I had the honor and privilege to be invited to the 2025 NADSP conference, Elevate, in Buffalo, NY. I had never been to the East coast before this trip. I got to be in Canadian waters and see Niagara falls! Presenting was amazing and I made amazing connections. One of the best experiences I have had to date, and I got to experience with my partner in crime and best friend, my hubby. Niagara Falls is breathtaking and the pictures don’t do it justice. Here are some pictures from our trip.
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
Octavia is hands down my favorite author of all time and she predicated the future we are now living. She had a brilliant mind and wasn’t appreciated like she should have been when she was living. I am trying to introduce as many people as possible to her books because she is amazing. She writes speculative fiction, but also Afrofuturism. She was one of the pioneers who established the genre!
When injustice becomes more important than love for our fellow humans, we have lost our humanity. That humanity is what makes us critical thinkers and creators. We have to get back to this somehow.
All we can do is go through life with love. I am going to practice this daily, with a spoonful of gratitude. I will continue to fight injustice. Always remember “when I justice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”.
Today marks the start of Disability Pride Month! To my fellow disabled humans, we are going to make it through this if we keep fighting- like we always have.
Try to do something to celebrate this month even though it feels difficult to do so right now.
Here are some reminders from our Mother of Disability Rights- Judy Heumann:
“Change never happens at the pace we think it should. It happens over years of people joining together, strategizing, sharing, and pulling all the levers they possibly can.”
“Part of the problem is that we tend to think that equality is about treating everyone the same, when it’s not. It’s about fairness. It’s about equity of access.”
#Bethechange
#disabilitypridemonth
#disability
My husband and I have made so many mistakes and so many great choices together. Just like any good relationship that is human, right? Since my Mom passed away, I have been very reflective and nostalgic. All the feels.
I am now 40-years-old and I have purchased and sold a house. Not uncommon at my age, however, for my generation it hasn’t been a very easy thing to accomplish. Numbers and Facts. I have worked VERY hard for everything I have. I was a bit spoiled as a child being either the youngest or only child at times. It’s complicated.
I definitely have trauma from my childhood, most people have at least 1 ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences). My score is about a 4 or 5 out of 9. Luckier than some, unluckier than many. I also grew up with a tremendous amount of privilege being white and I am not at all afraid to admit and acknowledge that.
I am so proud of who I am at 40. I have been a crappy human many times in my life especially when I was just a young and bright eyed young adult. I didn’t make time always for the people I should have and made stupid decisions like many of us. I self-medicated because I didn’t want to feel all the feels while dealing with everything my Mom went through. I wasn’t ready to unpack my trauma and process. I definitely wasn’t ready to acknowledge that I was living with a severe Mental “illness”. I hid it as best I could because I saw how my Mom was treated by so many- especially those that claimed to be family. Disgusting.
I also had no idea I was AuDHD and that term didn’t exist. That means I am both Autistic and I have AdHD. Terms and diagnoses serve a purpose but really I am just very very very Neurodivergent. That means my brain diverges from what is considered “normal”. DUH. It seems so obvious now. I had sensory issues I didn’t understand and did some “weird” behaviors. NO idea if they were noticed and ignored or just not noticed.
The most interesting thing is that family have told me that I was like a motor you couldn’t turn off. My Mom kept me VERY busy with sports and activities, so awesome job Mom. I played instruments and picked it up easily. I could play any sport I tried pretty much but was awesome at Basketball and Softball/Baseball. I did well in school- often testing at high school or college level in grade school apparently from what I was told by my Mom. I was always moving and had a hard time sitting still which is more common with boys with AdHD. Then there are the symptoms that are not noticed in girls usually. When people describe me as a child I sound like a boy with AdHD via stigma. What the?!?
The reason (one of) why Autism diagnoses have increased so much is because there used to be 2 separate categories. There was those with Asperger’s and those with ASD (Autism Spectrum “Disorder”). Asperger’s was used to describe those people that were highly intelligent but also struggled with social situations like those with ASD. Then after more research they discovered just how much of a spectrum ASD belongs on.
Now we just call any experience of Autism above a certain score on the very long test- ASD. So, combining said diagnoses practically doubled the prevalence. Also, because of research via Neuroscience and other sciences, we now understand ASD even better. We have learned that Women experience Autism a bit differently and internalize and mask due to stereotypes and stigma of how a girl “should” act.
Anyway, just wanted to share a bit about my Autism journey and some of the science behind ASD.
How have so many humans fallen so far from grace? The word grace means:
- Simple elegance or refinement of movement
- Courteous goodwill
- Do honor or credit to (someone or something) by one’s presence
There are certain groups in the United States that claim to live and breathe these concepts and yet those same people are doing the EXACT opposite. For those of you who dig Jesus, he would be absolutely appalled by your actions. Jesus preached about love, acceptance, and charity. Jesus washed the feet of someone considered to be the lowest form of human you can be, and he did it with love, compassion, and grace. When the idiots still weren’t understanding his message, he went into the temples and turned over tables in anger. Yes, even Jesus got angry and upset and threw fits. Jesus was pissed because he was like my dudes did you not hear me? I want you to love everyone and not be a terrible religion like the Romans who are slaughtering the humans I love.
