#and this certainly doesn’t accommodate to disabilities

[shiveringsoldier]

For more than a week now, I have not been able to get into my apartment using the building entrance from my level of the parking garage. The landlord is aware of this issue, as evidenced by an email that they sent to residents last Tuesday, but they still haven’t fixed it. I feel murderous with anger.

[a-room-of-my-own]

'm sorry if i upset you.

I'm older than most here but my congenital defect means my life is very closed.

I'm disabled. Cis-male. Unlike the "pillow angel" featured in the media a while back, i still have a grown up mind. That did not save me from a similar (but more extensive and male version) of the "Ashley Treatment".

Not easy coping with a baby sized body and baby-like features. The epiphysis of the bones is absent. The epiphysis, a secondary boneforming center at the ends of the bones, without them I can't grow.

Oh my goodness I had no idea it existed if you’re referring to this:

I’m at loss for words, I’m so sorry. If this was done to you while you were a child this is to me a terrible infringement on your human rights. I wish I was eloquent enough in English to tell you how shocked I am this kind of procedure can be done to innocent children, even more to those with no ability to even understand what they’re being subjected to. I hope you can find some peace and healing. Are you safe now?

[istoleyoursk1n]

Hello and Happy Holidays (whatever you might celebrate)! If you have time, could you please write something about the BG3 Companions (or specifically Gale, Wyll, Halsin, Astarion and Karlach if there's too many) with a disabled reader who feels insecure about it? I personally am autistic and have a few physical disabilities so I need help with some things, am very clumsy and can struggle in social situations. Bonus points if you include things like them being protective over the reader because I personally have weak bones and chronic pain because of my disabilities so I'd like to think they'd be extra protective 🥰

Thank you so so much, I hope you have a wonderful 2024 ahead of you!

•❅───────────✧❅✦❅✧───────────❅•

How they would react to a Tav who is insecure about their disabilities

(Happy holidays to you too! I hope you enjoy your new year!)

.

.

: ̗̀➛ ASTARION

The bully

He wasn't aware of it at first so he came off as plain mean. He’d tease you for the little things you struggle with during the early moments of you two together but don't worry, he gets better.

The more he starts to care for you, the more he realizes that perhaps teasing you for things you clearly struggle with isn't something he should be doing. Especially if he's starting to value you and how you feel.

It's subtle at first, he quits most if not all his mockery towards you and usually speaks up in situations where you cannot. He eventually comes to do all the talking for you both.

Comes around to ask what you’re particularly struggling with to better understand you. And help you with such struggles in the near future.

While he used to laugh at you every time you fell/tipped something over, he finally started helping you up, disregarding said mistake as a “happy little accident”.

He’s surprisingly far more forgiving and patient with you, of course, there's the usual snarky remark but it's never directed toward whatever disability you possess.

Further into your relationship, he straight up starts defending you if anyone but he decides to laugh at your struggles. He’d verbally assault them with words that even make you shake.

It's difficult to stop the man once he starts telling off someone, at least it's entertaining, and hey! He’s doing it for you.

Further along the line, he’d finally come around to apologizing for his former attitude towards you, understanding that approaching you in such a way was wrong of him given your circumstance. He shouldn't have taken advantage of that.

Regardless, now you have a sassy lover who's quick to snap at anyone who tries to make fun of you.

: ̗̀➛ WYLL

Incredibly understanding that it's almost startling for you.

It doesn't take long for him to notice what you're struggling with and is quick to help out without having to make mention of whatever disability you possess.

He doesn’t judge you at all despite your struggles, already noting your worth to him and that you are not inconveniencing him in any way.

He was actually the first to accommodate your disabilities, defending you if the others become too ignorant of them.

He’s dealt with people of all shapes and sizes, it isn't his first time handling people who need extra special care nor is he burdened by it.

He’ll make it very clear to you that you don't have to feel any shame in asking for help or if you simply can't do a certain task, he’ll gladly be there for you!

And hey! There's no need to feel about being clumsy every now and then. He's certainly knocked a few books off shelves due to his new horns. You both can laugh at each other’s clumsy little accidents together.

If anything, he hardly sees your disability as something abnormal. Barely even reminds you about it to make you feel more comfortable with yourself.

He’s always linking his arm with yours whenever you struggle with walking long distances, walking slower than usual just to make sure that you can keep up and feel included.

Overall, he’s very sweet and sympathetic when it comes to your condition, he doesn't even have to be your lover to make sure you're always being tended to.

: ̗̀➛ GALE

Didn't even realize it at first.

He just thought you were clumsy/weaker than most but it wasn't something he felt bothered by. You provide your own form of help for the group every now and then and that's already valuable enough.

It would take him a while to realize or you’d have to tell him yourself but eventually he’d come to ask you directly if you have *insert condition*.

After which, he's surprisingly understanding. That would honestly explain a lot for him.

He wouldn't pay much attention to you until you both start growing closer, that's when he starts offering his own assistance in regards to your condition.

He's not the best when it comes to medical treatment but hey! Guess what he does have? Magic!

And with your permission, he’d gladly use said magic to make your situation more comfortable/easier for you to handle.

He's quick to offer his help in tasks that he sees you struggling with whether that be with the use of his magic or figuring out ways for you to do said task on your own without struggling as much.

He goes out of his way to better understand your condition and does his own in-depth research about it.

You've never seen someone so stressed whenever you experience mild chronic pain. In moments, he's all over you like a worried mother hen. It's almost funny to watch if you weren’t in pain and struggling right now.

He's the one who worries the most if he sees you doing a mundane task you tend to struggle with. He has to be certain that he's at least there to help you if ever you end up hurting yourself.

Similar to Astarion, he ends up taking control of most conversations in social gatherings if you're having a hard time doing it yourself.

: ̗̀➛ KARLACH

Didn't notice it at first, she simply thought you needed the occasional hand but that was all.

You’d probably have to directly tell her about whatever condition you may have if you ever wish for her to actually figure it out.

Even if you don't tell her, she’s still assisting you here and there whenever possible. She doesn't even need to know about your disabilities to be accommodating.

If she does find out about it, she’s shocked at first if not slightly worried that she may have come across as overwhelming to you.

Regardless, she’s still awfully kind to you, never once dismissing your struggles.

A bit concerned about touching you/being a bit too rough for her own good but she handles you as gently as she possibly can.

Would probably (or already has) beaten the shit out of anyone who's dared undermine you for your struggles.

She will carry you around whenever whatever internal pain you’re feeling gets too much, she has no problem with doing so for hours! Won't even ask for much in return.

Having you in her arms is a reward enough! Besides, you both seem to be having a blast.

No worries if you have a hard time processing social situations, she's there to cut in for you! Unprompted as well, she might as well be rambling to the unfortunate soul who decided to confront you two.

: ̗̀➛ SHADOWHEART

She’s a cleric, she’d take notice of it quicker than most.

You did save her from that nautiloid pod so she sees no reason why she shouldn't be helping you with your condition.

She does try to relieve whatever pain you feel, especially if your chronic pains are getting too much for you to bear.

Her treatments don't last permanently but they are enough to make you feel far more comfortable in the state your are in.

She doesn't mind helping you with tasks she sees you struggling with, you can tell she's being as careful as possible when it comes to you.

She checks up on you whenever she has the time, especially if she grows to trust you. She constantly makes sure that you’re well enough to continue on with the journey or if you need to stay in camp for a while.

Gives you surprisingly good advice on how to treat/cope with the things you struggle with, especially if it comes to medical struggles. Other than that, she's there when you need her.

