Comments on: Chatterday – Open Thread.

By: nuri

nuri — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:54:37 +0000

I picked up “Anything but Typical” by Nora Raleigh Baskin from the library this weekend. It’s a YA book and part of the reason it made it on my pile is the back cover that starts: “Neurotypicals like it when you look them in the eye” and well, it sort of hopped right into my hands.

I love good YA books. I loves them, I do!

By: thetroubleis

thetroubleis — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:25:28 +0000

Just a thought, but we’ve had a thread on assistive tech, maybe we should have one on accommodations? I know I’ve gotten ideas that have really helped me out from chatting with other people. Plus, you all are insightful.
thetroubleis´s last blog ..I am mine.

By: amandaw

amandaw — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:54:49 +0000

Anna, under the ADA accommodation has to be “reasonable.” Obviously, that leaves a few holes in the patching. If whoever’s in charge doesn’t think the accommodation is “reasonable” (by their definition) in those particular circumstances (case-by-case, of course) then you’re out of luck.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:46:04 +0000

Ack! That’s really bad, Este. Isn’t that illegal in the US? I admit not not knowing the particulars of the ADA.

By: Este Yarmosh

Este Yarmosh — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:20:07 +0000

Sorry about the randomness of this comment, but has anyone seen/read this article yet? http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_13846278?source=rss&nclick_check=1

It’s about a law student who has a visual impairment; the California Bar Association or whatever won’t let her take the Bar exam using a certain assistive technology.

By: thetroubleis

thetroubleis — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:47:09 +0000

codeman38, thanks for pointing me to the thread.

By: meloukhia

meloukhia — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:37:59 +0000

Aw, darnit, Kaz, I thought I replied to this last night and I guess I didn’t. Anyway, I wanted to say for the record that I am tremendously impressed with all of the work that the linkspammers have done. And I really appreciate the warnings y’all have added to the linkspam posts so that I can know ahead of time if something is safe for me to read or not. I imagine that organizing those is a lot of Not Fun Work, and I respect the decision to bail, quite a lot, actually. Thank you for all of that work you’ve put into the linkspams/discussion and I’m really sorry that it has been tough going.

I wish I had helpful handy tips for you in regards to the sleep issue, but my sleep schedule is a Hot Mess right now too. The only thing I might suggest (you may have already tried this), is programming a schedule into your organizer (I think you mentioned you have an organizer, right?) which includes times when you must step away from the computer to sleep, etc. (Or, if your computer can be programmed to shut down/hibernate on schedule, you could do that?)

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:30:20 +0000

People without mental health conditions…

“Those unlucky people who have never been institutionalized or threatened with it”?

“Those who have never taken a medication to stop depression that eventually caused suicidal ideations”

I think “people without mental health conditions” is probably the best, up your word count.

By: Tlönista

Tlönista — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:33:45 +0000

Odds and ends: after pushing myself to my absolute physical limits at work, I talked to my boss and without quite disclosing disability status (“health reasons”) asked if he could just schedule me for shorter shifts. I will have to really scrimp and save but it will be worth it. Hurray!

Kaz: yeah, an unreliable time-sense (not sure what else to call it, but I know what you’re talking about) plays havoc with sleep schedule! I find myself relying on roommates or, often, friends on IM: “yell at me if I’m online past such-and-such a time”, “phone me by x o’clock to make sure I’m going to bed/getting up”, etc. But that can take an incredible amount of organization.

General question: are people with mental health conditions such as mood disorders considered neuroatypical? I’m doing some more writing about disability and am not sure how to refer to people without mental health conditions. “Normie” is right out.

By: The Bald Soprano

The Bald Soprano — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:26:03 +0000

Static Nonsense: I bought a Nokia N810 (it was EUR199 on Amazon.de). It’s called an ‘internet tablet’ –basically a teeny tiny Linux computer. I didn’t look at the iPod Touch because I need to be able to get info between the PDA and my linux computer (and my husband’s linux computer….). There are also the iPaq PDAs if you can deal with Windows. None of these options are cheap, sadly. I’m lucky that we have the money right now.

By the way, Kaz (I think it was Kaz), you mentioning getting an iPhone to use for this kind of thing was what gave me the idea.