ableism

On casual ableism (and Alexa's existential crisis)

17:40

I wish someone could sit me down and explain to me in easy terms why I reach heights of productivity at 1am when I have to wake up in 4 hours. I really wish.

——

As you probably noticed, despite it being a while since last post, the blog got total theme remake lately. So it's not exactly the fact of me being busy that kept me away. Sure, that's true for the first part of the January, when I had been finishing my midterms, but since the beginning of February I was basically free.
But I kept having doubts. As you know if you follow this blog regularly, my family is not exactly perfect. And abusive family can mess with your head pretty badly. And so I let myself believe for a while that what I have to say doesn't matter, and even more - that I have no right to say my opinion, as I'm in the wrong. In the wrong about my rights, my right to live, to be respected. That I should just shut up. That I have no right to help and to aids and so I should stop the fundraiser and hide cause people don't want to see me.
Luckily for you I have a bunch of lovely spoonie friends who called me out on my temporary existential crisis and here I am, as good as new. And with suspicion of lupus, currently in diagnosis. I'm not kidding you, guys. My friends call me a chronic illnesses collector. I think my body just really, really hates me. Can't blame it really, with amount of sweets I devour daily…
Anyway, the point is, I felt inadequate and wrong, and since I spend a lot of time on social media, I felt I'm not being a good person. So I tried to educate myself on the subjects I felt I know not enough about, and one of them was racism. Poland is… very white. So I read, and read, and read, and I started to notice things.
My mum is an awesome ally. She always supported me in all fields, when I came out as gay and then when I had been learning about my gender more and more. When I got sick, and then on the wheelchair. When she found out about how I was raped. Always, she was always there for me. And she is a really great, open minded person.
But, I realized my mum is very casually racist sometimes. And here is the thing - she is only on the topics where she doesn't know what she's talking about, and I'm sure I was the same. Like for example about the lack of Black movies out there. And there is one thing that hit me like a truck full of bad metaphors. It's a lot like people who piss me off everyday with their casual, thoughtless ableism.
Example: one of my teachers who keeps saying I need to go out and meet more people, when I’d LOVE TO meet more people but it's just not realistic when you're stuck in bed for 23 hours a day crying from pain and the remaining hour you try to do uni work. And when you live in a place where buses only visit occasionally and ramps are rarer than unicorns. You get my vibe. I am NOT secluded from people because I want to.
But then again, someone who's not in my skin have no idea about that, and they think they're helping. And I appreciate, really, but if I hear the same stuff twenty times a day, at the twenty first time I'm gonna get mad, cause how many times can you explain??? It's just that this 21st person is unlucky today.
And my point is, we need to explain, yes, but abled people - and not only abled abled, but anyone who doesn't have physical disability, should try their best to listen. We all suck sometimes and I know it took me a while - and knowing a Deaf girl I had a crush on - to start really listening to Deaf people and checking my own privilege. And, well, starting losing my hearing slowly. So my point is not to vilify or accuse people, but to try to explain to them - to you - why the fuck we get so angry when they try to help. And why I yell so much. Ooops.
I think that subconsciously until now I thought people who do that are vile. That they do it on purpose cause they're too lazy to try to listen to me. It took my mum to open my eyes, and make me realize that maybe no one ever explained it. Maybe I'm a first wheelchair bound person they ever met. Or first outspoken one. Or the disabled people they did meet were too pissed to explain, the reality I know all too well. I'm not a patient person, but I'll try to be more, cause that one’s on me.
Then again, it takes being comfortable with your disability to be able to educate people and be helpful and not eternally mad. It's been a year in February since I'm on a wheelchair and only now I keep realizing that I'm actually okay. That I'm not broken. I just happened to be different but world where everyone is the same would be awfully boring.
So - listen to your friendly disabled person, and as a friendly disabled person keep in mind not everyone is out there looking to take your rights away. Sure, sadly a whole lot of people are, but some are just uninformed, I think? We have all rights in the world to be angry, but, at least for me, knowing not everyone is out there hunting me down, helped me feel a tiny bit better.

In other news, I gave link to this blog to my English teacher as an example of both my activism and everyday English writing. I'm bilingual and I'm using English much more often then Polish (trust me on talking to my mum who doesn't speak it and halfway realize she has no fucking idea what I'm saying…), but majority of my work outside of activism is a WIP and I struggled to find finished stories, of the ones I know how to finish quickly. And this blog is what I'm a bit proud of, actually.
Why am I saying that? Cause here goes official apology for the amount of swears I use, I am sorry, I have a mouth like a sailor and I am aware of that, I feel my writing style lacking without it, and it's probably a vice on my behalf. However, I do not feel it appropriate to change it in my posts, cause it's genuine, it's how my train of thoughts goes, and that's how I just am, and this blog is to show a real - as much as that's possible online - me. So. Please keep my apology in mind when I inevitably break into cussing next time someone asks me how do I have sex.

Thanks to everyone donating to my wheelchair fundraiser, I'm close to my goal but sadly I have to get a corset and it's urgent apparently, so that's what I'm gonna spend the money at firstly. Maybe one beautiful day I will stop getting new diagnoses and be able to finally, finally get this goddamn chair. For now, thank you for saving my pathetic life, and expect corset photos and maybe more writing if it actually works and helps me sit up more.
Stay strong!

ableism

On one minute friends

22:17

On one minute friends.



Oh how I love I just literally killed the first mosquito of 2017. In February.