She's stern in dismissing anyone who tries to mock or make fun of you for your struggles, her words are enough to make anyone feel bad for even trying.

She likes keeping you close whenever possible, not just because she likes you but to also make sure she can give you immediate care whenever you're suddenly in pain.

Always asks whether or not you are capable of doing certain tasks so you have the freedom to do certain things by yourself.

But, she also ensures that you don't feel bad for depending too much on her.

: ̗̀➛ HALSIN

Quickly comes to your aid when he sees you struggling, with or without the knowledge of your condition.

He’s always willing to help you, you needing extra assistance wouldn't burden the man at all.

As big and tough as he may be, he's surprisingly gentle, making sure that when he holds you, he does with the utmost care.

If you are having difficulty with speaking and/or being around social gatherings? No worries! You don't have to ask at all, he’d kindly do the talking for you.

Of course, he’d make sure he’d hear what you’d like to say first before relaying the words to whoever both of you were speaking to.

If said social situations get too much, he’s more than willing to get you both out of it in favor of some peaceful quiet time in nature.

He probably knows a few remedies to help lessen the pain that comes with your condition, ensuring that you always have time to rest and relax as to not push your body too much.

Likely the most protective of you among the others mentioned, comes with the merged animal-like nature he obtained.

He’s never far from you at all, always lending a hand to make sure you have something to hold onto at all times. Besides, no one dares to mess with you when you have someone as towering as Halsin by you.

•❅───────────✧❅✦❅✧───────────❅•

[voidandabyssal]

Hihi, I saw you had request open! I was hoping to request somthing. *hands you a dollar*

In this, I request undertale sans, underfell sans, underswap papyrus, and horrotale sans.

In this, they accidently run or walked into somone. When they try to tell them they are sorry, they see they are blind.

I was wondering how they will act and if they got into a relationship, how they will treat them.

Thank you for reading this and if you are busy don't worry and take you're time <3

Ohh money$$$

Sans:

Oof he’s double embarrassed

Sans doesn’t show it though and plays it off pretty cooly, just making some pun before apologising and walking off

He doesn’t want to bring up your disability in case it makes you uncomfortable

If your in a relationship with him, then he’s pretty good at not bringing it up

Like, at some point your not even sure if Sans is aware your blind?? He just??? Doesn’t say anything??

Sans does a bunch of research in relationships with blind people and how to accommodate them without being infantilising

He’s always been a pretty chill dude, fully treats you like no different from anyone else

Red (uf sans):

Red at first reacts pretty aggressively to bumping in to you,

He whips around to shout some demeaning insult

“What are ya fucking blind?!” Then he realises you are actually blind

Never in his life has he wanted to crawl into a deep dark hole and die there until now

He’s even worse in a relationship 😩

He keeps forgetting your blind and only remembers afters he’s cracked another blind joke

Aside from Red embarrassing himself he’s pretty normal about your blindness

He does get anxious about you going out alone though

Its not safe being by yourself so vulnerable like that. Anyone could come up behind you and dust you before you could hear them!

Stretch (us paps):

Again, one of the chill ones

He does apologise though, with a blind joke

Stretch is a bastard (and i say this in a very loving way)

You love him, he loves you

Still a bastard

He does worry about you

Worries about the discrimination, people taking advantage of you

Stretch is pretty easily calmed down though, he wont get so anxiously worked up like Red does

Axe (ht sans):

Another bastard (why are there so many of them??)

When you first meet Axe still had a pretty big bone to pick with most of humanity

Suffice to say, hes not nice

Funny, but not nice

When you do get into a relationship he tones down on the jokes, though there is still some pretty light hearted teasing

Axe is also pretty protective over you. He makes people move out of the way for you

And he’s certainly not gonna stand there and watch someone talk down to you because of your blindness

[bittersweetcanary]

Summoner who experiences Chronic Fatigue & Chronic Pain 

How the Artw cast reacts to a Summoner with Chronic Fatigue & Chronic Pain. The gender of the Summoner is not mentioned, this can be read as enby, man, woman, trans, etc. :D

Special thanks to Cora ( @adcmans ) for helping me come up with ideas!!

BTW IF you want to add anything please do in the comments, I'd love to hear your ideas!! Or reblog!! :D

[Disability Rep | Pronouns of Summoner not mentioned | Gender of Summoner not mentioned | Some Suggestive Text | Tooth Rotting Sweet at times ]

Spica

Spica’s part has some stuff about the MC/Summoner to explain the context a bit.

You explained your condition to him first, less due to trust and more due to wanting to get accommodated for your disability ASAP, and not being totally sure how to go about that. He seems the most reasonable and accountable of the bunch.

At first, he didn’t quite understand but it certainly didn’t take long with your explanation of your condition. Spica helped you through the process of getting medication through the school due to your… Finances being… Low… (*cough* broke, poor, you have nothing now that you fell through a damn rift- *cough*) Luckily the school easily covered it, taking some of the weight of your anxiety off your shoulders. Wow, their Medicare system is nice. Unlike some places.

Since, to your surprise, Spica checked in on you frequently when you dozed off during meetings or when your pace would slow, asking if you were tired if something hurt, or if you needed to rest.

Spica went with you to pick up some school supplies from one of the village shops, mostly just plenty of pencils with big pencil grips which made it easier to hold. The number of times you’ve lost a pencil simply because it rolled off your desk is… To put it simply, a lot. And a backpack to carry your school stuff in as just holding it wouldn’t quite work for you.

You were quite anxious to start using a mobility aid because then you’d have to explain to everyone why… But Spica made sure to explain to the rest of the Guide Committee just why you were using forearm crutches so they wouldn’t bombard you with questions, after asking if that’d be alright of course.

Upon occasion when you were being stubborn, wanting to keep up with the others, Spica would pull you to the side (-if he had to he would grab your arm just above your elbow and sit you down on the nearest couch beside himself-) and would begin to lecture you- reminding you that it is ok to take breaks & rest. Followed by your comment about his sleep schedule had him stuttering for a moment before coming up with a “good reason” as to why that was totally reasonable. Your expression showed your opinion on that.

It’s safe to say you MADE Spica sleep more hours at night when you could, sometimes he’d be too stubborn. One time he was snappy about it, telling you off harshly though he did apologize later it still stung.

Spica immediately offered to help you ready yourself for the day if you ever felt too tired to do so alone, and you took him up on that offer sometimes, if he could spare some time away from his paperwork.

Spica was the first to offer to take you out for breakfast whenever he could, Arcturus sometimes joined the two of you if they happened to both be free though Spica preferred it to just be the two of you.

Pollux

Before finding out

In class when the Summoner would doze off he’d huff, and puff, but never wake them. Once they woke (or he woke them up after class) he’d chew them out over sleeping through class. Sometimes classes. Threatening to leave them asleep in the classroom next time. (which he never does, it doesn’t take you long to catch on)

You have caught him staring more than once, though you play it off as if you totally didn’t notice him with his head down beside you blatantly gazing at you with big stary eyes.

Sometimes when you’d be writing down your notes your hand would twitch and you’d drop your pencil, having pushed yourself too far. Pollux didn’t notice at first but when you’d take breaks from writing he’d ask why and you’d shrug off his question, picking up the pencil and beginning to work again.

And lunch… Pollux couldn’t quite understand why you’d sleep through lunch of all things, the food was always great. Especially the chocolates he usually kept to himself, that he’d brought as his dessert, he’d sometimes share with you and Arcturus.

