Someone in an autism facebook group I’m in just asked “How am I supposed to earn enough to make a living without burning out?”
Someone replied: “You’re not. Even neurotypicals can’t right now in the system designed for them. We’re the canaries in the coalmine. When we start failing, they know something is wrong.”
People keep saying, “Oh, everyone thinks they’re neurodivergent now!” or they’ll say it’s the foods or chemicals or whatever other nonsense they’ve fallen for, but to me the answer is so obvious?
We’ve gotten to a point that more and more people are being left behind by the system, making it so that neurodivergent parents who could get by fine *enough* in decades/centuries past are bringing children into a world that cannot and will not attempt to accommodate them. There’s nothing in the water and people aren’t faking, it’s just that this is no longer sustainable or livable and of course people with disabilities will be hit first and hit the hardest. There aren’t more people with it, it’s just harder to go through life without being aware that you’re not functioning the way your peers seem to be able to.
i saw a quote that said “i feel like i’m constantly worrying about the next part of my life without realizing that i’m right in the middle of what i used to look forward to.” and i felt that.
Us Against the Galaxy
Two drawing two days in a row? What is this madness?
I have discovered the wonders of glow tools in Audodesk Sketchbook (mobile version) and now I’m obsessed, so what better subjects than Jyn and Cassian to test them out on?
Buy prints at redbubble
canwriteitbetterthanueverfeltit:
canwriteitbetterthanueverfeltit:
I lent my mom a book before I read it and apparently right at the beginning they tell a true story about all our chestnut trees dying and it made my mother SO DEPRESSED that she couldn’t sleep and now she’s been researching chestnut trees for the past half hour looking sick
She’s right!!
Chestnut trees used to define forests in the South – some estimates say about ¼ trees was a chestnut tree. And they were huge! Growing more than 100 feet tall (with trunks more than 10 feet in diameter), they were called the “redwoods of the East.” They were a characteristic food source of the South, too. A mature chestnut tree can produce upwards of 50 lbs of nuts a year – many of these were gathered and eaten by poor families, or turned into chestnut flour and used to make “poor man’s bread.”
But, at the beginning of the 20th century, a fungus called the blight was brought over from Asia. Over the next 50 years, every single American Chestnut was infected and died. While some root systems are still alive, they’re considered functionally extinct.
People cut down huge areas of forest trying to prevent the spread of the blight and save the trees – but they failed. And now several generations have never even known the chestnut tree. We don’t even know enough to miss them.
But now, with advances in genetic technology, the chestnut trees may be coming back! Through a group scientific effort led by the American Chestnut Foundation, researchers have created a “transgenic American chestnut tree with enhanced blight tolerance” called Darling 58. Darling 58 is genetically modified to be able to coexist with the blight.
Darling 58 American chestnuts are currently being reviewed by the USDA-APHIS, EPA, and FDA. But researchers hope to be able to reintroduce them soon – one huge step towards restoring our forests.
You can follow the chestnut trees’ progress (and request a Darling 58 tree when they’re available) at https://acf.org/ .
Thank you I’m gonna share this chestnut revitalization news with her!
There are many American chestnut trees still living outside their original natural range. Michigan, for example, has a large number of chestnut farms and is the biggest grower of chestnuts in the US. The species is listed as endangered but is not extinct.
Where I grew up is considered oak/hickory forest now but was once oak/chestnut. Even the corpses of the chestnuts are gone now. It’s a wood that takes a long time to decay and there was at least one fallen trunk still somewhat recognizable when I was a kid, but it too is just a mossy spot now. We’re still seeing the impact of the loss on local wildlife.
If Darling 58 gets approved I’m going to have to see how many we can plant on the property.
Every time someone well-meaning suggests I see a chiropractor for my migraines, I have this little moment of “ah, you’re new here. You weren’t here prior to 2018 when a chiropractor very gently adjusted my neck for my migraines, and I ended up having to get an emergency MRI because the ensuing symptoms were indicative of a brain bleed.”
It wasn’t a brain bleed. The muscles on the entire right side of my neck “just” tore (Spoiler there is nothing “just” about that kind of traumatic injury. I am still in physical rehab for it), and I couldn’t hold my head up, see straight, walk or do any of the things I’d previously taken for granted until several weeks later when the area finally started to heal.
This was before I knew I had Ehlers Danlos, btw. But this is true even for people who don’t have a connective tissue disorder: Don’t let chiropractors touch your neck.
There are a lot of vital nerves and blood vessels there, and even gentle adjustments of the area can have life-threatening consequences.
I know chiropractic care can be pain relieving–I still get it for my lower back and hips because I work with a chiropractor who knows about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and sometimes my hips need to be popped back in at short notice, and it’s easier to
hopwalk in and see her than wait for physical therapy–but it is a short-term relief that doesn’t actually correct why something is happening.If you can afford it, physical therapy will likely help more in the long term. I know not everyone can afford it, and that’s why chiropractors have such a booming trade in the US, but please, I’m begging you, don’t get your neck adjusted.
The spinal cord specialist I saw after my injury told me the number one reason he used to see people for traumatic brain injuries was car wrecks, followed by other major roadside injuries. He said those numbers were still the highest, but after that, the majority of his patients were survivors of chiropractic injury.
Do Not Get Your Neck Adjusted.
It’s been over 5 years, and I still can’t move my neck properly on my right side. I still struggle to eat and drink because my muscles will randomly seize up. It feels like my skull no longer fits on top of my spine because of the scar tissue. Please. I just want people to be safe.
And if you are a chiropractor reading this and thinking, “Well, I’ve never injured anyone, skill issue.” No. You Have Gotten Lucky. Rethink how you apply your trade. Please, you can still help people while recommending safer options for specific body parts. Learn to do pressure point release and acupressure. Teach patients how to stretch and relax the area safely. Just fucking stop cracking people’s necks like pop rock candy.
Getting dressed in traditional Valencian clothes. Interior shirt, starched petticoat, black wrought velvet doublet, wild silk skirt, and lace farfalar.
Video and dress by rodenasdressmaker on Instagram.
poor things, well we should definitely make this easier on them by never repeatedly mentioning their name and deeds on the “reblog things forever” website