But. To the point.
I want to formally apologize for the lack of posts lately. Who would know dying would be so exhausting. I crashed from maniacal episode (I'm a freshly diagnosed, still unmedicated, bipolar person) to depression and I just kinda…stare at the ceiling and wish I could cry.
But while I was hopelessly turning in my bed tonight, I remembered something that might have been a good idea for a blog post. Or bad. You decide.
I remembered when I was 18 I guess, I was writing a different blog, kind of my thoughts on different subjects. We need to estimate here that 18 y/o me was an undiagnosed, traumatized idiot, with the key word here being idiot. I was in pain everyone was saying was a psychological thing after rape, that was also in a huge part ignored by medical professionals around me. I suppose I wanted attention? Literally I have no idea why I did what I did. It's one of those things I can't remember actually doing, but I know I did. And maybe it was the attention thing, or the fact I was highly psychotic back then and couldn't differentiate between facts and reality if I tried, but the fact remains, I was a total disaster.
You see, I cannot lie. If I was a mythical being, I would be a faerie. It's not to say I don't lie, cause of course I do, don't we all? but I suck at it and it's super uncomfortable for me, i can't keep track and I just hate it. I'm this person who'll come out to you and tell you about all traumas 5 min after meeting you (ask Ki, I literally did that to her and we remain best friend). And when I lie, I almost always come clean, and usually try to escape the consequences if I'm to be honest, cause I'm a coward too.
Anyway, I have no idea why I lied on the blog then, or rather colored the reality as some will say. I'm highly suspicious it was the attention seeking thing, but I just…have no…idea?
I wrote a post about my ex high school, the one I was expelled from (or rather kindly asked to leave if I don't attend therapy, which for me is the same thing cause you cannot just blackmail someone with “stop being mentally ill or lose education” ya know?). I lied in the post about how I came out to my peers and that it was the reason I was expelled with a huge BOOM. Which didn't happen. I was asked to change schools cause yes, they minded me being an outed gay person very much (how I was outed is a whole another story, I didn't do it myself either) but they mostly minded my self destructive habits and was “worrying about me corrupting my classmates” I think was the quote? I have no idea why they'd think so, I was suicidal but not making some suicide pacts with friends! That came later? Anyway, I was half happy to leave and half mad they made me, my mum was pissed, and so I was taken from school and moved to another nearer my city, without a dorm so I lived at home, and put into a loving care of a psychiatrist who then sexually abused me, but hey you cannot have everything.
And so when I posted the Lie Post as I'll call it now, I got two comments - one from someone who recalled their days at boarding school, and one, anonymous, from who said was my former classmate.
And I remember two lines. One was “you're living in some kind of illusion” - which was true then just as is now so I cannot really say anything…
And the other “the saddest thing is, we liked you”.
You may think, as I did back then, and even couple of months ago still, that it's kinda cruel. To say thing thing to who turned out to be a terminally ill person. But the thing is, it was my fault, and they had right to be angry I suppose.
And I kept wondering who wrote it. Was it a girl I hated cause she was better than me at literally any conceivable thing? Something I would now admire as a person who is not disabled and has strength to do stuff, and is amazing at them. But that's post-dying-epiphany me. Cause one thing I learned this rainy cold November day was that life is unpredictable as fuck, and holding grudges will get you nowhere. But I think to forgive everyone and decide to learn to appreciate everyone you have to have this major life changing event happen to you. And it's not to say I'm in any way better, cause I'm not. In any way. I just had a fucked up thing happen to me and I see world differently after it.
Was it the perfect girl’s best friend who I always thought was looking down at me and was weirdly condescending- but she wasn't. It was my low self esteem and a victim complex speaking. She was kind. I wasn't.
Was it a girl who was perfect at English and we competed at it which was totally unfair cause as a bilingual person I shouldn't compete with someone still learning? And she was good. I was introduced to English at 4 y/o and listened to it a lot before that. She was just learning at school, and we were the same level. In which way that was fair? I didn't put effort into my English - she did.
Was it a girl who was so ethereally beautiful I couldn't speak a word to her cause I'd stutter? Who I'm still a bit in love with just cause I was then?
Or her best friend who made me realize I was a lesbian, and skip the whole major crisis connected to it, cause she was so fearless in her love to girls, so open, so beautiful. I owe her so much, she made me stop being afraid.
Or was it a girl I was crushing so hard at my abuser was jealous of her and would beat me over her. I think I still love her somehow, that amazing she was.

And you know, my predicted lifespan is 40, and I'm 22 now, so I'm not going anywhere yet. But I want to, in some way, say goodbye to those girls. Thank them. Cause I have a fast paced life ahead me, full of trying to fit a whole life in couple of years. And I think it's time to say goodbye to the past.
And I doubt they'll read it, they'll find a way to this blog. But maybe they will.
So here you go.
Thank you B (what was your real name? We always called you that) for being someone I still can look up to. Thank you Z for laughing with me when I was sad and wanted to die - I'm not sure did you know? Or was it just that you're always so nice? Thank you M for being a fair rival, someone I admire and wish best. Thank you Be for allowing me to learn to love someone unconditionally from afar and showing me beauty. Thank you O for making me who I am now, for being unafraid and teaching me to be so as well. Thank you C for everything, every smile and small talk, oh gods how I loved you.
Thank you P for being the loveliest roommate and caring about me even after I left, you're an amazing person, you're gonna be famous one day, I know it. I hope to see it. Thank you E for being my best friend back then. You saved my life and I love you still, even though we lost touch.
And to the rest, thank you too. For being for me when I needed you and laughing at me when I was sad. For just being friends in a class, you know?

And you may think this post is weird, and excessive, and unnecessary cause who thinks about high school like that? But it's not why I write it, I don't even write it cause I'm ill.
The year I was at this school I was every weekend at home beaten, raped repeatedly and psychologically abused and tortured, and it's not a hyperbolic speech. And when I came back to school for a week days, it turned out my school psychologist I couldn't trust. But the girls were always there and had my back. Even though I was a terrible, terrible person. And this is about that, cause I'm making my peace with the past.

But it's not only that.
This post is about friendship. About people who are important in your life journey even if they're there only for 5 months, or 2, or a day. About kind people who make me want to fight my uneven fight still.
Maybe my point comes across, but if not, I'll make it clear.
When I found out I'm incurably ill, my world kinda shifted? And I'm in some weird change moment now. And I'm trying to learn to be kind and good. To be nice to everyone. I learn how to say thank you.
Learn with me.

ableism

Gotta Love People or how not to ask questions to strangers

23:54

Every time when I in my good will reach out to people and want to believe they're not so stupid they prove me otherwise. I swear. Every. Single. Time.  