Pollux never quite got how you couldn’t keep up with him when he’d run ahead, often telling you to exercise more. It felt insensitive, causing you to show him a bit of a cold shoulder afterward though you knew he just didn’t know about your disability.

Sometimes when you were quite tired and just so happened to be sitting beside Pollux you’d unconsciously doze off while leaning against his shoulder. Pollux would stare at you for a few moments after you leaned against him, then look away and cover his face with his hand, but remain still and quiet so as to not wake you. He would stay there till you woke.

Polly would make rude comments about your disgruntled unkept appearance on bad days, pushing stray hairs into place. Huffed and puffed when he tried fixing up your hair, he got better at that over time. It’s become a sort of daily routine for him to play with your hair during class, sometimes you’d play with his too, he loved it when you did and you could tell by how he squeezed his eyes shut and blushed.

After Spica’s explanation at the meeting

Pollux, much like the others, wondered why you weren’t there till Spica began the Guide Committee meeting. It’s safe to say a lot he was confused about was answered by Spica’s explanation. Why you doze off so much, and why your pencils all have those large grips… And the times you’d just dropped something… He brought up as much during the meeting as he found it concerning that you hadn’t told him, him!.. First... Spica was the most reasonable, he supposed, but you two were close!... Right? He’d work with you on assignments all the time! And share notes… And hangout! (totally didn’t say he wasn’t looking to make friends on day 1)

Pollux is a lil jelly that you didn’t tell him first- he pouts about it.

He was a little pouty around you after that but stopped trying to push you to keep up, or chewing you out over dozing off… Pollux slowed down to your pace whenever he realized he’d been walking at too quick a pace for you. He would constantly glance over his shoulder to make sure you were still there.

He MiGhT try to loop his arm around yours, or just blush a little thinking about it. Maybe if you offered up the idea first he’d go for it.

Alpheratz & Sirius missed the meeting… But Vega didn’t?! Maybe it’s that pathfinding magic, maybe it brought him there? Pollux eyed him up and down, sus. 

Will chew anyone out if they harass or bother you at any point about your disability, yap yap BITE!!

The whole hair play routine you two had started kept up, though he’d offer to help you in the morning if that’s okay, totally understandable if you didn’t want someone in your dorm, but it's him so… It’d be ok, right? Just don’t let anyone else in, they might be bad people.

When he and Arcturus showed up at your dorm, they’d be surprised but they are both besties so they help you out together and sometimes you all go out to breakfast at a cafe as a group <3 Sometimes Vega, Alpheratz, Spica, or Sirius might join if they happen to stop by around the same time, or one of them may try to drag you off for themself…

Alpheratz

Before finding out

Alpheratz thought it was a bit weird that you napped nearly as much as him… More than himself sometimes but never questioned it. It was nice having a nap buddy, someone who didn’t nag him for sleeping so often.

After a while he began to expect you to show up at specific nap locations, he’d bring a spare neck pillow just in case you needed one. And a spare blanket.

Sometimes he’d catch you rubbing at your knees or ankles as if they hurt but when he’d as if something happened you’d say you were just a little tired.

When you would yawn constantly throughout the day despite having napped alongside him he suspected something may be wrong, occasionally checking your health with his magic but not totally understanding what he saw. Alpheratz began to look into possibilities while you napped in the library with him.

He never really kept his appearance up so when you looked messy it didn’t really phase him, though he’d ask teasingly if your messy hair was some sort of new trend.

Finding out

Slept through the meeting assuming it’d be something unimportant- immediately regretted it after Pollux filled him in after he asked you about your mobility aid while the three of you were out at a sweets shop. Alpheratz had been downright staring at your forearm crutches the entire way there, with a very concerned expression.

Pollux scolds Alpheratz- they bicker a little. It’s cute. Then Alpheratz shoves some gummy worms into Pollux’s mouth to shut him up. Pollux stares Alpheratz down, crossing his arms, frowning, and furrowing his brow as he slowly chews the gummy worms.

After finding out

Now he knows what’s wrong and has a better grasp of just what his magic was showing him when he checked up on you.

From then on when you’d nap together Alpheratz made it a habit to check your physical health status using his magic, just to make sure you were ok. Sometimes he would check in to make sure you took your medication, knowing how forgetful you can be.

When he could, Alpheratz would join you, Arcturus, and Pollux for lunch, to spend time with you and make sure you took your meds.

Sometimes, if you seemed more tired than usual or if he saw you over-exerting yourself he’d just pick you up and take you to a comfy spot to nap. After the first few times, you weren’t so surprised. But the first time… You nearly kicked him between the legs and punched his face- in your defense, you didn’t know it was him, AND like wtf- you both laughed it off.

Both of you worked together to make a little “club room” in the back of the library, you both deemed it the Nap Club Tent. It was a sizeable tent- (you guess the only reason the school allowed you to get away with this was because Alpheratz’s grandfather wanted Alpheratz to warm up to him) inside the tent were plenty of blankets, pillows, and a well-padded floor. Some plushies too, those were purely your touch at first, then Alpheratz added some that he thought you’d like.

Sometimes Alpheratz would offer to help you get ready for the day, a slight blush on his cheeks, then he would quickly offer to hire someone else to help care for you if you wanted. 

When you’d go out as a group with Arcturus and Pollux for breakfast he would sometimes join, offering to pay for you and the others though sometimes he’d get up extra early just to take you out by himself.

Arcturus

Before finding out

Arcky found it odd that you would yawn so often, and how you seemed to occasionally limp, but if he pointed it out you’d brush it off and adjust your posture and how you walked. He’d frown, he wasn't sure what was going on but how you acted gave him a bad feeling.

Sometimes when you looked incredibly drowsy while standing he would ask if you needed to sit down with furrowed brows, just what weren’t you telling him? 

When he would ask if something was wrong you’d change the topic with ease, Arcturus couldn’t remember what he’d asked after talking about some other random thing.

He had asked Spica if he noticed it as well… Which led Spica to ask you which kicked off the conversation.

Began occasionally stopping by your dorm in the mornings if he was free after seeing how messy and tired you looked most days, offering to help you prepare for the day. He helped when he could though he would often ask you why you looked so tired.

Finding out

Spica explains the situation to him first, being the only other Fili Pferer & Spica’s most trusted confidant. Arcturus was a little worried and sad that you hadn’t told him personally but understood it was probably difficult to talk about. Still pouted a little. But only a little!

After finding out

He helped to explain your disability to Vega and Pollux with Spica.

Later he ran into Sirius… After being chased by that big black dog!! Scary!! He updated Sirius on the recent meeting, assuming he’d just been too busy with missions to show up! Why else would his friend miss the meeting, he must’ve had a good reason! Though Arcky didn’t push Sirius to tell him why he’d missed the meeting.

Arcturus would constantly check up on you whenever he could. (when random Fili Pfere sorcerers weren’t dragging him around) Sometimes he’d go overboard and continue to ask you what he could do to help till you told him you were alright, only then would he stop and sigh in relief. 

He likes to offer to make food for you, get you a drink, or sometimes he will just leave a snack with a cute little note wishing you well if he finds you napping. (with a little smiley face)

Will also cover you with a blanket and place a pillow beneath your head VERY CAREFULLY if you don’t already have a blanket and/or pillow.

Might gaze at you for a while if you doze off while hanging out with him before sputtering if you ask him why he was staring.

