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Advocacy - Blog Posts
I stand in front of a crowd and tap the microphone. "Disabled people deserve full bodily autonomy," I announce, and the crowd devolves into shouting. I am being asked about every single contingency in which bodily autonomy can possibly be taken away. I am not allowed to ask these people why they want so badly to control disabled people's lives. I am a representative, after all.
A man in the third row calls me a whore. A woman up near the front calls me a filthy god-hating anarchist. I am the villain of the story. I'm ruining their childhoods when I point out the flaws and ableist tropes in media that I never said they weren't allowed to enjoy. I'm policing their language when I ask them not to use slurs.
Someone else calls me a fascist. A Creationist with Calvinist leanings is using the same arguments against me as the literal social Darwinist. The topic of "faking disability" is brought up and everyone suddenly has a story to share and presents it to me. I am horrified by most of these stories because they feature ambulatory wheelchair users being harassed and young people with invisible disabilities being chased out of bathrooms.
I tap the microphone again and announce, louder, "Autism speaks is actually a hate organization." At this rate, I'm never going to get to my powerpoint on the social/medical model of disability and why the intersection is important. But I am a representative, and in between the name calling and accusations, they are asking me questions. And so I answer.
Hi I’m Abby! Hope y’all are doing well! I’m a 20 year old Musician, Twitch streamer and YouTuber that enjoys writing music, poetry, playing video games, and watching horror movies. I’m an all inclusive, sarcastic, and all-around chaotic influencer, I have too many types of content (but that’s mostly over on tiktok💀) I’m working 2 jobs on top of performing music and streaming but I always make time for new friends!
https://linktr.ee/ArtsyAbby advocation tree
https://linktr.ee/artsyxabbyx socials only free
https://linktr.ee/artsyxabbyx
https://linktr.ee/ArtsyAbby
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I know that things are scary for everyone right now but we cannot lose sight of supporting those impacted by violent imperialism and colonialism by all measures brought upon by israel and the US. We need to keep fighting. Today I highlight @ahmedmahmoud7noor and his family who need funds to be able to survive the ongoibg violence, displacement, and poverty in Gaza. Please support them. If you do I can draw you a doodle, just dm me.
Homeless Solutions has landed. Get ready to open your hearts...!
27 DEC 2017
I dreamed that I was stationed in Alpha Company during my psychosis and I was back in Headquarters Company for whatever reason.
I ran into McCants and they wondered where the hell I had been.. that I had disappeared off the rosters. I told them that I had been working retail and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. From that, I guess they surmised that I needed help and began setting up a chow station.
I mentioned that the medication that I take (Risperidal) has made me gain 50lbs. They are horrified and I take that as a renewed sense to do PT after not exercising for a very long time.
I also recall trying to shine my non-Airborne boots because some officer was coming and my uniform looked “chewed up from the floor up.”
Time to shape up with yoga and walking every day
Time to start putting polish on my worn out boots
Important higher-ups are coming
Old colleagues have wondered where the hell I’ve been these past years.. time to gather them around and tell them the truth about my diagnosis
Time to start working on getting my voice out there and doing the work of advocacy
18/70 shelter
My friend Ingrid and her husband are homeless right now and have not been eating well. Please send what you can to help them get nutritious food and stay sheltered! 🩷
PayPal: @IngridG1983
Venmo: @ingrid-gvaz (last 4 of phone number is 1859)
Cashapp (partner’s account): $freckleking87
Looking Forward to Leadership Conference NCCWSL
Following Memorial Day I will be traveling to DC for NCCWSL, National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, by AAUW (American Association of University Women). AAUW Duluth chapter has given me the awesome opportunity to meet students from around America, represent my engineering discipline and refine my leadership skills.
