hope is the thing with feathers

I'm still reeling a little over my latest denial for disability benefits. So today I did some research to see what the problem is, exactly. These are just some random notes picked up from around the web, written by people who seem to know what they're talking about. Everything here will be related to my own problems, so please do your own research in addition to this if you aren't my exact mental health twin.

( the better news first, and then some really fucked up reasoning on the part of the government of what constitutes a real mental disability and what we should just ignore and/or 'work through' in order to eat and have a roof over our heads ) Maybe I shouldn't be doing this... But I hesitate to leave it up to the attorneys, you know?

Heh, this post is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. I really was gonna research more, but now I'm not in a good place. I'm going to call the attorney instead, and hope they know their shit. :\

eta: called the attorney's office and was informed that soon they will put in for an appeal, but that it will take 12-24 months to see a judge. no comment.

"Where would you rather live as a 21-year-old?" asks Thomas Perez, the U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights. "Would you rather stay in the community with your family and your neighbors and all of the benefits of neighborhood and community? Or would you want to go into a nursing home? I'd ask any American: What is that choice?"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131145660

edit: DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS. >>>>>>>>>>>:( SO MUCH ABLEISM I WANT TO KICK IN SOME HEADS.

Warning! Post contains triggers of rape, violence, torture, and murder.

In October 2009, President Obama signed the hate crime bill into law. The media focused almost solely on what it meant for people of color and the GLBT community. CNN didn't even mention the word 'disability' in their article. But the text of the law says,

The incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.

Emphasis mine.

Everyone knows the stories of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. by now. But do you know the following names?

Kevin Davies. Brent Martin. Laura Cummings. Steven Hoskin. Raymond Atherton. Jennifer Daughtry. Dorothy Dixon.

I wish I could tell you more about their lives. I wish I could tell you more about their familes and friends. I wish I could tell you about who loved them, and who was touched by their presence. But it is their deaths that have been reported, and in many cases their 'family' and 'friends' who did horrifying things to them. I have tried to talk about loved ones where I know details.


( Read more... )

Y HALO THAR, FLIST! Or shall I call you my circle?

I am busy getting content together for three_weeks_for_dw. So far I have some journal headers, my Mikeyway fic project, and a picspam in the making. I plan to make icons, more headers, and more picspammy stuff. Also, hopefully I'll finish my hurt/comfort Waycest fic soon and be able to post that.

Here's my plan for three_weeks_for_dw: COMMENTING MORE. I have been trying to comment more at DW instead of LJ for awhile now, but I plan to step it up. POSTING CONTENT TO DW ONLY. That's pretty much what the fest is about, anyway. ADDING MORE PEOPLE TO MY DW CIRCLE. I've been doing this, but I'm sure there will be more awesome people I will find during the fest. FRIENDING MEME. Maybe. I want more bandom on DW. COMMENT FIC. I'm ... not quite working on my prompts yet, but I will!

What else, what else. If you are reading me on LJ, please remember that for about the next month or so I will be posting things at DW that are only here. So check often if you don't have a DW account. (or you could just get a DW account, add me to your circle, and go from there :D)

I have some new friends, so I am thinking of writing an ABOUT ME post. I might be confusing to new people, I'm not sure. I also want to write a WHY JUDAISM post, about what brought me to the religion and why it resonates with me.

My BADD post is done and ready to be posted on May 1st. It took a lot out of me writing it, but I think it is an important post that needed to be written, and while it sickens and angers me, I am glad I wrote it.

Are you participating in BADD?

Blogging Against Disablism Day

You don't have to write a post -- people who listen and learn are just as important.

And NEWS: I forgot to post this, but the hospital re-RE-scheduled Meg's tests (the flim-flamming bastards). We will be going in to Shands on Monday after all. Which means I will be AFK a lot, but I do have a hotel room with internet booked, so I will be around when I can be.

http://cashima.dreamwidth.org/2104.html

What is it with fandom and attention whores? Does everyone have ADD these days or does fandom draw in an incredibly large amount of people with autistic traits? I seriously wonder whether they don't give a damn that they're pushing their own selfish little problems onto others or actually cannot perceive their self-absorption at all. That's a basic trait of autism.

...I lost my cool. a little. I don't think I'm out of line, though.