Marja Erwin

So far I’ve contacted the VCLU and the DLCV. Neither one can help. The DLCV directed me to the sites of the agencies which mandate the beatings and strobings.

Hi,

I have sensory processing issues, including a sound sensitivity/hyperacusis, and a strobe sensitivity. I can't take the beatings and strobings.

Beatings. Because of my sound sensitivity, pain hurts, and extreme pain, such as from sirens and backup beepers, can completely incapacitate me so I am unable to stand up or crawl away. I have been hit by both sirens and backup beepers while crossing the street, causing me to collapse in agony in the middle of the street. I also get hit by backup beepers at home. I have 26 nrr earplugs, and 37 nrr ear protectors, but they provide less than half their rated protection, so they aren't enough to withstand backup beepers or sirens, so I may still collapse in agony in the middle of the street. I am not supposed to wear them at all times, though I wear them whenever going outside and I keep them in reach when inside. I have also cut out tea and other foods that can worsen sound sensitivity.

Strobings. I have some type of low-frequency strobe sensitivity. My eeg was negative for photosensitive epilepsy. I get blinded and unbalanced by flashing lights. I stumble and sometimes stumble into the street after getting hit by flashing lights from multiple directions, such as turn signals, safety lights, crosswalk lights, etc. at an intersection. I avoid major intersections. I still have to shield my eyes from turn signals. I was hit by a car last June while crossing at a crosswalk at a minor intersection. I have a hard time getting around, because of all the flashing lights. I can also get migraines from flashing lights. I had a nasty migraine, and vomiting on the second or third day, after being strobed by blue lights before dawn last October. I have Polare sunglasses which are supposed to shield against the worst frequencies. I also have blackout curtains, but they weren't enough to deal with post-dusk or pre-dawn strobings.

I'm doing all I can to cope with the beatings and the strobings, and it's not enough. Do I have any legal protections or legal recourse?

P.S. Because of my sound sensitivity, phones are not accessible.

Marja Erwin

There’s a segment of the American right wing who

(a) strongly oppose abortion

(b) strongly support eugenics

© strongly oppose any support for children

(d) strongly oppose any attempt to stop bullying

(e) strongly support wars and other deadly policies

(f) sometimes accuse their opponents of things similar to what they would do or are doing

and (g) currently accuse Planned Parenthood of selling fetuses…

I'm still sick.

That is how it goes.

I'm not having so many migraines since quitting tea last November. I'm still struggling with the sound and strobe sensitivities. I can still get hammered by unexpected strobes if I try to walk outside, let alone to bike. I have set up a trainer stand at home, though, so I can get more exercise at home, and while reading. I had trouble with post-exertional symptoms in December and January, but they are fading now in February.

Some things that have helped:

* Quitting tea and cutting back on other salicylates.

* Vitamin supplements.

* Serotonin supplements, since fructose malabsorption impairs tryptophan absorption. It's important to avoid too much though.

* Zinc supplements, since fructose malabsorption impairs tryptophan absorption and zinc defiency is associated with post-exertional malaise in chronic fatigue syndrome. It's important to avoid too much though.

They are literal segregation.

They have been shaped by the same racist, eugenicist, and divide-the-workers goals.

Supporting these policies doesn’t make you “reasonable.” Opposing these policies doesn’t make us “unreasonable.”

Supporters of anti-immigration policies sometimes claim that “every country has a right to restrict immigration.”

Rights are supposed to protect *people* from arbitrary power, not to justify attacking people with arbitrary power.

One could say that “every government has the might to restrict immigration,” but might does not make right.

I have polare sunglasses, over my regular glasses, but they aren’t enough.

Flashing lights such as turn signals and other safetyweapons blind me, disorient me, unbalance me, and sometimes trigger my migraines and vomiting. Fortunately I don’t get seizures.

Flashing lights from two or more directions, such as turn signals at intersections, often blind me, disorient me, and unbalance me into stumbling into the street.

I try to avoid crossing at busy intersections, but I still have a lot of trouble, and I have been hit by a car [last June] while crossing at a crosswalk between intersections.

https://c4ss.org/content/47724

I usually avoid the Guardian these days, because of anti-autistic slurs, but they have two articles on this:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/23/two-journalists-trump-inauguration-protests-felony-riot-charges-evan-engel-alex-rubinstein

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/journalists-charged-felonies-trump-inauguration-unrest

It seems they want to charge most of the 230 people kettled at the protest.

US News also covers this:

http://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-01-24/inauguration-mass-arrest-of-protesters-journalists-a-throwback-with-a-familiar-face-attorneys-say

When police fire tear gas and concussion grenades at protesters, that doesn’t mean the protesters were or are committing violence. It means the police are committing violence.

I wasn’t able to participate in today’s protests, due to my disabilities, but while peacefully protesting years ago, police attacked the group I was with, and someone knocked me to the ground, and police repeatedly sprayed pain into my eyes and mouth. Judging by photos of the beating, and bruises afterwards, they also beat me with an improvised club. I have severe asthma, and I could have died if it had gone down my throat instead of my esophagus. I don’t have epilepsy, but I had some kind of seizure due to the pain.

Blaming protesters is victim-blaming. Bullying survivors to try to figure out what we must have done to deserve the violence can be triggering for some of us with ptsd from this violence. It’s not right, factually or morally.

I am disabled. I get pain-beaten and strobed.

I am in pain, and sometimes in danger, from abled policies which require pain-beaters and strobes.

I am also autistic and trans. I got bullied and bashed unconscious as a kid, and I learned to hate myself for it.

I am a gamer too. Sometimes I play and design games to explore history. Sometimes I play and design games to escape this situation, though and that’s okay.

I want to find games that won’t strobe me, won’t trigger my migraines, and will allow me to play with my sensory and coordination issues. Most tabletop games work for me, but relatively few computer games do.

I also sometimes want to find games that allow more of us to escape the nasty situations some of us face, though, too. Even if only for a while. I don’t want to get stuck with games which *support* racism, sexism, ableism, etc., so I try to avoid games when the publishers complain about “SJW” “censorship,” or of course, if they support racism, sexism, ableism, etc.

P.S. And I've been thinking about how to bring escapist social justice into a semi-historical setting. How about a Roman-age setting, in Scythia east of Dacia, where Spartacus's rebels have settled after escaping from Italia, with Amazons from the east trading horses, Gutones from the northwest trading amber, and so on?

Chelsea Manning should never have been imprisoned, and the United States government should never have invaded Iraq, but the commutation may well save her life.

https://www.aclu.org/news/president-obama-grants-commutation-chelsea-manning