Differently Abled (fly your freak flag high)

[Corkey]

Thank you, for the inclusion I appreciate that.
I still find it ironic that abled bodied people see my cane and not the person, and they park in disabled parking and run into the store, while I'm left looking for the next closest parking spot.
Chaps my ass to no end.
The newest peeve is when I'm using the stores mobile chair, and cart pushers think it's easier for me to back up than it is for them to stop, wait and then go around me. Those chairs don't stop on a dime ya' know!
Thanks for a place to rant....end rant.

[friskyfemme]

I just attended a Seminar last week on dyslexia. Even though I have lived wth this for years there really hasn't been too much hepful info on it. I was pleased to find out that at least now it can be detected as early as 1 yr old.
Also there are teaching methods developed to help us. Of course though it's expensive and could take years especially for adults to erase all the trauma of traditional education.

But, I am up for it. Actually, I am seriously considering becoming a tudor and perhaps opening a school for persons with dyslexia.

Facts a 30yr government funded research revealed: 1) 20% of the population have some form of dyslexia frm mild to profound. Higher than Autism rates.
2) it is genetic with 50% chance of passingit on to offspring. 3) right and left halves of the brain are equal size(person w/o rigt half is 10% smaller). 4) person w/dyslexia are great artists , architects , social workers ,techies .

Anyway it helped me to know that I am not among a small group. I hope this helps some others as well.

Oh also...I learned I am also ADD. I need to spend more time learning about this.

[Daywalker]

**Flying Freak Flag Hella High**


I'm currently medicating, but I shall come back n read n participate later.

[SuperFemme]

I'd like to have a discussion about invisible disablities.

This thought is spawned by the Food Stamp thread, and the fact that so many people look down upon and judge those who are seemingly "capable and able to work".

Sigh.

My brain injury is invisible.
My leukemia is invisible.

For the first five years after my accident I was so ANGRY because I wanted to work. I cannot tell you how next to impossible it is for me to track things, multi-task, let alone the short term memory issues that leave me looking quite the fool because I had no idea that I had that conversation with somebody an hour ago.

Then along comes cancer, and there are days when my body is a living hell.

Today somewhere I read cancer = prvilige and I had to literally turn off my computer I was so hurt.

So those of you with Aspergers, ADD, Dyslexia, MS, Depression, Cancer, and the hundred other invisible disabilites...do you ever get fucking tired of having to quantify yourself to people?

Does it hurt you that some think you are deserving of assistance whilst others are not?

I really am just a normal girl, with some quirks that make my abilities different.

I don't want pity. I want understanding, which IMHO is so much different. I feel so isolated and misunderstood sometimes. In my perfect world people will judge me for what is on the inside of my beautiful self. The same as the rest of you guys.

I think this is a really important conversation to have.

FriskyFemme, I cannot even begin to imagine the frustration of going through life with dyslexia. It feels so unfair to me that you are just now finding the tools you need. I applaud you for wanting to become a tutor, and I hope you can be a mentor to others on this site who share in your dyslexia. Welcome to the thread, I'm so glad you are hear.

Sometime, if you don't mind, would you share what it's been like for you? How you navigate through a world of forms, books, readings etc? I want to be educated, and while I know I can go read a book (which I am willing to do) a personal journey to me is far more educational. I'd like to know what I as a human being can do to help out.

[friskyfemme]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

I'd like to have a discussion about invisible disablities.

This thought is spawned by the Food Stamp thread, and the fact that so many people look down upon and judge those who are seemingly "capable and able to work".

Sigh.

My brain injury is invisible.
My leukemia is invisible.

For the first five years after my accident I was so ANGRY because I wanted to work. I cannot tell you how next to impossible it is for me to track things, multi-task, let alone the short term memory issues that leave me looking quite the fool because I had no idea that I had that conversation with somebody an hour ago.

Then along comes cancer, and there are days when my body is a living hell.

Today somewhere I read cancer = prvilige and I had to literally turn off my computer I was so hurt.

So those of you with Aspergers, ADD, Dyslexia, MS, Depression, Cancer, and the hundred other invisible disabilites...do you ever get fucking tired of having to quantify yourself to people?

