Alternatives to performing live for a #disabled musician whose disability would make live performances difficult to pull off ?
The coordination issues from my dyspraxia would make it difficult to perform live. It frequently takes several attempts to get studio recordings correct due to dyspraxia. I can’t picture myself being able to perform live without likely beefing it on the fretboard several times each song. It’s not a practice thing, it’s very much a disability thing.
Well, I’ve got a job interview on Thursday to serve food with other disabled folks at the local marine base. I’m nervous because I don’t really wanna deal with all that but I did want a job that specifically hired disabled people. This one does through a nonprofit org so 🤷♀️
PSA:
Leg paralysis is not the only reason to use a wheelchair. There are a wide variety of disabilities for which a person benefits from a wheelchair, and comparatively few of them fully prevent standing and walking. It is hard to find concrete statistics, but more than half of wheelchair users are ambulatory to some extent.
Personally, I experience chronic fatigue, and to access large spaces like convention centers and universities again, I would need a wheelchair. The primary reason I don't have one yet is fear of being assaulted if someone sees me get in or out of it.
This was prompted in part by seeing someone make fun of a pedal-propelled wheelchair model. Not only was that erasing the broad category of disabled people that I belong to, but that specific product might be a good fit for me as an individual. I have naturally strong legs but struggle with arm endurance.
I'm absolutely no expert on terminology such as "internalised ableism," so it IS possible that's what I went through.
Then again, I am generally the last to recognise something in myself that others have/are, eg: being #trans, so simply not noticing I was #ActuallyDisabled is pretty on-brand for me. 🤔😂
4/x
I don't know if the elder self-identifies as #disabled, despite clearly being no longer as-abled as times' past.
AFAIK this is pretty common -- heck, even thiugh I've been #ActuallyDisabled since my pre-teen years, I never really *recognised* or *acknowledged* it until things got bad enough that I needed to start using crutches or canes.
This, despite literally requring accomodations to use typewriters for exams every term! 🙄😂
It's really easy to avoid seeing ourselves this way.
3/x
Perhaps consider seeking joy in different activities/opportunities that *go along with* ageing or changing health conditions.
#Protip: you will enjoy the life you have (healthy or otherwise) FAR better if you start recognising the things you can do or figure out mitigations to continue your favourites rather than bemoaning all you cannot do. 🙄
3/3
#disability
#ActuallyDisabled
#ChronicIllness
#Ageing
#healthcare
#health
#wellness
#accessibility
#POV
Less than $2,000 left until the Unseen/Unheard anthology is funded. Six days to go. 🫣 I would like to have a copy pleeeaaasseee.
I literally love to support my fellow #actuallydisabled creatives.
As I've mentioned practically-endlessly, I am #ActuallyDisabled and have a number of #ChronicHealth conditions to manage as well. I have been doing so for over 40 years, including surviving complex stuff like #Lupus and #BreastCancer.
Critical to my ongoing survival is to ensure I do my best to protect *me* during an ongoing pandemic where #PublicHealth has completely abdicated their purpose to protect us all.
So I wear an #ElastomericMask, everywhere.
2/x
Back in February 2024, I shared some #MaskHacking tips I'd figured out for personal use.
https://mstdn.ca/@likelyjanlukas/112006112174878006
Now it's time to update with some handy info for #healthcare situations such as, #hospitals, specifically #imaging and #dx! 😀
1/x
#MaskUp
#MaskHack
#Respirator
#AirQuality
#AirFiltration
#CovidIsNotOver
#ActuallyDisabled
#PPE
This is amazing. Not that the bus driver refused to assist a #disabled passenger, but that the driver is apparently facing workplace discipline for his actions.
Here in #Edmonton, whenever I have complained about things that have happened to me OR that I've witnessed, ETA merely assures me their drivers are "trained" for disabled passengers. 🙄
https://youtube.com/shorts/J6S1iJCrylk
#yeg
#yegtransit
#MTA
#NYC
#transit
#PublicTransit
#ActuallyDisabled
#acessibility
I'm not saying that it has been a while since I was able to clean the bathroom mirror, but I just noticed that the ghost leaving messages on it has started using #cuneiform!
👻
I ask that last bit because despite being #ActuallyDisabled most if my life, it is only in recent years that I've learned that when children who use #wheelchairs are in a #FireDrill or actual fire, they often do NOT get to #evacuate with their peers, especially if the school is multi-floor.
Instead the must wait--alone and cut off from any support--for firefighters to rescue them.
Same for adults in workplaces, actually.
Monstrous. 😡
11/x
Are those who are responsible for #EmergencyPlanning and #EvacuationOrders taking these issues into consideration? Do offline (print) materials exist? Multi-lingual translation of emergency information?
And this is not even to mention another group of folks that might be local or visiting: #ActuallyDisabled people. Are basic #accessibility features such as ramps available in evacuation centres? Emergency Rx or medical equipment support?
10/x
Good morning starshines!
I'm disabled, don't work, have no set schedule. But still, when I woke up today an hour and a half later than I usually do, I feel completely scattered and like I'm running late. Running late for what?? Cleaning the bathroom?? We all know I'm going to procrastinate on that until this afternoon anyway.
fibromyalgia is the ouroboros of disability
#actuallydisabled #chronicpain #fibromyalgia
In any case, all that aside: I DID NOT DIE!!!
😀
41/fin
#AISH
#healthcare
#ActuallyDisabled
#disability
#ChronicallyIll
#prescriptions
#Rx
#medicare
#medicine
#abhealth
I've been #ActuallyDisabled most of my life but was able to be gainfully employed as an adult until a then-public school board fired me for being #trans.
Challenging this school board for it's illegal actions through the #HumanRights commission coincided with a sudden and precipitous drop-off of calls from any other school board I worked with. A complete coincidence, no doubt. 🙄
4/x
A couple weeks' back, my pharmacy called to inform me that they were unable to process my next Rx refills via my #disability #insurance, #AISH, aka 'Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped', which is #Alberta's support programme for #ActuallyDisabled people.
2/x
I needed something today, but I'm pretty tired from having to be out and about yesterday.
'Aha!' I think, 'First, I'll check local websites and see who has it. Great!'
Except no, alas: local sources didn't carry it. ☹️
'Check Amazon!' I think, 'just in case.' And wow, they had just what I needed and DOUBLE WOW, same-day delivery!
And then … wtaf???!? Won't arrive til May 22?
😡
… which is, of course, today. The same day.
😂
