iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 25/02/2025

"I am a 15-year-old non-speaking Autistic with ADHD, Apraxia, Developmental Coordination Disorder, Scoliosis & Pectus Carinatum. My life is hard, but it could be easier if my policy idea was adopted for me & other Autistics." -Patrick Saunders, to Parliament: www.thestoryspeller.com/post/teen-pa...

thestoryspeller.com

Teen Parliament Speech: SA Parliament House

On Friday I presented a speech at Parliament House. My speech was about creating an Autism and Neurodiversity Academy of Excellence to train teachers. I felt nervous and excited. I am so proud of myse...

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

gul2024.bsky.social @gul2024.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

"[...] our lives are so easily forgotten, ignored and excluded. When we are alive, we have to fight for recognition and in death our lives are cast in stereotypes and clichés that robs us of our innate humanity." #DisabilityDayOfMourning

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

I don't feel guilty about that. My brain is trying to protect me. It knows I was almost on those lists. But it still hurts in its own way to not be a part of the vigils. For all of us, to all of us, who want to and cannot: we can remember our people whenever we remember. It's not one out of 365.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Every year I forget about #DisabilityDayofMourning. I remember it the next day, today, when it's over in this part of the world and I see the memorials. I remember our people every day but I never remember to do it with community on the one day about that.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

I use TD Snap. I have previously used CoughDrop. It is a great pity that TD Snap has moved to a subscription-only model - I was fortunate to be able purchase a lifetime license before the switch. (Paying at all for my voice I dislike ethically, of course, but needs must.)

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

"We are calling for the Government to honour its commitment to genuinely co-design reforms with the disability community and for a more careful, well-paced process which will lead to better, fairer and more effective reforms."

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

By 'help to communicate' I mean things like reading out what somebody says with a letterboard. I also mean things like 'translating' home sign. Home sign means signs that people use to communicate, and that aren't a part of a formal sign language.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Some AAC users have people who help them communicate. Some AAC users communicate on their own. Some AAC users (like me) sometimes have help to communicate and sometimes communicate on their own.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Some AAC users have an intellectual disability. Some AAC users do not have an intellectual disability. Using AAC doesn't mean somebody has or doesn't have an intellectual disability.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Some AAC users (like me) want to participate in civil life. By 'participate in civil life' I mean doing things like voting, talking about politics, and attending protests. I have used AAC in Parliament House. I have used AAC in other 'official' settings. This is my right.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

AAC users need to talk about things they don't like. This is important for our safety (like saying when we are being hurt) and it is also a human right. AAC users have the right to talk about politics. Politics affects AAC users.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

AAC users are sometimes in dangerous situations. AAC users sometimes need to speak to law enforcement officials. AAC users are not all white. AAC users are not all children.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Some AAC users can't use big words. Some AAC users can't ever use any spoken language. This is okay as well. People who can't use big words and people who can't use any spoken language have the same human rights to communication as everyone else. This includes the right to freedom of expression.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Some AAC users (like me) can sometimes talk with their mouths in spoken language, and sometimes can't. Some AAC users can always talk with their mouths in spoken language, but choose not to because speaking with their mouth hurts a lot, or is very tiring. This is okay. Anyone can use AAC.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

AAC users can talk about important things. AAC users can talk about dangerous things. AAC users can say things that not everybody agrees with. AAC users have the same right to freedom of expression as everybody else.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

By 'communicating without symbols,' I mean things like typing letters on a keyboard or with eyegaze. I also mean things like talking with mouths in spoken languages and hands in signed languages.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Communicating with symbol AAC is not automatically "inferior" or "worse" than communicating without symbols.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Some AAC users (like me) can type on a non-symbol keyboard sometimes and not always. AAC can be a print-out of pictures. AAC can be a communication device. A communication device can be a specialized device like a TD I-16. It can also be a (much less expensive) "general" device like an iPad.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Due to recent event in life, realize evidently world need more "AAC 101" information. Have some here. (This is a thread.) Some AAC users (like me) can use big words. Some AAC users (like me) are literate and use symbol-based AAC anyway.

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Eb @ebthen.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

If you're seeing encouragement/demands to do alt text and you're overwhelmed or confused about how to do it and you're worried you're going to do it wrong... this thread is for you. First: prompt questions to get you started.

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Eb @ebthen.bsky.social · 14/11/2023

And this is why I learned to make it clear that talking about ableist language isn't about lists of no-no words. It's about pointing out how and why ableist language is part of ableism. It's not about "this word hurts my feelings". It's "this language conveys ableist ideas and is harmful".

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Maybe this is wishful thinking, but it would be nice if the Disability Support Pension would align with the national minimum wage, rather than, y'know, 55% of it.

