through the black field represent the wide variety of Disability Experience, even as we work in solidarity, to fight for Justice and Equity."
And we can use the different colors of the flag as a conversation opener to discuss the different ways disability is experienced.
Honestly Iāve been rather discouraged by this post, and needed time to formulate a reply. š«¤
Iāve personally received a lot of positive feedback about the models-as-meanings idea. š Including from people who say it ismore inclusive.Ā
TLDR: I think having specific models for specific stripes is important for actually getting people talking and learning about disability studies, my proposal already has an "other models" option, and models are not identity categories that will leave people feeling "left out" in the same way categories of impairment would.
Point 1: It's worth it to pick a few models and be specific about them, and white is already proposed as the "other models" stripe.
To be clear, my proposal was (and continues to be) that the white stripe represent models of disability not otherwise shown. I know there are a ton of models, and they can't all fit.Ā
I also know that not every model of disability is equally prominent, influential, or easy to learn. And people learning about models of disability for the first time will need a few to familiarize themselves with first, not a few dozen to be overwhelmed by. It makes a great deal of sense to me to pick a few of the most influential/basic ones and then have a stripe for the others.Ā
I think white makes good sense to represent the models not otherwise featured, and thus far feedback has supported that.
My expectation is that if the stripes donāt have specific models attached to them, people arenāt going to bother making the association. I donāt think a vague āthey all stand for different modelsā is going to spark the same conversations or level of learning as when it's āblue is social model, yellow is affirmation model, green is political minority, red is debility, and white is other modelsā - naming major models makes them concrete. (And also may help people remember them by giving them colour associations.)Ā
There has been a lot of feedback and many polls about what would be the most suitable models to represent the stripes and I personally felt we had finallylanded on green being the political minority model (which you had helpfully suggested!), and that had been the only colour that there seemed to be any disagreement on, and even then the vibe was very friendly disagreement rather than strong feelings.
Since your post, Iāve feeling a lot of regret for not trying to do more to get the word out, and clarify that green seems to have finally been figured out. I'm working on crip time here. š
Point 2: I think specificity matters and makes this flag stand out from alternatives
I want the disability pride flag to mean something. To me, that means having actual specificity about things like what the stripes mean.
We already have a disability flag with where the individual stripes don't have meaning and it's all a vague āthe different colours reflect the diversity of disabilityā. It's the Eros Recio flag. š
Point 3: models of disability are not identity categories
In my experience, people donāt identify themselves to models in the way that they do to groups of impairments. My sense is that people who really vibe with the political-relational model of disability are also people who will still appreciate attention being given to the social and political minority models of disability.Ā
Models of disability are lenses, not identity groups in the way that āphysical disabilityā or āmental disabilityā are. The same person can use one model to talk about a disability in one context, and a different model in another.
I don't think people are going to feel left out if their favourite model isn't on the flag - mine isn't and I personally consider that a good thing, because I know from teaching disability studies that students really struggle with the cultural (social construction) model. I don't think it makes for a good flag stripe, honestly. š¤·
[Image derived from a social media post from “goodgodabove”: “You can’t say criminals don’t deserve due process – due process is the thing that decides if they’re criminals. Otherwise you’re just kidnapping people you don’t like.” description ends]
i dont think non aac users will ever understand the helplessness that we feel in regards to communication.
your device pronounces a word wrong. laughter. its fine, just go with it. but thats not what you meant. the meaning is changed. you type it differently, hoping to trick the program into saying it right. it doesnt.
your device bugs. you have to use a voice that does not match how you feel inside. you feel dysphoric like you did before you went on t. laughter from others. its fine because it has to be.
someone makes a bigoted remark to another person. you are typing as fast as you can - “that’s not okay, you need to apologize” - your hands are shaking with the effort to be fast. the conversation moves on before you can hit “play”. harm has been done and you have no control over it.
you navigate through a few folders. you want the word “sun”. you keep hitting the button next to it, cloud. you hit delete. try again. you hit cloud. delete. try again. you hit cloud. over and over again. your body seems to have a mind of its own. it is frustrating. it is so so easy for everyone else.
your tablet is in the other room and you are trying to fingerspell. you want to sign “d”. you see the shape your hand needs to be in in your mind. you keep signing “f”. your hand will not make the correct finger go up and the rest go down.
the other person is trying to be patient. but theyre not. theyre frustrated. theyre trying not to show it. theyre frustrated. theyre frustrated. it radiates out from their body and makes your blood run cold. you’re nauseous. you are always waiting for someone to lose their patience. it has happened before. it will happen again.