 You might've notice I was off from this blog for a month or so - mostly because Christmas happened and my family outside of me are devout Catholics so there was the whole cleaning cooking suffering ordeal (my mum was cleaning, sister was cooking and I was suffering, don't make the mistake), but also cause no matter how chill I seem on the outside, dealing with upcoming death is…depressing to say at least. I got a little bit antisocial, a little bit sleepy all the time and a whole lot sad. Oh, and I stopped showering, that too.

 Anyway, I’ve been forced to postpone my depression to after midterms, because uni doesn't discriminate and no matter how Dying you are you gotta study. And sometimes beg. Yesterday it was the latter, and I was forced to meet my sculpture teach who somehow cannot understand the term “accommodation” and forces me to do sculptures in clay I literally cannot do cause of my shitty hands and muscle loss in arms. So I went to beg her to let me pass somehow, cause I'm in no way gonna be a sculptor, I just need this goddamn course so I can happily live as a painter slash high school teacher. Ya feel me.

 As I arrived to the uni building, and my uni is intersected into three (or four? Could be wrong) different buildings, I found out, surprise surprise, a staircase with no elevator, even tho the teach said the building is accessible but again maybe that word is also not in her vocabulary not gonna judge. So I was happily and calmly (oh the joys of opiates treatment) in the corridor when this older gentleman spotted me. He was busy boring some poor other student to death, but she went out so it was me - the next victim. 

 And you see, no matter how salty I am on this blog, in real life I'm like the most polite, gentle girl ever. What bites me in the ass quite often but what can you do when you were raised by a woman who apologizes for existing and also is moderately autistic in this quiet, a little bit withdrawn way. I'm a daughter of my own mother and so I am like that too, and also autistic as well, so there wasn't much hope for me. 

 The guy started asking if I'm a student and he seemed just okay-ish in this boring way cause he cracked some unfunny jokes and in general we had a quite pleasant chat. Until. Oh until. Until he went all in, 0 to 100 real quick - and posed one of question I've never, legit never, heard asked so far, and that's an achievement considering bullshit I put up with everyday.

 “I suppose it's not my business but how do you pee?”

 Lol. Hint hint you were right not your business. But. I'm polite yeah? So I bite my tongue while my brain screams at me to tell him “I call ghostbusters how do you pee?” In real Alexa style, and I force this very insincere smile and say I ask mom for help.
 But you see, as I mentioned, real Alexa style would be a rude salty answer and, you see, incidentally real Alexa is me… so before I could bite my tongue again and cherish in the taste of blood, I continue “…why do you wanna watch?” He was offended, obviously, but at least I was true to myself I suppose.

 This post is basically just me telling you an anecdote of how once in my life ableism turned quite funny, but also you know, I had this thought: it's 2017 and we have internet so instead of asking rude questions to wheelchair using strangers on the streets you coulda just google them. But then I wondered: if you google it, will you get an answer? Cause I bet I'm not the only disabled person who's quite pissed (pun intended) with obnoxious strangers irl, and so I doubt anyone wants to continue the same online. 

 So. Here you go and no judgement cause you were smart and googled (or maybe you just read my blog regularly, then full judgement cause I'm fucking terrible what are you doing here).

How do disabled people pee - not paralyzed just EDS edition.
 Let's assume the bathroom is accessible - then I just hold to the railings and move myself and done.  Let's assume the bathroom is inaccessible aka your normal home bathroom for example - then that's why I carry my portable cane with me all the time, shit is tiny and fits into my backpack and it's a lifesaver when I need to get to a place wheelchair won't fit.

 Here you go, mystery solved! So many spoonies saved from obnoxious creeps! Nah just kidding obnoxious creeps don't google their shit. But you did and so I'm proud of you.

 And here's an advice for everyone who's abled and reading this: maybe don't ask strangers how do they pee, cause it's rude, and also they do it just like yourself.

 Since it's midterms and since I'm typing it waiting for my ride to my piano class, I'll just fuck off now. Have nice January people and to lucky polish ones who start winter break soon you're awful awful people and I envy you cause guess who's finals are going through whole January AND February, unbelievable I know.  

 Kiss kiss bye bye and see you next post.

ableism

On narratives about dying

03:03

Hey guys! I'm glad you stuck around.
I got a bit behind with posts cause my life went hectic lately.
I only have a short PSA before we get started

I have been told my family read this blog. And now it puts me in a peculiar situation where I am wondering about if what I'm saying is gonna anger someone. And that... that is not how I can be a good activist, when I keep wondering about hurting someone's feelings.
So, if you are reading my posts, and you're my family, and you have something to say: feel free. But in all honesty? I am not gonna care.

I had an unexpected death happen in my family last week. Which in itself is horrible. My mum is devastated, I am shocked, we're all just very very sad. I do not want to, or am allowed to, talk about it more, so just please believe me I am truly sad and mourning. But I also have things to say, and I realize I may seem cold or uncaring here - but that is not the case.

Because what the things happening recently also did, is silenced my narrative about death and dying.
Since I found out I'm ill and I have about 10 expected years of being abled enough to function actively as I do now, and about 20 to live in general, I became very loud and outspoken in the question of ableism narratives in how we treat dying people.
Because... I started to feel pretty alone. The only person I could tell about my fears and pain, and shock, about my time being so constricted and short, was my therapist. One short hour a week was not nearly enough, when I started to have trouble sleeping and felt so empty, so scared.
And what I want you to understand is I do not blame anyone here and I am sad about the dead person (I ask you to respect my mum’s privacy, as she asked me not to say anyone about what happened) but I also feel like I'm suffocating. Talking at home is not really an option - not only is my mum in mourning, so it would be unbelievably cruel of me to talk about my death to add to it all - but she is also in very active denial about what's happening. And everyone has coping methods, right? So I decided to accept hers.

Generally, my friends (and in general people I talked about it to) make it into two categories when I tell them about my prognosis:
One is pity. The “oh no you poor thing” kind. The “but I'm sure they'll come up with a way to treat you soon!” Kind. And I do understand it's hard for them, I do understand it's awkward and you don't really know what to say. I've been there and I am in no way perfect. But this is silencing me. The “it will be fine” thing is silencing.
The other is fake cheerful. The “it's a lot of time still!” one. And honestly, I like this one better. It's at least acknowledging it's actually happening.
Because I do not look for a perfect reaction here. I just look for someone to listen to me.
And I am scared. I am sad. I am so so angry! Why is it happening to me? What did I do? It's so not fair!
I wanted to have children. I can't, and with the disability I have I cannot even adopt if I don't have an abled partner. But I won't see my eventual kids grow up. I'll die when they're in their teens, and it'll traumatize them! There is not a good option here!
Please let me cry, please listen to me when I rant. I don't know what to say either, but I need you to try to understand.

