#They did not understand how ableist they were being

[vizthedatum]

Always with the illusion of choice unless they’re love-bombing you.

[simptasia]

being in the DS9 fandom, you'll discover there are so many ways for people to be wrong about julian bashir

[anti-transphobia]

Personally, I think it's a very fair argument, because it's not only allistic people who violently hate narcissists (and other demonized disorders). Unfortunately there are a LOT of people out there who think awful stuff is okay as long as it doesn't personally affect them. Saying "you wouldn't call something autistic abuse" to an autistic person is to help them more personally connect to the concept of symptoms of a disorder not making you a bad person. To an allistic this is less effective because yes they could very well be just as ableist to autistic people, but there is a LOT of autistic people in the world and it's a completely reasonable way to try to get them to see there are more types of people in the world that needs supporting than them

"You wouldn't call it "autistic abuse", so don't call it "narcissistic abuse".

I'm not a big fan of this argument, because it's not entirely accurate.

It's partially accurate in the sense that people don't usually use the exact phrase "autistic abuse" to describe abuse from an autistic person or abuse that seems like it would be from an autistic person. But there are many examples of people, especially parents, acting like they're the victim of someone else's autism. There are many examples of autistic people being demonized for doing things that neurotypical people get away with all the time.

[glitter-stained]

I've seen many people point out that canon members of the Batfam would hate their fanon counterpart (rightfully), I would like to highlight that fanon Bruce would deck canon Bruce upon five minutes of meeting him

Literally the reason why comics fan who actually read the comics and people who were starting to get into the comics feel intimidated/disgusted/ are either taking a break or straight up giving up on canon recently is how exhausting it is to see him behave like an abusive piece of shit and the narrative go "um actually he was right ☝️" or "yeah they were both at fault here but don't worry they hug it out". ( Between that, the intense victim-blaming and the classist/racist/sexist/ableist narratives, I understand the fatigue, you can only eat so much shit in the hopes of finding chocolate before you give up on the cake.)

Anyway, canon and fanon Bruce meeting:

Fanon Bruce: yeah, I do wish Jason wouldn't kill people in Gotham... I let him get away with more, I know I'm being soft on him compared to the others because he's my baby and I'm afraid to lose him again, but I wish he would stop...

Canon Bruce: have you tried beating him into a coma?

Fanon Bruce: what?

Canon Bruce (half-possessed by the entity he himself created): if it doesn't work, you could install a failsafe in his dna that gives him a a paralyzing panic attack when his adrenaline spikes!

Fanon Bruce: ...did you torture and murder your son ? how the fuck is the kid still alive at that point

*****

Fanon Bruce: I don't know what to get Tim for his 16th birthday... Maybe a camera? And some kind of expensive coffee blend, he'd like that...

Canon Bruce: Tim doesn't drink coffee

Fanon Bruce : Oh really? What should I get him then?

Canon Bruce: I have a suggestion.

*****

Canon Bruce: yes, honestly Cassandra not having a legal identity does have its advantages...

Fanon Bruce : *sighs and opens the batcomputer*

*****

Canon Bruce: yeah, everyone was mad at Dick after I convinced him to fake his death to go undercover in Spyral... He was a bit unruly but we sparred it out, thankfully I could beat the stubbornness out of him. ^^ I'm also very glad I got Duke to give up on that silly Lark idea and told him to become Signal! The last thing the world needs is another reckless Robin who gets himself killed like Jason and Stephanie did.

Fanon Bruce : r/AskReddit: Is it murder if I kill my evil counterpart and kidnap his children? I have a no-kill rule but I never considered it to apply to suicide, I'm hoping there's a loophole there.

[endearing-dalliance]

She-Ra PoP vs Arcane S2

Physically disabled character considered inferior by his society, abandoned instead of being helped

Technological genius who benefits from having a partner

Uses technology to improve his health and quality of life

Becomes fundamentally altered by a force outside his control (with Christian and cult references)

And now here's where She-Ra and Arcane's messages diverge: Hordak is consistently supported and loved by his partner throughout his journey. She doesn't let up when he tries to hide his pain from her.

She does NOT tell him that he is wrong to try to "fix" himself and actively helps him do so. She recognizes the validity of how he choses to deal with his condition, which was caused by genetic "imperfections" during the cloning process. But she impresses upon him that he does not deserve the physical pain or mental torment of being a "failure".

Her message was that his imperfections do not limit him or define him. They are a part of life, part of the world, and a part of him, and he is not a failure for having them.

Meanwhile in Arcane, Jayce criticizes Viktor for "wanting to cure what he thought were weaknesses" and specifically mentions his leg and disease. The two things that brought him chronic pain, progressively deteriorating quality of life, and one would ultimately kill him. Also, Viktor never actually expressed that he was ashamed of them. We as the audience are left to assume that's how he feels, because why wouldn't he? What else would a disabled person feel? Not that he is perfectly aware that Piltover's oppression and exploitation of his people likely directly contributed to both those issues. Not that he values himself for his intellect and contributions to Hextech even though society constantly prioritized Jayce. Nope, obviously he feels so bad about it that he tries to turn all of humanity into robots. On top of that, Christian Linke has explicitly said the Hexcore corrupted him and Sky was a manifestation of it manipulating him. So even if he did feel that way before, he's still not at fault for what's been going on.

And I think a key part of this is the mindset of the team who created this show. Was this simply a poorly executed but positive sentiment, or a symptom of ableist bias from a team of 3 able-bodied people? We can harp on Jayce all we want, but ultimately someone designed him this way, and THIS is what I take issue with. Christian also says in the art book explicitly that Viktor fixing his leg and spine make him lose part of his humanity. If this is the logic behind Jayce's monologue, it is NOT positivity. It is a direct shaming of a disabled person's right to choose how they take care of themselves, said by a character who has already violated Viktor's autonomy and wishes, written by a team that equates self-improvement with inferior humanity.

Amanda Overton has repeatedly mentioned she was inspired by She-Ra, which is pretty obvious here. Unfortunately, this isn't the unequivocally positive message she thinks it is, and she missed all the nuance of Entrapta and Hordak's conversations about it. A huge component of why it works in She-Ra is because Entrapta's wisdom comes from her understanding of her own "failures" and "imperfections" due to her autism, and Hordak reciprocates support throughout the show. One of the key members of her development team is an autistic person who provided a realistic view of what an autistic person can be like.

This is two people who understand each other's pain uplifting each other, NOT Entrapta being Hordak's miraculous savior at the 11th hour. Having Jayce need a leg brace for like 5 minutes does not give him ability to understand Viktor's lifelong struggles that were also killing him.

