Emily O. Weltman, M. Ed.’s Post

The tweet speaks for itself but it's a sentiment I am very behind, so I will expand just a skosh. 😉 First, social media is a legit form of activism. It's just a tool, and for many communities (disability, caregiver) it is a viable and accessible tool for sharing new narratives, which is an essential step to shifting mindsets and making behavioral change. I utilize LI to share my message and find my people, but I will be damned if this is where my organizing or activism ends. It is a part of a broader toolkit, and something I enjoy (connecting with people ALL over the globe). My advocacy is 24/7, especially for people with disabilities, pay equity, gender equality, and shifting wealth and access to the 99%. I "do the work" with clients, in my community, with my fam, friends, and even my synagogue. I am 100% clear on what I am working towards, and when you know that, everything else becomes that much easier. Tuning out the people who challenge how you show up is necessary because we have WORK TO DO. It's also a lot easier when you know you're showing up intentionally, to make a measurable impact and create actual systemic change, and when you follow a strategic plan, rather than a scatter shot. The point is YOU decide how you show up. I honestly don't care if you post as long as you call your reps. I don't care if you tweet or blog as long as you share your brilliance and your light with others. I don't care if you come to FLOWLab and stay off camera, on mute, and absorb the amazing work our community is doing, OR if you get so excited you start interjecting over others, sharing the results of your labor. When disability justice experts say nothing about us without us, and activists say all of us or none of us...it doesn't mean ALL OF US DOING THE SAME THING on repeat. We all have our work cut out for us. So please, don't worry about what you do on social. Worry about doing SOMETHING to heal the world. If you don't know what to work on, ask. Follow. Amplify. Back someone you admire. Remove barriers. Create Access. If you don't know where to give, give to our community of social entrepreneurs and grassroots creators...While we met through the miracles and challenges of this platform,  we much more aspire to be like Amal Clooney than to reach influencer status. We're spreading messages of change, equality, and justice to change the Future of Work not some day, but today. One thing I promise you, whether you join us as a member, a sponsor, or drop in to office hours, YOU WILL see the impact you have on people's lives around you. You do you, but please SHOW UP for something or someone. I'll be over here doing the same. (And fangirling over the GOATS like Amal.) (Links to ALL THE THINGS in comments.)

Media literacy is the most important skill of the 21st century. Another hill I’m willing to die on. If you don’t know how to discern good reporting from bad or to understand the power and money behind everything you read and watch, we’re all screwed. We live in what Chomsky calls manufactured consent. It’s an illusion of choices and freedom but really, you have very very very little power or control over your life and even less over the government & corporations. You must become media literate without being a tool for the patriarchy. Do not use crap media as a crutch for not knowing, or not acting. Do not use it to manipulate /to be selective about what you share. If you’re using to to bolster a position or agenda, is what you’re referring to truthful? Who wrote it? Who’s paying for it? Who has a vested interest in a particular outcome if you believe or use it as the truth? If someone points out to you that you’re sharing propaganda or that the publication you posted has a history of nefarious shenanigans, do no double down. Do not say I didn’t notice because no one should be sharing things from bad sources. We have enough of a fire-hose of crap information and we need as much of the goods as possible. Support new media. Read blogs from people you trust. Don’t use mainstream media as your main source. Don’t use Google as your only search engine. Pay creators and documentarians, writers and citizen journalists. ALWAYS LOOK AT BYLINES, then navigate over to the about page of the contributor. And remember you’re on a media platform, right now, sharing news. So, you’re a citizen journalist too. Learn more about media literacy because it’s required of every single job now and for everyone in the #FutureOfWork. Oh… and AI sucks at it, so bonus: built in Job security.

For some, Mondays can be tough. For others it’s an escape from their weekend. (For me I’m struggling to sleep because the ICC is finally doing its job! Arrest them all!🚨But I digress.) Our mental health matters all the time and it’s a struggle to stay well in such a violent system and society. We have to pay attention to ourselves and each other even more, especially when it’s “work” time. Since I don’t view work and life as something to balance or anything that’s separate, I don’t care if it’s Monday at 5am or Saturday at midnight or Wednesday at noon. Work/life is where you decide to put your energy and attention and resources. For me I seek harmony, and more importantly I’m working to upend systems of power that create inequality. Hence, I’m never not working…on being a better human…It takes work to be a mom, sister, daughter, coworker, advisor, mentor, teacher, writer, community organizer, creator, founder, fundraiser, advocate, partner or friend. It’s a lot. It’s exhausting and exhilarating. It’s 24/7. Doing the work means a lot more than a to do list. Even if you’re a solopreneur, unattached, a single parent or introvert…no one is meant to go it alone. Whatever you need. Make the ask. Seriously, if you speak it, they will come. Ask away…in comments. (Mine is coming, don’t worry. Today it’s about YOU!) ⬇️🗣️💙💜❤️ P.S. If you need help with your brand, biz, project, or program, hi 👋🏻. I’m here to help you level up. Strategic mini-sessions and on demand, custom support for WHATEVER you’re working on or working through. We’ll figure it out. Together we find our flow. #AskForHelp #CareMore #StartWithFlow

