Jess Walton
@JessHealyWalton
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Joined November 2009
Please donate to Sameer Project (chuffed/paypal/venmo). Israel’s genocide is a mass disabling event. So many people have temporary and/or permanent health conditions directly caused by Israel’s blockade, bombing & forced displacements of Palestinians. Don’t feel helpless. Act!.
We are seeing patterns emerge in the type of medical cases we are seeing and treating. Bacterial and viral infections, fevers and coughs, diarrhea, and skin rashes. All preventable, all from the unsanitary and crowded conditions that dominate displacement camps.
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I just heard a grown man change his order from a hot chocolate to a coffee because his other grown man friends teased him for his “embarrassing” order. Wtf, toxic masculinity? Have you gendered hot chocolate?.
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Watching Palestinians burning alive. "This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” - Aaron Bushnell.
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Trans people warned everyone that anti trans bigots like Rowling will throw anyone under the bus, including women they claim to care about. I saw it first hand when my wife (c1s lesbian) was thrown out of a women’s toilet because of her appearance. What did anti trans bigots say?.
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Yesterday I tried to take my sign that said "There is no disability justice without a Free Palestine - this is the biggest cohort of child amputees in history" to the children's wing of the State Library Victoria, named after donors who support Netanyahu & Israel's genocide. 🧵
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There is no #DisabilityJustice without a #FreePalestine! . Image: an insulin pen down to zero.
A 7-year-old diabetic, diagnosed in the second week of the war, is currently without necessary insulin injections.
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Don’t stop talking about Hind’s death at the hands of Israel! The Baptist Hospital Massacre! The decomposed babies left to starve in hospital! The Al Shifa massacres! The flour massacres! The bulldozed body! Reem & her grandfather missing the soul of his soul! Don’t forget!.
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All of the Spice Girls are women, so all women are Spice Girls.
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I. I actually did it! A stranger, an adult, who didn't ask my name or have ANY conversation with me prior to asking this question, came up to me and said, 'Do you mind if I ask how you lost your leg?' I replied, 'I do mind, actually'. They did NOT like that.
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They said she looked like a man, or that she should dress more femininely, or that she was an unfortunate victim and should put up with it for the benefit of other c1s women. Some of them stopped engaging because they knew how bad they sounded.
Tonight my wife was threatened & discriminated against by an Executive Security Solutions guard at @StrikeBowling QV. She was told she was going to be forcibly removed from the premises for using the women’s toilet. We were celebrating our birthdays on a rare kid free date.
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Cis folks, if people try to "gotcha" you with 'how do you define a woman', just ask them how they define a woman and then ask if they truly believe women are defined by their reproductive ability and genitalia. So far this response has worked well for me.
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One anti trans bigot ran to reddit to ask other anti trans bigots how to deal with my wife’s story without looking like they didn’t care about c1s women being gender policed in women’s spaces. Some even claimed I was lying about what happened.
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I understand this looks wasteful or unnecessary to some abled people, but It’s important for many elderly, disabled & chronically ill people to be able to access pre cut/peeled/etc fruit & veg. There are other fights to fight when it comes to reducing waste. #WarOnWaste
Loving the supermarket’s commitment to reducing plastic. Please don’t buy this - don’t encourage it. #waronwaste
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Thankfully there was evidence - the venue confirmed it had happened and apologised, and even committed to training for their staff so it didn’t happen again. I don’t know if it ever has, I never went back. It was also reported in the media. So they couldn’t say I was lying.
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There’s no disability justice without a Free Palestine.
trying to wrap my mind around the fact that no medical supplies have entered the Gaza strip since May 6.
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It genuinely baffled some anti trans bigots because they had no good answer that didn’t expose the lie that they hated trans women because they wanted to protect c1s women. Some went back to trusty “blame the transes”, saying what my wife went through was trans people’s fault.
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This is a familiar tactic to all trans people who have been harassed by anti trans bigots online. Out they came with the same line the other day re the hatred towards an Algerian woman in boxing. It’s the transes fault!.
@samar_bhai_ @jk_rowling Rowling may be wrong, but I blame the fucking trans movement for sowing this confusion in the first place.
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Genuinely, people need to understand that Rowling & co are not about women! They’re not! They’re about trying to convince feminists & progressive women that trans people are the enemy of women, instead of misogyny, sexism, capitalism, fascism, & those attacking bodily autonomy.