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Eb @ebthen.bsky.social · 02/03/2024

Here's a pretty easy way to know if you're doing brain-based ableism (e.g. sanism, intellectual ableism) with your words: Do your words imply that someone's bad behavior or opinion is because of a brain-based illness or deficiency (as opposed to being a choice or value)? That's probably ableism.

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Richard Amm ♿ (Disability & Research) @richamm.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

OFFICIAL RELEASE: Star Trek and Disability; Volume 1 - The Trouble With Cripples. A short zine made by disabled academics critiquing the utopian vision of Star Trek—FREE to read here: files.libcom.org/files/2024-1... OR linktr.ee/disabilityark

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Will there be a recording or a transcript available, or any other aspect of your presentation (eg, slides) available upon request?

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Oh, good! Self was working on that but you have it.

A screenshot of an AAC app message bar, with identical text to the text of the post.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

" ABA has never been shown to be even slightly efficacious "

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

It's that time of year again (the season for applying to attend next year's CRPD Conference of State Parties as part of the civil society delegation).

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Tho, respectfully, I think the headphones may have been a hint that I was a hearie?

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Then there were the Parliament House security guards where one said to the other "she can't hear"...... yes, I could, but I wasn't going to argue with them when I could just ignore what they said and not be 'disrespectful' or whatever and get into the meeting room in time.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Honestly the day the pharmacy tech getting me my meds was respectful enough to speak out loud and simultaneously write down what he was saying because he wasn't sure what mode of communication worked best for me was the best pharmacy experience I've had.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

An excellent article. thinkingautismguide.com/2016/08/when... " Sometimes people try to get your attention by doing things that can appear to be aggressive, but they’re really saying, “I have a problem, and I need help.” "

thinkingautismguide.com

Autism, Aggression, Self-Injury: Medical Insights & Best Practices

Sometimes people try to get attention by doing things that look like aggression, but they are really saying, “I have a problem, I need help.”

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

involved a sighted journalist assisting Nas Campanella, the disability affairs reporter, to do her job, because the Federal Government and the childcare operator had made it impossible for her to access relevant information independently. [2/2]

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I was also unsurprised and appalled to find that what little public-facing documentation was available was so inaccessible that a significant portion of the segment on 7:30 last night (the TV version of the story) [1/2]

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Hi, not an educator - I really want to watch it, I hear good things (and also that there's a lot of ableism depicted) from other AAC users. I'll get around to it eventually - I have a hard time being able to watch things I haven't watched before.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I testified in the Disability Royal Commission's Public Hearing 7 in 2020, at the time the youngest person (age 17) to testify in one of its Public Hearings. I was a member of the Queenslanders with Disability Network's second Emerging Leaders' Program cohort (2022).

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I am a survivor of domestic/family violence, medical abuse, systemic violence, restraint and segregation. I’m a proud member of @autisticadvocacy.bsky.social , Queenslanders with Disability Network, and Women With Disabilities Australia.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I’ve dropped out of university (undergrad) twice so far due to inaccessibility, and I am going to keep trying… one day. I founded and manage the AAC Image Library, AACIL – aacil.neocities.org

aacil.neocities.org

AAC Image Library

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I created the term ‘DisabilityMonstrosity,’ which pertains to the theory that ‘disability’ and ‘monstrosity’ are the same concept. You can read more about it here: autismwrites.neocities.org/DISABILITYMO...

autismwrites.neocities.org

Autism Writes

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I’m a multimodal AAC user with some mouthspeech who doesn’t feel that a label like ‘part-time user’ or ‘full-time user’ fits me – if I had to pick a term, it would be ‘oscillating linguistic mode’. Since I first got frequent access to a keyboard, typing has been my primary form of communication.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Introductory thread: Hello there! I’m Maria, a multiply Disabled intersex person living on Turrbal and Yugambeh land. My profile picture is a drawing of myself, a pale fat person wearing headphones, glasses, and an N95, holding up an AAC tablet.

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Karli Drew ♿️ @karleia.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Disabled people are cool as fuck

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

AAC Image Library @aacil.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Today, we reached the milestone of 4,000 AAC symbols by us, for us, available for all AAC users to use!

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Reposted by Maria Scharnke

Karli Drew ♿️ @karleia.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

We have the power to shape this platform into the refuge we want it to be—and it’s important to be cognizant of that moving forward. Avoiding ableist language, using alt text, amplifying Disabled voices, and choosing GIFs mindfully are all small ways to make a big difference for Disabled users.

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Maria Scharnke @mscharnke.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

dyspraxic life really is like that

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