If you identify as a guy and you’re on this platform…what does allyship mean to you? For 5 years I’ve seen a handful of people who identify as men show up consistently calling out r*pe culture, mi$ogyny, and mi$ogynoir. And saying a handful, I’m being generous. Mervyn Kennedy-MacFoy has always been clear in conviction and consistent on calling out the violence that is rpatriarchy. His message is also clear that men need to step up, for actual allyship and to use your voice to call out the a$$ 🎩🧢👒 (like anyone defending the Andrew Tates of the world). My point is with nearly 16k followers, I cannot name more than a few bros who’ve actually posted a word about anything they didn’t deem affected them personally. In half a decade. BUT THIS IS NOT A WOMAN’S ISSUE. Wht people have to deal with racism, and be intersectional, right? Obvi. So don’t men need to deal with sexism and show up as intersectional feminists too? 🤨 Also obvi—yes. Questions to ponder: When was the last time you posted about any issue that you consider a “women’s issue”…abortion, sexual assault, predatory behavior, anti-trans policies, gender binary, judging women by their looks, parenting, motherhood discrimination in the workplace? When was the last time you posted about the maternal mortality rate or how it’s 4x worse for Black birth-abled bodies? When was the last time you discussed the denigration of women’s intelligence and trolls on this platform with someone? When was the last time you demanded justice for victims of GBV and DV? When was the last post you made about the disgusting and agregious abuse famous men get away with? When was the last time you discussed consent with your kids? When was the last time you shared an article about period poverty, or what menstruation in a war zone is like? When was the last time (BESIDES using the violence against women as an excuse to justify g cide) did you post about the use of sexual violence in military conflicts? Be like Mervyn. Say SOMETHING. We cannot be the only ones.

People often ask me what shadowbans look like or how you know if you’re content is being restricted. Granted last year I posted at least 6 times in 2 days about this “holiday” and probably dm-ed my friends or tagged at least a few. Still, I had 3-4,000 LESS followers then. In what world, tech or otherwise, should a post get 4 people’s eyes on it out of 16,000. I’m not saying it’s the most important thing, nor was i strategic this year compared to last. But like come on. Censorship sucks. We have worlds to save. We have atrocities to stop and people to educate and we’ve got businesses to shift wealth and we’ve got TERFs to fight. We’ve got Congress people to oust for their conspiracy theories and for their blatant disrespect of amazing, talented Black and Latina Congress women, we have some serious a$$ kicking to do. So yeah, uncle Algo is 🗑️. MGT is too. Don’t throw us any more trash here, k? We’re full up. No mas basura aqui. Anyway, please help turn my rage to a rainbow and go sign up for my email list/blog. Link in comments. Alt image text: 1. Screen grab of post from rage2rainbows 2023 for May 17th with 8,277 impressions and 140 reactions, 27 reposts. 2. Screen grab of post from rage2rainbows 2024 for May 17th with 322 impressions and 4 reactions, 1 repost.

There are a lot of reasons to be upset at the way our government ignores the will of the people. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is generally an empty promise. Actually it’s 30 of them, and the fact that the United States violated so many of these Articles should not come as a surprise. We’re not in a post racial society. We don’t live in a gender-equal society. We don’t have religious freedom. We don’t have basic protections applied to EVERYONE universally. But we could…and we should. Eventually the rules will catch up to the majority, and give everyone a world where they can thrive just as they are. Unfortunately it may be too late by then for millions and possibly billions of people…and more and more species will be wiped out entirely. The only way out of this mess is truly seeing each other, every single human being, as worthy. Breathing beings deserve to live in peace and safety and accepted for their unique brilliance…not targeted for being different or denied human rights and dignity because they don’t fit into someone else’s binary, boxed in, b.s. definition of “person.” We have to speak up for everyone and while that is hard to do…it’s not impossible. Liberation must be collective. Feminism must be intersectional. Your fight against fascism must fight anti-Blackness. We don’t stop antisemitism without stopping Islamophobia too. We don’t achieve equality without accessibility. We won’t be innovative without ensuring neurodivergent people are treated as part of the same team. We can’t be a TERF but claim we believe in marriage equality. All identities are worthy. All beliefs, as long as your belief isn’t predicated on someone else’s oppression. Nothing about us without us. All of us or none of us. So even as a war in Sudan threatens millions, and the DRC is using children for mining, and Izzy is blocking aid to Pal Stein…we have to pause and remember our LGBTQIA2S+ comrades who are always targeted first by the fasc. Pride is not just for a day. It’s not a month. It’s all year long. And in every single conflict and problem anywhere on the globe, queer friends exist. The U.S. continues to fall behind…but thankfully since the 90s the WHO acknowledges that being queer isn’t a mental disorder but part of the human condition. For International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia— take a moment this Friday evening to celebrate the beautiful spectrum of humanity, and commit to fighting for UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS…without exception. #Rage2Rainbows #HumanRights