For future seasons, I hope they bring on staff who actually have any idea what they are fucking talking about.

[gay-otlc]

When people say they struggle with keeping track of all the tone tags (the ones like /j or /gen), everyone who disregards that by responding "it's just memorizing some abbreviations/acronyms, it's not that hard, stop complaining" is ableist and a fucking hypocrite. If you're going to advocate for accessibility, advocate for accessibility for all of us.

You can't claim to be an ally to neurodivergent and disabled people and then shit on us for our symptoms. If you actually care about helping us, why aren't you listening when we say we struggle with something? It's never okay to tell disabled people they should be able to do something they can't, that it's not that hard, but it's especially not okay if you do so while pretending to support disabled people.

Also, in addition to the "it's not that hard" statement being ableist, it's utter bullshit. There are so many tone tags to keep track of and memorize. I did a quick google search and one of my top results had ninety one tone tags. That's a lot. That's probably a lot even for a neurotypical person, and I'm not a neurotypical person. I struggle to remember a lot of basic, necessary tasks, so I really can't memorize ninety one tone tags.

Especially when some of them are incredibly ambiguous- only one letter? Acronyms or abbreviations at least give you some clues, one letter tone tags are so incredibly confusing. Like, what does /t mean? There are a lot of words that start with T! (This is a rhetorical question. I know /t means "teasing," but I only know the answer because figuring that out was a memorably frustrating experience.)

And /t is just one example of a tone tag I learned because I kept seeing it in conversation and not understanding and being really confused and frustrated. I can't tell you the number of times I've been messaging someone on discord, and they say something with a tone tag I don't recognize, and I just open a new tab to google the meaning, which is where I find lists like the one above. I usually rely on google instead of asking the person what they meant, because I feel stupid and embarrassed for not knowing this code that everyone else seemingly gets.

Which is exactly how it feels when I don't understand someone's tone in real life! Confused and frustrated and ashamed. And tone tags were supposed to help neurodivergent and disabled people not feel that way, so I don't know how we reached a point where they cause those feelings in many of us.

I can't deny that tone tags are a useful accessibility tool for some. If you find them helpful, it's genuinely good that you have that resource. But they're not accessible for all of us. It's incorrect to act like tone tags are a perfect way to communicate, and it's ableist to disregard our struggles with them and tell us to just try harder.

Either listen to those of us who say they have trouble understanding tone tags, or stop pretending you actually give a shit about accessibility.

[alterpathy]

Alterpathy: The practice of identifying, categorizing, and identifying with fictional and imagined illnesses due to a disconnect between your external and internal understanding of yourself - while also not intending to appropriate, romanticize, or cause harm to a minority group.

this is going to be a really long post because i want to cover all the basics. future coinings will not be nearly as long.

identifying, categorizing, and identifying with: making flags, coining terms, and posting about your experience. alterpathic conditions can also be divided into a couple of categories, which are detailed later in the post.

disconnect between your external and internal understanding of yourself: for some reason, even though you're aware that this isn't how conditions that affect the body work, you experience a reoccurring condition that is serious to you. this can be because of atypical dysphoria, delusions, alternate beliefs, delusions, or anything else similar.

appropriation, romanticism, causing harm: this doesn't mean that actions you take are automatically excused of harm, but it's a silent agreement and nodding between yourself and others that you're not trying to come from a place of ableism/bigotry.

ignoring/excusing bigotry: examples of ignoring/excusing bigotry would be implying that someone can "coin" a real mental illness/other condition in the same way you can coin a gender, implying you can "transition" into a congenital condition with subliminal videos or otherwise, and anything else that goes against science's understanding of illness and neurodivergence. there's nuance to this, of course, because the psychology field isn't an absolutely perfect field that can do no wrong - it's up to the person coining/the person identifying to look at the situation and act accordingly.

examples of situations that might bring you to identify this way:

being a fictive/kin/introject/etc of a character who had a disease or type of injury that was invented for their media, like zombie diseases, cyberbrain cclerosis, the cutie pox, hanahaki disease, etc, and feeling affected by it in any way

experiencing something in your system's headspace that's like a reoccurring illness

having limbs like wings, tails, horns, etc in your headspace with some kind of damage to them that causes you phantom discomfort

feeling anxiety/frustration because you're experiencing something on a metaphysical level which you know your physical body isn't experiencing, but it's still very serious to you and possibly even hurting your quality of life

grammar:

alterpathy: 1) the practice of naming/making flags/categorizing these, "here's my mogai blog and here's my alterpathy blog"; 2) this kind of condition. "my depression and my alterpathy make it hard for me," "i might have an alterpathy but i'm not sure"

alterpathic: descriptor that describes these conditions. "it's alterpathic," "how to cope with alterpathic..."

inspiration and some context on why we're coining this

this was largely inspired by the r*dqueer term of x*nomalady, because after the system looked into it, we did see a lot of cases of people who were genuinely experiencing something serious, but didn't seem to think that there was any space other than the rqc that would be accepting of someone identifying with a disease that technically didn't exist. these cases were mixed in with genuinely ableist people who displayed the behaviors i listed above in "ignoring/excusing bigotry," which feels wrong to me, and i think that people who aren't intending to harm anyone deserve their own terminology and space.

crossover

there is some crossover with dissodic, desirdae, intusui, ethix +etc good faith terms related to feeling like you have, internally have, desire, or identify with something you technically don't, and i think that's fine. you can identify with an alterpathic term and the equivalent of it in another term umbrella, that's fine. do whatever fits best to describe your experiences.

so, is this just x*nomalady but Good?

not exactly, i don't want this to be thought of as a 1-to-1 anti rq equivalent, because again, some x*nomalady people are just coining """disorders""" for fun because they think you can do that in the same way you would a gender. this is both an identity/experience, and a silent agreement to be critical of what you're putting out into the world. this is also not focused on "coining" new conditions unless that's really necessary. (not necessary = making up a new illness for funsies. necessary = putting a name to a reoccuring condition you've been experiencing in headspace, etc.)

in the same way that terms like dissomei and intusui aren't 1-to-1 tr*nsid but Good and are separate term umbrellas that have their own nuances and notes, this is a good-faith alternative for people genuinely experiencing this kind of thing.

can i coin my own?

yes, this is open to everyone to coin! though, i will be posting a couple of flags for some alterpathic things in a couple of days, so you might want to wait until those come out so you can see how i format the post.

