@NatalyaD@disabled.social

NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Jun 11, 2026

Replying to @quinn@social.circl.lu

@quinn@social.circl.lu @KentNavalesi@mstdn.social As a Brit, one thing I notice about some US culture stuff is this "I am an individual who achieved everything I have All By Myself therefore we should help no one else who is less-advantaged, cos they just need to try harder". Hence the YouTube Landscaper (who could be exploitative in his own way for clicks) often having cases where someone is elderly, or has a very sick relative in hospital as well as the HOAs who have vested developer interests to steal property etc.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Jun 10, 2026

Replying to @quinn@social.circl.lu

@quinn@social.circl.lu There's a Youtuber in my shorts who keeps showing up. He is a landscaper and does paid and free clearing of gardens. His videos seem to be all HOA weirdos showing up to harass him or his client for him doing their lawn. I'm British and the idea of your neighbours being able to fine you or put a lien on your house for garden state is bizarre. As is the idea your neighbours could harass tradespeople working for you (paid or free). I learned about HOAs from this guy...

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Jun 03, 2026

Replying to @EdTheDev@infosec.exchange

@EdTheDev@infosec.exchange @foone@digipres.club I still have my standalone MP3 player from the late 2000s which I still prefer to use. I will definitely replace it when it dies if I can find something that doesn't try to be too clever.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · May 04, 2026

Replying to @cassolotl@eldritch.cafe

@cassolotl@eldritch.cafe The LawFare isn't about whether they have a good case, it's about intimidation. The anti-trans bigots have a lot more money than most people/orgs, so they can cost them a huge pile of money in legalling (and damage their reputation) which still achieves their aim...

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @NatalyaD@disabled.social

@Troggie I think my GP is unusual in recommending pre-pain relief and using gel. Most don't seem to bother which sucks. I believe if I'd gone for another one the GP would have escalated pain relief if needed cos they are genuinely amazing. I'm very very lucky, and chose the house we could just afford to buy based on GP catchment area...

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @Troggie@beige.party

@Troggie My GP advised me to take ibuprofen and paracetamol (or cocodamol) an hour before the mirena insertion and she used an anaesthetic gel. It was still momentarily painful at insertion but it was very quick and the GP did warn me. Then achey like moderate period pain afterwards. Getting the fecking thing out was a challenge, a different GP removed it and it had embedded itself in my cervix so again slightly painful and slow but GP did explain and checked in with me after.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 29, 2026

Ugh, just seen an article about Tony Blair's thinktank (lobbying group) pushing for certain conditions (anxiety, depression, ADHD) to be blanket excluded from Personal Independence Payment (PIP) a not-employment-linked disability benefit to cover extra costs of living while disabled.

It's all promoting this idea PIP is easy to get, doesn't require evidence and is based on condition not specific criteria of "having difficulty with things".

I'm getting tired of Labour kicking disabled folk.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @NatalyaD@disabled.social

@stevo399@dragonscave.space Deaf people are always portrayed as being able to lipread in completely impossible unrealistic situations. Or if only you worked and tried harder you'd be better at hearing and lipreading. Which is why so many of us have constant concentration fatigue and there's a really high rate of anxiety, depression and fatigue conditions like fibromyalgia amongst deaf people - we physically burn ourselves out.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @stevo399@dragonscave.space

@stevo399@dragonscave.space I think almost all portrayals of disabled people by non-disabled authors are terrible. Even some disabled authors can be dubious - portraying their personal experience as universal rather than 1 of many possibilities.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 28, 2026

I have seen a few posts recently where volunteers as part of services that offer blind people "sighted assistance" are recording the calls without consent or the blind person's knowledge and sharing them online.

The organisations offering the service don't seem inclined to deal with these massive privacy breaches. They must be traceable if someone cared.

Blind people may be told "that's the price of free support" but that is not OK.

