marjaerwin

Hi,

I'm strobe-sensitive. A lot of flashing lights make me sick. Strobe lights, turn signals, hazard lights, etc. They can hurt, blind me with the flash, disorient me, make me fall down or stumble into the street, make me lose awareness, leave me with migraines afterwards, and even leave me vomiting, among other symptoms.

I have seen a number of neurologists and an occupational therapist about this, but they can't do much about this.

I've noticed that some of the traffic lights at some intersections have more flashing lights than before. And they're higher up, so they're harder to avoid, and I just can't cross the stroads at intersections with these.

I contacted the local department of transportation explaining that I can't safely cross with these lights and have to detour to intersections without them, and got a pain call back explaining that they can't help because this is the new standard and they're replacing all the lights at all the intersections.

What can I do? I need to be able to cross the stroads, and not all the stroads have safe crossing places, without too much traffic, out of line of sight of any traffic lights.

P.S. I have also contacted the federal department of transportation.

I’m sick of ableist “humor” such as:

* Beating people up for being disabled, being queer, being ethnic minorities, or for other differences. Bullies started beating me up when I was 6 years old, and beat me unconscious at 16.

* Deliberately triggering people’s seizures.

* Deliberately triggering people’s ptsd.

* Deliberately triggering people’s panic attacks. In April, I asked for accessibility help dealing with dogpics, and I got a harassment campaign. Reddit user UnalignedRando purported to have help, and sent me pictures of dogs and today a video of an attacking dog.

* Deliberately triggering people’s allergy attacks.

You get the idea.

P.S. Note that this has the side-effect of punishing disabled people for talking about our disabilities.

I am still trying to find a doctor. It is hard because I am very sick, as well as disabled, so I need urgent care, as well as access to care, and can’t get either.

I have been struggling with awful right-side headaches, including right eye and ear pain, on and off for I don’t know how long. I thought these were just migraines but apparently the eye and ear pain point to cluster or “suicide” headaches. Oh, and if they are cluster or “suicide” headaches, I’m allergic to the main treatment.

I have Medicaid via Aetna. I was assigned a pediatrician as my primary care provider, she doesn’t work with patients my age, I have to find someone else. I have a list of doctors and their pain numbers, but I don’t know who else is misclassified, who will work as a primary care physician, who can work with my disabilities. I saw that one of these doctors had workd with concussion patients, and they often have similar neurological issues to mine. So she probably could work with my disabilities. But to begin with, I have to contact her by pain. And after 9 times friday, and 6 times today, I am no closer to getting through. aa aa aa aa aa aa goes the busy signal. I hate making pain calls, which trigger my headaches, during my headaches, worsening my headaches.

How the painng pain am I supposed to get through this?

P.S. “Please contact pain number if you need help, such as with our insistence on pain calls for problems such as our insistence on pain calls…” always seemed senselessly cruel to me, but seems more and more so the more I try to make the pain calls and the more I get sick from them.

Looking over Medicaid providers:

Aetna:

Provides free aids and services to people with disabilities to communicate effectively with us, such as: Qualified sign language interpreters Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats)

Provides free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as: Qualified interpreters Information written in other languages

If you need a qualified interpreter, written information in other formats, translation or other services, call the number on your ID card or 1-800-385-4104.

That's a bit of a catch-22 for people who need alternative communication because we can't reliably use phones.

Telling people you bar ableism, and then banning people for pointing out ableism, seems dishonest.

I wonder if they've become a way to say you oppose certain things, without having to stop supporting those things.

Of course, could be one rogue moderator.

To whom it might concern--

I am angry about the use of the m-word in Eric Alterman's column from Jan. 29th. It is a common ableist insult. It was a classification in forced sterilization campaigns, and I believe Carrie Buck was initially classified as one. I think the use of the m-word, and other ableist insults, adds insult to the inaccessibility, discrimination, reckless endangerment, and often resulting injury we may face for varying disabilities.

Is it so much to suggest that if you are not a target of a slur, it is not appropriate to use that slur?

Marja Erwin

Beating people up is an act of violence! It's not okay just because we're disabled and you're complying with the law!

“I****,” “i*******,” and “m****” were classifications in forced sterilization campaigns. Carrie Buck was classified as a “m****” and Buck v. Bell claimed “three generations of i******** are enough.”

“But everyone uses those words!”

Not everyone, but most people.

And most people beat and endanger disabled people.

I have hyperacusis and a non-epileptic strobe sensitivity. So policymakers beat me up and endanger me with their insistence on backup beaters, sirens, strobe lights, turn signals, etc. And drivers beat me up and endanger me.

“Tone Trolling!”

It’s already left me vomiting after one pre-dawn strobing, and it’s already gotten me hit by a car. So excuse me if I’m *angry* about ableism.

So far I’ve contacted the VCLU and the DLCV. Neither one can help. The DLCV directed me to the sites of the agencies which mandate the beatings and strobings.

Hi,

I have sensory processing issues, including a sound sensitivity/hyperacusis, and a strobe sensitivity. I can't take the beatings and strobings.

Beatings. Because of my sound sensitivity, pain hurts, and extreme pain, such as from sirens and backup beepers, can completely incapacitate me so I am unable to stand up or crawl away. I have been hit by both sirens and backup beepers while crossing the street, causing me to collapse in agony in the middle of the street. I also get hit by backup beepers at home. I have 26 nrr earplugs, and 37 nrr ear protectors, but they provide less than half their rated protection, so they aren't enough to withstand backup beepers or sirens, so I may still collapse in agony in the middle of the street. I am not supposed to wear them at all times, though I wear them whenever going outside and I keep them in reach when inside. I have also cut out tea and other foods that can worsen sound sensitivity.

Strobings. I have some type of low-frequency strobe sensitivity. My eeg was negative for photosensitive epilepsy. I get blinded and unbalanced by flashing lights. I stumble and sometimes stumble into the street after getting hit by flashing lights from multiple directions, such as turn signals, safety lights, crosswalk lights, etc. at an intersection. I avoid major intersections. I still have to shield my eyes from turn signals. I was hit by a car last June while crossing at a crosswalk at a minor intersection. I have a hard time getting around, because of all the flashing lights. I can also get migraines from flashing lights. I had a nasty migraine, and vomiting on the second or third day, after being strobed by blue lights before dawn last October. I have Polare sunglasses which are supposed to shield against the worst frequencies. I also have blackout curtains, but they weren't enough to deal with post-dusk or pre-dawn strobings.

I'm doing all I can to cope with the beatings and the strobings, and it's not enough. Do I have any legal protections or legal recourse?

P.S. Because of my sound sensitivity, phones are not accessible.

Marja Erwin

I am disabled and I get beaten up several times each week. I have sound sensitivities, hyperacusis, and strobe sensitivities, and the widespread use of backup beepers, sirens, strobe lights, turn signals, etc. can incapacitate and endanger me. Current government policies treat those of us with similar disabilities as acceptable collateral damage, and Trump's policies won't improve things, and his encouragement of rape culture and neo-Nazism will add new dangers to the existing dangers. I got especially badly strobed before dawn one thursday last month, and was still in agony and vomiting the next saturday.

I have to wear ear plugs, ear protectors, and special sunglasses to go outside. I can't cross the street at busy intersections, due to all the turn signals, and can't use the phones, due to the fact that they're phones. I don't have access to regular work, or to the bus system, or to the poison control system, or other things abled people might take for granted.

I used to reject voting as violence. But the status quo is violence, and worsening it is violence, and voting to pressure politicians to stop hurting us isn't comparable violence. (Obviously voting to pressure politicians to continue hurting us is violence and those voters, like those politicians, have blood on their hands.)