TDLR: considering yourself to have a condition that's not possible in reality because of some internal identity, but not in a fashion where you ignore/excuse bigotry.

can i post this term on…

wiki/term definition sites: yes, and you don't have to ask, but i would like to be informed.

pinterest/other social medias: no, never, i'm not comfortable with someone else posting my term for me.

subtypes:

when a different self began working on this, he set out two subtypes of alterpathic condition. unlike something like the age ratings in nichelink, these are absolutely optional, and you don't have to include these in your term definition if you don't want to/don't find it useful. but i think that if you're like me and like lots of details, these could be appealing, so i will include what he wrote:

Fiction-based. This is aimed at conditions that are established some way in a work of fiction/media, such as:Hanahaki Disease Slender Sickness Radiation Sickness (as seen in the Fallout series, not the IRL version) Environment-Based. Specific conditions that you can recognize are happening because of things already in your environment, like trauma, alterhuman labels, existing neurodivergent symptoms and so on. As an example, I'll mention the specific thing one of the alters in my system has that inspired me to make this subtype. He is a fictive of an angel character, but from my perspective it is vary obvious that his wings don't work and cause him muscle cramps in our headspace as a metaphor for an injury we had when were a child that gave us severe muscle cramps and required extremely painful and traumatizing physical therapy. That's something that was in our environment, so I'd call it environment-based. Subtypes are an optional category though, and you might not be able to decide/understand if yours fits into one or both, and that's fine. Also, I acknowledge that just two subtypes might not be enough to cover all the bases, and also there are probably tons of conditions that fall into both or inbetween, and that's fine. I want to "cross that bridge as we come to it", and let people who identify with this tell me their thoughts about what other words need to be coined.

flag inspiration rambles

this flag went through a lot of design phases. it was originally much more inspired by the general disability flag, because we imagined that most of the appeal would be to people who are actually disabled (mentally ill people, etc). the final flag became more inspired by existing terms for people who experience a disconnect between themself and their conditions. i saw many examples of shades of purple and pink, scalloped stripes/rounded shapes, and specifically these flags were the biggest inspirations:

dissocogni and dissophysi by @/acetrappolaswife (deactivated)

desirsick/desirill by @shrubmogai

other stuff

tags: @antiradqueerguy | @radiomogai | @archive-of-form | @everythingarchive | @mad-pride maybe? | @plurality-faq | @anti-rq-gumi | @doomsd8ydevice // ask to be untagged

"would (thing) fit this?" ask, there's tons of room for discussion and nuance.

this post was written mostly by nichie.

flag template:

hanahaki disease example:

nonfunctional angel wings example:

[dwtpsychward]

when they joined vcs and played games with him on stream meanwhile they apparently were all icked out by him and thought he was a massive red flag but all he did was have fun playing his favorite games with people

going to cry myself to sleep this is literally me in highschool. being autistic in a world made for neurotypical people :(( thinking someone's your friend but they all actually talk shit about you and deep down you know the "red flags" are your autistic traits cause it feels like everyone was given a handbook on social rules except you. being a Dream stan is witnessing someone be bullied the way you were when you were just trying your best and having no power to protect them.

i think this is why it hits me so hard like i see myself in dream and understand how frustrating and confusing this all is. before i really thought him being an open nd creator it would change the way everyone treats nd people in general (with stimming, talking about his struggles with it AND medications, etc) but instead its been turned to normalizing ableism against someone and using their nd traits for their narrative that hes evil because of a reason everybody understands except for us apparently.

with dreams community consisting of a lot of nd fans its us just watching him get overloaded with ableism in tenfold and not being able to do anything about it because when you say "its because of his autism" YOURE the one they call ableist. when you try to explain why he said something a certain way they say "well he shouldve said it better". when you explain why he types essays to fully explain what he has to say they say "thats too much just get to the point". when he says only a few words they say "why didnt he say more than that". it is incessant nitpicking and asking someone (let alone someone who is nd) to be absolutely perfect to fit their own criteria yet no matter what he does is not good enough for them which causes every situation to end with only frustration on dreams part. they are not willing to fix any problems with someone who they dont care to understand

[the-cockroach-that-survived]

NOT MY POST

Bro this is exactly the hypocrisy I’m talking about

Because I know damn well they ACTUALLY WOULD

They did when Cantu did it

I can even name multiple other creators off the top of my head who have said slurs and most gave them the pass because they’re so well liked (and usually apologized)

Jacksepticeye, Markipler, W*lbur, etc.

They were forgiven when they apologized, and most of them said it in the first place because either they didn’t know what it meant/how bad it was, or the exact same reason as Dream, that being that he didn’t understand the “rules” of reclaiming slurs, and this is BECAUSE of the people who were hypocritical and PRAISED Cantu when HE called Dream slurs (and that Uber driver but no one EVER wants to talk about that part)

The fact that everyone’s main point of Dream being in the wrong when showing proof of stuff is always saying that he is/was “being manipulative” just shows that it doesn’t matter WHAT he does or says, you will always see it in a bad light

Saying you think he’s manipulative means that you think he’s being nice for the wrong reasons. You THINK he’s presenting himself as doing nice things for some sort of gain

Which means overall you still see most of his actions and communications as positive on the surface, you just think he’s lying

I think this is another reason people keep bringing up the fact he’s autistic as a GENUINE explanation for why he gets treated like this

Autistic people, majority of the time, do not mean ANYTHING past the surface

We say what we mean, and how we mean it, and if it doesn’t come across, we try again until you get it

Allistic people have the tendency to read more into what is there because that’s how THEY communicate. Autistic people (generally) don’t.

They see bluntness, directness, and total mental and emotional honesty (telling them how you feel and think and why) is either rude or irritating or there must be some motive behind it

But that’s NOT what autistic people are trying to do. We’re actually trying to do the exact OPPOSITE. We try to be honest and direct so you get exactly what we mean and DONT take it the wrong way, and then you go and take it the wrong way anyways, especially if we try harder to explain ourselves, because that just gets seen as stubborn/argumentative/aggressive/etc.

