Amazon resorting to deleting negative reviews of Rings of Power on IMDB just cause they own it is super fucking humiliating for them but also demonstrates the problem that if like 4 companies own most of the internet that means they own both the media and all the sites that critique said media and you can say goodbye to any reliable consumer reviews of products on the internet
When I realized pre-packaged food was for me, my entire outlook on life changed.
Let me explain.
I remember walking through the grocery store with my mother as a teen and her making a bitter comment about how everything had more packaging now. De-shelled hard boiled eggs in plastic, cut fruit, pre-portioned salads, all of it was “laziness” to her. She insisted people were getting lazier to the point where if my brother ate pizza from the fridge, she would chastise him for not heating it. She would say “you deserve warm pizza” as a way of saying you should do something the “right way” because it’s worth doing.
This isn’t because my mother had no concept of people with disabilities, she is disabled herself. However, in raising me, she taught me to hide that disability, to try to be on everyone else’s level so we aren’t seen as weaker. That laziness is worse than being disabled and there’s simply no excuse for taking shortcuts. I don’t think she intended to teach me this, but her own internalized ableism was so loud.
When I became an adult, I realized I hated cooking. The prep was tedious, I almost always have dishes in the sink, there’s cleanup after, my back hurts, my eyes burn, it’s too hot and in the beginning, I got overwhelmed to the point of crying. Leftovers were almost never eaten becuase heating them up (the “correct” way to eat them) was an extra step that made me not want to put the effort in. I thought I was lazy and felt ashamed when I wanted something to eat but couldn’t bring myself to make it.
At some point, I finally said “I’m tired. I don’t care how much packaging it is, I don’t care how lazy it is, I’m going to get meal kits.”
It was life-changing. Dinner takes 30 minutes to make. Everything is portioned. The directions are clear. I don’t hate it anymore. I want salads in bags. I want eggs that don’t take three steps to eat. It’s not laziness, it’s accessible! I don’t have to make a meal, I can eat the raw vegetables, have pasta with butter, eat a granola bar! There’s no right way to feed myself!
I made things SO HARD on myself because I wasn’t acknowledging my disability or my depression and they didn’t need to be hard! I didn’t need to go around the store saying “is that really necessary?” Because it IS necessary for me! It’s brilliant! It’s so helpful!
Accessibility takes so many forms and overcoming internalized guilt for not being able-bodied or mentally well enough to handle tasks other handle easily is incredibly freeing. Obviously I’m lucky to be in the position to have this option avaliable to me, but I kept myself from it for far too long.
Do you ever think about how Tolkien’s vision of the greatest evil in the universe was something he referred to as “The Machine” which was his way of talking about accelerated industrialism and mass surveillance and he wrote multiple books where the main villains were a dragon who sits on a huge pile of treasure that he never intends to use but incinerates anyone who comes near it, a man in a giant tower who’s wrecking the environment with his factories, and an evil being who uses what’s essentially a listening device to control the citizens of middle earth. And now Amazon is making a Tolkien show. Do you ever think about that.
all those terms for when you dont really like something but someone else does and you respect that… youve heard of “not my cup of tea” and “whatever floats your boat” and now its time for this phrase to shine
Wait people with disabilities don’t have marriage equality?? Could someone expand on this?
In many countries, the USA and UK particular examples, marriage means you loose all disability support from the government. The amount of support is not particularly great in the first place, but for the most part it’s impossible for many disabled people to marry and still afford to pay for regular care. If you have to choose between affording care or marriage, it’s not equality. There’s more but that’s a kinda starter. Disabled people are wildly fucked over in most imaginable ways.
Also lots of details in the notes.
If I get legally married I lose my healthcare and die because I can’t afford medication, treatment, or my specialist, who is the only doctor within 3 states willing to take my case because I’m six surgeries in and still sick af.
If I don’t get legally married, the next time I’m out of it with fever or post operative delirium, my transphobic mom gets power of attorney with two phone calls. I have a living will. It will not stand because she will argue that I wasn’t mentally sound when I made it and I’m on two antidepressants/anxiety meds with a history of major depressive disorder so she’ll win without any real effort at all.
too much self reflection is not a good thing honestly. go outside and plant a garden and then cook yourself a homemade dinner then mop the floors and change your sheets and take a hot shower then you won’t care so much
Hey if I post on Tumblr and don’t reply to you, please do not get on me for that. It takes far more effort for me to have a conversation than reblog photos. I just am not always up to talk to others, please understand that.