My life kinda halted its course now. I'm not sure I want to do uni, what for exactly? I won't even use my degree. I'm not sure what I want to do with my time and I feel it running out.
Sometimes I wish I was dead already, or I want to commit suicide just to get it over with. Funny, no? I'm scared of death so much I wanna die.
And at the same time… I feel really empty. Like it's not actually happening. I'm pretty sure this is what shock looks like? And I am so very tired of it.
I'm actually starting to understand how serious my illness it, it hit me all at once when my parents (my dad is a cardiologist) started talking about possible heart surgeries for me. It's scary, and it's exhausting to be scared all the time.

This post is a plea.
Maybe there's someone in my position near you. Maybe it is you.
Listen. Listen to your dying friends and relatives about how they feel. Let them talk if they want to talk. Don't suffocate us in silence.
We are so very tired of being silenced.

I hope maybe I lit a light in someone, or in you, to help someone like me. Cause the truth is… we're all around you. Most of us just don't start talking anymore, we've been ignored so many times.

On the end of this post is an update: thank you all for prayers and thoughts for my gran, she is okay and surgery went well. I am so very grateful for your help.

I know most of people reading this blog are my friends, and so I wanted to thank you for being interested in what is in my head. For wanting to listen to me. For taking your time to actually think about me.
W., the meeting with you made me so endlessly happy and let me find optimism in me. Cause it you care about me, and cared all this time, and we didn't even talk for years, and we wasn't even close in high school, if you didn't forget me or think me as pathetic - maybe people are good. Maybe it was that I am surrounded by negativity, but there is light out there in people like you.
Usually after seeing someone I come home and cry, but after seeing you I was smiling. I need more people like you in my life and thank you for giving me hope.

***

ableism

On abled people - once again

09:47

Blogging with Alex - your everyday dose of angry screaming!  

 Okay, I wanna start with thanks to everyone who messages me about this blog. You guys keep this angry lesbian going, I wouldn't have any motivation without you. You're great. Kisses to you.  

 And shoutout to my dad’s girlfriend who’s stalking me on social media! I wonder of you found me here as well?  

 Today is one of the shittiest days of my life. And considering my past that is a huge thing. You see, there are days when I’m happily and patiently enduring abled people's antics.  
Today is not that day.

 Sure, every time I go out with my dad it's An Adventure, so I shouldn't really expect anything else, but apparently life can still surprise me.
 Today my dear father told a person helping me with opening door..not to help me. Which proves further he still doesn't believe me that I'm actually, you know, slowly dying.
But hey, it's not like we spoonies have to prove our disability over and over again! It's not like I carry my geneticist opinion with me everywhere! And my disability ID! Not at all!
 Except we totally do and I totally am.   

 We have to prove ourselves all the fucking time. Everyone around thinks we’re faking for social benefits.  Ask any disabled person and you’ll learn that those so called benefits are literally nonexistent (I just learned it's actually nonexistent and not “unexistent”. Huh. The joys of foreign speaker.).

 Abled people want our things. They want our bathroom, our ramps, our accessibility devices. Everyone around me keeps saying I only have my iPad cause I wanted a new toy.  Since i got it along with my stylus, I relearned how to draw, I started writing my novel and new fics again, I actually am able to take notes on lectures and I, reading books again cause I finally can hold it. All in less than two weeks.
 But the thing is people don't want to see. They don't want to see my progress and be happy with me, they choose to be jealous over accessibility devices I have.
I've got people saying that I'm lucky I cant take care of myself cause I don't have to worry about future. They don't understand that I do. I have to. More than them. I have to deal with fact I'll be dead before 50. You will never understand how that feels unless you're dealing with that. I dread everyday, cause I'm on a countdown. Not to mention I have no one to take care of me in case something happened to my mum. I literally will be left to die.
 But hey, I don't have to worry about finding a job!  

 You see, you all want our stuff without taking actual disability, you don't want wheelchair, shitty hands, pain, dying. You just wanna nice stuff.  

 And I know I've written about this before and I'm repeating myself. But maybe, just maybe, it'll stick with someone. It'll change someone. So I'll keep saying that.  

 On the other news, uni started today and I still have no idea what I should do. On Wednesday I'm supposed to try to meet some of my teachers..and beg them to let me work from home?  The thing is, begging…well. It's not my style. I'm more of a “you won't get me accessible classroom, I will see ya in court” person. So. Await updates on my hopeless case. 

 And if you're religious could you maybe pray for my gran? She's having a major surgery and I'm really scared she won't make it.   

 Thank you for all your support. 

ableism

on acessibilities

04:24

Today, guys, I’m gonna keep it short. We have several stuff to talk about, thanks to people messaging me about this blog. And me? I am mad and I am bitter – so the usual.
Let me start with my fave one.

I hate abled people.

If you ever used the disabled parking spot, this post is for you specifically. Offended? Suck my dick.

It all started with my hands going bad. I used to use my laptop for everything, as writing by hand became impossible about a year ago. But hey, we live in the age of internet, so I’m gonna be fine. Right? Wrong.

About a month ago I started having trouble typing. On a good day, after twice the dose amount of oxy, it was…kinda…possible. Today, for example, I’m typing with my fingers taped and after what I think was 40mg of oxycodone, and later some blessed soul will beta my typos. Team work, guys.

The thing is, I’m starting uni soon, and while I’m gonna study most classes at home, there are two I’m gonna attend. And I cannot take notes.

