#ableism on the left

[allblognamesaretakenso]

people criticising luke for vaping and calling it 'gross' and 'i no longer like him' are pissing me off because

a) those photos were taken without his consent so why are we even commenting (except say he looks SO good)

b) he's a british man who vapes. fork found in kitchen? not saying its a healthy habit but some of y'all are acting like he was taking hard drugs

c) as someone neurodivergent, people with adhd and anxiety are more likely to vape because nicotine is a stimulant and releases dopamine in small levels (with many using it as an alternative to smoking)

basically give him some grace and stop making stupid discourses and criticising everything he does. let. him. live.

[disableddyke]

disabled people don’t have places to sit/rest in public >> disability activists advocate for public seating >> on rare occasion it gets approved >> abled people take advantage and use up all the seating >> abled people refuse to give up seating for disabled people who advocated for it & need it most >> disabled people still have no place to rest and remain isolated from general public. rinse & repeat

[calmmyfears]

i can't describe how defeated i feel when yet another doctor tells me everything looks normal, everything is normal after medical tests of my body. it feels like a punch in my stomach when they conclude with "so that's good news!" not to me, it is. it means new pain, less mobility, with no visible cause that i have to learn to live with while nothing around me changes. fantastic news yeah.

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

A rant about Jedi Stans from an ex-Jedi fangirl

After some time I've had to reflect on my own behavior as well as my time in the pro Jedi fandom, I decided it's time to call this shit out. Some people take it really personal if someone criticized your favorite characters or their beliefs. Ironically, you all act more like the Sith than the Jedi with how obsessive you can be and insisting any criticism is equal to wanting genocide.

I'm going to start by saying I was in the pro jedi fandom for a few months. Truth be told, I was using it as an outlet for some of my anger issues with my hate towards Anakin, seeing him as similar to a lot of people I've had to deal with. Some of it was wanting more followers and fear of being disliked by the majority. I would pick fights with Anakin fans and was a bit of an asshole and I apologize for that. I still don't like him but no longer HATE him. Seeing how fandoms treat abuse victims who aren't perfect angels like Shinji Ikari or Lapis Lazuli has caused me to loosen up a bit. Many Jedi stans would probably hate those characters for not being “perfect” victims. In retrospect, this wasn't a good community for me. It was very puritanical and I often felt like I was wrong for enjoying media that went against the beliefs Jedi Stans put on a pedestal. Three of my favorite ships (Madohomu, Reishin and Hodaka x Hina) involve "burning the world for one person" and I felt like I couldn't talk about them without being a hypocrite. That and me agreeing less and less with Luca's beliefs pushed me to leave.

It's fine to enjoy a fictional character and defend them if you feel that they're being unfairly criticized. I've done it myself and have written essays defending my faves. The problem is that Jedi stans don't know when to stop. So many are quick to compare the Jedi to minority religions or marginalized groups as a shield against criticism, not recognizing how insulting that can be. Jewish, asian and aroace people are the ones normally used due to the Jedi beliefs being based off Eastern religions as well as Judaism as well as some aroace people identifying with the Jedi.

One thing I noticed about Jedi stans is their similarities to Jumblr which is full of religious chauvinism reworded to sound progressive. Many of them talk about how the Jedi shouldn't have to change their traditions with the times or to accommodate a few individuals like Anakin or Ahsoka. This can be similar to how a lot of people are quick to defend minority religions from outside criticism based on how they were treated by Christian colonists or missionaries. The problem is that this can veer right into ableist or queerphobic territory. You know who else believe that their religion shouldn't have to change with the times to accommodate people? Conservative Christians who hate being told to be affirming of LGBTQ people. Also, schools and parents/guardians do have a responsibility to accommodate kids with disabilities, mental health issues or trauma, even if it may be inconvenient or force you to bend the rules. Claiming they need to just suck it up is honestly disgusting.