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The reason some people are now seeing who Rowling and her friends truly are is because they are realising she’s viciously attacked a woman who was assigned female at birth and has always lived as a woman. The mask is off! It’s not just trans people they’re targeting.
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Rowling & others are talking about her chromosomes & hormone levels, because to them, ANYONE could be SECRETLY not TRULY a “woman” by THEIR very narrow definition. They have no proof about any of her test results by the way, they’re going on appearance & vibes.
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The reason they’re talking about this woman & not the child rapist at the olympics is that their true target is trans people. That is genuinely, genuinely all they care about. Boxers or bowlers who look too masculine for their liking are suspect & therefore fodder for the cannon.
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They would have been DELIGHTED by a woman deciding to call off the match & cry in the ring because she didn’t know appropriate defensive boxing moves when boxing a more skilled opponent. No matter that she later apologised for her behaviour. Bigots saw an opportunity & took it.
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This person thinks my wife should have to wear skirts if she doesn’t want to get harassed and threatened in toilets 🤨
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Elf on the Shelf is creepy and wrong. I hate him. He’s a nosy jerk working for The Man to make kids scared to be a bit naughty. He’s a symbol of surveillance and fear. This is my controversial Christmas opinion.
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It feels like I’m losing my mind. How can this still be going on without any consequences? How is there still no armed intervention? Why is no one helping end apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide?! I can’t bear watching my friend watching her people die.
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Last week I had a parent of a disabled child describe themselves as having “lived experience of disability.” They also said the adult child of a disabled person had “lived experience of disability.” No. You do not. You have your experiences as a parent/child, but it’s not ours.
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Hi @deves_katherine, I just wanted to say how vile and cruel it is that you called Penny Whetton - climate scientist, artist, photographer, trans woman, and wife of Senator Janet Rice, who died in 2019 - "a man pretending to be a woman.". Truly, you are the lowest of the low.
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Blurred face, hidden name… because he went to Israel to help them commit genocide.
Maj. S., a lone soldier from Chicago, came to Israel to defend the country he now calls home. Leading strikes on Iran, he shared: “This is why I came here—to defend the country that’s now my home. Flying through the darkness for Israel is something I’ll carry with me forever.”
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I scrolled through the front page of @abcnews and cannot find one headline about Jabaliya, where Israel have set up an extermination camp. Why? Why? Why is our public broadcaster not reporting on this? No wonder I have trouble talking about Gaza to people who aren’t on Twitter.
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Niece told she was eligible for youth allowance at start of year. Ten months later, ten months into a course, ten months into living away from home, she’s been told that was wrong & she owes Centrelink $12000.
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I talk to people about it a lot, because as a teacher it's just part of my job & as a speaker & writer it's part of my job. but honestly, the fact that adults, total strangers, think they can get away with hitting someone up COLD for a potentially really traumatic story? Nope!.
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There is no disability justice without a free Palestine.
Today an Israeli drone killed a 16-year-old in a wheelchair inside the x-ray department of Kamal Adwan Hospital. His name was Mahmoud Abu Al-Eish.
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Example of ableist language I’m seeing in tweets: ”overcame his disability”, “despite his debilitating condition”, “he suffered from”, “refused to let it stop him” etc etc etc. How about RTing disabled people on this instead of embarrassing yourselves.
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My teacher convinced me to go along to Hillsong for the music, & I then spent a year disentangling my teenage brain from evangelical Christianity. Hillsong is predatory & obsessed with wealth. I find this image deeply disturbing. Don’t pray for me at Hillsong, @ScottMorrisonMP.
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Today someone wiped away tears as they told me how strong & courageous I was, how my disability made them realise they took things for granted & shouldn’t complain abt their life. I tried to stop them but they didn’t get it. I gave up. Mind if I get it off my chest here instead?.
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Why is *this* my viral tweet? Oh well, let me take this opportunity to ask you all to support trans kids. If you have the means, please donate to @mermaids and @PGDCsupport and @minus18youth and any other organisation that stands for young people & against anti-trans bigots.
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No one gave a shit about using inclusive language when my wife and I went to a birth class. It was heteronormative and made us feel so sad. And then we faced outright homophobia from a nurse post birth. Inclusive language is an issue for so many people. Don’t be a shit about it.