Began to make it a point to stop by your dorm in the morning to help you prepare for the day whenever he was free, knowing that sometimes just keeping up with your hair and skin care was difficult. Then he would walk with you to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Loves having breakfast with you and Pollux, he wishes the others would join you all more often!! Super excited and happy when everyone or almost everyone shows up!!

Vega

Before finding out

Vega arrived at the meeting right on time to Spica, Pollux, and Arcturus’s surprise. He felt that he should be there, for this particular meeting.

It was plain to see that you weren’t getting enough sleep, the bags under your eyes were telling and the yawning at 9 a.m.! Your symptoms stressed Vega out quite a bit to the point he would constantly be on you about getting plenty of sleep. 

Might force you to go back to bed if you doze off during breakfast.

After Spica’s explanation at the meeting

Vega is incredibly worried about you. However, the way he shows this feels more like a nagging older sibling. Sometimes he would give you harsh lectures when you push yourself a little too far.

One time he offered to carry you when you felt too tired to walk, your knees hurting, but when he tried- he apologized so many times after you both fell. His cheeks were utterly red when he looked up at you, atop him, before you got up. From then on, when he was with you he made sure no one blocked your path. 

“ MAKE WAY SUMMONER IS TIRED “

If you ever decided to bring up that one time he tried to carry you he’d just DIE.

Constantly offers to carry anything he can for you just to take some of the weight off your shoulders. He will do whatever he can to help.

Grumpy if he can’t have breakfast with you by himself. Might try to drag you away, if only he could. Will not respond to anyone unless the topic is you. Or if he is talking to you.

Sirius

Before finding out

Sirius didn’t say much, other than teasing you over just what could be keeping you up to make you that tired. “Were you thinking of me last night Summoner~? I’m so flattered~”

Sometimes he would drag you about with him on a random mission or just more fun which hurt your joints a LOT, when you would tell him you needed to slow down and rest he would tell you to keep pushing forward if you ever want to build your endurance. Not giving what you said or your actions a second thought as he brushed you off.

It certainly stung each time he’d brush you off so you began to give him the cold shoulder if he tried to drag you along one of his schemes.

After Arcturus’s explanation

Spica didn’t specify what the meeting was about beforehand so he just skipped it. Or maybe he would’ve anyway? He’s busy, but with what? O-o sus.

When Arcturus showed up, with the black dog playfully giving chase, he was told what the meeting was about. Though he brushed Arcturus off at first. But when Arcturus mentioned that it was about you, Sirius listened.

How’d he not notice sooner? When thinking back, it seemed quite obvious…

Your pained expression to the sheer amount of times you dozed off… You even told him you needed a break so many times and he just brushed you off… He swore at himself for not thinking more about your health. Adding to the list of things he loathes about himself.

After finding out

Sirius was noticeably more careful around you, not yanking you about or pushing you to keep up with him. Instead, he would pull you into little hidden nooks to hide or teleport away with you in his arms, to hide from the other Sorcerers when he blew something up again.

Slowly you warmed up to him after he began to actually listen to you, but you were always at least a little wary of his intent.

To make up for his carelessness he spoiled you as much as you would let him for a good month, he swore to get you anything if you’d forgive him but you just wanted him to understand and that he did. And still got you things he knew you liked.

If you felt too tired to apply makeup(if you wear that), nail polish, clean your face, and or fix your hair in the morning he’d be there to help, offering to do so when you looked worse for wear and insisting that you call him whenever if you need help getting ready for the day ahead at any time! He would be there, anything for his Summoner.

Sirius also just loved to get to do your hair and nails, and help you choose out a cute outfit for the day! Totally didn’t attempt to peek at you changing like a perv. Denies it after he was caught. Doesn’t try again, but teases you, asking if you’d give him a show.

Beats Alpheratz at getting up early just to take you out to breakfast first, will tease him about it if Alpheratz asks where you’ve been.

Sirius ends up taking you to breakfast quite often when he isn’t out on a mission, sitting beside you with his hand on yours.

[granulesofsand]

Escape the Tank

Our recommendation page is full of some hot takes we don’t agree with. Many of these are heavily based on the idea that group identity is binary, in or out, yes or no. Our collective has few boxes we fit, and even those require stuffing in or chopping off some stray bits.

We are queer. Our exact identities change with fronters, but to us, being a system is inherently not cishet. Some of us will be gay, bi, trans, nb, gnc, and we can belong in any of those spaces at any given time. Integrating front has left us with the equivalent of chewed Skittles, and this is the closest we’ve got to a collective label.

We are intersex. We don’t have the money to get tested for what kind, but our body is having a field day tossing out hormones with no apparent plan. Neither sex can tell ours, so we’re effectively excluded everywhere. We need support from all of them, especially as heavily traumatized as we are. There is no kind of pain that was closed to us, but no door that remains open to speak about it. Oppression might not be gender neutral, but language should include or specify to find its audience.

We are mixed race. Our body got its looks from the largest contributor, and we were lucky that the smaller percentages are less visible, even if they add up. We are lucky because people with those traits died young where we were raised. Less visible is not invisible, but we survived long enough passing for white that the later treatment was much easier on us. The culture that best matches our genetics was long abandoned, the last remains weaponized. The cultures we were brought into, the people we feel safe with might not feel safe with us. We resemble our perpetrators and theirs, but they are our people nonetheless.

We are a programmed collective. Our history rarely fits conversation amongst traumatized people, and certainly doesn’t among healthy-without-healing folk. We have the downsides of DID, but we don’t belong. Adaptive system, yes, but forged for another’s will. Different upsides, and more of a stretch. We refuse to heal correctly for a CDD — let alone a TBMC — system. We’re weird, and we’re doing better this way.

We are mixed origins. We have headmates of about every category, and we will care for their safety before anybody else’s comfort. Our life has been synonymous with trauma, it may well be all that we are, but we are also this. Our experience of our multiplicity and plurality are uncommon for both sides of syscourse. Instead of having access to both circles, we’re walled into the space between; not a lot of occupants in here.

We are disabled, both physically and not. Our symptoms vary by fronter, but there are some things our body keeps as a constant. We are all some level of hard of hearing, we can only get so far without a mobility aid, and our system is dysfunctional how we like it. But because we’re hardly seen as independent actors, disabled people look at what our body has — and we don’t know. None of us get the accommodations we need because we all have different needs.

I could keep going. You wanna guess how many of those terms we use for ourselves?

None of em.

Language is for understanding, and we introduce these concepts so we can be better known. But we don’t have any labels that fit us exactly. We are living, thinking creatures, and the intersections and details of our lives aren’t going to sit pretty in a paragraph description — assuming people even know what those words mean.

We are a lot of things. We’ll use the descriptors that fit, or we’ll make up our own phrases. The boxes are there for us, not the other way around. It would be so much easier if people would just hear us for our point of view.

