I wanted to pop on the blog today to give you guys an update. I’m working on making some changes to the blog and how it’s run and since this year has already been rough with the number of posts and the rebrand, now seemed like the time to do it. I won’t give all the details yet, but some cool things are coming. Just hold tight as we get things going.
I have been quiet for the past few months. I had my disability hearing in December and spent until January worrying about what actually happened and what it all meant. Then Wizards of the Coast came out with OGL 1.1 and 1.2, which would have changed the table-top role-playing game community before backpedaling that decision and putting the system reference document they had been trying to lock down into the creative commons. I had felt so much pressure building up and started feeling guilty for letting my blog and my business slide.
This guilt has been hanging around as my symptoms took a turn for the worse. In my attempts to recover some of my strength and systems, I got back into reading The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. In this reading, I reached a chapter that talked about how we can get stuck in trauma when we are left to deal with something traumatic on our own. When we lack the support of others, we can push aside our feelings about what happened to just suck it up and get on with life. This reminded me of why I created this blog. I had created this blog to help others who struggle with disabilities know they aren’t alone. Even if you don’t have supportive people around you, I hope to help others find some of the supportive communities that exist online. While we may be physically distant, we can connect with others who have our struggle through places like Instagram and Twitter (less so since Musk but we’re still there).
If you are feeling alone, come find me on Instagram along with other great creators like @the.annegirl, @the_chronic_notebook, @katethealmostgreat, @wheelsnoheels, or even myself @nerdoutofspoons. Many of us share our experience there. You don’t have to rely entirely on yourself. There are others out there who understand your struggle and share tips for a better life. I hope you can join us there and find a community that will help you feel less alone.
If you’ve been around for a while, you may have noticed that the site has changed and that Dungeons & Disabilities now redirects to Nerd Out of Spoons. I wanted to take a few minutes to explain why this move is happening and why I haven’t been around as much recently on this blog.
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The holiday season is almost upon us. With Black Friday in less than a week and Cyber Monday a little over a week away, I figured now is a good time to go over some ideas that I have for gifts for disabled people or for people with chronic illnesses. I have affiliate links to some products throughout the post and if you buy through the link, that will help support this blog through the coming year.
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November tends to be a hard month for me. Between day light savings time, the changing weather, and NaNoWriMo, I frequently end up feeling a bit worse overall. This is where my emotional support dog, Princess Buttercup Puppers III, helps a lot. She can help calm me down when I’m feeling overstimulated, be a companion when I’m hurting, and help brighten my day with her presence. This prompted a discussion with my child about service animals and why I don’t have one, along with what my dog being an emotional support animal actually means. I realized there are a lot of myths and misinformation about service animals, emotional support animals, and therapy animals and how they differ so I looked at some of the most common myths around service animals and emotional support animals and explain the truth behind the myth.
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