I'm on the last day of finals week, finishing up a term paper for a fetal behavior class. My paper is on the neurological development of the premature infant, but along the way, I came up with some interesting ideas that can't go in the paper... so they are going here ( Read more... )

This actually isn't another GLBTQA post. Hehe. I know, surprising. But it is about being in the closet. Read on ( Read more... )

I get this sometimes. People look at me; they see I can talk, I can take care of myself, I live on my own with no more than a case manager checking in weekly (thank goodness, by the way; it was long overdue and I'm very pleased to finally be able to depend on someone to help me figure out the little unexpected bits of daily life ( Read more... )

I'm not coping nearly as well as I used to in the past ( Read more... )

If I say, "I'm not feeling well," and it's disability-related, I feel like I'm lying. Somewhere along the way, I got convinced that only "normal" illness is real ( Read more... )

Response to Those with ALS redefine what it means to be aliveAn interesting article, and it takes a perspective that's very refreshing in this climate of disability-as-tragedy. Comments on the article, though, still use the tragedy model. Someone with ALS may be happy, surrounded by family, doing purposeful, useful things with their time. But, ( Read more... )

One of my favorite pastimes is playing tabletop role-playing games like D&D. For those of you who don't know what that is, think cooperative storytelling, a bit of a cross between a board game and improv acting--everyone creates a character, one person describes the setting, and, using rules for interacting with the world, we tell a story. It's ( Read more... )

I've always been prone to nightmares. During the last year, they've become constant--every night, the same theme ( Read more... )

For some time now, my career counselor at school has been nudging me to consider getting the help of an aide. As I've mentioned before, I spend most of my time teetering on the edge of independence. I can feed myself, keep myself and my apartment clean, pay my bills, and do all basic and most instrumental ADLs by myself--but only if I spend all of ( Read more... )

I have frequently heard people say that "Autism is not always a disability" as a way of declaring themselves equals to non-autistics.

My response: No. Autism is always a disability. But disability may not be what you think it is.

OK, let me explain.
( Read more... )