It’s never enough

The reason why I think a LOT of autistic Dream fans are really speaking up about this is because many of us have experienced what he’s experiencing now, just on a much smaller scale

We just had to deal with ableist pricks

HE has to deal with POPULAR ableist pricks and the ENTIRETY of the internet, so much that it has turned into a public smear campaign

When we’ve had friends and family in the past misunderstand us or read into subtext that wasn’t there, that has greatly negatively impacted our relationships and confidence in ourselves and our stances

So we see exactly what is happening with Dream and we feel for him, and it makes us angry and scared us to see him be mistreated like this at such a large scale with so few people seeing the problem with it

[timkontheunsure]

Ozzie's not perfect but that so good 😊

Intersectionality of classism, racism and ableism

Ozzie's a pretty lovable carebear of a sin, it's honestly great seeing the nuisance this guy gets in the writing. I love seeing a nice bloke who is a little bit classist, racist and ableist; because these are traits anyone can have.

Like how Stolas' and Millie's are there for character development, so is Ozzie's. 🙂

And none of these things feel like they'll be unsormaounable for Fizz and Ozzie.

Classism

Alot of foke have asked if Fizz gets to be mad that Ozzie didn't try very hard to save his best friend. And well yer he probably will be mad in s3.

He begged his partner to keep his best friend safe, he gets to be mad. Doesn't matter if Ozzie thought he had a good reason to not do so, like keep his head down to try to keep Fizz safe; Fizz can be mad for not being listened to.

But that's not the only thing Ozzie got coming due, and means we'll get some really interesting stuff.

Ok you know how Stolas is only just started to understand how his being born in a position of privilege has affected his a Blitz's relationship? And that alot of the things he did wrong weren't out malice, but from unthinking ignorant?

Well Fizz & Ozzie's power dinamic is worse, because he's 1 of the 7 actually responsible for settling up a lot of that cast system...

And while Stolas got a bit of a mixed bag with his privilege. Never having to think about money, and given housing for himself and his kid. But also getting almost no choice in his life, and being forced into an abusive marriage.

Ozzie by contrast has it all good. His big day to day headaches being his own safety record on vibes. And his own reputation making him want to try to keep a loving relationship on the down low. (His own fault).

His basis maybe unthinking, but he's not actually ignorant of the way hell works for imps.

They've been dealing the extremely class divided by pretending it doesn't exist; leaving any fallout for Fizz to deal with alone.

Like how till recently him and Fizz were in the closet. Something Ozzie felt so uncomfortable about, he outed another royal/imp couple to shove under the bus to help them hide better. His wanting them safe isn't from a bad place, but his actions aren't clean.

Fizz was happy attacking Blitz, someone he believes hurt him out of spite. But Ozzie's the one who physically drags Stolas in, mocks him for slumming with an imp, then take the piss for lossing his wife and kid.

It really isn't a compliment when someone says "You sold your life for a thrust" and to "Pretend you don't see that crust", and equates their downfall to dating an imp. That's mockery.

I'm glad Blitz got to push back a little with when it's proven Fizzmodeus have a romantic relationship. Cus yep they are massive fucking hypocrites.

Even with harassing Moxxie for singing a love song to Millie, it's not Ozzie that takes the heat. It's Fizz.

Ozzie's need to hid them, is directly the reason to tell Moxxie off for the love song, because he's pretending love and lust can't coexist. And Millie wouldn't bonk Fizz over the head he'd if they didn't interrupt her husbands song.

The need to hid, to keep Ozzie's reputation, stops Oz from being aloud to be visibly too pissed at M&M.

Ok that the lightest fallout that Fizz takes from them not dealing with the power imbalance. But cus of staying closeted Fizz gets kidnapped, and nearly killed to keep 'their' secret.

Then attacked by stalkers cus Ozzie can't be seen caring about him;

(Making every other year of the clown pageant something Fizz must face solo).

All for Ozzie to out them both without checking Fizz ok with it first. Stopping Mammon blackmailing him, like Crim did.

So a good action, but it's acting unilaterally for both sides of the couple without any planning ahead. (Ozzie's is the biggest himmo).

Telling everyone he loves Fizz comes from a good place, but it's stepping on a boundary without checking it. When any possible backlash will likely to fall again on Fizz, not Ozzie.

But it's not the only boundary of Fizz's Ozzie's over stepping for a while.

Racism

Ozzie a pretty risk adverse guy, but also doesn't have a cool head in crisis.

This makes him less likely to stand up for what's right, untill he's back into a corner. (Making some of the stuff he do to get out of a bad situation abit of a shit show).

Ozzie's of a both chicken, and also a little bit of a cock lol. (Viv did well with making him a cockerel).

He doesn't yet want to stick his neck out for people he really should be. But is happy to tag in when Bee says Blitz is a good guy. Even though he owns Blitz for saving Fizz twice, and Stolas stopping him himmoing into getting Fizz killed.

In comparison Bee and Tex's relationship isn't a secret. All the Sins know, and basically every hellhound knows. Both their communities know they are in a stable loving relationship.

She stands up for her man to Mammon. And even non verbally tells Ozzie to back off, that it's her fight.

She doesn't need it to be a life or death situation to tell people to feck off if they don't like it.

Bee is willing to give Blitz a chance, and speaks up for him first. Ozzie's more of a tagalog. He does speak up for Blitz, a guy he has much more reason to want to help; but only after Bee.

And then doesn't do more even though IMP are legally under his jurisdiction. And his partner begs him to. (There's a good chance Ozzie could have told Satan to back off, and it'd have worked. But Ozzie isn't a planner in a fast situation).

Even though he knows that Blitz will die at the hands of a corrupt racist political system without someone stepping in.

Ozzie even has the neve to look a bit put out when Blitz calls him and the other Sins on their shit. "All I was trying to do was raise above this stupid fucking place YOU ALL FORCED US INTO!"

Doesn't Blitz know he's one of the 'good ones'?

But Oz is just not a strong person yet, and honestly think this might be something he eventually gels with Stolas over. Learning to be less passive.

But with them out Ozzie is able to tell Ma to do one for being rude about Fizz. Yay! 😁 He's becoming more free in what he can do. Love that characters development.

Ableism

And while taking about Stolas we can highlight the last character flaw Ozzie has, that's not immediate obviously.

Ok I actually think making the loving, and supportive partner to the physical disabled guy just a bit ableist too is A+ writing. 🙂

Ozzie has a pretty big problem with Stolas. (I'm going to need a thesaurus for all the ways Ozzie is a mardy over Stolas being autistic).

He gets arsy when Stolas doesn't take the chair he draw out.

Gets pissed when he's get a real answer to if he's "Still gettin' yo' kink on with that feisty imp?" Not treated as the verbal wallpaper it was. And treating Blitz like all he can be is a race kink.

Assumes the worse intentions of Stolas by suggested he's after date rape drugs. (Going chalk this up as ableist thing too, as assuming the worst in autistic people cus they're weird is really common).