This was all a big reason for why I left this garbage pit of a fandom. While there are some who hate the Jedi because they stan the empire or think people need 50s nuclear families to live fulfilling lives, not everyone does that. Believe it or not, some people have faced abuse and bigotry under Judaism and Buddhism. People can also criticize how Lucas presented their beliefs as some Buddhists think he didn't do a good job. Libsoftiktok is a vile transphobe, an Orthodox Jew and her beliefs are said to be fairly common in her community. Many people of color identify with the clones and dislike how even the nicer Jedi treated them. When Obi Wan told Anakin, "It's okay to have romantic feelings, but you must let them pass," that hits different for queer people who have been told similar things from "polite" homophobes. Some queer people do choose celibacy like Side B christians which is fine as long as they don't treat it as a moral failure to want a relationship. There are many neurodivergent people who don't like the Jedi beliefs as they hit close to home. Lucas may have not intended to come off as ableist but the Jedi did with their beliefs about negative emotions. To some people, platitudes like "just let go" aren't helpful and treating it as bad for not living up to those principles is gross.

I deleted the post, but a while back I made a post asking a popular pro jedi blogger their views on adoption since they claimed Anakin not viewing the Jedi as his "found family" was a moral failure. I found their response to be tone deaf and insulting. I responded in a decent way of course, but felt a bit judged and unhappy for wanting to know my birth mother. Adoptees are another set of people this fandom is insensitive and gross to. The Kenobi series I find insulting for that reason too, having Leia be a foil for Anakin and Obi Wan romanticize his recruitment as a child.

Jedi fans are also shitty to those with religious trauma and who faced abuse. Accusing anyone who criticizes the Jedi of projecting their issues with Christianity while simultaneously talking like conservatives as shown above. Tumblr in general has a weird habit of treating religion as if it’s either conservative evangelicalism, liberal reform Judaism and some vague pagan or eastern spirituality with little nuance. Some Jedi stans really come from a place of privilege. Claiming "they can just leave" is insulting to real religious abuse survivors who were raised with harmful beliefs like creationism or homophobia. I'm no antitheist but treating non christian religion as inherently progressive dismisses a lot of people's experiences.

Let's be real, the writing in this franchise was always a bit sloppy. Lucas's issue was wanting to simultaneously create both a black-and-white morality tale for kids based on the fairy tales and serials he grew up and a deep socio-political commentary about the Vietnam and Iraq wars which required some morally grey themes. Thus, along with his terrible dialogue that made the characters seem unlikable, is why the fandom is so divided over whether he intended people to agree with the prequel Jedi.

To wrap this up, I found the pro jedi fandom to be a terrible experience. It was a mix of faux progressivism mixed with fear of judgement for disagreeing. I ended up editing a post I made, and eventually deleted, comparing Yoda with Garnet from SU because I included a tiny bit of criticism and didn't want to get backlash. As long as it’s not gross or bigoted criticism of your favorite characters isn't the end of the world. People don't have to like George Lucas or his beliefs and put them on a pedestal. I feel like the fandom's worship of George comes in response to OT purists who claimed he "raped their childhoods" but there's fair criticism to be made. Just like how not everyone who criticizes Disney SW or any Disney media in general is an "anti woke" grifter. To the pro jedi fans reading this, here's a suggestion. Just block and ignore people, write an essay if you feel it's important, but don't act like an entitled bully if a blog or even a SW writer disagrees with the Jedi, interprets the story differently or criticizes your favorite characters.

[queeraliensposts]

I would like to preface this post by clarifying that obviously you should wear and present however you feel comfortable and the way you dress doesn't actually say anything about who you are as a person and what your values are.

Anyways, in my experience interacting with alternative subcultures, I've noticed that alt girls who dress alt but still try to look coventially pretty tend to say the most problematic things, will treat trans men and transmascs like absolute fucking garbage especially when we set basic boundaries like "please don't call me girl, even if you're using it in a gender neutral way", engage in cringe culture, often say the most ableist things about problematic people, and throw around terms like "pick me girl" and "chronically online".

Whereas alt girls who dress alt and don't care about looking conventionally attractive are often very progressive and really nice.

In my opinion maybe this boils down to internalized misogyny and wanting to signal to others that you're better than "other girls" because you're not afraid of offending people, because being alt these days isn't as "edgy" or "cool" as it used to.

It could also be that a certain amount of nonconformity is admired but there comes a certain threshold where it's no longer acceptable.

Obviously wanting to be pretty =/= having internalized misogyny or being problematic, as I've seen a few examples of alt girls who don't care about looking conventionally attractive being problematic, and alt girls who do care being nice, but that's not the majority.

Before anyone twists my words beyond recognition, I always encourage everyone to dress however they feel comfortable, and dressing a certain way does not make you inherently problematic, I am simply pointing out a pattern I've noticed, commenting on it, and giving my own theory as to why it is.