Along with mum we decided to buy me an ipad. Ya know, I’ll be able to record stuff, notes are easier done typing on screen, this stuff. Also drawing on better days. But for me and my unemployed single mother of two it’s a HUGE thing to spend 2k on a tablet. Or anything, really. We had our gas almost cut last month and it didn’t happen only cause the guy was a good guy and saw me on wheelchair and took pity. Hashtag wheelchair privileges I suppose.
I have a rich dad. Maybe not insanely rich, but positively loaded. Said dad is abusive asshole too, and perpetual child support avoider. Also tax fraud. You get my vibe.
Yea, you guessed that, I gritted my teeth and begged dad for help. Hence my rant.

You see, when a disabled person gets accommodations, literally EVERYONE wants to use it, steal it, take it away. I got to uni and everyday have to wait cause someone with two working legs is going on my ramp. Someone abled is using my accessible toilet so I peed myself couple of times. People take places in my queue spots. Not to mention the usual, aka parking spots. You get my vibe.

They – you! – want my accessibility and “cool stuff” without actual disability.

So I have this to say to you: TAKE IT. Take my pain, my not working legs, take my loose joints and constant headache. Take my hands I cannot use anymore and my fucked future I dread. Take my inability to get to uni classes and a grocery shop. Take my hand ache from wheelchair. Take uneven pavements. Take it! It’s yours! And then you can also have my cool tablet, my cool chair, my toilets and spots.

Cause guess what? I need it! To live! To survive! Like you do every day without even thinking! To be on the same level as you! And yet I never am, am I? Cause you take everything and then leave me to literally die, refusing my disability level and welfare.
So. Wanna my stuff? Take my pain too.

--------------------------------------------------------------

One thing done. Now the other.
I do not approve of people who sexualize me and this blog. I talk about sexuality and masturbation and sex FOR DISABLED PEOPLE WHO NEED TO HEAR IT. I write for people who need to be empowered. Not for you to jerk it! So stop messaging me how hot is it that I masturbate. I don’t wanna hear it and I don’t want you. I’m gay, always was and always will be. That means NO MEN. I’m a lesbian and I won’t sleep with you. It’s not the purpose of this blog. Come on guys, let’s behave like adults. I know I’m sexy, you know I’m sexy, we do not need to talk about something that is obvious and established.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I’m pretty bad lately with my back going worse and since it’s hard to type lying flat in bed I’m not sure when the next update will be. Sorry. Hopefully tablet will let me write more often.

And also, if any if you are reading this and need to talk to me, to just rant, to address something I wrote or not at all, I am available at bitterlesbiangrandma.tumblr.com, hit me up at private messenger. I know some things are not to be said in comments here, so you can talk to me there.

And in the end, thank you for being so warm and positive about me writing this blog. I hope I managed to at least entertain someone, if not teach or empower. It means a lot you appreciate it.


ableism

on giving non self sufficient folks a voice

03:18


There comes a time I wonder, really really Wonder, why am I an activist. Why do I give huge part of me to strangers on the internet. Why do I out myself, tell you everything about me. When like 99% of you either do not care, or care from a completely wrong standpoint, seeing me as nothing as a freak and short time entertainment.

Well, the thing is that here, on this forgotten part of the web, I get to speak for the most forgotten. I am the voice for non self-sufficient disabled people who will never tell you all the things I’m telling you – just because in other ways, we can’t.

I ditched tumblr. I’m gonna give my address to friends and say goodbye. Why? Cause I stopped doing good there, and harm was done to me.
This is not any huge thing, or tumblr drama, so if you’re here for that you can with safe conscience close the tab – I’m not gonna say anything shocking. What I’m gonna talk is about how reality as not self-sufficient person looks like. How everyday looks like. You didn’t see it on this blog, lost in topics I thought more important. In all honesty – they are. But I am just so so tired, so please take a moment to read.

In reality, everyday, we are spoken over. By more independent disabled folks even, or just, like all of us spoonies, by abled people. I heard so many times “I am disabled too so I’ll say what I want”. And okay. Go say whatever you want. I can’t make you change.
What I can do is tell you my truth.

You open my page, whether Instagram on tumblr or whatever else, and you see a smiling, glamorous Alex. Face in makeup, colorful clothes, heels. You read about my travel, my last trip to cinema, my new shopping. You read about me being excited about uni.

Well. That is one side. Side I want you to see. In any shoot you see, behind my smiling face in hip wheelchair, is my sister typing the message under the pic for me when my hands won’t cooperate. There’s my mum helping me sit on the toilet. There’s both of them holding a bowl when I puke in the mornings. They fasten my bra, hold me up so I could do my makeup with all assistive devices in the world. They push my chair cause wheeling myself on non-automatic thing will break my bones or dislocate my joints. They check if I breathe cause I took so many pills and went to sleep not to feel bone pain reaching 10. There’s a whole shelf of meds and whole team of doctors. There’s a list of prescriptions longer than all my job applies.

There’s a paper I just got stamped as “completely unable to work, completely unable to function in society without everyday help.”
Guys. I’m 22. And I cannot take a shit without help.

But I am lucky. First, I have good days like ones you see, when I can even do my hair myself and go out without passing out. I am coherent – I can speak clearly and I even sign. I am deemed sane, which means my medical consent (usually) counts. And I have a blog where I can speak up.

If you have disability, you’re valid. You should have a voice, and your voice should be heard.
But please, make space in the community, and please give voice to folks like me.
Who won’t work. Won’t be useful. Will never leave alone, will never be independent. Will never make money for themselves. Will be family-tied and so will never be able to live as who they are – either trans, gay, or do the work they want to do.

You know, my lifelong dream is being a wheelchair bound cam girl. Or wheelchair bound porn star. I love sex, I love talking as sex-positive blogger and activist, I love telling you about disabled sex. But I also want to show you.

Well, here’s for dreams to never come true I suppose.

If you walk, don’t speak for those who can’t. If you see, don’t speak for the blind, if you hear don’t speak for Deaf.
I can only speak for myself, and I can’t even speak for all EDS folks! I’ll never try to say a Deaf person I know better their struggle – cause I don’t.

So why do you think you know better how I feel? Stop.

Maybe if some of you tried to listen, you’d hear totally awesome things! Cause we, not contributing to the society people, are awesome.

And I feel bad for those who will never know us, cause their prejudice won’t let them.
***


ableism

On my gender being "a wheelchair woman".