Personally, I believe the Bible is half history book and half guidebook full of metaphor. There is nothing Holy about it anymore than me claiming Lord of the Rings or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is Holy. See, it is either all true or it’s all just stories. You can’t pick and choose which books have purpose and meaning and matter. Norse gods are real, Egyptian, African, and every other culture that is OLDER than yours. Why? Because you are just a little tiny human and it’s arrogant to claim you know for sure where every human is going. The concept of hell was stolen from a much more ancient belief system that belongs to Pagans. However, it wasn’t anything like what you claim. In fact, almost every single aspect of your belief is stolen from others.
You can’t claim to be a Christian if you choose not to be “Christ” like because that is literally the meaning of the word. If you support Trump, you are against Jesus and everything he taught you. That means you are ignorant about your own belief and that makes me so sad for you. If you would just pick up some books, you too could understand your own belief system and then maybe you can be a good human that Jesus would be proud of instead of shaking his head.
Also, Elaine… I don’t have grace, I don’t need grace, I don’t even say grace. I had to reference this otherwise I wouldn’t be me. 😆
I was getting ready for the day and this idea for a graphic came to me. What do you think? I might use this in a cultural awareness and disability training I am currently creating. This shows my journey over the last decade! I love the person I have become. THIS is what my Mom and my Grammy and people with disabilities and mental health struggle just like ME, taught me. We won’t ever be silenced again! Trump, we are coming for you, ***hole.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in the 2025 NO KINGS Protest. Eugene, OR had thousands of people. This is just the beginning but we made history.
NO KINGS NO MASTERS
Impeach Trump
Have you ever seen a child or adult with autism stand at the door with their bags packed even though it might be hours or days before the trip is happening?
Here is how that translates into adulthood with AuDHD. My logical brain knows that we are moving in the middle of July. However, my emotional brain kicks in combined with executive functioning differences. So, I have nights like tonight where I am struggling to get to sleep because I am ready to pack my bags and boxes and put them by the front door, so everyone knows I am ready to move. It’s hilarious and sad at the same time because trauma plays into this a lot, but the humor comes from how silly it can seem from the outside.
My brain is ready to close one chapter and start another. While my logical brain says ok slow down, we have to plan and do tasks to get there. My emotional brain says this situation has been traumatic and I want to leave it behind.
When I was a kid and I was excited about someone coming to visit, I would stand with my face against the glass waiting for them to turn around the corner into the cul-de-sac I lived in, and if the plan changed, I was devastated, and my day was ruined.
Some of our “behaviors” can seem strange or concerning to people because they don’t understand the reason for it, but that can lead to a lot of stigma. If you are human, you have “behaviors”. That is normal. When you have a disability these “behaviors” suddenly get labeled as difficult or unusual. When humans have “behaviors” they are communicating a need that isn’t being met. For people who don’t use words to communicate this becomes dangerous. If you would like to see how dangerous, I encourage you to watch the documentary “This is Not about Me” by Jordyn Zimmerman.
We need to remember that if it harms nobody then let people be- stop judging and worry about your own life. If you have time for judgment, then you need to get a life or use that time productively.
Final thoughts- I have been thinking about the 10 Principles of Disability Justice today and how important they are now more than ever. Really it should just be a guide on how to be the best human possible. Here they are from the Sins Invalid website:
- INTERSECTIONALITY “We do not live single issue lives” –Audre Lorde. Ableism, coupled with white supremacy, supported by capitalism, underscored by heteropatriarchy, has rendered the vast majority of the world “invalid.”
- LEADERSHIP OF THOSE MOST IMPACTED “We are led by those who most know these systems.” –Aurora Levins Morales
- ANTI-CAPITALIST POLITIC In an economy that sees land and humans as components of profit, we are anti-capitalist by the nature of having non-conforming body/minds.
- COMMITMENT TO CROSS-MOVEMENT ORGANIZING Shifting how social justice movements understand disability and contextualize ableism, disability justice lends itself to politics of alliance.
- RECOGNIZING WHOLENESS People have inherent worth outside of commodity relations and capitalist notions of productivity. Each person is full of history and life experience.
- SUSTAINABILITY We pace ourselves, individually and collectively, to be sustained long term. Our embodied experiences guide us toward ongoing justice and liberation.
- COMMITMENT TO CROSS-DISABILITY SOLIDARITY We honor the insights and participation of all of our community members, knowing that isolation undermines collective liberation.
- INTERDEPENDENCE We meet each others’ needs as we build toward liberation, knowing that state solutions inevitably extend into further control over lives.
- COLLECTIVE ACCESS As brown, black and queer-bodied disabled people we bring flexibility and creative nuance that go beyond able-bodied/minded normativity, to be in community with each other.
- COLLECTIVE LIBERATION No body or mind can be left behind – only moving together can we accomplish the revolution we require.
My personal thoughts on anti-capitalism are that it’s based on how capitalism has and continues to work in the US. It’s important to note that we don’t practice true capitalism in the US. That is a bigger and different conversation, but I agree with the anti-capitalist sentiment in relation to the social model of disability and the disability justice movement. My good friend reminded me of this today, in fact.
Regardless of any of this- human rights matter and we need to work together to achieve equity. Equity harms nobody! Nothing About Us Without Us 🫶
This is my favorite video/commercial right now! People with disabilities deserve to have the Dignity of Risk just like everyone else. Take 2 minutes to see why…