Window appreciation post

its so fucked up how difficult it is to move to another country you shouldn’t need a reason or anything you should be able to show up at the border and be like “the vibes were off back home” and they should let you in

I saw this on FB today and I wanna try and express something about it. Like, you know the curbcutter effect? Where when curbcuts are put in it benefits everyone (bicyclists, people with baby strollers etc) and not just disabled people?

There is also whatever the opposite of the curbcutter effect is. And this is that.

This isn't just anti-adhd/autism propaganda... this is anti-child propaganda.

Kids have developmentally appropriate ways that they need to move their bodies and express themselves and sitting perfectly still staring straight ahead is not natural or good for ANY CHILD.

Don't get me wrong, I was punished unduly as a kid for being neurodivergent (and other types of kid will ALSO be punished unduly for it... Black kids come to mind) and thus UNABLE to perform this -- but even the kids who ARE able to perform this type of behavior are not SERVED WELL by it. They don't benefit from it.

This is bad for everyone.

The idea that bc some kids may be capable of complying with unfair expectations, those expectations don't hurt them... is a dangerous idea. Compliance isn't thriving. Expectation of compliance isn't fair treatment.

The image above expresses the attitude towards children I grew up with, in a fairly conservative United States suburb in the 1990′s. Expectations for children’s behavior were strict, and when children failed to meet them, their parents were blamed publicly and privately, to a traumatizing degree. 

When I went to the Kids R Us, Toys R Us, even the supermarket I constantly heard parents yelling and nagging at their kids over virtually nothing, and telling them not to cry. Kids had their own segregated food (unhealthy, tasteless fast food and pizza), clothing, and activities (full of plastic junk toys and meaningless crafts that would get thrown out the day they were made). 

Parenting advice was everywhere, in grocery checkout aisles and doctor’s waiting rooms, with the format “push button, receive behavior” and the goal of making kids do what you wanted easily, without conflict. It drove my mom frantic that it never worked for neurodivergent kids like hers. 

In school, we had to get permission to go to the bathroom. I’ll never forget nearly wetting myself for a half an hour waiting for the kids with the passes to return. I learned that even my most basic basic bodily needs were unimportant and unacceptable.

No one seemed to think kids were actual people, and the segregation and contempt pissed me off even when I was young enough to use a kid’s menu. The anger and hurt are still there, under the surface.

And yes, I was one of those kids who couldn’t focus on busywork or stand in line for a long time. I’d wander off to dance or draw or I’d just let my imagination wander, “zoning out.” It’s the same old story everyone in neurodivergent communities hears ad infinitum. 

Meanwhile, I was told, and I believed, that school was designed for all the other kids, who seemed to do what was expected without struggle. Many of them even seemed content with school and life. It made me feel even worse about myself. I didn’t understand that they were suffering, too, until I saw my generation and then Gen Z going through the resulting mental health crisis.

Somehow, I never realized that strict expectations that require kids to go against their own needs, that teach kids their basic needs don’t matter, are a reverse curb cut effect.

“Even kids who ARE able to perform this type of behavior are not SERVED well by it...the idea that because some kids may be capable of complying with unfair expectations, those expectations don’t hurt them, is a dangerous idea.”

Yes. All kids deserve better.

Neurodivergent ones are just the canary in the coal mine. Things that hurt neurodivergent kids, tend to be bad for everyone.

Thank you for pointing this out, OP.

why do we bother with I hate my partner jokes when your boss is right there

I love my wife. my boss though? that ball and chain??

do you understand my vision

Oh this is too fun

Bestie, your brain, your VISION, ahead of your time

• They didn't want to sit through demeaning and bigoted religious services just for a place to sleep. (Church run food banks do this a lot too btw).
• They were late and the shelter wouldn't let them in and voided the rest of their allowed stay bc they didn't call and tell the shelter they couldn't make it in before closing.
• One of the other people at the shelter got violent/threatened violence and the shelter refused to do anything about it.
• One of the SHELTER EMPLOYEES/VOLUNTEERS got violent/threatened violence and the shelter refused to do anything about it.
• The shelter refuses to disclose if allergens are in the food they're providing saying, "This is all you're getting, be glad for this much and thank god!"
• Shelter refused to believe person is homeless saying, "You are FAR too clean and nicely dressed!"

You Are Not Wasting Time; It Was Given To You As A Gift, Freely and Generously; Is Rain Wasted Because It Falls On Gardens, Grass, Disgruntled Birds, and Umbrellas All The Same?

I have an end-of-life patient to whom I spoke today. She burst out laughing and said, "It was all such fun. I just had so much fun." I wish this for everyone. I wish that we each would meet death laughing, with little regret and even less fear.

thinking about this excerpt from giovanni's room as i lay in bed staring at the ceiling endlessly

there comes a point in some dudes ceramics careers where they start fucking with glazes so hard they spend their weekends hand digging rare minerals out of a desert deposit or a friend's multi-acre lot so they can grind them up and put them in a glaze. I know at least three guys that do this.

I also knew this guy derrick who was an absolute beast on the wheel (threw an entire 40pc porcelain serving set w/ cups bowls plates serving dishes and casserole dish in ONE HOUR) who also rented out a backhoe so he could dig clay out of his yard and refine it. Unfortunately it had too many inclusions in it so he had to dilute it with industrially made stuff. when he did that though he found that the clay in his yard, when fired, produced it's own glossy green glasslike ooze that vitrified during firing. he called it "self glazing clay", and went back that day to go dig up more. hope hes doing well. I imagine he's excavated his entire property by now