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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 23h

lIf you are trying to organize an activity that involves reading something, do not assume that text to speech will be accessible to everyone especially for a long reads.

Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 23h

For me, my auditory processing issues make understanding text to speech extremely taxing whereas audiobooks read by a human and played at a slow speed ARE manageable.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 23h

Even if someone uses it for short things like reading an email with the screen reader, doesn't mean they can use it to read something like a long PDF or a book.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 23h

ven a lot of fellow disabled folks seem to be confused ABT this: text to speech is not accessible to everyone who can't read print. It is not a substitute for audiobooks read by human narrators for example.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 1d

Marginalized folks also want to just do our jobs but have time/energy wasted in having to fight oppression. whenever PPL say this is not rocket science ABT solving social issues… I always respond rocket science is a lot easier then fighting/racism/ABLEISM etc. Just look at rocket science workplaces

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

I'm not quoting the post because I'm not looking to get an onslaught of nasty replies from a prominent person's followers, but like,

It's always been tiring, and especially so now, to hear people in tech be like "ugh enough talking about politics I just want to talk about tech".

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 1d

Awesome. I will fill out the form and also message you for the invite to the other space you mentioned.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 1d

Or that avoiding another person's trauma triggers sometimes precludes fully UNMASKING yourself. And that you might feel like an asshole for knowing that the ethical thing to do would be to MASK to avoid hurting someone and also hating that you have to do it and that it feels suffocating.

Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 1d

UNMASK they say. Research shows autistic people communicate better with other autistic people, They say.They don't say that better does not mean well. That better does not mean UNMASKING will note be painful, ESP Wen histories of trauma are present on both sides.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

All of that was preamble to ask whether this server has a voice channel?

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

I haven't used discord in a while BC I find it at cognitively overwhelming at least for the text channels which aren't accessible to me with the screen reader these days anyway but I'm told some servers have voice channels which may be much more accessible so I'm interested in trying.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

She also all that garbage about you can always choose how to respond to a bad situation… as a loss of volition isn't a part of many Neuro divergences

Alana @alanasaltz.bsky.social · 2d

The people who can "choose" to be happy usually have some privilege, denial of reality, or lack of deeper oppression or struggling to be able to do that. To impose the idea that someone is choosing to suffer and have a bad perspective, especially if they're disabled and/or marginalized, is cruel.

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Reposted by Zahra Khan she/her

Kiona N. Skeletons (and skeleton accessories) @kionasmith07.bsky.social · 3d

I wish more people realized that in the event of violence, a level head and some first aid training will save a lot more lives than another gun on-scene.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

In the meantime please please please please please call your Congress person to tell them how Medicare not covering telehealth is killing people. You're free to use my story.

Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

Social media has been to inaccessible to me so I haven't been able to follow which organizations are fighting this. Are there any disability justice organizations folks can recommend that I reach out to?

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

Medicare is denying me essential life-saving medical care on a daily basis for the last 13 days. Also Medicare resolutions have been extending Covid related flexibility regarding telehealth instead of making it a permanent thing disabled people who are bedbound

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

And cost is only one of the barriers. My main barrier is that leaving my apartment exposes me to environmental triggers that can make me lose tolerance to foods and at risk of malnourishment and hospitalization again.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

I also learned that although Medi-Cal will cover Gurnee rides to my Medical Appointments it'll only do it if the provider takes Medi-Cal, for other providers I must continue to pay $650 per ride for private gurney service

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

This means and I am completely an utterly rude because I am unable to access doctors appointments, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy or any other Medical appointment BC I am bedbound. A few times a year I use a service to get out of my apartment for Appointments

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 2d

It's day 13 of the shutdown and my life-saving medical appointments continue to be cancelled BC Medicare not covering telehealth anymore. Today I found out that Medi-Cal(California Medicaid) which covers telehealth won't do it for patients whose primary insurance is Medicare

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 3d

TW: Suicide
As an ADJUNCT to the below, most gun DEATHS in the US are suicides

Michael Busch @michael-w-busch.bsky.social · 3d

A reminder:

For almost everyone; owning a gun is far more dangerous than not owning one.

Because I have encountered one too many Americans today pretending that they should buy guns because of the current crises.

This is not a sensible country.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 3d

But yes totally agree with you. I grew up and I've got only family from a gun on culture on the other side of the world and had gun safety drilled into me very very early but part BC family experiences I have been very much against gun ownership as an adult especially handguns

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 3d

Wait is this the lefty folks who think they can protect themselves from a government that owns drones and tanks with handguns?

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 4d

The first time around the media and a good chunk of the left kept focussing on Trump GAFFES and people spent so much time making fun of his diction among other things while congressional Republicans quietly PASSAD terrible legislation, Supreme Court Appointments etc.

Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you. To me, all this is designed to waste the left energy and other resources and keeping folks busy in fighting blatant lies rather than focussing on positive policy actions. The media heavily fuelled this Dynamic the first time around and apparently doing it again

Robert Chapman @drrobertchapman.bsky.social · 12d

The thing to know about Trump's autism and paracetamol claims is that the cruelty is the point. They want women in pain and disabled people stigmatised. And they enjoy showing they can lie outrageously without accountability. I worry that debating the science is to play their game, by their rules.

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Zahra Khan she/her @hellozeik.bsky.social · 4d

Like there was far too much supposed mental health advice about setting boundaries as if a lack of knowledge that setting boundaries is important is the problem and not the fact that assholes you can't walk away from BC life constraints keep violating these boundaries

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