When writing alt text, focus on what's truly important. In an image with text about a canceled event, the borders of the image are not nearly as vital as conveying that this event is now canceled. A decorative border can be mentioned, but it's not the most important element; the cancellation is.

Grandma is under the weather right now and Nova is being so sweet. She keeps laying next to Grandma to keep an eye on her, which Grandma loves. 🥰 *Note: I intentionally cropped Grandma out of this picture because I know she wouldn’t want you to see her like this.

Btw you really should do this awesome Anthony Burns virtual trail that NPS put together before the fascists discover and delete it. It’s so well done. www.nps.gov/articles/-go...

Autistic people of all different abilities deserve respect, dignity and the right to hate raw tomatoes or microfiber cloth. We’re not some monsters under the bed, we are quite literally just silly little guys

The thing about all of this as a ND person and as a person with an infection-associated chronic illness: all of this feels like a bad doctor's visit where the clinician swears that the most important thing is that you as the patient "feel heard" It's not. It's that the patient BE HELPED.

Y'all know you can support Black-owned, queer-owned and small businesses owned by other underrepresented groups at this nice lovely easy site, yes? Good.

Stacy Davis Gates: "Solidarity is the antidote to white supremacy. Solidarity is the antidote to anti-immigrant fear. Solidarity is the antidote to homophobia and transphobia. Solidarity is the antidote of people not having and still needing. Solidarity is what reunites us."

Every time I attend an n95-required event, I cry afterward. We can have accessible, justice-oriented spaces. We can create new ways of organizing & connecting. We can enact disability justice. We can educate & protect each other. We can get free, if we do it together. A better world is possible.

"Here's the thing about me. You know the sound that a fork makes in the garbage disposal? That's the sound that my brain makes all the time. It's just this constant grinding about things I'm afraid of or things that I want or want to want or want to want to..." -Chidi

"If this isn't a test, then it's something worse... a choice!" - Autistic Moral Philosopher, Chidi Anagonye

I'm planning to talk a bit abt the history of disability and the Ugly Laws in my intro lesson for our Misfits class. In my prep, I learned that PBS's American Experience (now "paused" thx to Trump's cuts) recently released a documentary about the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Btw … if you are unfamiliar with the “Social Model of Disabiltiy” it’s the concept that people are disabled by their environments (by a world that fails to accommodate their divergent needs) and an excellent primer to the topic is this video; youtu.be/A1AUdaH-EPM

In addition to not performing at the capacity of his peers, Another element of the Social model of Disability in Elf is that the environment Buddy grew up in is intrinsically incompatible to his divergent needs.

I can’t stop thinking about this book. I was even thinking about it in my insomnia/dream-state last night.

Recent 5⭐️ read: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor This is one of those books where you don’t really understand what’s fully going on until the last page. And then you finish, and want to immediately start from the beginning to read it all again in the new light of full understanding.

My suggestion was Signal, but how does that work with multiple conversations or groups within groups? From what (little) I know about Signal, I’m not sure it has the breadth (diversity of features) for our needs.

I think we would be open to a paid service, if it wasn’t too expensive and could really meet our needs as a community.

Morning reading. @philsnider.bsky.social

It’s been a long time since I stayed up late reading, but even on my second read-through of Becky Chamber’s A Closed and Common Orbit, that’s exactly what I did. I can’t put it down; it’s so good! I just love it so much!

For *gestures broadly at the state of the US* reasons, safety and privacy are huge concerns for whatever platform we choose to move to. What experiences have others had with this?

Recent 5⭐️ read: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor This is one of those books where you don’t really understand what’s fully going on until the last page. And then you finish, and want to immediately start from the beginning to read it all again in the new light of full understanding.

Morning reading. @philsnider.bsky.social

The thing everyone can do right now is to find your lane if you don't already have one and work that lane diligently and with commitment.

-AI tools for schools are ripe for the spread of propaganda, disinformation, and indoctrination -genAI presents students with the same kind of false authority and false intimacy that an authoritarian government does -genAI encourages the avoidance of independent thinking

A short list of reasons why you can’t be a teacher that wants to fight authoritarianism and use generative AI in your classroom: -the producers of this product are front and center enabling democratic backsliding -they are the men who will be enriched by this product being widely adopted 🧵

So an import local community group I’m a part of is having the move-off-the-FBook-platform conversation. We’ve been using FB for close to a decade, but we all (at least most) know that leaving is the right move right now.

