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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024

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  • Look into adaptations! I have an electric jar opener and an electric can opener. After a friend got frozen shoulder, I got her a couple of rocker-knives and a pair of tong-spatulas (a pair of tongs, but with spatulas instead of grippers at the end). There are plates and cutting boards with little upright prongs on them, to hold things in place while you cut them with your good hand. There are also things like the slap-chopper or magic bullet, those box-dicers where you slap the lid down, etc.

    Essentially – you know all those late-night commercials with the weird kitchen gadgets? Those aren’t actually weird, they’re intended for handicapped people. But they know if they market them as being for handicapped people, sales drop. But if they market them as weird convenience devices, when someone needs them, they look at them in a different light and they make the sale.

    I’d also suggest searching the web: I know I ran across some disability blogs, where people talked about their adaptation and techniques and where people discussed which products worked or didn’t.

    Oh - if you like wearing jewelry, they make little magnets that clip onto the ends of necklaces and bracelets and such, that make putting on jewelry one-handed easier.


  • That’s a good question. I think it depends on who and what you are, what your resources are, how old you are and how risk-adverse you are.

    OP is trans, so is likely to be directly targeted at some point. They’re also in Wisconsin, which is resisting fascism and they’re also near the Canadian border if they want to make a run for it. But you don’t want to wait until thugs are breaking down your door to leave.

    If I was OP, I’d have applied for EU citizenship, and then an EU passport. I’d be looking into what countries I could emigrate to, what skills I had or could acquire, and what resources I would need. Like, you can move to any country in the EU, but to become a permanent resident, you need to prove you won’t be a burden to them. Sometimes you can do that by buying property or a golden visa, sometimes you can just show proof of income/resources, sometimes you can have a desired career.

    Like, nurses are almost always in demand, so if I was looking to emigrate, I’d see if I could pick up a nursing degree. Because even if you don’t qualify for as a citizen, many places are willing to allow nurses live and practice in their countries.

    If you’re on the younger side, it’s easier to move overseas, easier to adjust, and you have a longer period where you’d be living under oppressive rule / a longer period to re-establish yourself and live a happy life, so moving makes more sense. If you’re older and moving is more disruptive, I can see people being more hesitant.

    Sometimes, even if you have a passport or the resources, there may be some other reason you choose not to leave - family, friends, responsibilities.

    For people who are leaving now, I certainly don’t blame them. For people who are making contingency arrangements - documentation, citizenship, savings, career path, whatever - I think that’s certainly a prudent thing to be doing.

    There are also people who have decided to stay: some because they refuse to give in it give up, some because they may have options but they also have responsibilities, some because they don’t have options other than crossing a border and finding someplace to take them in. I feel for this last category, because that’s especially hard to judge: it needs to be “late enough” that more places are willing to take refugees, but not so late that countries are strained: if even 1% of the population flees, that’s 3.5 million people looking for a new home, and no place can handle that. It’ll be another diaspora - but that also means resettlement will be harder for each individual.

    The people who are leaving or planning to, the people who have intentionally chosen to stay - they’ve made their decisions for their own reasons, and I respect that. The people who would like to leave and have no path other than literally running away - I feel for them, and I wish they had better options. I don’t think it’s too late, but I also don’t think their options will get any better from here unless they’re taking positive steps - that nursing degree, for example.

    The people who are actively cheering for what’s happening - well, if I had The Snap, I think the world would be a better place - though I’m sure they think the exact same thing.

    All that said, though: we’re all fucked in the end. Fascism may be coming to the States, but climate change is coming for all of us: drought, famine, pestilence and war are headed our way, and a bunch of rich people would rather see the planet burn than address actual problems and lose a tiny bit of their paper-based wealth.







  • You know who the biggest welfare queens in the States are? Corporations who deliberately limit worker hours so that they’ll never get benefits, and who deliberately underpay workers relative to their value and the amount of profit the company makes, and who deliberately arrange to underpay their taxes.

    All of these things increase pressure on the worker and their desperate struggle to have just a little breathing room - and the government cheerfully goes along with all of this.

    If any part of society was working as it should - if government represented the people instead of the corporations, if minimum wage had kept up with inflation, if corporations and the wealthy paid back into the system that has so vastly benefitted them - if any of that had happened, then you wouldn’t be under the stress that you’re under.

    Go. Sign up for SNAP. Check with your county and see what other resources are available to you because you’re on SNAP - maybe you qualify for reduced heating, or a free phone line, or seasonal credit at your local farmers market. Anything that you qualify for, take advantage of, because each program will get you a little more space in your life for yourself.