This is why we need to discuss ethics in volunteering.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @fvsch@hachyderm.io

@fvsch I think the text designer shouldn't assume what background colour the user is using (or selecting with) and should ensure the text is contrasty/clear enough without shadow effects as I would find that distorting and am often using browsers to adapt the background colour to something that doesn't hurt. I of course spend my life in reader mode in FF or plugins like Tranquility Reader cos so many fonts are just impossible for me to read now.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @fvsch@hachyderm.io

@fvsch I know a lot of people with reading difficulties will use selection to act like a finger or ruler to help them track the line. That text selection is truly revolting. I don't understand people adding so much trash to text in any mode. We're not in the 90s where Word Art is rad and cool and new... (except we are, kinda, where management and marketing are involved)

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @NatalyaD@disabled.social

@xanna @kittyboy77 I work with disabled uni students. When they can't get funding for Dragon or TalkType (the £££ dictation apps now) we recommend they play around with any kind of video call platform which has automated captions -> transcription and copy out the text from that. Our uni is deep in the Microshite Teams eco-system so some students talk-to-Teams set transcribing going and pull the text from that. Dunno if Google meet does transcribing. All of these have data goes ??? risk tho.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @xanna@mastodon.ie

@xanna @kittyboy77 Off the top of my head I don't know of any speech to text stuff for Linux. One issue is that many win/Mac OS systems just use the same back-end as Nuance's Dragon. Or they're some kind of cloudy thing where your speech data is going to ??where and almost certainly all involving AI-training now. Speech recognition is hard to do well and I've not yet come across a Linux program which had the necessary £££ and time investment. I will boost your OP tho in case that helps.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 18, 2026

RE: @WeirdWriter@caneandable.social

I really enjoyed this article about blind audio producers, the very real barriers they face and what success looks like (and how tenuous that is).

The blind networking, blind people supporting other blind people (hopefully sometimes even getting paid for that deep expertise), the affordability or not of some solutions and suboptimal least-worst solutions used sometimes. Where sighted people have been flexible and worked to help (or hinder).

I think of many students past and present.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 18, 2026

Replying to @steggy@sunny.garden

@steggy *nods* Thinking of friends I know whose babies have had to go to hospital with suspected RSV. We have to be super cautious cos babies can deteriorate fast. Even the best-case where baby is fine after 24 hours observation is still super stressful and if avoidable/reduceable seems worthwhile doing. I also wonder if it changes the older people RSV rates (another vulnerable group), reducing RSV in the community too. Vaccination, honestly a medical marvel!

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 18, 2026

RE: @kityates@mas.to

Reducing hospitalisations for babies with RSV by 80% due to a maternal vaccination during pregnancy is amazing.

I hope more vaccine trust building can up the rate of vaccination and reduce suffering for babies and their families as well as reducing demand on the NHS.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 14, 2026

Replying to @ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us I saw that, it can go in my expanding spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U5w4Zgdz-UgTtTSZaRmGSelTMxbnIptKW7ryUMPD5sM/edit?gid=836635307#gid=836635307 I collect examples of discrim so people can compare situations and learn strategies. I am impressed 1) this young woman hasn't had previous refusals and 2) that she had the idea of showing the Equality Act on her phone - that's brave to do while being hassled.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 14, 2026

Replying to @skippingmoonrocks@sunny.garden

@skippingmoonrocks That's such a painfully true poem. An experience that crosses countries, borders, languages and more for disabled and sick folk. Reminds me of Nuala Watts' "Disabled Person's Travel Card" https://inksweatandtears.co.uk/nuala-watt/ Conveys a whole hostile system, the purpose being what it actually does. And reminds me I need to email a friend a supporting letter for dealing with UK 'reassessment' bullshit for a friend.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 02, 2026

Replying to @mpe@hcommons.social

@mpe This is clearly a start for all Motability vehicles to have black boxes. The terms and conditions for red-flagging are weird. If you do 6+ trips in a day (how they define a split trip?), a break every hour of driving (do abled drivers get made to pause every hour?), and certain kinds of driving which may or may not be dangerous (or triggered by an adaptive car controls). I mist write to Motability and NOPE this and think we should complain en masse.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 01, 2026

Replying to @jboy@post.lurk.org

@jboy A lot of it about. I have more capacity than I've had, but I have to be careful and if I blow my overall walking level in a day/few-days I suffer for it. People who walk typically just don't understand how restrictive it can be. Even at levels above where you can access official disability supports like disability parking permits etc.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 30, 2026

Replying to @Stabbi@disabled.social

@Stabbi I have heard of the term and yes it's very appropriate. Victorian women were tied to home or similar because there weren't public toilets or it wasn't socially acceptable for them to use them. I am sure we could find evidence of this for any made-marginalised group, women, Black people, disabled people, trans/queer folk and so on. We must resist it. Or have a mass piss in!