17:50


 You know, if usually I’m a mess, then since these last two weeks I am A Mess. I would look for an excuse why I wasn’t writing any posts, but the truth is I’m ill and it’s the best excuse you can have. Chronic fatigue and pain kicked my ass and I caught costochondritis (google it, honestly, it’s an awful illness we EDS folks catch like a common cold. It’s my second one in last three months.) which tied me to bed running on aspirin and oxycodone, so I was in no shape to write. I still am, to be completely honest, but I had to share my thoughts on this lovely topic. Lovely being high sarcasm.

Blowing my college fund completely, I got a Smart Wheels-like wheelchair. I ordered it in February, but it was ready just this Monday. It enabled me to go out much more than I used to, taking the strain of wheeling, which was becoming unbearable on my hands, from me. And I am now seeing the “casual world” (in opposition to the world I saw on rental chair, only hospitals and clinics, and once a park) from the perspective of a person on wheelchair. And oh do I see things.

Month ago I took part in wonderful interview, the one I mentioned before, on topic of disability in queer women. Among other things, my interviewer said one things, that I now tested very painfully in reality.


Women [whether cis or trans] on wheelchairs [I’d add that with visible disability in general] are perceived as a completely different, new gender. Gender that is robbed of any sexuality, is completely non-sexual. They’re no longer women, they’re a different species that is seen as unable to be understand. [paraphrasing, obviously, as I do not possess any transcript of the session]


And we are. We totally are. I saw it before, to less extend, but now I see it in full light.

It can be small – like total lack of male gaze on us ( meaning sexually objectifying gaze), sudden lack of romantic proposals at all, no dates, no interest in us. I’m a fairly attractive young woman. Hell, I’m gorgeous. I’m also fairly intelligent, charming, cute, funny. Before my disability became visible, I had people “in real life” crushing on me, asking me out and so on. Now, as a wheelchair girl, the only people interested in me are people I met online, who got to know my personality first, before meeting me and seeing my body. Men do not stare at me as they did before – which for me as a gay woman is genuinely nice, but still proves the point. I can both feel it, and had people say that they noticed it too.

It can be a bit worse – as people treating our bodies as a public property, touching the way they wouldn’t touch an abled person, asking inappropriate questions. As doctors seeing out bodies as sexless. As health providers suddenly forgetting we have sex lives. As people being confused we are sexually active or even not-asexual at all.

You probably wouldn’t grop a stranger woman’s body in public, would you? I had people, regardless of gender, who did, who even went as far as casually touching my boobs. But I shouldn’t mind, should I? After all I’m not a sexual being at all so why would I mind someone touching my private places. (I wanna specify: I do not think breasts are sexual organs, they’re for babies. But in general, they’re perceived as a rather intimate part of the body.)

When at the first time I applied for disability, I got a doctor who had no idea what EDS was, and from just looking at me told me I’m a nice girl and should go marry and have babies and not “want to” be disabled. The second time, the same doctor, I had a card from my usual doctor providing all the details on my illness and how it stops me from various aspects of life, as studying, working, driving a car etc. This time? I was not a nice girl anymore, I was just a broken body. The difference was literally so palpable my dad thought we both went crazy suddenly cause it cannot be real.

It can also be my favorite type of ableism aka “I could never date a girl on a wheelchair”. Or even better, followed by “you’re cool tho, no offence”.

No offence taken, obviously you cannot see me as a sexual being, as a hypothetical girlfriend, as I am made of metal pieces and wheel gears and I do not possess a sexual body at all.

You see, I was only out a couple of times and I have more than a dozen of these stories to tell. I am literally the other gender now, I am invisible at best and outward hated at worst. I am not seen as a woman, as a future mother, future teacher, future lover, no, I am sexless, I am completely washed of any sexuality.

You see, I’m a rape survivor with severe PTSD, I am also accidentally a person on asexual spectrum, whether those two things are connected I’m trying to find out by therapy. But even I, not being terribly enthusiastic about sex, do actually mind this. Very much.

I am a woman. And I want to be seen as one. I want to be seen as a sexual being cause I am a sexual being. I am not fond of being treated as a little child.

So to y’all who could never date a girl on a wheelchair. Look at your reasons why so. We’re people just like you. Girls, I am just a girl, just like you. I am sexual like you. I wanna have sex like you – with you. I’m not a different gender.


I’m just a human being. Extremely tired, bitter human being.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 28th of July I turned 22. I can't believe I'm 22 and still have to blog about this shit. Two decades of my life and we still have ableism. Yikes.
Anyway, happy birthday to me.

ableism

on "allies"

00:24

A/N: Unedited post. All mistakes are mine and I'm sorry.

---------------------------------------------------

You know, this was gonna be a different post. I actually almost finished it. But then I checked facebook, cause I’m a chronic procrastinator. And thus, this post was born.

I disappeared for a while from here, cause a lot of things were happening at once. One of them is both fucking amazing and fucking sad – I got professionally diagnosed by geneticist with advanced EDS type 1, meaning two things: I will get highest disability benefits, and my health is a fucking disaster. I won’t walk again, my hands are deteriorating quickly. Dealing with diagnosis is going…well, badly is one word. I’m trying my best, but a lot of times I’m just very sad and tired.

Most of times, I try to avoid social media outside of tumblr, which is my “safe place” where all disability-related tags are blocked. I try not to think. But couple of things happening made me make an angry post on facebook, calling out people who only help disabled folks (focusing on wheelies) to make themselves feel better. You know the type, right? Yeah.

You see, lately my mum, who is my caretaker at home, all the time, 7 days a week, went to job-related course. My mum is unemployed, and tries to find a job for a long time now, so it’s great! Less great is that no one from my family actually helped, so she had to leave me alone at home. And it was bad. 4 days now, twice I had to almost call an ambulance, and once I fell from pain and couldn’t get up. I’m not fitted to be home alone, and it makes me angry, of course it does, I’m a grown woman and I really wish I could be independent. But I’m not.

I have two aunts, I have a father and my father have a huge family, but no one agreed to help. Cause they all pretend I’m not sick. I’m bitter as fuck so I’m gonna leave this aside, and focus on what I wanted to say.