[skrittkicking]

oc introduction: iovitus rainbreak

TLDR: iovitus rainbreak is a 28 year old ex-blood legion soldier turned gladium following a traumatic event that left them without a warband and resulted in their expulsion from the legions. nowadays, they live with their older, also ex-blood cousin – gratta rainsunder, played by @rytlockdripstone – and are trying their best to move on from their past, but really, they’re just ignoring it and calling it an improvement

content warning: death, verbal abuse, bullying, ableism, drug use, mild torture, suicidal ideation

word count: 3049

born to two blood legion charr in a futile attempt to fix their failing relationship, iovitus was the second cub of lia windwalker (dame) and silas firekeep (sire). they had an older sister, eudocia, who died in infancy due to an unknown genetic illness. they were healthy for their early life and were sent to the fahrar when they came of age – things would quickly turn there, however, as a young iovitus soon fell into an intense illness – the same genetic one that had taken their sister, years before. it seemed to have sat dormant for a while, but the unfamiliar environment of the fahrar sprung it on. during their time spent in the hospital, iovitus would be visited by their mother whenever possible, though her visits were far and few between. she just wanted to see to it that her only remaining cub would survive – silas had been killed just a few months prior in a skirmish, so there would be no third chance. iovitus would survive this, but it left them permanently immunocompromised and threw off their hormonal balance, rendering them much smaller and scrawnier than their peers, and the young charr would never quite grow out of it. 

once strong enough to get back into the fahrar, iovitus had fallen quite behind their peers and had to work hard to catch up, all the while enduring relentless bullying for their comparatively scraggly stature and somewhat delayed social skills. to cope with this, iovitus eagerly seeks to prove themselves to their peers, taking on more and more dangerous dares and doing incredibly stupid things that a cub of their age should not be doing. in this time, though, they do make one true friend. he’s a year their senior, but the two grow very close, though doesn’t do much to protect them from the bullying at the hands of the cubs. in spite of this, however, iovitus continues to seek out validation from people who don’t have their best interest in mind, and this most certainly comes back to bite them in the ass. at one point around the age of six or seven, iovitus and a few other cubs sneak out of the fahrar’s grounds and explore the surrounding area; sometime during this, iovitus is either pushed into or falls into (they can’t really remember which) a ventilation shaft and breaks their right leg at the ankle. ouch! due to the nature of the breakage, it’s determined that the best course of action is amputation below the knee, so, goodbye leg. 

after spending some more time in the hospital to recover, iovitus is thrown back into the fahrar and continues their studies to the best of their ability, though they now have to walk with a mobility aid. no accommodations are given to them by their no-nonsense primus, tullia wildrush, which iovitus sees as some sort of punishment for their misbehavior, and begins to harbor a dislike for her authority, which will only continue to grow as time goes on. in actuality, tullia is attempting (for better or for worse) to push iovitus harder, knowing that if they do survive to adulthood, their opponents on the battlefield will actively target their newfound disability. the bullying they’d endured previously stalled briefly as the cubs had been harshly punished for their behavior by tullia, but it slowly fell back into where it was before – if not worse. before, iovitus might’ve been lightly pushed around, but now the cubs had something they could physically take from them: their walking cane. this continued till they were 10, when things shifted drastically: iovitus got into a physical fight with a girl who’d taken their cane and refused to give it back, pushing her down onto the ground and hitting her till she was still. oh. oops! after this incident, iovitus would be given a proper prosthetic limb by the primus, and the bullying died down – though it didn’t quite come to a complete halt, it was marginally less severe than it’d been previously. iovitus was never properly punished for the death of the other cub by their hands.

time passes, and iovitus continues to train hard in the fahrar, doing exceedingly well with both the longbow and throwing axes. as they shift into a teenager and are enveloped in the throes of puberty™, they go through what could be called a rebellious phase, purposefully going against what their primus says just for the fun of it – it earns them something of a respect amongst their peers, and iovitus relishes in that feeling, doubling down on their misbehavior. they also begin whatever the fuck the tyrian equivalent of hrt is, deepening their voice and earning them a neat little row of spines down the back of their neck, amongst other things. it’s only taken temporarily, as iovitus is satisfied with what they get out of it and don’t feel the need to continue. iovitus acquires a lot of piercings during this angsty bout of teenagehood. it is also during this time that they are introduced to the realm of illegal substances, doing whatever fun little hard drugs they can get their paws on. it never becomes an addiction, however, and iovitus is still keen to do well in the fahrar, despite everything. additionally, their close friend comes out to them as a trans woman, taking on the name cassia. she seems much happier afterwards, and the two blossom into a couple. win for the gays! 

soon after, the two of them graduate from the fahrar – cassia, despite being a year older than iovitus, stayed behind an extra year so the two of them could graduate together. rather than forming their own warband, however, they are invited to join the rain warband, as the both of them were amongst some of the best combatants in their year’s crop. iovitus took on the surname rainbreak, and cassia, rainsong. the rain warband was a spec-ops unit, operating as a sort of jack of all trades, doing whatever was needed of them – which usually meant killing what needed to be killed, interrogations, search and destroy/rescue missions, et cetera. all was well for a period of time, and cassia was quickly promoted to second-in-command, despite her young age. her prowess with the blade was incredible, as were her quick problem-solving capabilities and general badassery. iovitus also fell out of their drug usage during this period, though still did so recreationally whenever there wasn’t much to be done. things were good for a while, but they didn’t last long, thanks to the brewing conflict between the legions. wartime was fast approaching.

due to the nature of their warband, iovitus was spared from ever having to fight directly on the front lines, but that does not mean they are out of harms way; the rain warband is constantly moving from area to area, securing different zones, conducting quiet cullings, extracting information where they can, and doing whatever was needed of them without asking any questions. cassia was promoted to legionnaire after her predecessor was killed in a run-in with some flame legion soldiers. life went on and it kind of sucked because war sucks! iovitus gained a few cool new scars, so on and so forth. in the brief downtime that they have, iovitus and cassia talk about what kind of a life they’d like to live together when everything’s said and done. eventually, 2 members of the ‘band would be killed in an escort mission gone awry, leaving only 6 members alive. still reeling from the death of their previous legionnaire, this would hurt – but it was nothing in comparison to the event that would perspire in just a short few weeks time, so close to the end of the civil war. 

responding to a distress call from a nearby allied warband, the rain warband would find themselves locked in combat with a much larger, well-prepared set of flame legion soldiers. the warband they had been responding to were all already dead, so any attempt at rescue was out of the question. overwhelmed and underprepared, iovitus’ bandmates slowly fell till it was just them and cassia left – the flame legion warband had taken a few hits too, however, with a generous number of their bandmates dying. exhausted and grieving their fallen bandmates, iovitus and cassia are captured by the flame legion soldiers – rather than just killing them outright, however, they are tied up and beaten half to death in a futile attempt to squeeze any information out of them. being a spec-ops unit, however, they don’t really have access to anything they’d find useful, leaving the flame warband dissatisfied. there was no point in keeping the two of them alive, so they make the easy decision to just cut their throats and be done with it. cassia is first, and iovitus can do nothing but sit and watch as she bleeds out in front of them, coughing and sputtering, choking on her own blood. it’s an image that’s permanently burned into their head, and they watch the life slowly disappear from her eyes.

its their turn now, but just as the blade is put to their throat, their impending execution is interrupted by another blood legion warband – the tremble warband, who’d come to their aid, also having received the distress call from earlier. too little, too late. they are able to find and cull the remaining flame legion soldiers and rescue iovitus, but iovitus is, naturally, very upset. they’d just lost their entire warband in the span of a few hours and their partner – a staggering amount of grief overtakes them, and they’re not thinking properly. iovitus begs the tremble warband to kill them and be done with it – they reason that there’d be no witnesses to know what truly happened, and iovitus’ death could just be attributed to the fallen flame legion warband. the tremble warband refuses, obviously, no matter how much iovitus pleads for them to change their minds and reconsider. if they’re not going to kill them that easily, maybe iovitus can give them a proper reason to take them out. without any inclination as to what they’re doing, iovitus lashes out against their fellow blood legion soldiers, striking true with their axes – they manage to kill three before they’re knocked down onto the ground and hit hard enough to fall unconscious. iovitus wasn’t given what they desired – the release of death. they tried their hardest, though, having taken down the legionnaire and two bandmates.