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 30, 2026

Replying to @amyworrall@mastodon.social

@amyworrall *nods* I can't sit on the floor for long any more after major hip surgery 5 years ago, it's very uncomfortable. Give us seats! @otterly_icy @quixoticgeek

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 30, 2026

Replying to @afewbugs@social.coop

@afewbugs@social.coop @quixoticgeek@social.v.st I have a relative who has a house they can't manage (and no appropriate help to manage it). They often sleep rough or hang around various places and honestly hostile architecture doesn't stop my relative, they've developed a preference to sit on the floor/ground... So a big up yours really. So a lot like bike blocking gates that the "young men on quadbikes" can easily carry their things over, they block disabled and legit users AND don't stop the non-desired users.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 30, 2026

Replying to @NatalyaD@disabled.social

Hostile seating is often not accessible. A seat that requires me to bear weight through my legs isn't a good seat for me. I'm trying to take weight OFF my legs. Something that requires balancing isn't good as my balance is poor.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 30, 2026

RE: @quixoticgeek@social.v.st

Thread discussing how benches are essential inclusive architecture. Many people can drive, cycle or walk but can't stand for longer periods.

It takes a lot more leg strength and complex muscle working arrangements to stand than to walk.

I have limited walking AND standing stamina. My nearest shops are in my max good-day walking distance but no benches mean I can't rest part or half way so it's a painful trip when it needn't be.

Stations never have enough seating and it's often hostile.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 28, 2026

Replying to @jmb@mastodon.me.uk

@jmb I think there should be a mass complaint to MPs about this HMRC badness. If enough MPs complain, HMRC may be forced to back off.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 28, 2026

RE: @slowe@mastodon.me.uk

I don't think UKGov should be allowed to require commercial software for the submission of data and information to government.

They should be required to use open standards and allow open source tools. Or provide one.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 21, 2026

Replying to @kirrus@chocolate-teapot.uk

@kirrus@chocolate-teapot.uk @revk@toot.me.uk what is horrifying is that the council accepted the AI judgment on the books which the school librarian association said wasn't correct, the evidence about how many books wasn't shared with the council and currently this poor librarian now can't work with kids cos she has a safeguarding black mark on her record now.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 21, 2026

Replying to @Troggie@beige.party

@Troggie @DJDarren I replied to @Troggie's Equality Act post. If it is about this, then sadly it is probably-legal because there is a huge exemption for boats which on the boat itself (like planes) is basically exempt from the Equality Act entirely (and were exempt from DDA too). I have OPINIONS about this, none are polite and most have 4 letter word prefixes! Happy to talk through this further but don't want to splart depressing disablist legal crap all over your accounts.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 20, 2026

Replying to @LoganFive@beige.party

@LoganFive Not enough post-order emails begging for reviews or trying to sell you shit even though you didn't sign up for sales-shit...

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 20, 2026

Replying to @NatalyaD@disabled.social

@grimalkina@mastodon.social I remember being asked to speak at a pay-to-attend event on disability and they didn't want to pay my travel even when I explained I'd lost my paid-job for disablism reasons so I was unfunded. It took a lot of pushing back to get them to give me £50 to pay for my trainfare and busfare and I stayed with a friend nearby... Their tickets weren't expensive but could have been £10 more (or higher for corp rate) each and covered all speaker's costs properly too. Those are CHOICES.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 20, 2026

Replying to @grimalkina@mastodon.social

@grimalkina@mastodon.social I see a lot of very small not-for-profit organisations covering travel/costs and ensuring speakers get at least an honorarium payment. So if they can do it, so can the large corporates. I work in professional services in a uni and the way we effectively piss and moan and obstruct to avoid paying for stuff appals me. We're always angling for freebies or trying to get free this or that from small people/orgs, but we'll pay the big people/orgs loadsa cash...

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 18, 2026

Replying to @RolloTreadway@beige.party

@RolloTreadway The other thing to check is whether you are exempt for another reason: age, certain benefits, able to apply for reduced costs or you have an exemption for a specific (weird list of) health condition. https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/free-nhs-prescriptions I work at a university and have come across socially disadvantaged people who have an exemption health condition whose GP didn't tell them and pharmacy took money off them for meds which are obviously for an exempt condition *rage*.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 17, 2026

Replying to @tamsin@toot.wales

@tamsin@toot.wales That sounds infuriating and very hard to narrow down. I hope you can find answers.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 16, 2026

Replying to @tamsin@toot.wales

@tamsin@toot.wales I don't have coeliac but I work with disabled university students in England. coeliac students often need their own kitchen space for gluten-free reasons. One coeliac student told me that at one point she was getting gluten poisoning from a certified product - I think a type of breakfast cereal which she ate a LOT of because she'd been deprived since diagnosis. Can you get some dietician advice about the foods your household is buying to identify if anything is still glutenny?