I made the post about this family, but hey, it was typical angry vagueing, I didn’t mention anyone. And lo and behold, one of my aunts jumps, angry, asking who do I have in mind.
And, you see, it’s where this post brings us. To people like my aunt.

I can’t really judge my aunt, as her disabled daughter died almost 3yrs ago. She definitely knows the struggle – of a parent.

She doesn’t know the struggle of a disabled person, so she can’t put her opinion here.

You cannot say you’re a good ally, good family member, when you actively avoid helping someone who asked for help. You just aren’t. You can’t just help us to make yourself feel better when YOU need it. You gotta help when WE need it. Got it?

When I’m on my chair and you’re a caretaker you don’t push me or give me stuff when YOU think I need them, or when it’s comfy for you. You listen to ME.

So, in short: if you only help when you feel like it, you’re a shitty ally.

You can’t call and ask if I need help and when I say I do say you’re busy. It doesn’t work this way.

To my family: fuck you.

To you, my abled readers: please don’t be like that. We depend on your help.

To my spoonie readers: my heart is with you.


Alex out. Cause I’m too angry to continue.

ableism

on dating

09:15

After three years of avoiding anything even remotely related to love and romance, I decided to go back to dating scene.

And I did what every polish lesbian does when in need of meeting new people. I got Tinder account.

This post is not about my dating adventures though. It’s about how dating when you’re disabled looks from the inside.

And it’s not pretty.    
                         
After ditching so many possible candidates who, curiously enough, disappeared among finding out I’m on a wheelchair, I actually met couple of nice girls. In a mess of uni finals and me being constantly sick or in the ER, I managed to schedule a meeting.

And I got tachycardia syndrome linked to drop od potassium level, and landed in the ER for the whole day. Hospital Glam aside, I was pretty disappointed, especially that after that flop our conversations kinda ceased.

I kept talking to others, and liking one girl in particular (shhhh it’s not a crush!) I decided to meet. We’re meeting tomorrow. And here’s what I have to say.

Dating me, and even wanting to be my new friend, you have to realize one thing: you are also dating my disability. You’re dating my wheelchair. And my illness. It comes in the packet.

I’ll probably cancel couple of meeting due to pain being too bad, catching costochondritis for the 10th time this year, or sudden ER emergency.

If that sounds bad for you, if you’re gonna make me feel bad for that, here’s the news for you: you’re an ableist. Surprise!

But it’s not only that.

To get to the meeting, I have to beg. I, like lots of disabled folks, have abusive caretakers. My mum, who cares about me 24/7, is disabled herself, and due to that doesn’t drive. My dad, who drives, is abusive. Hence, being unable to take a bus myself, not having another caretaker, I have to beg my father for help. Cue him humiliating me, putting me down, and sometimes flat out refusing to help.

It happened today, and I still cringe from some stuff he said. And I’ll have to put up with him being the worst caretaker in the world.

You may be curious now, why do I, 21yrs old grown woman, need a caretaker. What does actually a caretaker do. I’m here to provide an answer: being on a wheelchair you need someone with you, to help you on pavements, push you up if the road is steep, handle you things that are too high (like in shops), and so on and so on. For me, with my hands being affected too, I need constant help because I can’t wheel myself for a lots of times. I also can’t just stand up when my chair won’t go through certain terrain. You got me? I need someone to help me with stuff my body will refuse to do.

But let’s say I got to the meeting. Caretaker is out, leaving me with my date. If we want to be actually alone, my date must take the role of caretaker. Even if she’s good at that, imagine how I feel, with an almost stranger taking care of me in this intimate fashion? Pretty fucking embarrassed is the word.

As a wlw (woman loving women) I also have to deal with homophobia that is sure to affect me, and pretty goddamn scary after last events.

And then starts the whole “do we match, do we have something to talk about, do we like each other” stuff.

As usually on this blog, I Am Bitter. I am already tired before I even went out. Instead of being excited about the meeting, I am embarrassed, tired, and scared.

Glamorous life on the wheelchair. Places are inaccessible, people are rude and ableist, I am in pain.

I usually have some ideas what to change so the situation would improve, but without whole societal change here, we can’t reach anything. People’s attitude needs to change, we need accessibility and more ways to get rid of abuse in families containing disabled people, because the ways we have aren’t working. Without that change, all disabled girls, and boys, and nonbinary people, will still have problems connecting, meeting new people, finding love.

I want to be that change.

But I also just want to be 21, love women, enjoy summer and be happy tomorrow.

And while losing my health, I also lost that.


And this is so fucking sad. 

ableism

On being nice

23:51

On Monday, I was assigned a committee meeting to finally get my disability papers. Like, you know, parking spot, welfare, refund to my wheelchair and stuff like that.

I dressed all nice, but not too nice, took my documents, put on all 7 braces I needed this day, hopped to the car and off I go. And that’s where the tumblr-worthy drama started.
I took my dad with me as a caretaker, even though he is, to be frank, a shitty one. But no one else was available.

So I enter the doctor’s office, get usual checkup, doctor is being an asshole but it’s nothing I didn’t expect, I start to explain I have EDS but I don’t have papers yet for it cause I’m waiting and…

“Get up from your chair, I know it may hurt but I want to see you walk.”

Well, you see, as I may limp a bit around house, where I know my mum is always next to me to catch me, I do not “walk” anymore. I had, and sadly still have, my both ankles twisted, my knee which likes to move on its own dislocated again, and just before going out my hip popped off, which not being dangerous or anything was still quite painful. I knew standing up meant falling down, and was sure neither Dr. Asshole or my dad wouldn’t catch me.

“Um. I don’t stand up.” I said. You see, I might been a bit defensive on this point, but nothing to explain Dr. Asshole’s later behavior.

“What do you mean you don’t stand up, I want to see you walk.”

“Well, I don’t. I don’t walk.”

“Move to the sitting place then.”

So I did, holding up on my better leg and better hand, arranged my skirt nicely around me and I sit. Doctor is wincing. I move back to my wheelchair.

“Well I’m gonna need a psychiatric evaluation. I don’t believe you. You may be faking.”