"Honestly I don't know why anyone would want to have anything to do with the internet", he said, posting to the internet.

So an import local community group I’m a part of is having the move-off-the-FBook-platform conversation. We’ve been using FB for close to a decade, but we all (at least most) know that leaving is the right move right now.

I’m on day 5 of Too Much Pain. 1 or 2 days of High Pain is bad, 3 - 4 days is just awful, but day 5? Day 5 is when it starts to break me. 😩 Not to mention, Grandma has had a rough week, which means more support needed from me, and Nova has been a bit of a handful. 😢 I’m just so tired! 😭😩🤷‍♀️💙

We had an unexpected early start to the day today, so we made the best of it and watched the sunrise.

If you show up for your neighbor as best you can, you set an example. Then other people show up for their neighbors. A ripple effect begins. That's how movements start. Not with flying heroes, but with showing people they're not alone.

Find what marginalized people in your community need that you can provide, and just...do that. You don't have to save the world. You don't have to lead the revolution. Just help one person. And then...do it again.

What we're seeing in the "don't sign up for protests" discourse is what Paulo Freire described as the convert's failure to trust the knowledge of the oppressed. As the convert tries to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, they refuse to let go of a world where they were the authority by default.

We had an unexpected early start to the day today, so we made the best of it and watched the sunrise.

Part 2: Being a little hard but not too hard. What touched me so much about @laurajedeed.bsky.social's thread was wrestling with this question of hardness. "How do I harden myself to survive in this dark world without becoming the darkness I'm fighting?"

If I lost everything tomorrow, I'd still have been here. I'd still have written the things I've written, loved the people I've loved, built the things I've built. It has to be enough. We don't have another choice in the matter. So that's part 1, accepting you may lose everything.

Important caveat: this kind of response is more aggressive than I'd recommend for people who have a dearth of specialist options available to them, because it *does* signal "I am not confident in your clinical decision-making and ability to properly assess my specific case".

4. Be polite but firm that you want your imaging interpreted through the lens of your specific Weird and not as an average patient; 5. Ask them if that's something they are experienced with or if you should follow up with a different specialist, and for recommendations if the answer is the latter.

But the key elements of the "polite request for reassessment" are: 1. Remind the doctor of your specific Weird; 2. Identify the link between your Weird and the symptoms; 3. Provide a (brief!) summary of why you think they should pay more attention to the thing they're ignoring;

Grandma, Nova and I sitting on the porch enjoying the sunshine!

🏥🩺🩻The upcoming cuts to Medicaid will strain the healthcare system and other connected social welfare systems. What is your #DisabledRage? You can download, share, and wheat paste this graphic and more. disabilityvisibilityproject.com/disabled-rage/

What’s your #DisabledRage? Download, share, and wheat paste these graphics created in partnership with Finnegan Shannon disabilityvisibilityproject.com/disabled-rage/

Gonna say this very very very slowly The main issue with putting your name on a protest list is not whether the government has your name It is you providing information about where you are/will be That is *legally* actionable

Happy #NationalFoxDay! 🦊 Did you know Arctic foxes change their coats with the seasons? ❄️🍂 In fall, their fur is a smoky gray that helps them blend in with the rocky tundra. By winter, they transform into fluffy white coats, perfect camouflage in the snow. Photo of Sven in Sept (L) and Nov (R).

I typically let my students choose the books we read in class, and for my Gender and Sexuality in YA class, they chose a book about a nonbinary birder who thinks it’s funny birds are called tits and now I’m wondering if I should tell them my Mormon mother made me a tits and pussy (willow) bag or not

Battle doomscrolling by posting 5 small pleasures in life: 1) the sound of wind in the trees 2) the taste and smell of fresh baked bread 3) petting my dog 4) watching the sunset 5) listening to the morning chorus (of birds)

Grandma, Nova and I sitting on the porch enjoying the sunshine!