Is creped out by Stolas stimming, and angry at Stolas being excited to help with his special interest.

Is annoyed that Stolas stops him signing a contract to have Fizz decapitated. (Ozzie's just really isn't a planner. No wonder Fizz does all that for him day to day. 🙂 They work well together).

Then sets Stolas on fire for making him a speedy viable contract, because the lawyer is slow.

And after Fizz is safe and sound at home, Ozzie complains that he got stuck all day with Stolas, and bragged how refused to help Blitz... (He's being unthinkingly ungrateful here, because he's used to getting things as he's top of the heap).

Some neurotypicallys really do just hate you on sight for missing social cues, and Ozzie is being that guy.

He can't even hide how much he dislikes Stolas while Stolas busy doing the thing Fizz asked him to do.

(Ozzie, you contempt is showing again bud).

This is all ableism, because the underlying message 'Why don't you just get it, and read my mind for me?! Why do I have to make allowances for your disability, and communicate what I want clearly. It's your fault I'm mildly inconvenients'.

Ok getting back to Fizz, because how he treats Stolas, leads into his attitude around Fizz's care.

Ozzie does a common mistake that all carers will do at somepoint. He reduces the ability of the disabled person to be autonomous. And he does this primarily for safety; but it's also out of a paternalistic view that he knows best.

(He's older, has more experience, more powerful; surely he can't get this wrong right?)

When Fizz has a knock to his confidence about being out and about by himself, Fizz is being hyperbolic about hating going outside. And Ozzie over corrects tells him he never had to do that again.

And Fizz's face drops.

It's infantilizing him, by removing some of his choices. He does this again when he goes behind Fizz's back to ask Blitz to bodyguard him.

Things can be done for a place of love, and still be removing someone's autonomy. Yes without Blitz there Fizz wouldn't have had the strength to tell Mammon to fuck off, but thinks can be both good and bad.

(Honestly I could probably have written 'things can be both good and bad' with pics of Ozzie doing shit, and call it a day 4 drafts ago)....

This has happened with me and every disabled person I know. Fizz needs to talk with Ozzie and redraw boundaries. They'll have to do this after each situation comes up.

Like Ozzie really wasn't happy with Fizz going out alone at the start of Opps. But they compromised on having his phone on him, and a driver giving him a lift.

With Fizz no longer working for Mammon, and their relationship being public, arguably there's less immediate danger now.

But it's the intersectionality that's making it hard for Fizz to start that conversation. He's not just a imp dating a royal, he's a disabled imp who's prosthetics are gifted and maintained by Oz, dating a Sin who was instrumental in putting his whole race near the bottom of the ladder....

Fizz is likely going to need Blitz and Stolas' input to feel comfortable redrawing those tightening boundaries.

It's the reason he feels like he does have to apologise for getting hurt and kidnapped.

(Ozzie did great reminding Fizz he doesn't have to apologise here).

Alright cards on the table when I've had to tell my SO/carer to back off, it's always started by talking to a friend outside our dinamic. And that healthy. You get a different view, your able to sanity check what you want Vs what practical. And it gives you backup.

Making a conversation more likely to be constructive not destructive.

Because this is only insurmountable if they don't try and climb it together.

[bonefall]

Maybe i just joined the fandom space way later than everyone else, but i swear to god the WaCa fandom is only this up in arms about how "ugly" and "deformed" and "disgusting" Moonpaw is/will be as a result of incest because she is confirmed to be a chimera.

I never saw this same kind of behavior when Graystripes parents were mistakenly made siblings. Nor with Ashfur and Squirrelflight, even after the fandom pointed out that theyre half-uncle and niece. I didnt see it with Fernsong and Ivypool. I didnt see it with Birchfall and Whitewing. I didnt see it with Dewnose and Sorrelstripe.

"Maybe its because theyre first cousins?" But no, because Dustpelt and Ferncloud are uncle and niece, directly related to Robinwing.

I believe the fandom only cares about the fact the parents are related here because in their mind it gives them "an excuse" to be disgusting about her chimerism. With any other characters, it's just another instance of the writers being incompetent. With Moonpaw, "it's why she's so fucked up".

Yes, they hate her because she's a result of an incest, but I'm starting to become convinced they're only this vocal about it because of how she looks. They don't truly care she's inbred, they only care that they have "a good reason" to be ableist.

This being said as a victim of incestual abuse. Cousin and cousin, just like Thriftear and Bayshine.

Is this a bad take? Am I grasping at straws? Is this just an effect of avoiding the fandom for so long? SOS

You're not grasping at straws. I think you're right on the money, honestly.

Something a lot of people don't seem to understand is that a lot of bigotry is not overt. Ableists don't usually run around saying they want all disabled people to be thrown off cliffs (when they get to that point we're in SERIOUS danger), but they DO grab your wheelchair's handles, or speak over you when you're stuttering, or assume you're stupid or dangerous. It's usually implicit biases, and structural inequality.

This is why humor is so good at revealing these internal biases. You may not believe you're classist, you might have friends from Alabama, or Durham, or Wales, but what accent do you give your "stupid" character if you're telling a story? Why are the accents of "poor" regions associated with low intelligence?

So to bring it around-- why did we see the spike in "jokes" about "ugly inbreeds" for our very first character with a confirmed genetic condition?

I've been in and around this fandom since 2008, and I've NEVER seen another character get talked about like this. Mind you, Graystripe was the child of a sister and a brother for a LONG time, too, from 2009 to 2016 (maybe even later, I don't remember exactly when the modern tree was released). And no one did it with Bristlefrost, either, in spite of there being a pretty huge uproar about her parents being distantly related.

No one else. Just the chimera. "No wonder she looks like that" and "here she is with a hapsburg jaw" and "she'd be so slurs she'd be icky."

Characters without disability, no congenital conditions, nothing = "Ugh damn writers and their incompetence strikes again. God they need to get some fresh blood in here"

(moonpaw) = "EWW NO WONDER!! WHEN WILL THE GENE POOL BE BLEACHED"

There's also the incredible irony of the fact that like. moonpaw has a common tortie fur pattern and heterochromia. you don't even need to show an ableist an actual congenital condition, you can suggest a normal face is disabled and they will lose their minds. Bigotry rots your brain.

Also, just, as a closing note, as usual the bigot is incorrect. Chimerism and inbreeding have literally nothing to do with each other. There is no link between chimerism and inbreeding. they are once again confusing chimerism and mosaicism and trying to whine It's Just Biology because you told them their joke wasn't funny.