While Co-Oping at NASA I learned what categories of leadership they look for when hiring branch chiefs, flight directors and even center directors. NASA looks for individuals that can Lead Change, Lead People, are Results Driven, have Business Acumen, can Build Teams and have Discipline Competency. Our center director, Ellen Ochoa, has all of these leadership skills. A leader in a lower position may not have to have business acumen or have weaknesses in two of these categories. With leadership skills identified I have chosen what workshops I should attend...
I Get Knocked Down, but I Get Up Again: Persevering through Life’s Challenges
The Human Side of Collaboration
Be Better: Enhanced Speaking Skills for Women
...including keynote speakers and a trip downtown to learn about advocacy, politics, and policy making from a panel of women who work for senators and representatives on Capitol Hill. I am avoiding sessions that could be replaced by a TEDTalk and sessions presented by business folks that may be there simply to pitch their company - these are all disappointments I have experienced in past conferences.
I am half surprised and half not surprised about how politically charged some of these workshops and lectures are (NCCWSL is hosted in our nation's capitol after all and AAUW uses policy to advance equality). Many leaders in industry do not interface with politics on a daily basis so I hope there is enough relevant content that will truly challenge my understanding of leadership. I want brutal honesty on how I can improve and tools that I can use in industry. I will attend with an open mind.
When I visited the White House in 2013 for a tech related Champions of Change event I advocated for project based learning in schools - reducing standardize testing and implementing measurable projects mirroring challenges in "the real world". During this excursion my primary message will about continuing and growing Earth observation missions. For a final spring semester I wrote about how crucial Earth observation missions are to our environment, safety and economy. I will be sure to post an abridged version here soon. While Earth observation is my primary message I will be sure to also talk about the importance of the "A" in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), how trade schools are critical to American jobs and manufacturing and last project based learning again.
I will be live blogging during the conference so subscribe via email to get the latest blog posts and follow me on Twitter @KirsiCootie!
i know hearing people on this website love to pass around those posts with links to free sign language lessons but you know you need to actually put effort into learning about Deaf culture, too, right?
hello :3 i forgot to make an intro post, so i’ll do that now.
my username is a placeholder right now until i think of something better.
transsexual man | 20 years old | united states
i love drawing, collecting stuffed animals (especially build a bears and pillowfort weighted plush from target), vintage electronics/clothing/toys/etc, and watching youtube.
my special interests are my little pony: friendship is magic, psychology, genetic syndromes, true crime, cats, and disabilities. i love learning about disability aids !!
i have 4 cats at home. i have a girlfriend and she’s super awesome sauce :3. i love my mom.
i have GERD and i have joint problems which i suspect may be hypermobile ehlers danlos syndrome. it’s really hard to get into a doctor to do genetic testing, and i don’t want to take away time with a doctor from people who really need it. i try to deal with it by using braces for my knees, elbows, ankles, back, shoulders, and wrists.
thank you for listening! i will update this as i get more comfortable ^_^
I'ma just leave these here for like... *Cough* Research purposes and such.
Vereniging Openbare Bibiotheken en meer
Outside of Amsterdamn, the Netherlands are a wonderful place to live. As one person writes, there is a lot of diversity creating a space of different languages and environments, but while there is a separation between true locals as those who don’t fully integrate (i.e. Learn Dutch) there is still an openness and friendly culture. Even while striving for the achieved academic, educational and intellectual excellence, there is also a note that it is not forced (1).
Focused on overall growth, personal acceptance and diversity the School 7 library in Den Helder won the International Federation of Library Assocation’s best library...in the world (2)
But there is still more. Throughout the country there are various specialized libraries (libraries focused on new immigrants, feminism, Jewish and African cultures) and a focus by the VOB (their library assocation Vereniging Openbare Bibiotheken) that encourage residents to ask for help with legal and business needs, how you can use the resources for advocacy and how proud they are that approxiamtely 50% of their users are under the age of 18 (3)
(1) https://wanderwisdom.com/travel-destinations/Pros-and-cons-about-living-in-Holland-from-an-Americans-perspective
(2) https://www.frameweb.com/news/school-7-library-netherlands-van-veen-mars
(3)http://www.debibliotheken.nl/
Displaced, Deserted...Degraded?
Another library institution is school libraries, which if not more crucial to a community to a local library are at least equal. School libraries, as with education, can be a great building block and equalizer of the community and the current racial, economic, social, and other divides in our communities by bringing people together and expanding their horizons.
The city of Chicago has a lot of diversity with a portion of it having to do with it’s large immigrant communities. Separate from their history, the people of Chicago and from around the world come to see the renowned museums mixed with avid sports fans, corporations and religious organizations. But for a community with so much action and so many people working hard and creating, there are apparently few school libraries. While people can pretend the age of smartphones, video games, and ereaders are partially to blame and make this change okay, from 2013 to 2017 the school libraries decreased by 65% (from 454 to 157)(1). This drop has been noted by students, some who didn’t even know school libraries were a thing and it’s a bigger deal than even they may understand. Similar to local libraries that can be centers of community, education, exploration, personal and community growth while promoting opportunities; school libraries do all that earlier on while also introducing children to reading. By introducing students to libraries earlier in their school years and as a part of education where they can choose their path, learning about different people’s stories and encouraging them to see reading as an expansion of their lives and can be a guide to their futures. Even something as simple as a library cart can make a world of difference, but I hope Chicago continues to work to bring back their school libraries for now and for all of our futures.
(1) https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/chicagoschoollibrarians
National Foster Care Month
Today is the last day of Foster Care Awareness month. As with all of these awareness days or months, Foster Care Awareness month is more about setting aside a specific time for agencies to learn more and focus promotion on a particular hardship or disease as these are ongoing issues that relate to hundreds to millions of people in the world every day
The US Foster Care system is rarely discussed, even during foster care awareness month as many don’t really understand the depths of its existence and may only know of its possible existence by what is shown on television. Due to the media being the main provider of introduction and information about foster care and the foster care system, Maia Mitchell and Zuri Adele from the current Freeform series Good Trouble (spin-off of The Fosters) discuss the disservice many of these introductions due to children in Foster Care (sorry, Tumblr wouldn’t link to it)
https://www.facebook.com/GoodTrouble/videos/316204539278544/
But social media and television isn’t all bad, depending on whose using it and how connected they are with the true foster care system. Meghan Walbert is an author that shares her family’s journey as a foster family, bringing to light the confusing pain and brightest joys brought by her foster children to her, her husband and their biological son (http://www.phasethreeoflife.com/). Earlier this month, the Comedy Central Show Jim Jefferies brought attention to Kids in the Spotlight with Modern Family’s Ty Burrell and reminded viewers that what you see in the media isn’t always true and how helping children and young adults in the foster care system can create on of the largest impacts not only in their individuals lives by bringing showing them visibility and care, but that those who do not receive the resources they need to grow are more likely to become homeless, be inducted into gangs and have long-term health problems.
The NBC show This Is US along with The Freeform series The Fosters has brought attention to not only the foster care system and the children in the foster care system, but also the older children in foster care—some of whom may never get adopted and lose what little government support they have once they age out of foster care at age 21.
Unfortunately, actions taken this month are both highlighting and increasing the chances of children who will age out of foster care. Earlier this week, the state of Oklahoma in a lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals reported that another outcome of the opioid epidemic was a dramatic increase in the need of their foster care system. Connecting to the research done by Freakonomics writers, not all children go into Foster Care but the new abortion restrictions will create some increase dependency on the foster care system, but increase crime rates as those who are not ready to have children or cannot provide the necessary resources will harm the individual, the family and the community for generations.
Back to Jim and Ty, research has shown that small actions such as Ty’s acting classes, donations, and most importantly visibility, respect and validation of existence can all create a positive impact and other ways to help children and parents in the foster care system
Now what? After 3 weeks of protests and educating ourselves and educating others, how do we keep the momentum going for this civil rights movement? How do we make permanent change?
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