Does it hurt you that some think you are deserving of assistance whilst others are not?

I really am just a normal girl, with some quirks that make my abilities different.

I don't want pity. I want understanding, which IMHO is so much different. I feel so isolated and misunderstood sometimes. In my perfect world people will judge me for what is on the inside of my beautiful self. The same as the rest of you guys.

I think this is a really important conversation to have.

FriskyFemme, I cannot even begin to imagine the frustration of going through life with dyslexia. It feels so unfair to me that you are just now finding the tools you need. I applaud you for wanting to become a tutor, and I hope you can be a mentor to others on this site who share in your dyslexia. Welcome to the thread, I'm so glad you are hear.

Sometime, if you don't mind, would you share what it's been like for you? How you navigate through a world of forms, books, readings etc? I want to be educated, and while I know I can go read a book (which I am willing to do) a personal journey to me is far more educational. I'd like to know what I as a human being can do to help out.

Thank you for your acknowledgement of my frustration. I have always felt inadequate because I couldn't 'outgrow' dyslexia. I have been lucky to have gotten some helpful tools at least to read for comprehension. Actually the same tools used to teach 'Speed Reading' which I took my first semester in college. These help me to approach reading material in a methodical way (this is key in reading for comprehension). I can go into that further in another post. The problem that still exists is that dyslexia is NOT a reading disorder it IS a language disfunction. You see, written language is not a logical sequence. The letters used to form words don't make sense to me. In English, American English anyway, too many exceptions to rules exist: words that can be a noun, verb, or adjective like the word 'cool'. Also multiple meanings, words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, words that sound the same but spelled differently and have different meanings (sense,since). Unfortunately, reading for comprehension is NOT helpful in tests with essays questions. I often overlook small words like 'not'. Luckily most standardized tests are written in postive terms nowadays.
Dyslexia is found in the gene for language. Pathways in the brain for language are different for us. I learned written language by memorizing every word and detecting words inside words and trying to figure out what the 'whole' word means by it's parts. For instance 'developmental' develop 'create'; mental 'thinking'. Hmmm.
We are very visual thinkers. I commit words to memory by 'seeing' them in my mind and mentally filing them kinda like a thesaurus 'the dinosaur' <- my visual(lol). I have to stop writing for now. I am worn out. I have spent 2 hrs writing this.

I just want to say I would never want to trade my dyslexia for the pain you have endured. You are truly a Superfemme.

[Kenna]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

No Corkey you belong here. When I speak from the Me place it ends up being in relation to brain trauma because that is part of my differently-abledness.

My physical limitations come into play as well because when I am in pain, or on chemo it affects me and how I engage with the world around me.

My goal is to make sure that we all (no matter the nature of the different-ablility) are heard and part of a community that is inclusive to us all. That is a new undertaking in the online community IMO.

So welcome to the thread. Share. About anything you want to. This is a safe place where you (general you) can laugh, cry, and share about navigating planet earth and the butchfemmeplanet while being different.

Originally Posted by Corkey

Thank you, for the inclusion I appreciate that.
I still find it ironic that abled bodied people see my cane and not the person, and they park in disabled parking and run into the store, while I'm left looking for the next closest parking spot.
Chaps my ass to no end.
The newest peeve is when I'm using the stores mobile chair, and cart pushers think it's easier for me to back up than it is for them to stop, wait and then go around me. Those chairs don't stop on a dime ya' know!
Thanks for a place to rant....end rant.

One main reason why I LOVE BFP and adore the friends I've met here.... there's open space and individual space, and I've been welcomed and accepted... no-matter my differently-abledness status... and I don't feel targeted or pushed to the side for being different. I was a victim of a very violent domestic violence TBI (years ago). But the injury has never been treated other than spending 2 weeks in the hospital. (I've tried to learn to live with it...Some days are really hard, especially when I can relate my current health, difficulties with various tasks & ability to maintain memories and thought processes, back to the TBI. I didn't have health care at the time. Although, my last job helped because I worked for Medical Assistance in the "Special Populations Unit" - TBI was one of the State Programs we managed and coordinated with the Department of Health.)

Mostly these days though, I suffer from Lupus... today is a very painful day.
Thank you for making me feel welcome and accepted!