Tag: Deaf

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Disability

ASL for Autistics

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Photo © MrTinDC | Flickr / Creative Commons  [image: Bronze sculpture of hands demonstrating American Sign Language, in the visitor center at Gallaudet University.] endever* corbin anotherqueerautistic.wordpress.com To preface: I am a hearing semiverbal autistic person who is studying American Sign Language (ASL) and using it as AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). I want to talk about why ASL can be useful for some hearing autistic people. (Of course, it’s widely useful by d/Deaf/HoH people, despite oralists’ discouragement of sign languages—destroy this philosophy for all!) However, before you consider my words please look into perspectives from actual d/Deaf people, whose experiences and culture should always be centered when discussing sign languages. Here are some links to start, and there’s a more thorough list at the bottom of this article. •Dr. Vicar’s ASL instructional videos •Rikki Poynter, deaf vlogger
 •Andrew Parsons, Deaf advocate —- I formally studied ASL as a teenager before I…

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Disability

How to Plan Events That Prioritize Accessibility

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Color Communication Badges by Button Justice League, on Etsy [Image Description: Three 1.5 inch pinback buttons each with a vivid color, a bold black word and a black shape underneath the text. From left to right: a “Red” button with a octagon, a “Yellow” button with a triangle, and lastly a “Green” button with a circle.]  Lydia X. Z. Brown @autistichoya [Note from Lydia: This originally appeared on Twitter as a thread on 4 June 2018, and is an incomplete list of suggestions.] Some tips on access-centered event/program organizing/planning (some are mine; many I learned from other fabulous folks): (1) When you put information about the event online, whether on (a) a website, (b) in email announcements, or (c) social media, only include images if you include alt-text and text-only captions. (2) Don’t rely on online/email/social media to get the word out. Call people too. Many comrades with intellectual disabilities…

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Disability

Coping with a Crisis When You Have Unreliable or Intermittent Speech

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Maxfield Sparrow Unstrangemind.com Photo © Marcia Furman | Flickr/Creative Commons [image: White person with tousled medium brown hair slumped over at a restaurant table, face hidden, with sunglasses resting on the top of their head and hair.] Autistic people already know how alarming and overwhelming a crisis can be. But when we have unreliable and intermittent speech, a crisis can go beyond stressful, even becoming deadly. I’d like to share a few tips on how I’ve managed to stay alive despite intermittent speech. Sections: What is unreliable and intermittent speech? People With unreliable and intermittent speech can help others in emergencies What to do when you are in a crisis and need to contact someone  Text someone you know or a professional helper Use TTY/Relay to contact someone Use an AAC over the telephone Use the Text Crisis Line How to interact with others during a crisis Decide whether and…

Disability

Comparative Misery and a Born-Again Buddhist

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Stacey Ashlund sashlund.posterous.com I have experienced what Slate’s Tim Wu calls That Misery Called Meditation. So much in the press these days claims we should all start meditating, and it has such a positive profound effect. It’s inexpensive, anyone can do it anywhere, and it’s the antidote to our busy stressed-out overly-technical lives. But some of us don’t have time, and most of just don’t want to sit and do nothing — it sounds stupid and boring. We have more interesting things to do with our time. I like Wu’s article because it reads like a male chapter out of Eat Pray Love. Any implications I’d heard or imagined about that self-indulgent woman being a fluffy time-waster who thinks too much, talks too much, and writes too much — as in, “Why doesn’t she settle down and get a real life with a house, a job, a car, etc?,” is…