following this, iovitus was brought to the blood legion homelands where they were put on trial for treason. iovitus didn’t care to fight the case, admitting guilt, hoping they’d be thrown into and die in some sort of gladiatorial combat. for whatever reason, however, the newfound legionnaire of the tremble warband, omiros tremblecut, decides to withdraw his case, instead allowing for iovitus to live freely as a gladium, much to the dismay of his bandmates. they are still found guilty of treason, though, and are expelled from the blood legion. at the time, iovitus did not know why the legionnaire did this. if they were in the place of the tremble warband, they knew that they’d certainly press for a painful death. iovitus knows now, though: the life of a gladium is a difficult one, ridden with grief, constantly followed by the things that they have done, knowing they can never return. there is no second chance; word of their crimes would spread, and even if iovitus was permitted back into the blood legion for whatever reason, they’d never find a warband willing to take them. it was a sentence worse than death, in a way.

leaving with nothing but the clothes on their back and a (stolen) raptor, iovitus wanders tyria for a few weeks, surviving off what little money they have on them. they don’t know what to do with themselves – it’s a brand new, unfamiliar, and quite terrifying world, and they have to navigate it all by themselves. part of them hungers for an easy death, but iovitus is too much of a coward to actually do anything. eventually, their funds run dry, and iovitus takes on a few odd jobs to get by. they purposefully pick and choose jobs that are dangerous, like mercenary work, hoping they’ll have an unlucky accident and end up dead. despite their best efforts, however, it doesn’t happen, and time slowly goes on. during this time, iovitus develops a fear towards other charr, avoiding them to the best of their ability – really, they avoid most social interaction in general, only talking to people when they absolutely have to. they’re also technically homeless, sort of just camping out in the woods when not actively enrolled in a job. life is miserable. iovitus takes out most of their piercings and begins smoking more regularly – it’s an easy distraction from their thoughts. they know it’s bad for them, but they do it anyways. maybe on purpose. since their expulsion, iovitus has actively worked to distance themselves from their charr heritage, taking on a more passive approach to life, and harboring a distaste for violence. 

at some point, iovitus picks up a job as a ranch hand, and discovers a previously unknown love for and skill with animals. iovitus takes comfort in them – sure, they have their raptor, but she wasn’t something iovitus really thought too hard about before. she was just kind of there. from here on out, iovitus begins to take on more and more work that deals with animal care and studies, slowly making a name for themselves in the community. the gladium begins to do their own simple research on genetics on the side, though they’re never confident enough to post anything they find. it’s all kept to themselves. time passes, and iovitus continues to work, pushing aside any thoughts of their past and pretending their heritage is nonexistent. they gain a few new companions along the way – first is meatball, an undead, underbaked minion of zhaitan who is too small to really do any actual harm. he’s free from the control of zhaitan, and sort of just acts like a bitchy cat most of the time. then, the aptly-named meathead, a smokescale whom iovitus rescued in maguuma after he’d broken his leg. meathead is trained in combat, and acts as iovitus’ companion. their most recently acquired little beasty is a griffon. he’s gifted to them as an egg by one of their coworkers, and though iovitus is hesitant to take him at first, they concede, raising him from a hatchling. he’s named W.P., and don’t ask what it stands for, because iovitus will never tell. 

as much as iovitus loves their animal companions, they are getting more and more lonely – it’s been a few years now. they are more social with their coworkers now than they were before, but don’t form any real meaningful relationships – most jobs are just a one-off thing, and iovitus loses contact with anyone they work with after they’re done. they crave the comfort of a warband – or, really, just anyone in general. the thought of another romantic relationship is overwhelmingly painful for iovitus to even consider. iovitus isn’t really sure where to start looking for companions. they don’t really like the limited feeling of living in a city – besides, the kind of work that they do requires them to move from place to place constantly. living in the woods also means iovitus has all the space to do whatever the hell they want and they don’t have to worry about neighbors or anything. it's fun! sort of. they do have to worry about bears and stuff, though, but that’s manageable. 

as terrifying as the prospect is, iovitus begins to look into their own family heritage, tracking down bloodlines and listing out all of their still-living relatives. charr don’t particularly care for their families, but iovitus doesn’t know where else to look – and they’re already not a very traditional charr, anyways. they have no siblings, so that’s out of the question. most of their aunts and uncles have been dead for a while, but iovitus’ mother is still around, as are a handful of cousins. well. it’s better than nothing, they suppose. it takes months of them building up the courage, but iovitus sends out a bundle of letters to any relatives they deem worth it, hoping they are unaware of their status as a gladium or don’t really care too much. most of them don’t respond, but iovitus does get two letters back – one from their mother, a harshly-worded response calling them a slew of insults and a blemish on their bloodline. ouch! thanks, ma. the other is from an older cousin – legionnaire gratta flashshot of the flash warband.  she’s unaware of the things iovitus has done, but knows of their gladium ranking. she doesn’t seem bothered by it, and the two grow close, spending more and more time with each other as time goes on. iovitus seems happier. are they? uhhh lol

gratta sort of moves in with iovitus, and eventually she leaves the legions altogether to live with them full time, all while iovitus continues to work – though at a much slower pace than they had been doing previously. they also spend more time in the human city of divinity’s reach, having made a couple of friends due to gratta’s unintentional influence. they have yet to connect with any charr outside of gratta in any meaningful way, still put off by the thought. iovitus also doesn’t really talk about their past unless prompted to, but there’s some things they haven’t told anyone – and they’d like to keep it that way. the thought of their friends – and, primarily, gratta – finding out of their crimes and wrongdoings terrifies them. so they’ll just bury it deep inside of them, and that’s that. it’s not healthy, but iovitus pretends it is. recently, iovitus has learned of their cousin’s occupation as a rift hunter, and are worried for her. it’s dangerous work, and she’s been doing it for a while. iovitus would much rather be doing it with her, to ensure she doesn’t get herself killed. they just don’t really know how to ask. oh, yeah, they also smoke a shit ton of weed, i guess

and that's where things stand currently! who knows what's in store for this kitty cat! wow i sure hope nothing bad happens to them!

[justashadetalkative]

3.) any recurring images/elements?

8.) what inspired your world building, if anything?

(Setting asks | Accepting!)

.

3.) any recurring images/elements?

Cats, I suppose? 😂 

More seriously — spirals are a recurring visual element whenever I’m considering how to design any given part of the Spire, and they align with both the Spire’s tendency to draw in anything around it (consider a vortex) and with the general concept that any given problem has a high chance of spiraling out of control if left unaddressed.

(Spire diagram)

(Gate room)

.

8.) what inspired your world building, if anything?

Hard to say, really; the origins of the Spire started so young that whatever stories I encountered at the time probably played a role, but I don’t remember. It was also collaborative with a childhood friend, so I have even less idea what inspired him.

But my combined interests in science fiction, disability rights, and medicine have played a big role in both the variety of creatures living within the Spire and my thoughts on how the Spire might be built to accommodate such a wide range of beings. Plus my determination to have magic be a viable aid for disabilities but never a cure-all, heh.

And it wasn’t an inspiration, exactly — I’ve actually never played one of the games myself — but the general existence of the Kingdom Hearts franchise is certainly a reassurance. My incredibly self-indulgent multiversal cross-genre setting doesn’t feel nearly so silly when I know how popular Kingdom Hearts is, ahaha.