At this point I look expectantly at my dad but he does nothing. I remember I am supposed to be nice to get the papers I need, I bite my teeth so hard my jaw pops, and leave.

I go to the bathroom and that’s where it hits me.

Fuck being nice.

I do not exist to make abled people feel comfortable. I do not exist to make abled people feel good. I exist to make myself feel good. And who even said I need to be nice in the first place? Because I’m a woman and he’s a man? Fuck that too!

And, you see, I am not a person to be quiet when angry. So I leave the bathroom and I start yelling at my dad. I see the office’s doors are open and I yell even louder that the whole committee is a bag of unwashed dicks and Dr. Asshole needs to get his head out of his ass. And that I demand to be explained why psych evaluation.

The doctor leaves his office at this point. He tells me to be quiet and that I am being inappropriate, that I could fail a complain but this is not a time nor a place for me to shout.

So I shout some more.

At the point that I leave, he was called a fucker, an ableist and an entitled idiot (all true). My dad comes back to apologize, and, to be completely honest, I stand on the pavement and cry.

But my point is: disabled people don’t exist for you to feel good. We are not required to be nice. We have all right to fight for themselves. And we have all right to call you out on your bad behavior.

Was I rude? Probably, yes. I am not even gonna put it on BPD, I was just very mad and very tired of being walked over. But am I proud of myself? YES. For standing up for myself. For refusing to stand up.

So – fuck everyone who tells you to be nice. You are not required to be nice. Honestly? NO ONE is required to be nice, whether abled or disabled. You do not exist to provide pleasant experiences to people around you.

Be bold. Scream. Stand up for yourself. Be loud, take space. Don’t let them shut you up. YOU are who is important and YOU is who is worth fighting for.

So fight.


***

ableism

On hapiness.

20:50

I was to my new therapy, only a second meeting, when it was said.
“Well, you have to let yourself feel grief. Be scared. Be afraid.”
And it got me thinking, cause it’s not the first time I was told this when I confess I do not cry. Like, at all. Like people think I need to be scared, like it’s taken for granted I MUST be scared.

The thing is. I am *not* afraid. I worry. A lot. I overthink. I can't sleep. But I am not scared.
It's sad, when you look at it - someone so used to pain they are not scared of their whole future life being pain, worse pain. But it is what it is.
I am okay with my chair. I am happy I'm on my chair.
And that's what people can't seem to understand.

I have a stalker. My relationship, one where I ended up raped, abused, severely beaten up, was as you can imagine a rather dramatic thing, with a rather dramatic ending. I cut all the ties connecting me with my ex – except my facebook account. How do you ever chance your facebook account after something like that? I blocked her, that was all I could do.
But I forgot she had friends, simply cause for three years she didn’t let me have any. And one of her friends (at least I think it’s her friend) is actively stalking me. And by stalking I mean obsessive checking my account, liking posts, always lurking – and messaging me. I also met her couple of times outside, but she was never trying to approach me, so I let it be. 
Today my stalker found out I am on a wheelchair, and started to write a huge soliloquy about how sorry she is. And me, being my borderline self, and having no self control whatsoever, flipped my lid. Cause it’s my big pet peeve – people saying how sorry they are I am disabled. I wrote her a message, as nice and proper as I could be (which is not much usually, let’s be honest) telling that there’s no need to be sorry because I am happy, and I refuse to be treated as worse.
And she was SOOOOOO SHOCKED. She couldn’t comprehend I could be a wheelchair user – and happy. Happy??? I should be weeping, mourning my lost legs, I should be suicidal and seeking active help.

We all should, shouldn’t we? How many times had you someone expect you to be sad because you are disabled.
Surprise! I am not sad. I am happy. I live a full life, with wonderful friends, great family, travelling, hobbies, nice clothes and pretty makeup and fucking awesome wheelchair gear. I am perfectly okay with being an EDS baby. Sure, there are bad side, a shitload of them. But I am not gonna be stopped by that.
I live with chronic depression, caused by EDS. And I am not gonna be stopped by that either.

We are normal people. We live normal lives. We are happy, we are sad, we are mad, but we’re not mourning the fact we’re spoonies like society expects us to. WE ARE NOT WORSE. We are just as worthy as an abled person. It’s that simple.

I refuse to be told I am supposed to be mourning. Yesterday I got officially diagnosed with EDS hypermobile type 1 or 2. An I am celebrating, cause official diagnosis equals a whole lot of benefits. And yes, I am gonna have heart issues, I am not gonna walk again, I am gonna be in pain my whole life and I am not gonna be able to be who I wanted to be AKA teacher and interpreter cause I’m losing hearing and my hands are in very bad state already. AND I AM HAPPY. It’s May. There are flowers, I have lilacs in my room and I can feed my bunny fresh grass. I am going back to Uni in September and I have a date next week. My hair is long enough for updos and I bought killer pink-ish nail polish. I live. I am gonna live. I am gonna live till my illness kills me, but I am not gonna be sad. I am a person who happened to be born with a bad gene. So is my sister, and so is lots of my friends. And this is not who we are.

I refuse for it to define me. I do define myself as a wheelchair user or EDS baby on social sites, I do, just as I did with BPD and autism before my official diagnosis. It’s simple – easier to find people like me this way, easier to connect. That’s why I have EDS in my tinder profile – as it made me meet a great girl who also has EDS and we probably would never meet irl among thousands of people on streets of the city. But I refuse for my illnesses to decide what I can or cannot do or who I’m gonna be. You can bet your ass I am gonna try that art school before my hurting hands stop me, and I’m gonna try interpreting before I go deaf. And I’m gonna wear short sleeve even though I have huge scars and I’m gonna go out and laugh and smile even though – and BECAUSE – I am on a wheelchair.

And I am not gonna cry cause this is who I am. But there are going to be spoonies who cry. Who mourn. Who are sad and depressed BECAUSE they’re ill. But then they’re gonna go out and be happy. And that’s what I want all you abled folks there to understand. That is what you cannot fathom. We are just as whole as you, and we are just as able to have a range of emotions not connected to our disability as you do.
Cause guess what? We’re people too.

*mic drop*