“do you understand how hard it is for us to get used to this” they say. youre about to cry. and if you, the aac user, if you show frustration, anger, sadness, anxiety, about not being able to communicate - you are difficult. “if you tried harder to speak, we wouldn’t have these problems” - it stays unspoken but you hear it echoing in their words, on their faces, on the exhale of breath as they put their hands in their lap and call you “sweetie.”
June 30th, 2025: Today's comic was inspired by Robert "the Bobster" Frost! To answer your question, I have NOT researched his nickname and do not intend to.
*deep, calming breath* On the plus side, the steps at that link were very clear and easy to follow.
Important note: Definitely do Method Two. Method One will make the chat feature invisible, but it may pop up again; Method Two will make it go away entirely.
[Image description: Screen shot of a social media post: Why wen u say “i had a dream about u” ppl always assume sexual shit [frown emoji]. no bitch You fought well but died by my sword [3 laughing with tears emojis]. Description ends]
Serious question from an aroace person: Do allos really routinely have sex-themed dreams as much as this implies? Or is this just a form of teasing?
Quoted tags:
#i’m aroace and have sex dreams every now and then #i’m also sex averse irl but for some reason not in my dreams???
I’m aroace, and sex positive (aegosexual). I’m also well into my middle age and can count the number of sex dreams I’ve had on the fingers of one hand, and still have fingers left over (and I tend to remember at least one dream from most nights).
I think the last time I had a sex dream was something like 12 years ago, sexual attraction had nothing to do with the reasoning, and the “other party” found an excuse not to go through with it before I woke up (every character in your dreams is simply a different facet of your dream p.o.v. character).
This was also several years before I knew the Ace & Aro Spectra were even options. Chalk this up to evidence that I’ve always been queer, without “Social media influence.”
You know what’s cool? I used to identify heavily as a lesbian when I was growing up. I’m technically a bi trans/nonbinary guy now, but I also hold space for a lesbian identity for myself. It was super formative and I don’t mind being a he/they lesbian bc it’s cool as fuck.
And women are so pretty so there
When it comes to chronological age, my mother often said that we are every age we’ve ever been – like matryoshka (nesting) dolls. And that, depending on the moment, we could be acting from whatever age we have available.*
I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t also be true of our accumulated self-identities and orientations.
*Her conclusion was that most of us cruise through the world as ten-year olds, except when we’re scared and under stress. Then, we revert to two, and want our mommies.
reblog this and put in the tags something you watched that terrified you as a child. i was so scared of the hot sauce in spongebob that i refused to be in the room when it was on
In the musical Scrooge when Marley (Alec Guiness) undoes the sling around his jaw so it can fall/stretch to the floor and he can howl horribly to get Scrooge’s attention properly
June 25th, 2025: Today unless something goes REALLY poorly, I'm back from the Netherlands! I presume it was pretty great, but only Future Me knows for sure!!
June 23rd, 2025: Today I'm in Utrecht; who knows what I'm up to? I don't, because thanks to the magic of SCHEDULED COMICS, you're reading the words of me, Past Ryan, here in the present! (Though technically every word you've ever read was written by someone in the past, and these ones are just slightly moreso than is usual around here.)
reminder this pride month that disabled people in the US on SSI and some forms of SSDI* do not have the same marriage equality as people not on SSI and SSDI. its called the marriage penalty.
by getting married, a disabled person can lose their income, benefits, and health insurance.
if a disabled person marries an able bodied person, and combined their assets are $3000 or over they will lose all benefits, including medicaid (health insurance).
if a disabled person marries a disabled person, their assistance is lowered 25%.
we donāt have marriage equality until all disabled marriages are equal.
*SSDI title II (disabled adult child) does fall under the marriage penalty, regular SSDI does not.
All you have to do is fill out your name, address, phone and email fields (required for all letters/emails to the U.S. Congress), and hit ‘Send’. The email is pre-written (I personalized it a bit, but you don’t have to), and it is automatically sent to your senators.
Editorial point I couldn’t figure out how to put in the email.
The Trump lackeys say they want to cut spending to public media because of its “liberal bias.”
But if I had a nickel for every time a story on “Morning Edition” or “All Things Considered” ended with some version of:
“NPR reached out to [Trump Administration Agency/Person] for comment, and got no response.”
I’d have enough money to pay a good chunk of a week’s grocery bill.
Also, the federal money that goes to public broadcasting is simply to keep local stations up and running. It’s the money pledged during those membership drives that pays for the programming. If there really is a “liberal bias” in what’s on the air, then it’s because that what the local citizens want.
Conservatives would get the more centrist media they (claim they) want if they just engaged with it.
But engaging in mutual support is counter to their political ethos, so…
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
capricorn_0mnicorn_feed) wrote2025-07-01 02:24 pm