[communistkenobi]

literally like a week ago someone put a totally serious post about how walkable cities are abelist on my dash it was crazy

I guess my confusion is also like, what is the substance of this accusation? Because there is a completely solid version of the “walkable cities are ableist” take. Robert Imrie has written a couple really good articles about how, despite recent policy turns from the medical model of disability to the social model, a lot of accessibility policies still treat disability as this atomised individual thing. Fusing a mobility ramp to the side of a building to make the front entrance “accessible” does not do anything to reconfigure the built environment; it still allows the able-body to take centre stage in the urban form when the accommodations we make for disabled people are a tack-on, after-the-fact accommodation. Even things like “universal design” do not go deep enough in reconsidering the layout and structure of cities and urban architecture, and relies heavily on the concept of accessibility as this technology you can use to “solve” ableism in society (the very name “universal design” is itself positivistic, implying that there is a singular objective truth to accessibility, which is another issue). Which is a limitation, because cities are structurally exclusionary in many ways that accessibility standards do nothing to challenge.

Now a massive part of the problem is that we don’t exist in city skylines. You can’t just start ripping up dozens of streets when you realised you fucked up. Eliminating ableism within the built environment would require completely changing the city. This is an enduring problem in urban planning - policy regimes can be changed much more “quickly” than the built environment (I put scare quotes around that since policy regimes, ie the dominant ideological underpinnings of a given set of policies, are also notoriously slow to change, but are certainly more fluid than the brick-and-mortar city), so urban planning is largely reactive and adaptational. You would need like a post-WWII situation with a bunch of bombed out cities in order to completely reconfigure urban landscapes (which is a thing the Soviets did! Soviet urban planning is super neat for this reason, among many others, although I don’t know a ton about it). And that doesn’t sound like a great option either lol.

So like yes walkable cities as a policy goal should be approached critically, and this exact discussion is happening in academic spaces. I just never see people actually saying any of this, I just see people responding to the take “walkable cities are ableist” without any further discussion one way or another

[androidboy]

I mean this super respectfully, but you absolutely should not be in a relationship if forcing honesty/intimacy is making you sick. You’re not the first person with that problem, and you certainly won’t be the last. For your own sake, you really should consider either risking things and getting real, or breaking things off. Hiding shit only makes things more complicated.

- Someone who has been in your place, and your girlfriend’s

it doesn’t feel like i’m forcing anything i just sometimes get negative mental health consequences for it 😞 back in february i decided i was gonna stop just kinda waiting for myself to wither away and start really trying with friends and relationships and sex despite my disability not being at a recovery point i wanted and despite feeling like i didn’t deserve it bc i realized that i might never be at a “good” point so idk. maybe intimacy Will always feel this way to me so it’s like why would i throw away something with someone who’s been so understanding and accommodating and invested in making this part of life accessible for me

[beastboost]

So I’m both left handed and physically disabled, and I’ve been thinking. There’s just so many things you gotta do right handed because any left handed or hand agnostic equipment either doesn’t exist, is sold at a premium, is just bad, or the rest of your family is right handed and they all use the thing and it’s cumbersome to have a separate thing/setup for you.

Like most left handed people I know use computers right handed, or use a right hand guitar, deal with spiral bound notebooks being Like That, right handed desks, right handed scissors, all that nonsense.

It’s quite wild to me how there’s not much in the way of readily available accommodations for such a prevalent thing, or there’s just the expectation for us to “deal with it”. And, given how this often starts with school supplies, the idea that you just gotta deal with something and be at a pretty bad disadvantage to participate in anything is taught early on- and right handed kids will see their leftie friends and likely think “oh, well they can deal with it, it’s not that bad” (if they think of it at all). Really, the only real progress made for lefties is, “hm maybe we shouldn’t chain their hands to their desks and smack the devil out of them”, (though there are certainly people who still believe that). But everything else remains very hostile, to the point where I feel like a lot of ableism is either subconsciously reinforced or starts with others seeing how left handed people are treated.

[sasquapossum]

Henry Ford did us no favors by making cars available to more people. Most here probably know that he was also an awful racist, but then he also had some “ahead of his time” ideas about working-class pay. The mobility afforded by his cars has undeniably had many positive effects, but also undeniably many negative ones as well - from pollution to accident rates to civic layouts that drive social stratification and alienation. Truly, a complex man.

But that’s mostly “water under the bridge” and not what I really want to talk about. The real question is one that involves looking forward. How do we get out of this mess? That’s where I think many people have entirely wrong ideas, often expressed in ways that are offensive or even abusive. To see why, we have to look a bit more closely at how we got here, and I’ll start with TVs. Do you know why US TV standards were for a long time worse than those in Europe or Japan? It’s because we had already settled on the inferior standard before the better ones came along. Similar stories have played out with power plugs, wireless communications, and credit-card security. We didn’t just delay getting to a better place. We took detours that made getting there even harder.

Nowhere is this more true than with the current suburban landscape - lifeless tracts of single-family homes connected by “stroads” to the places where we actually work or shop or go for entertainment or even to visit people who live in other might-as-well-be islands. The part you can see in a picture is only the tip of the iceberg. Below that is the political/economic infrastructure. Towns are run by the people who live there, and it’s reasonable to argue that it should be no other way. (Sidebar: there’s a high correlation between superior transit infrastructure and a level of centralized government that would be unacceptable/unachievable in the US. I’ll just leave that there in the interest of brevity, but it’s highly relevant and you should think about it.) The problem is that “who lives there” is often the owners of those single-family homes, millions who have a very strong economic incentive not to make the kind of changes that others might clamor for. In short, suburbanization has made it harder to get to a less car-centric world than if we had never undergone that transition. That’s just like the TV example, and why I started by talking about Henry Ford. We’re a bit stuck.

How do we get unstuck? Certainly not by listening to people who focus only on the endpoint, hand-waving either over any route to that destination or that the pain that transition might cause to others. Always to others. Never to themselves. Here’s the thing: being born in a city with better walkability and/or transit infrastructure, living there through no initiative of your own, confers no moral high ground. That goes double when the city being that way is itself a bit of an accident (see previous paragraph). Having moved to such a place is a little better - at least some initiative was involved - but doesn’t solve the problem where it already exists. It works for some, but can’t accommodate all. It’s literally running away from the problem, which is not necessarily anything to be proud of.

It’s all too easy for people in favored circumstances to say we should just make owning cars or single-family homes less pleasant, but it sounds like a non-smoker who would ban smoking or a non-drinker who would ban drinking or a sexual repressive who would legislate others’ sexual or gender or reproductive choices. It’s a fundamentally un-empathetic and elitist way to be. BTW there might well be good reasons to ban smoking or drinking. It might well be possible to implement some restrictions on cars without unduly burdening the poor or disabled or elderly (Barcelona sets a good example IMO). But none of that justifies being a moralizing jerk to people whose only sin was being born into a different situation. If you haven’t had to face their choices, at least spend one moment trying to appreciate how things look from their perspective.

Finally, the lesson here is one that should already be familiar: the outward manifestations (too many cars and single-family homes) and the structures that sustain them (political organization and financial incentives) are connected. Inextricably. You can’t fix one while ignoring the other. You can’t make things better overall by inflicting a different harm on a different group of people. Even if that were morally supportable (it’s not) you would immediately encounter overwhelming resistance. Those millions of homeowners aren’t going to act against their own economic self interest for the sake of people who treat them like shit.