[sigmasoyboy]

Surely nothing in the world ever felt better than [THIS]

Was suggested on instagram to write from Gage's POV and thinking about how I would ever write from someone who's been essentially dog lobotomized actually got me thinking so hard I started writing. The formatting of this one is a reading nightmare but the never ending run-on sentence tightly packed into one block of text feels the most appropriate to a dog's inner thoughts so… You have to suffer for the sake of art™️

cw: ableist and misogynistic language, PTSD, panic attack, murder, vomit, loss of humanity through being genetically spliced with a dog

Right now there is only [RUNNING] and [PANTING] and the wind whipping your face and twigs digging into your paw pads and snapping under your weight and the sweat tickling the inside of your thigh as it rolls down the expanse of your (ever) hairless leg. You almost want to throw your hands down into the decaying grass and leaves to propel your body further but (something) keeps you anchored to your bipedal ways, your body knows it was never made for sprinting on all four but your body was also bent once and could probably be bent further all the way to the other side transhumanised so far the evolutionary path to break all knowns nomenclature and classification and leap from (human) to [DOG] just as you do out of the shrubbery as soon as your hear [YOUR NAME], toes skidding into the overgrown lawn as you halt, tongue hanging out dumbly trying as you might to bring moisture back into your bone dry mouth. The useless instincts you (forcefully) have inherited work against you but thankfully [HE!!!] turns on the garden hose [HE!!] uses to bath you with and fresh water springs out, splattering everywhere against your open mouth. There used to be a better way to drink but you (forgot) how so you chew at the air trying to catch this pesky pesky water into your mouth while getting drenched, you were hot anyway, running so so hot from all the excess dopamine secreted by your happy happy dumb brain, so easily pleased.

Surely nothing in the world ever felt better than [THIS]; it’s the 100th time you thought this exact thing today not with words or inner monologue only pure unadulterated stabs at your mesocorticolimbic circuit, things are only [GOOD] or [BAD] not in terms of the morals (you lacked) but in terms of [PLEASURE] and [PAIN], so simple and so good like quenching your thirst and moving your limbs and eating and shitting and nerve endings being stimulated by a [GOOD SCRATCH] just like [HE] is doing right now immediately replacing the serotonin from the water [HE] just shut off, not having a care in the world for how greasy your (hair) feels or the way you wildly shake off to dry yourself or the fact that you are (not) a dog at all. You wouldn’t get any of it anyway because all you understand now is [ANGRY] and [SOFT] tone so as long as [HE] coos at (you) softly [HE] can say anything and (you) would happily (giggle) and [RUB YOUR HEAD] against his big calloused hands even if he was (talking shit). You were liberated against your (will) and you are too dumb to realize it, of course you are why would you ever stop and try to think when you can just march alongside [HIM] like [HE TAUGHT] [YOU]] like a good stupid fuckass (dog) getting all [EXCITED] because you realize [HE] is walking towards the [KITCHEN] which can only mean any and all (doubt) or [FEAR] that’s desperately trying to join each others can be [SILENCED] by a motherfucking spoonfull of [PEANUT BUTTER HOLY SHIT] sticky and salty and obstructing your airway momentarily but thank goodness you still know how to breath through your (nose) while you smack your (lips) desperately trying to (get away from the [DELICIOUS TREAT] clawing at the leathery cushion with your splitting nails nerve endings stimulated by [HURT HURT HURT FUCK what did you do why were you bad why is this happening to you this wasn’t supposed to happen you weren’t supposed to get caught in the first place but the [BITC H] squealed and slipped through your fingers and now you’re the one being [GUD LA DET SLUTTE VÆR SÅ SNILL] you should’ve made a bigger hole and (fucked it) so [BAD] no one will ever be able to identify your whore bitch corpse you r eally fucked up this time you can barely breathe through any hole now in out in out in out head heavy with the weight of ([HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS]) getting really really light so much so you don’t feel your (claws) slicing until the victim became unrecognizable aggravated [MASSACRE] of your (ultimate reality) now there’s only [DROOL] and a little bit of [VOMIT] and your clammy skin against the (cold old tiles) of the kitchen floor and [HIS] form above you [WARM] palm encircling almost your entire still trembling arm and (garbled speech) you can never [UNDERSTAND] again, it’s so [WARM] and (nice) your [TAIL] slaps the kitchen floor, beginning to unknot [HIS] brow as you can feel yourself (smiling) dumbly at [HIM]. And now there is only [PETTING] and [ROLLING ON THE FLOOR] with the sweet-acrid aroma of [PEANUT BUTTER] and [VOMIT] [HE] stops you from [LAPPING] just before your tongue touches it.

Surely nothing in the world ever felt better than [THIS].

[wei-ying-kexing-apologist]

QL Grievances: 2024

Because I have no original ideas, I am copying @lurkingshan's decision to create an end of year QL Grievances list.

Most Egregious Act of Ableism: Last Twilight

Listen. I am in no way, shape, or form opposed to Day getting a retina transplant and having the surgery be successful. The problem is that Aof already had one unsuccessful attempt and had absolutely no reason to end the show with a second surgery and he had no right to fake out the audience with how Day stepped into the road. Putting all of that aside, I think it is incredibly ableist of Aof and the show to have Day be entirely reliant on Mok without any reciprocity. This show made me so goddamn mad, if you want to hear a longer diatribe about it, check out The Conversation episode where Ben and NiNi ever so politely let me rant at length about it. 

Biggest Betrayal of a Horny Lesbian: Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

ONE DOES NOT GET LABELLED A HARDCORE LESBIAN WHO ACHIEVED CONQUESTS OF ONE HUNDRED WOMEN TO GET INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN UNREPENTANTLY HORNY FOR THEM AND NOT FUCK FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. AYAKA AND HIROKO SHOULD HAVE BEEN FUCKING NASTY SINCE DAY ONE. THEY WERE WRONGED!!!!!

Best Example of Why You Don’t Turn Straight Stories Queer: Chaser Game W

This show was bad. But some of what made it bad made a hell of a lot more sense when I learned that Chaser Game W was originally a heterosexual story. 

The Fuck that Got Fucked: Unknown 

This show spent such an incredible amount of time building up the complicated emotions of an (initially) unrequited love between two brothers. Which is why the last two episodes were especially a let down. With how well they had set up all the emotional stakes that came before it, I was so incredibly disappointed in the way that 1) the emotional core of the show was speed run into acceptance of a major change in their dynamic and that 2) the editing of the opening scene in episode eleven cut literally any and all emotional tension out of the scene AND it was kinda fucking confusing. 