[lesbienj]

kindly and politely asking non-disabled tolkien fans to question and reassess the impulse to give maedhros an elf-magic prosthetic that works exactly like a “real” hand

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

People who say "You're not a real activist if you only use the Internet" piss me off because they clearly show that they are ablietic shit

People with ASD, social phobia, agoraphobia etc… They exist, will you finally fucking come to terms with the fact that there are people who don't take part in strikes for logical fucking reasons and that's why they use the Internet?

If your activism consists in attacking activists who cannot physically take part in fundraisers, then you have shit to say that you are fighting for equality and those discriminated against when you fucking show ableism towards different groups

Now that I have your attention:

---------------------------------

People like this just piss me off because their ego is fucking huge and they show their Ableism and people are silent about it…

[youngchronicpain]

Just sent in a complaint to Frontier Airlines about how one of the flight attendants treated me while I was trying to get from my personal powerchair to my seat on the flight. She ignored my request for assistance and just watched as I struggled to get my things to the seat. She let other passengers start to load as I was still getting my cushions from my powerchair and I ended up falling as a result. She just stood there with a look of distaste on her face. Like, if you hate disabled people so much why work in an industry where you are required to assist them? Or am I just not the "right" kind of disabled person? Like????

[westywallowing]

it has always baffled me that ASL isn't taught as a second language in American schooling. or as a requirement for certain jobs that work with, well, people. the HLAA says that around 48 million Americans have hearing loss!! 1 in 5 teenagers!! 1 in 3 people over the age of 60!!! it's crazy to me that sign isn't more widely taught and used considering that you probably DO or WILL know someone who has hearing loss at some point in their life

[northern-punk-lad]

The way eugenics is so popular in left wing spaces should be talked about more because yall are all progressive and pro human rights until the subject of disabled people comes up

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

"we're respectful towards trauma-survivors but only the ones that are convenient for us" / "we encourage self-care and prioritizing your mental health but only if its convenient for us" gtfo

[gryficowa]

Can we fucking talk about Ableism among left-wing activists? If you have ASD and social phobia, you have to go out on the street, so what if you have a meltdown and panic? Fuck you trash! Die, you idiot!

I'm a leftist and for me this is moralizing from "Don't call yourself an activist when you're not on strike in public", shove this text up your stinking ass, it's promoting ableism (And yes, the worst thing is that many activists with ASD accept it and it's fucking sick)

I'm fucking sick of Ableism being treated like a joke (Like Islamophobia and classism…)

I'm fed up with the fact that no matter what you do (Boycotts etc…) they will never be fucking enough for leftist activists, because due to social anxiety and ASD (Yes, I panic in crowds) you can't take part in public strikes, so all your involvement means nothing to them because "You don't participate in public strikes, so you can't call yourself an activist"

I will be a leftist and an activist, but I will not remain silent about the shit that is fucking ableism in this community, you are not an activist when you attack people who for various reasons cannot take part in a public strike, you are just a piece of shit and nothing more

[illnessfaker]

the whole "you're going to become physically disabled/ill when you get older thing" is annoying because yeah combatting ableism towards physically disabled people should be a priority regardless but it's weird to me how age is always brought up and not the fact that (at least in a united states context) contemporary capitalist workplace culture seems pretty hellbent on destroying people's bodies at a more rapid rate than age would by itself. and with that being said there's a conversation to be had about the ways in which contemporary capitalist workplace culture exacerbates and worsens the conditions of people who are already physically disabled but still work.

[ryderdire]

I mean,

being learning disabled/ neurodivergent isn’t under my control.

I can’t just get rid of my disability by trying harder then everyone else.

My adhd isn’t going to go away if I put things into a chart And like a lot of the self reglulation tools and accommodations I need is infantlized or demonized .Hell telling people I’m neurodivergent more often then not leads to me being demonized dismissed or infantlized.

So I find it frustrating when people try and tell me that the symptoms of my disabilities are things I can control and not things I can work around and work with.

It’s really frustrating to be told essentially “oh just turn off your disability for a bit” like girl. No.

Just because I don’t let you see me being disabled all the time doesn’t mean I’m not disabled. Just because I’m masking doesn’t mean I’m not still neurodivergent just because you aren’t in my brain experiencing my struggles doesn’t mean it’s not real.

[uncanny-tranny]

How it feels to have an epiphany about your disability: