Alyssa Exactly on Nostr: random ableist thing that bothered me today. a youtuber was describing her perception ...

random ableist thing that bothered me today. a youtuber was describing her perception of 'learned helplessness', a trend where a person becomes avoidant of things that they may have failed to do and become dysfunctionally reliant on other people to do that task for you.

the ableism was where she described relying on other people to do things that could be done for the selves as 'a crutch'. in case you aren't aware, a crutch is a type of mobility device that allows people to walk *by themselves*.

if you have learned to be helpless regarding meal prep, you might be anxiously avoiding the work to make your own meals. a person who is already fully able to make their own meal might go into the kitchen and make a meal without worrying about it, while you may need the added assistance of a coach or a youtube tutorial; these forms of assistance in *making yourself a meal* would be equivalent to what a crutch may do for a person with a physical disability.

crutches are cool. canes and chairs are good. they make disabilities manageable, they aren't something to be avoided nor are they comparable to dysfunctional coping strategies. using mobility devices makes people *more capable*, not less. please reconsider word choices. i know for a fact that i'm not perfect in this regard but it does matter how we perceive things like crutches