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Just read yet another article saying, “[insert name] was determined not to allow their condition to rule their life.”. This is ableist language, and it’s offensive to those whose lives ARE very much “ruled” (ugh) by their condition or disability, regardless of what they’ll allow.
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I can’t wait to have a wheelchair so I can see every animal at the zoo, or take my kids to the museum without needing two days in bed to recover afterwards. The shock & subtle ableism from some ppl when I say I WANT a chair has been disappointing. #AmbulatoryWheelchairUsersExist.
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ALL of the library staff I spoke to, apart from the one moved to tears, said that the protest against genocide belonged OUTSIDE the library. All of them said that the library was NEUTRAL. Both of these statements are untrue. During a genocide, protest belongs everywhere, always.
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At this point, a staff member in a colourful dress I admired, with the most fabulous brooches, told us to leave. They said if they allowed me to take this action, next week they might have three, or five, or ten. I agreed and said that would be fantastic. They did not agree.
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I just got a call from Jo at #NDIS to say they've finally approved my new prosthetic leg! I started crying with happiness & relief, then Jo told me the wheelchair was ALSO approved! Popped into my café to order a celebratory coffee. and there was a free one on my coffee card!.
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We stayed there with our sign. One person stopped to talk to us about it. They also talked to the staff member about why the library was so bothered by it, & why it was not a political statement, but a fact that belonged in a place of knowledge and learning in a time of genocide.
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I was stopped by a security guard who said that signs could not be taken into the library, and that I could leave it at the bagging area but could not go to the Gandel wing to hold my protest about the children's area being named after supporters of genocide.
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I love the paralympics. I just can't stand the way non-disabled people talk about it and report on it.
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Where are all the @AustralianLabor MPs resigning from their party in protest, because of their participation in genocide? Where are you? Those people who I met who said they were changing things from inside, but have not been able to change this? Where are all your resignations?.
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The staff member with the fabulous brooches then said this seemed like a 'set up' and walked away, presumably to get other staff. While that staff member was gone, another talked to us about the day's protest, read the sign, and was moved to tears. A truly good person.
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Ah, the abled pearl clutching that goes on when you suggest old buildings should be altered enough to make them accessible to disabled people 😱 It’s historical! It’s important! We must preserve spaces that exclude a significant portion of the population!.
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I asked if I could take a brief photo or video with the 'Gandel' sign and was told no. Therefore, I held up the sign outside the bagging area instead. My brother was with me for support, so he took the photo.
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If they say, 'I asked you first', I then respond, 'why did you ask it?' Just keep putting the ball back in their court. Make them do the work. And then you can just say, 'I disagree. I don't insist on defining women by their genitalia and reproductive ability'.
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Michael from the Free Palestine movement walked through the Library just at that moment, so I told him what had happened. He videoed me talking about why I was there and what had happened, and offered support.
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Of course I define a woman as 'an adult that tells me they are a woman', but I think putting the ball in their court is helpful, as they have to immediately make clear that they are anti trans for the conversation to continue.
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And now on @abcnews the first thing that's said in the "analysis" of the press conference is that Porter is a "shattered man"?! Are you serious? The first thing they should have said was, 'this was a mess.' Andrew Probyn echoing Porter's comment that allegations can ruin lives.
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The Parliament House switchboard just confirmed to me that the Prime Minister’s office is no longer taking phone calls at all from the public. You can only leave a message. Is this newsworthy @abcnews? Seems like a new policy! Anyway you can call electorate office on 02 9564 3588.
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Have now had actually honest convos with a few people in my life and it’s helping unmask the real reasons they don’t want to wear an N95 - “no one else is “and also “I don’t think there’s a big chance I’ll get covid and/or long covid”. It’s a HUGE gov & public health failure.
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I'm glad I got to hear that one patron who stopped and challenged the staff to think past 'this is our policy' to 'why is this our policy and should we enforce it right now during a genocide?'.
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I wished I was brave enough to make those eight police physically remove me and my chair from the SLV. I wasn't brave enough. But I'm glad I got to show so many people walking through my sign, many of whom nodded at me or gave me a look or respect after reading the sign.
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Joining in with the #ClimateStrike from home today like a lot of other disabled and chronically ill people. I’ll be spending an hour reading books about the environment with my kids (3 and 5) about talking to them about climate change. Later I’ll show them videos of the march.