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 14, 2026

Replying to @rmblaber1956@mastodon.social

@rmblaber1956 @ChrisMayLA6 @HarriettMB I've been known to go to disability job recruitment fairs and tell the civil service group "I wouldn't work for civil service for Listsreasons" including lack of Access to Work entitlement and stories I've heard of very slow bureaucratic barriers in providing adjustments to employees. The DWP is the first org I threatened with disability rights law. I'm currently suing their Access to Work division at the moment for poor accessibility.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 14, 2026

Replying to @rmblaber1956@mastodon.social

@rmblaber1956 @ChrisMayLA6 @HarriettMB I seem to recall the DWP had one of the highest employment tribunal rates for disability discrimination specifically from their staff https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-disability-discrimination-employment-tribunals/ As a disabled person who's had significant dealings with the DWP since 2004ish, I can attest to extensive personal experience of egregious and persistent discrimination both in attitudinal terms and in their failure to do even very basic reasonable adjustments.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 11, 2026

Replying to @kim@fedi.social

@kim @cassolotl I'm probably about as good at using the proper hob and portable one's switches but the membrane will die quicker I'm sure...

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 11, 2026

Replying to @NatalyaD@disabled.social

@cassolotl @kim Our induction hob was installed for an elderly man by his daughter. He was known to be visually impaired and possibly not very safe with gas. It's hard to tell how much people can get used to something and how much is a thing that risks not being ageing or disability friendly. We would like to install a "turn it off at the wall" with a visible wall switch to stop incidental beeping for using that space as a surface (small kitchen). Also catproofing.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Mar 11, 2026

Replying to @cassolotl__dup_28883@eldritch.cafe

@cassolotl @kim and I just bought our first house which had a newish induction hob installed. It only has touchscreen controls which did take us a while to get used to. The ease of cleaning is definitely better for us - we had gas before. A partially-blind friend had to pay for highest end induction hob to get physical controls as you do need to be able to see small numbers and have fairly good dexterity to use them. I like the idea of separate controls or magnetic removable ones.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Feb 26, 2026

Replying to @silhelm@craftgoblin.club

@silhelm It may be worth getting someone to do your BP manually with a manual sphygmomanometer. If you know your usual likely BP range, your manual tester (dunno if you can do your own, not sure) can stop pumping the higher inflation and start listening for the top number or inflate then listen carefully... The electronic machines will tighten much more than needed (and tighten harder if they miss a reading).

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Feb 24, 2026

Replying to @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io Thanks so much for this. I have been trying to share Black and Black Disabled voices cos that's what matters most here.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Dec 25, 2025

Replying to @bright_helpings@mspsocial.net

@bright_helpings@mspsocial.net @thomholwerda@exquisite.social The book (which I downloaded and read today) is better than the articles which are a little bit pity-fest and ableist in tone. More contextual, nuanced and recognising of the structures that failed to support Ronnie Lockwood and left him homeless for so long. The book talks about the "special education" and care system, people with autism and learning disabilities and the fact that without an address you can't break the homelessness cycle.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Nov 06, 2025

Replying to @distorted@transfem.social

@distorted They just need a Niobium for nonbinary people and they're winning - or something... Periodic Table of Genders is almost as good as relationship-i-versaries (wedding anniversaries) by atomic number... Just how many genders we could combine and play with. I always did define chemical elements by polyamory type things when I was a (crap then failed) chemistry student.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @kitation@disabled.social

@kitation@disabled.social OhGod, so sorry. I'm v lucky my union (UCU) is 99% decent on trans rights and sharing advice for the HE sector as much as we can. Hope you can find a better trans inclusive and trans positive union soon.

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NatalyaD @NatalyaD@disabled.social · Apr 01, 2024

Replying to @bestiaexmachina@metalhead.club

@bestiaexmachina I have done this because I have balance problems that mean I can't read/view screens if there is anything moving on the page (or in my visual field) at all. I tend to give up if the webpage is too bad, but if it's important and my Tranquility Reader plugin or reader mode isn't usable I'll use several physical pieces of card if I have to. I also cover flashing LEDs and too-bright lights (my webpcam has noxious blue LEDs in my face and which flicker) with blutac.

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