You have to start by unwinding some of those power structures. Roll back some of those financial incentives for building and buying ever-bigger houses. Democratize education, since local funding and the resulting inequity are primary reasons why many move from cities to suburbs. Stop handing out tax and infrastructure subsidies for office buildings and big-box stores.  Find and enable those few who will speak up in town meetings or be on zoning boards that support forward measures, because they can afford to. Demonizing such people as “just more rich folks” isn’t helpful. There are differences and divisions in other groups just as there are in your own. Once the supports are weakened, then it becomes possible to enact the kinds of changes we want. In places where that has already happened (or always been the case) people want to live in mixed-income mixed-use environment-friendly communities, but that doesn’t magically happen without addressing the prerequisites first.

These changes can all be made cooperatively and compassionately toward all who will be affected. It does happen. The path that results might be more circuitous than some would like, but that’s the way life often turns out. You can’t just will your way through a literal physical thicket full of thorns, and you can’t just will your way through the political thicket either. You have to plan, and bring the right tools, and sometimes you just have to go around. The rest of the world is not your servant. Your desire alone is not enough to make anything happen, no matter how loudly you express it.

[scarlet-titan]

There is a TikTok trend where people stare at a disabled relative with text “checking to see if my [insert relation here] has been faking being special needs.” They claim it’s a joke but no it’s not a joke. There are whole subreddits dedicated to finding “fakers” online. Many autistic people were harassed and cyberstalked by a certain autism mom who decides anyone who doesn’t worship her is faking. This is disabled people’s lived reality, we are constantly gaslit about our disabilities, refused accommodation, harassed and even stalked because some random person decided our disability wasn’t real. Then you “joke” about doing it to a relative? To add onto all that? I’ve seen some where the relative made it clear they didn’t want to be filmed. People excuse that with “sibling stuff.” My sister certainly wouldn’t film me against my will and post it online. You just aren’t respecting your disabled siblings boundaries.

[greater-than-the-sword]

Sometimes people ruin a good point by couching it in social justice language, for example I just saw somebody say that bullet journaling was invented to help ADHD people but they might get a false impression that it was too hard to get into because of the way some people turn it into a high-maintenance art form. Great! Thanks!

But they couldn’t just SAY that, they also had that say that the white middle class has problematically gentrified bullet journaling and created entry barriers to a disability accommodation. Well that certainly sounds immoral and nefarious!

Here’s the thing. I have ADHD and never had interest in bullet journaling because it seemed too high maintenance. Coincidentally, my OWN SISTER is an aesthetic bullet journaler who uses fancy pens and stationary.

But she doesn’t have to give up her stationary in order to give me “access” to bullet journaling! It’s just a pen and paper! There is no meaningful entry barrier! Somebody just decided to adapt the hobby in a different way to their own personality. I don’t see how it does any good to try and instigate some kind of class divide between me and my own sister born in the same house of the same parents just because she’s neurotypical and I’m not. She hasn’t done anything wrong or harmed me in any way. Imagine if my sister believed that person on tumblr and felt guilty about bullet journaling and gave up something that gives her joy because she percieved that she was harming me when she wasn’t!

And that kind of unnecessary moralizing is at least half of all social justice concerns on tumblr.

[kroklay]

1. I don’t like playing online because I see bloodstains, and it becomes hard to tell which messages are place by player or by the devs.

It wasn’t my intention to make this argument about trying make Dark Souls as hard as possible, I was trying to make the argument that a pause button would upset the flow of gameplay.

For instance, I think Bloodborne is incredibly easy, like just laughably easy at some point. The Hunter is really strong, bosses have little health and few abilities, and dear god parrying is so strong. And this is for thematic reasons, you are literally a hunter hunting beasts, of course you are stronger. But the core gameplay of Bloodborne remains the same, and adding a pause button would alter that. It would make it easier too, yes, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.

2. I used the term “struggling” just to mean overcoming a difficult obstacle, maybe that is I what that word means, and it certainly doesn’t mean that to you. But we have devolved into arguing about semantics, so I’m just going to stop.

3. I find it funny that I described an exhilarating heart-pounding experience, and your reaction is “what about people with anxiety” Honestly, it would do most of the anxious people I know some good to get their heart pumping through a positive experience. And for people with heart problems, idfk, stand up and take a break in between boss fight attempts? You know, like how the game is intended to be played?

I think that games shouldn’t be trying to accommodate every play style, I think it’s one of the biggest faults of modern gaming, and is too complicated of a topic for me to talk about right now.

Some games have a feature where you can disable or enable pausing, much like disabling or enabling flashing lights; but I get the feeling you meant “just don’t press the pause button”. The only specific game I can think of that does this isTerraria, but I’m sure other games do it as well. And for a game like Terraria, pausing is very conducive to the flow of gameplay. I still don’t personally do it, but I absolutely understand using it, and see nothing wrong with it. And honestly I think Terraria is harder than Dark Souls. So once again, I’m not making this argument about difficulty.

4. Are you even reading what I’m saying? When there is an emergency, screw the game, stand up and go deal with it…

Also it’s pretty rude to assume I don’t have any responsibility just because I want to enjoy playing video games??

[ganymedesclock]

Y’know I always feel conflicted about accusations of pedantry in using big or uncommon words, because, yes- accessibility and clarity is unbelievably important. Language, at its rawest functionality, is about communication. If someone can’t understand you and the failing is that you are not accommodating a condition they may have, whether that’s the state of what education was available to them, familiarity with the language, neurodivergence, physical disabilities, all of the above- then that is on you.

But on the other hand I’ve seen (and met) many people who react with suspicion to hostility to the very idea of a word that is not the plainest possible way to speak. And that... that is something I struggle to get behind. Because language is artisanal, too! There are so many delightful words and sounds and turns of phrase. Who can capture the ecstasy of the word scintillating- on the tongue it shows its flinty glitter, the sharp points of its consonant sounds prickling at you. If I use big or uncommon words it’s out of the sheer delight of them. There’s a word- oneirocritical- that is a single-word encapsulation of overthinking your dreams. And this is only one language that I speak fluently- I shudder to imagine the poetic artistry and unique beauty of languages I cannot comprehend in the slightest. If I were immortal I think I’d like very much to while away entire centuries digging at the roots and origins and transformations of language throughout the ages.

I think the worst thing we’ve ever done in linguistics is made not understanding into a shame. If you use a word someone doesn’t know, they often feel like they are under attack. And certainly, many people do use words to attack others. Look at the vicious underpinning racism to decrying AAVE as Improper English (despite the inevitable drip-feed social media creates in bringing these words with their fundamentally black roots into “white” english). There is nothing inferior about those words. It’s merely an exercise in people who have already established institutional power manipulating the rules of Polite to gatekeep others. But even within a single dialect of english, there are people who use words like a truncheon. I was one of them. As an insecure child I desperately bandied the polysyllabic and floral as if by my words I could build a tower from which everyone would have to take me seriously, respect me, that I was smarter than them.

Now, as an adult who I can only hope has calmed down since then, I realize that the glimmer of those words is best shared. I mean no hostility in my word choices. Language is an indulgence, a delight, a gift- and per the beginning of this, it is important to make sure this indulgence can be evenly shared.

I wish we could destroy the shame of not knowing a word. There are many many words, and nobody can know all of them. And there are many worthwhile things to care about- and some people don’t care that much about words, and that is fine. I love words, and I love to share them with people. I’m always happy to explain what I mean, rephrase, work to be more accommodating. I imagine a world of sci-fi universal translators where some day, we will not destroy all words, but rather, let understanding flow beautifully between all words, so we can appreciate the perfection of them.