The Fuck they Should Have Fucked: The Sign

By the end of this show, I had a lot more gripes with it. But I think quite a few of the plot problems could have been resolved if they had, as @shortpplfedup said “they shoulda fucked in Nong Khai”

Biggest Waste of a Based Grandma: Wandee Goodday 

GRANDMA I LOVE YOU. Unfortunately, your grandson is kinda sorta a selfish piece of shit. Apologies to everyone who liked this show, but I could not finish it. 

The Chains of Heart Award for Biggest Gap Between Cinematography and Storytelling: 4Minutes

4Minutes was absolutely gorgeous but if you have to tweet out an explanation for the ending of your show, then I think you have missed the point of creating a television drama. I personally do not feel like Sammon did all that she set out to do with this piece. 

Biggest Waste of the Weird Girls: 23.5

Ongsa and Aylin both gave me so much hope that this show fundamentally would understand high school girls. And I think generally it did, but the writing fell apart and left me ever so disappointed. Shout out to my saving grace TsukeTabe for being the thing that gave me faith GL can be good, because I am still struggling to find strong sapphic shows. 

Worst Execution of Having Your Cake and Eating it Too: Dead Friend Forever 

A conversation seriously needs to be had in the Thai BL industry especially about moving away from branded pairs. I sincerely believe that the desire to give Phee and Jin a happy ending because they were thinking of putting Copper and Ta together as a branded pair after the reality show. The ending of DFF was confusing and really fizzled out the captivating build up to what the hell was going on. It felt like they had three different endings and instead of just picking one they decided to toss them all in. The worst part is that I think if they just had a gloved hand pick up the ax and drag it toward the house right at the very end, then I would have still been okay with the ending. 

World Record Holder for Fastest Did Not Finish: My Love Mix Up 

Okay so having never seen Kieta Hatsukoi and being interested in adaptations, I decided I should watch it while it was out and while I was not being influenced by a prior experience with the original TV show. But I only made it through a single part of the first episode before I realized that the production was having difficulty balancing the performances with the sound design, and it messed with the comedy to the point that I decided that it was probably for the best if I just…didn’t.

[endearing-dalliance]

Just like Piltover, Arcane's beauty hides its fundamental problems. Its ableist, antisemetic, acephobic, classist, and worst of all, it doesn't initially seem that way.

Firstly, I want to say that this post and my problem with all of this is due to the real-life references, biases, and viewpoints of the team people who created the show, made the design decisions, wrote the scripts, and continue to defend what many have pointed out are genuine problems in their stories and characters. This nothing to do with the VAs, individual animators, supporting crew, or even the characters themselves. I'm genuinely heartbroken for all those people who proudly worked on the show, did their parts beautifully, supported the viewers, and are met with a fanbase disappointed, hurt, and angry about something completely out of their control.

I wrote up a different post about Piltover vs Zaun in the original lore and how that version is such a different situation than we we got.

Despite everything they did to make the Arcane undercity/Zaun this horrible place, they keep referencing the positives of LoL Zaun (an equal and respected society) and attributing them to Arcane Zaun. All of this is straight from the AoA:

"When you look closely, Piltover and Zaun are not entirely dissimilar" (y'all literally designed them as polar opposites)

Zaun is a refuge for outcasts who don't have a home, and there is the thrilling sense that anything is possible. So pretty much the exact opposite of what Vi was trying to show Cait?

In Piltover everything is heavily regulated; Zaun is wild and more pure meritocracy. "its is not completely lawless, though there are some issues with the mob." That's certainly one way to put it.

Zaunites "make magic out of nothing. nothing is precious, everything can be recycled and be reworked to make it better" I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that people can't afford to replace things when they break. Nope. Completely plausible reasoning. No real life parallel at all.

One example of innovation is a jeweler from Zaun who makes unique gothic work. Not only did they never showed us this side of the undercity, I maintain NOBODY in Piltover is putting on a gas mask to go jewelry shopping in a slum.

"Even though they were oppressed, they can innovate in ways Topside can't. Like well let's take this freedom we have because they don't care about us, and use it to find beauty and innovation. That's where Ekko's little conclave came in." Did they forget the literal orphans he rescued from those "shady streets"? What were they free from, their parents? Cause Piltover's enforcers seem to kill a lot of those despite "not caring". This is straight from Ekko's LoL lore where he spent his days being a kid running around with the Lost Children and inventing for fun. Arcane Ekko got Misfit Toys as an intro song. The Firelights were called a gang. These are not happy, healthy kids enjoying their world. They're vigilantes taking care of other kids who have nobody else.

"Ekko emerged as one of the unlikely heroes of the show, rising to meet tough, sometimes heartwrenching challenges, and becoming a charismatic and beloved leader" His LoL lore is that of a self-educated genius described as "The Hero of Zaun's Youth". Beloved pretty firmly established already. Also charismatic...are we really not past the point where its not supposed to be a shock that a black guy can be articulate?

Sevika's arm is specifically described as "flamboyant", which was the same word used to describe Piltover's augments

This gave me the vibe that they were trying to glorify or romanticize Zaunites' suffering and environment, but on further reflection I think that's giving them way too much credit. Christian's reply below makes it pretty clear he doesn't understand his own story, and Alex's indicates they weren't even trying to tell it and are surprised by this interpretation. Because to them, the Zaunites were the bad guys all along.

(Cool cool name one team member who has personal experience with living in under an oppressive ruling class that is either ignores their suffering or actively worsens it. I'll wait.)

Also, I think its very telling that a cocreator admits to having difficulty distinguishing between a group of systemically abused people fighting for their right to live on their own terms and people breaking the law because want power and influence and money. I don't think Peaky Blinders and the French and American Revolution (among others) are really compatible stories.

"It was an impossible pipe dream if you ask me." Well then. All the nations that successfully rose up and freed themselves from their oppressive overlords were just flukes I guess. Also I'm not sure how they managed to figure out the alien invasion lack of relatability and not realize that's basically what they ended up with. Also, the fact that they keep framing it as a civil war rather than a revolutionary one is mindbogglingly out of touch.

So they were trying to comment on the two party system, but also the point wasn't to comment on the real world. They wanted to show the widening wealth gap in a "fun way", but also that's not what they were shooting for. Over and over we've heard about how the show is about duality, the struggle of Jinx and Vi and the struggle of the two cities. If they didn't want to comment on the real world, didn't know enough about politics to even realize what they were doing or what message they sent, DON'T MAKE A $250 MILLION STORY ABOUT IT. Thanks to their contributions, we now have a story about two girls brutally traumatized by their environment enveloped in a pro-oppressor, forgive your abusers theme. Well I aint forgiving any of this.

