The second, though, is that able-bodied people often think of someone being "wheelchair bound." For most who use them, the wheelchair is not the issue. The frailty of the body is an issue - the wheelchair is a solution. The disability is what binds you, but the wheelchair provides *freedom.*

I have a friend who said, of Starfleet Academy, that this took them out of it - that seeing a person in a wheelchair in the 32nd century seemed unrealistic, since medicine in Star Trek "should be able to cure whatever was wrong with them." That's not the case, for any number of possible reasons.

RestFest is an artist-run film & video art festival & online gathering space created by/for Disabled, Deaf, Chronically ill, Neurodivergent, &/or Mad community. In dark, isolating times, this is vital work & care. Spread the word! It starts Feb 1! #disability #ChronicIllness #NEISvoid #LongCOVID

I usually tell disabled people looking for biomechanical movement adjustment lessons to look for Alexander teachers advertising for movement lessons for actors or dancers to avoid injury even if they're not actors or dancers because those are usually less woo-infested --

Chronic illness/bedbound crew care thread: If you are housebound and/or bedbound like me, you may feel especially helpless in times like these. I know I do. This thread is for advice on how to take care of yourself AND help your community. 🧵

I love how this graphic is totally unhelpful for determining whether you're going to get 30 inches of snow or half an inch of ice.

Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out. As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class. Here's what happened:

Witnessing a dramatic follower transfusion as a result of this thread. People who hate owls: out. People who love owls: in. This was of course very much part of my plan. And comes from the same philosophy as the "NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE OWLS" stickers I now insist are attached to all my books.

I’m seeing lots of people on here misunderstand the purpose of ICE watch. It’s de-escalation. And it’s grounded in the social science of violence. 🧵

Fred Flintstone is the only straight cereal mascot. Barney Rubble is bi.

For the last two years I've been teaching an online course about birding and data visualization. It's a course about noticing. About learning to be critical about data. About incubating and encouraging environmental care. www.jerthorp.me/learning

After taking @jerthorp.bsky.social fantastic birding and data viz class last year, I’ve been thinking about different ways of collecting and displaying my personal birding observations. One of things I’ve decided to do this year is focusing on tracking a few specific birds daily.

It's the devaluing people for not thinking or communicating typically part. A lot of folks miss out intellectual ableism when they think about ableism because the eugenicists did such a good job in the last century and a half of normalizing it.

🧵story time!

I need a mood booster, let's talk about capybaras. Here's a capy demonstrating one of MANY ways they can move through the water: running along the bottom. They're 'semi-aquatic' mammals, just like hippos, seals & beavers. They LOVE water. (📷: Fernando Maidana)

My partner, our dog and I spent New Year’s Eve at a local conservation area watching short-eared owls hunt as the sun set. It was beautiful!

Baking bread to bring in the New Year. Today I will mix, “knead” and prove the dough. Tomorrow I will shape and bake it.

Alt text prompt Qs: What would someone who can't see the image need to know about it in order to take part in the conversation? What is it about this image that made you choose it? What are the important details someone who could see the image would take away from it? (Not for images of text.)

I've thought of this @sarahseeandersen.bsky.social comic all week as it's been in the 70s and it's freaking me out.

I'm giving a talk next week and you're invited! ✨Improving Quality of Life in ME/CFS and Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions✨ The talk is donate-as-you're-able, and 20% will support #MEAction. You can sign up to attend here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Leaves on your lawn? Good. Leaf them alone. 🍂

Happy LGBTQ+ in STEM Day! I’m celebrating with the dapper Invisible Enby, who is a queer fashion metaphor for the way dark matter shapes visible matter in the cosmos. Want to learn more? Preorder my new book, where they appear! 🧪 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746817...

Chicka-dee-dee-dee

None of us are fit enough to determine deservingness; but we should all have enough heart and humanity to consider need.

Creating helps stave off the sad, at least a little.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. The slow process of doing something yourself. How it provides moments to be present in your body. How it reminds us that we are fundamentally creative creatures.

Something about rejecting the Faster, Easier, Cheaper of capitalism. About having a relationship with our material world. About valuing the resources we take from our environment. About how we spend our time. About outsourcing everything creative in our lives. About imagination and play and skill...

Meditating this morning, as I learn weaving on a small loom, on what it is about the slow, laborious, and expensive qualities of many crafts people embrace that feels anti-capitalist and human at its core. Weaving a scarf for a friend, maybe not on its own revolutionary, but also, not NOT, either.

Franken-pup! [She was very unhappy I made her try this on. 😄]

Morning checklist: Stationary, Springfield, Mo Brown creeper Carolina chickadee Carolina wrens Dark-eyed junco White-throated sparrows House sparrows Blue jay American robins Northern cardinals Eurasian collard doves European starlings

This is so so hard. And—entirely human. “All humans are aware of death. So we’re all a little bit sad, all the time. That’s just the deal.” (Eleanor, The Good Place)

With every breath, disabled people write a disabled future, one in which we all belong, regardless of the circumstances of our births or the collisions of our fragile flesh with a harsh and sometimes toxic earth.

I miss sitting on the porch with you, Grandma.

I just keep thinking: I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to just move on with my life. I don’t know how to let her go. I don’t know how to just go back to my old life. And then I remember: that’s ok. I’m not supposed to know. Grief is its own thing and will take its own time.

I would dearly love to see a New England town using its historic cemetery for one of its original purposes (sheep pasture). You could even do spinning, dyeing, and drying there. Think of the marketing for the yarn! Die Dye Die Dyed and Gone to Heaven Spinning in the Grave Alas, Poor Yarnick

I have yet to see a use case for AI in the classroom that wouldn't also be addressed by smaller class sizes & more paid prep time for teachers.

"You don’t need to have a blueprint for the revolution. You need a next move. Because it’s not too late to help someone, to be a moral person, or to fight for another future." organizingmythoughts.org/we-have-to-m...

Serendipity. I was admiring the flower plot at the San Diego CommunityGardens early this morning when this barn owl showed up. The owl was noticed and chased by a Cooper’s hawk (last shot).

Rewatching Dead End Park for Spooky Season. I love it so much! It hits on so many levels: neurodiversity, disability, trans, queer, non-speaking and more. It’s also just delightful and has excellent spooky-lite vibes (aka it has tons of spooky elements, but it’s not actually scary).

Stop doomscrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness (if you feel like)

Okay, last post about Frankenstein, Missouri... Here's a vintage news report on the town that has so many great moments I can't pick a favorite. This is why local reporting matters, maybe!

Thanks! I see it now as I read the page more closely!

Stop doomscrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness (if you feel like)

At least we had it for a moment.

Watching through our Tuesday night tv roster: World News with David Muir Wheel of Fortune Jeopardy Dancing with the Stars

At least we had it for a moment.

And there will be no grand choirs to sing No chorus will come in No ballad will be written It will be entirely forgotten And if tomorrow it's all over At least we had it for a moment youtu.be/y_c3P-YWLpQ?...

I am back in Missouri. It’s weird to say I’m back “home”, because for the last six months home was with Grandma. But she’s gone now.

It’s been two weeks since Grandma passed.