A new report out from the Brennan Center for Justice outlines all the ways in which YOUR constitutional right to vote is being restricted, messed with, and gerrymandered out of existence. "Voters in almost half the country will face new voting restrictions in the upcoming general election." Read through and check out Alabama's law that it's illegal to handle someone else's mail in ballot. WTAF. As tomorrow is Mental Health Awareness Day, here is your reminder to take breaks from the feed, breaks from the dumpster fire, and do something to fill your soul. (Reading this is important, but not on that list.) Education is power. Vote early.

“Aren’t you worried about your job?” “What job do I have if my students don’t have a future.” —UC Irvine Professor Tiffany Willoughby We humans tend to make things way to complicated, when they’re not. You’re feelings however, might be—and that’s ok. If you weren’t conflicted you wouldn’t be waking up. It’s good you are at least confused seeing police who are supposed to keep And if you’re clear in your conviction you’re either clear A. We must to divest from fossil fuels, the war machine, and the autocratic oligarchs and AIPAC funded government. B. We keep business as usual, capitalism, and colonialism. What’s more important than our kids having a future? Is your job more important than future generations taking deep breaths?

"Supreme Court Rejects Emotional Damages in Discrimination Case" (April 2022) Reading only the headline, my bias told me it was a gender, racial, or religious discrimination case. The case was actually about a person with multiple impairments, though gender for sure played a part. big shocker. America's high court protected the business instead. I like the headline in Elie Mystal's piece better. (See link) This case is from Season 1 of the SCOTUS docket with Barrett Cohen and Kavanaugh (6 conservatives, 3 humane justices). It should scare the $hit out of anyone who wants the right to speak up and consent, to advocate for themselves/their body, and to receive safe healthcare. Let's unpack why it's so messed up. Jane Cummings, Texas, was born deaf and legally blind. She was getting rehab and they denied her request for an ASL interpreter. The ruling declared she couldn't seek emotional damages. Part of the "reason" she didn't win her case—a fun loophole that providers can decide whether or not to accept Medicaid and Medicare (or not). SOMEHOW this made it okay for medical staff to tell her to 'just write notes'––in physical therapy, while legally blind. Needing acute back pain care in the 1st place––she was likely already struggling and in some degree of dis-ease. Her lack of access to what she needed to communicate, during PHYSICAL THERAPY makes my skin crawl. Who knows how they told her to do what was needed except with their hands on her. She had a total lack of psychological safety, which every healthcare provider in America, the CDC, and most managers these days know about. Psychological safety is essential for not just our wellbeing, but imperative to NOT be in a state of fight or flight. I imagine her cortisol is through the roof normally, given she cannot see or hear, and lives in a world designed for able bodied, physically brusk men. There are so many g.d. things wrong with this gaslighting at the highest level of government. Ms. Cummings didn't have "hysteria." She had medical trauma. Abuse. Blatant disrespect. And yet she was "too" emotional?! A disabled woman's needs are weaponized by the patriarchy. She asked to be able to talk to her provider, and advocate for her body in a "healing" facility. This legit request and subsequent suing over the PT's refute of her reasonable accommodation request deemed illegal. Needing help is painted as irrational, and emotional, then the emotion deemed illegitimate for damages. The world was not designed for or by us. And yet, even though the world bends to able bodied bros, they could not accommodate one small ask?! (WTAF!!!–screams into pillow). Obamacare or not––without nationalized, fully accessible healthcare system, it is buyers choice, only IF YOU pay. What I cannot freaking let go of is this: The denial of the right to communicate in a medical setting (based on contract laws) for a woman's body became precedent in 2022. And with everything else happening, this was only a blip.