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Just overheard my 6yo self correct “boys” to “people with penises” when talking to my 3yo about standing up to wee. If a 6yo can so easily handle the idea of inclusive language without a big tantrum, I don’t know why some fully grown people can’t.
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Love being challenged on my use of a wheelchair and a wheelchair parking spot at my kids’ school by parents of a disabled child: “But we’ve seen you walking on crutches and you seem to move so quickly and easily!”.
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Deborah Conway questioned whether Palestinian kids were kids, during a genocide of Palestinian people, on Australian public radio, and the national press didn’t even whimper in response to her anti Palestinian racism. Now she’s sad for herself on the front pages. Very cancelled.
"Read all about how I was cancelled in this front page article I wrote about myself and published in the Murdoch Press".Eat shit Debbie, your former friends figured you out.
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Hi @AlboMP. Tomorrow is a good day to implement all of the recommendations of the Bringing Them Home Report and all of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
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I think, if I had been allowed to go through to the Gandel wing with my sign and sit there, conversations like that would have happened within the library, within this place of learning and knowledge. That would have been amazing.
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So Israel admits it deprived the north of clean water for six months?.
“Israel has approved the activation of 20 bakeries and the reopening of the Nahal Oz waterline in northern Gaza, which was shut off on October 9, with the outbreak of war.”.
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After typing up my extensive notes from the State Library Victoria's Duty of Care review meeting with me and other authors a few days ago, I'm here to write a long thread on what was said. I've come off private so this thread can be shared, but I will go back on to private soon.
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I then saw a group of staff in suits huddled together, talking about what was happening. One of them then approached me, telling me to leave. Telling me if I didn't he would call the police to have me removed.
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Whoops! I meant @Mermaids_Gender. They’re under attack from TERFs and a monstrously hateful anti-trans bigot named Graham Linehan (yes the guy behind Black Books & IT crowd, this timeline is unreal). He orchestrated a campaign that lost them much needed funds, so help if you can.
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I talked about the Gandel wing, and that family's support for genocide. I talked about how they had fired anti-genocide authors so that they couldn't teach young people about writing at the SLV. I told them about the child amputees, and the plight of disabled people in Gaza.
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The biological essentialist's narrow definition of woman requires fascism. 'It's about women's safety / spaces' doesn't include the caveat, 'our version of safety requires you to submit your body to inspection, judgement, and possible punishment by others and the state'.
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I'm glad I got to speak to the staff member who opened their heart to us and let themselves be moved.
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I also spent time talking to staff about what had happened at the meeting I had had with SLV about their firing of authors who were anti-genocide. One staff member said they hadn't had any trouble over it for a long time so why was I bringing that up now.
After typing up my extensive notes from the State Library Victoria's Duty of Care review meeting with me and other authors a few days ago, I'm here to write a long thread on what was said. I've come off private so this thread can be shared, but I will go back on to private soon.
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Australia appears to be at war without any public debate or discussion - no mandate, no explanation, just us running after the USA and bombing one group of people in the Middle East while remaining complicit in the genocide of another. Where's the media?!.
Joint Statement from Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States on Additional Strikes Against the Houthis in Yemen 🇦🇺 🇧🇭 🇩🇰 🇨🇦 🇳🇱 🇳🇿 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
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Oh oh! Fix your inaccessible workplaces and city streets and public transport systems. Stop telling me I’m inspiring for navigating them and start fixing them. They’re broken.
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Some good news! Births Deaths & Marriages Victoria have sent my new updated birth certificate, which doesn’t misgender & deadname my Mum! It now says “Parent” instead of “Father”, and has Mum’s real name on it. Thanks for this policy change @DanielAndrewsMP. Moved & relieved.
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Eventually the SLV staff said if I would not leave, they would call the police to have me physically removed. Eight police entered the library, huddled together by t the entrance, talking about what to do, looking at me in my power chair with my sign.
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They are biological essentialists, a way of thinking that would never work in a society that lets all women choose how to dress and look and be, and the sooner that's established the easier it is to get them to stop harassing you with inane gotcha questions.
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In a cafe, listening to a mum bitching about all the “special needs” kids in her son’s class. It’s breaking my heart. Abled parents of abled kids want disabled kids out of sight, out of mind. They genuinely think their kids are better, and more deserving of a good education.
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I'm glad Michael from Free Palestine was there by chance, and that I got to meet him and talk about why I was at SLV. I'm glad he introduced me to other protest organisers. I am in awe of their steadfastness & organising capabilities. I am so grateful to them for their work.