I get the idea of "show, not tell", but some things do need to be explicitly told. Oppression is objectively wrong no matter who the oppressed are should not be left up to interpretation. Its not the viewers' job to piece together that Zaun's problems are ultimately caused by Piltover, especially since what they are shown is that death of a child makes the world a better place. Not once in 18 episodes do they ever explicitly condemn Piltover. Not once did they validate Zaun's right to independence. We got "forgiveness" (forgiving your abusers? great message) and "finding your way back to each other" (which none of the duos actually did. They're all "dead"). And my personal favorite, the important lesson that asexual people do not have happy, healthy, nonplatonic relationships, so TAKE THAT JAYVIK SHIPPERS.

Since they ended Arcane with a reference to a Japanese proverb, in the spirit of duality I'm ending with a quote by someone who actually has personal experience on the subject:

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."- Desmond Tutu

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for threatening to become a girl's step dad to troll her into blocking me and stop dragging me in a group chat ? Jenny (23F) blew up because I (24NB) said she'd be a shitty social worker bc of her specific autism symptoms + class bg. My gf (45F) said it was warranted because of how  overwhelmed i got by the wall of text with triggering details of my abuse. I never told my GF that the fight started because Jenny called me a gold digger. I also never mentioned that I ended it an hour later by posting pics of Jenny's mom in the chat, ignoring her ranting and discussing the vacancy left by her dead dad*, and how i could fill said vacancy. 😬😬😬 Might of gone too far with this one.

Backstory: I lived with Jenny when I was houseless indefinitely. She only let me stay for two weeks because it would be too "distracting" to her studies. Jenny was incredibly rich, didn't work, and her parents paid her rent for a 2 bedroom. She admitted she got rejected from every grad school she applied to except for the one her mom was in charge of. Her mom bought her a condo in the city the school was in. She kept asking me how she should decorate it, completely ignorant to how uncomfortable this made me and my other friends. Jenny was oblivious constantly to how she made others feel. She was actually the most incompetent person I've ever met in terms of comforting other, always tone deaf and completely absorbed with her own, single traumatic event. She made constant jokes about the abuser I was fleeing and even compared this stalked to a /serial killer/ documentary she watched, but never EVER showed any signs of internalizing how I almost lost my life to another person, how that might affect me or even just bum me out. Seriously, I've never met someone else who was so incapable of even being sensitive to issues that were /EXTREMELY SERIOUS/. Forget comforting, the stuff she routinely said to me and my other friends to try to cheer us up was beyond degrading. It was wearing on me a lot.

Jenny herself was neurodivergent. She often said her autism prevented her from understanding the feelings others had, reading their expressions, and tolerating crying or loud noise-- she forbid her musician roommate from doing both. None of those mean shes a worthless person, but all of those things would make someone a horrible therapist or social worker. Oh my God, literally every time I talked about my recent trauma, she would talk about herself and then blame her autism when I told her it just wasn't helping.

The final piece of this was I had a nervous breakdown and screamed at her over discord that she was a shit friend and needed to give up on social work, for like an hour. NOT MY PROUDEST, but I ALMOST DIED. I was living with her because SOMEONE WAS STALKING ME. and I would have liked to not have my abuse JOKED about. HOW DID JENNY RESPOND!? She began dragging me, through the mud, in the group chat, for, dating, an, older, woman, who, paid, for, my, air bnb, because, !!!she!!! wouldn't let me live with her for more than a week. I was HOMELESS. It became all about "OP you are such a b*tch, you are with a woman twice your age and she pays for everything now but you are still a miserable and angry person. You are so blah blah blah you are an ableist, you said I can't become a social worker bc of autism blah blah blah you have major major issues, Go back your rich granny and leech off of her you useless, fucked up little gold digger."

U_U Then, she started graphically describing how I deserved my abuse, so I shrimply began to troll. And yes, I pulled out my magnum oppus like fucking playing blue eyes white dragon, oh yeah I slipped her a pristine Jenny's mom facebook photo and said "Hey you never said your mom was so cute. Maybe, I could leech off her next and become your new dad." Yes, her dad died.* She blocked me immediately. Its OK. It was knives out for Jenny as soon as my GF gifted me a pair of $700 Isabel Marant shoes** , the most EXPENSIVE thing ive ever owned in my whole life, and Jenny saw me excited and called her mom to buy her a pair. It's, absolutely OK, if I am the asshole. I wear my crown of thorns, judas that I am, but I really, really think Jenny was being cruel. *he died 18 years ago ** the shoes are no more because i fell into my gf's rich friend's koi pond

[bunny-ology]

I started off in college as an education major wanting to be a middle school science teacher, but ended up quitting that because of how ableist the major was.

I switched to an agriculture degree because I grew up on a farm, and during 2020 I was constantly at home and convinced myself I could physically do the work, and I completed that degree despite the professors being ableist and morally questionable.

While I was an Ag major, I was working for the geology museum on campus, and decided to get my Masters degree in museum studies. During my studies, I realized how disabled people are constantly left out of deai discussions in the museum field, only ever seen as potential visitors and never potential workers, and so I finished my degree with independent research into how disabled staff are treated.

During my last semester in grad school, I started working as a substitute teacher and realized that my education major professors were wrong; I as a disabled person can totally be a teacher without a problem. My grad school advisor also told me that a lot of myself professionals go back and forth between the school system and museums. So I'm taking the leap to try to become a teacher

I just took my GACE (the Georgia certification test) and passed at a professional level! Once I am hired by a school, I will start taking the remainder of classes that I need to be considered a full fledged teacher

I've literally just made a circle, but the agriculture and museum studies degrees are still a huge help to me as a science educator. Other than space, agriculture perfectly set me up to understand everything required for students to learn and places me in a good spot to introduce an FFA chapter to the school, while my museum studies degree has allowed me to see education from a different perspective than my coworkers in order to more adequately come up with ideas in joint discussions. Additionally, I included disability and deai research in almost everything I did from work to school, and as a disabled person myself, I feel that my understanding of accessibility and empathy for other disabled people has prepared me more for interacting with disabled students in my classes.

Not a single bit of my journey was for naught, and I no longer feel ashamed or regretful towards my agriculture degree. I'm also excited to continue learning and eventually helping others to learn too