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"I’m struck by how some able-bodied people feel the need to simulate the experience of disability for themselves before they’re prepared to accept that accessibility is an issue. Are disabled people not to be trusted? Is this whole accessibility thing just an elaborate hoax?".
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From an amputee who had a limb amputated under anaesthetic as a child, this will remain with me as a nightmare for life. This fact, just like so many terrible facts emerging during this genocide, should have forced the world to act. Shame on world leaders for their complicity.
🚨Read it twice. 9,000 Palestinian children have had to amputate 1 or more limbs and .1000 children endured it without anesthesia.
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I also turned my sign around and showed them the names of the children of my friend, trapped in Gaza right now. They then told me they understood why I was there, but that I had to leave. I agreed to leave, and they took my name, address, date of birth & phone number.
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@TheBookMuse1 Omg? Another man at the table said he wanted a milkshake and the whole table roared when another man said, ‘are you ordering off the kids menu, are you?’. This. is ridiculous. You should be able to get a milkshake, you poor, silly men.
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I'm also thinking about the train trip home, when I leant my sign against my wheel so that it faced the carriage. A kid asked the grown up she was with about it, and I got to hear an adult talk calmly & seriously to a kid about where Palestine is, and what is happening there.
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I'm glad I got to meet the staff members who told me to leave and called the police, too. And I'm glad I got to meet the police who made me leave. I'm glad I thought to myself after the protest, 'I should take this sign inside the SLV and hold it up in front of the name GANDEL'.
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So @AlboMP and @SenatorWong, are you feeling good about being on the side of “The Hague won’t stop us”? You feel good being on team Genocide? This feels like a real departure from what your voter base supports. You worried?.
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At this point I started to shake, and I told my brother I was scared. The eight police came toward us and surrounded us. One of them spoke to me, telling me I had to go or I would be arrested and removed. I asked if I could explain to them why I was there. They said yes.
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Today I had a conversation with someone re the value of disabled lives & they said, ‘imagine if a child was blind & deaf & had no limbs, though?’. They saw my face & remembered they were talking to an amputee. ‘I mean ALL of their limbs gone. And MULTIPLE disabilities.’. 😧.
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How about women who need to escape domestic violence are able to withdraw their abusive partners super to get back on their feet?.
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Hello! Award winning non-binary Australian author Alison Evans is being attacked by transphobic trolls today, thanks to a tweet from 6-million-follower-bigot Piers Morgan. If you can, please go and order their book right now to show your support! #LoveOzYA
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Prosthetic legs are heavy AF. Every single nondisabled person who lifts my leg gets a shock: “you carry that around every day?!”. That’s why, after almost 25 years, my body is wrecked by #ChronicPain. It doesn’t make me whole, & it doesn’t replace a leg. It’s not part of my body.
What is a majorly misunderstood symptom/representation of your illnesses that you wish others knew?.
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Hey @theage, I think we've all heard enough of JKR's views on trans people. Perhaps in this week where people in Victoria are particularly traumatised, you could fucking NOT.
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And also, thank you to the staff member I met during the larger protest outside, who told me SLV staff have read my thread about the meeting that happened there and loved it. YOU inspired me to take this action after the rally. Ripples, everywhere.
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“It’s arrogant to want your wife not to be thrown out by a security guard when trying to pee on a birthday date” response:.
@JessHealyWalton So what you’re saying is…” I call people bigots that disagree with an ideology I believe in because I’m arrogant!”.
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Readers who use audiobooks, or kindles and other e-readers, are real readers. E-books and audio books are real books. Both make books more accessible to disabled people. Mocking these kinds of books, or those who use them, is ableist. I can’t actually believe that needs saying.
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They were trying to say I was inspiring because I was commuting & working while disabled & in pain. It implies that the more I DO while disabled, the more inspiring I become. The less I do, the less inspiring I become. It implies that my worth depends on how much I do.
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Cried happy tears reading MY MUM IS A MAGICIAN to my kids. My wife had to take over. Why? One of the mums in the story is an amputee & wears a prosthetic leg. “Just like mummy!” my kids said. Representation matters. Thank you @damonayoung & Peter Carnavas & @UQPbooks ❤️
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I am so glad my brother was with me to take photos and videos and support me to stay as long as I did. I'll share more soon.
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