#but even so....like disabled people exist everywhere

[llycaons]

speaking of. I wish there were any disabled characters in this story at all. with such a massive cast, it's a pretty egregious lack.

[zebulontheplanet]

Saw a post and it really got me thinking.

The post was talking about why don’t lower support needs, higher masking individuals even believe that higher support needs, low masking, “severely autistic” people, exist. And that got me really thinking. Because, I do think they know we exist. I just don’t think they want too.

I don’t think they want to know we exist. They know we exist, but keep us on the back burner. They live in ignorance bliss of us. I have what some people would think of as severe autism. Im nonverbal (although nonverbal later in life. But outside people don’t care about that. They see nonverbal as nonverbal), I’m intellectually disabled, need help in everyday life, etc. but I’m in the middle. I’m moderate support needs. To me, I’m not severely autistic. But to society, I am considered and seen as severely autistic because society doesn’t have the understanding of moderate autism yet. They don’t understand it. And I’ve seen more times than I can count that severe autism doesn’t exist. Not because they don’t believe in severe autism the label itself because it’s “harmful” but because they don’t believe that it’s just caused by autism. They often believe that’s it’s caused by comorbidities. Like ID, or cerebral palsy, or apraxia/dyspraxia, or mobility issues, or genetic conditions, and so on. Although none of this is bad.

They believe that autism itself can’t create severe autism. Which…isn’t true. Before, it was believed that severe autism was the only type of autism. That it was the only type that existed and if you weren’t severely autistic then you weren’t autistic. Then more research happened, then social media happened, and now..white, lower support needs, high masking, late diagnosed individuals are the majority of what’s being centered. And, that isn’t bad. We need awareness of all autism. But when one type of autism gets centered, it becomes a problem. It becomes the new norm. It becomes what everyone expects out of autism now. Which, isn’t true. Autism all of all types and traits exists. Autism of all support needs exists.

When people say severe autism doesn’t exist, they’re ignoring and saying that a BIG percentage of autistic people don’t exist. They’re saying that we aren’t real. That we aren’t on the internet, or in the communities they live in, or in their schools, or whatever. We’re everywhere. Severe autism is still a thing. It isn’t a misdiagnosis. It isn’t from comorbities, although if someone’s autism is more severe from comorbidities then that isn’t bad.

I think a lot of people need to be more aware of severe autism. And not just severe autism like me or my mutuals, or the people you see here on tumblr. But the ones with even MORE severe autism. The ones who live in group homes, residentials, institutions, and so on. The ones who aren’t on the internet. The ones who aren’t here blogging about their lives. We need to be aware of them too. We need to believe they exist, and believe that their autism is real.

Don’t erase severe or profound autism.

[forgotten-daydreamer]

I love how inclusivity is handled in The Dragon Prince, here's why.

In most shows, as much as it bothers me to admit so, some people are right, inclusivity does feel forced sometimes. But it's not the characters' fault, it's not because of them being part of the lgbtq+ community, or being disabled, or being POC, or being strong women who do not conform to patriarchal standards.

It's not that.

It's that the show they are part of is a straight, white, abled parade - and notice, most of said shows won't even pass the Bechdel test.

So yes, in a show written by and aimed to straight, white, abled people, even I, a gay, non-binary, chronically ill person feel weird seeing charcters that are there just for the sake of inclusivity, albeit 'inorganic'.

In a show with the premise of "straight, white, abled men are the indiscussed MCs", seeing that one side-character that stands out and is often ridiculed and/or reduced to a single trait of their 'personality', such as 'the gay one', 'the asian one', 'the disabled one' (etc) is upsetting and feels uncomfortable as hell.

But TDP is different.

They immediately introduced powerful women, people of color, characters that are openly part of the lgbtq+ community, disabled characters etc. And not one of them per 'category', no. For the lgbtq+ community we have Amaya, Janai, Runaan, Ethari, Terry, Kazi. For the disabled community, we have Amaya again, Villads, and even a disabled wolf Ava. For the POC community, we have literally half of the cast, starting from King Harrow, then Ezran, every sunfire elf, Terry as well, etc. Same goes for women, who take up on roles that are rarely considered 'for women', like Opeli being the main member of the High Council, Amaya being the General, Rayla being the main Dragon Guard, Claudia being one of the main antagonists, etc.

Both main and side-characters are part of the communities, everything is so much more organic, enjoyable, thrilling.

We do not come in 'minor quantity'.

We are everywhere, among others, living our lives, doing our best, existing, thriving, proud. It's not just one or two of us among thousands. Surprise, 'categories' can mix! Just like I, a real human being, can be gay, enby as well as chronically ill, we can have characters like that as well! Amaya being lesbian and disabled, Terry being black and trans, Janai being black and lesbian, etc. And, another surprise, 'categories' don't define us. We don't 'shove it' in anyone's face like they say we do, we're just being us and cishets are upset because we don't conform to their sick standards.

Inclusivity is organic in TDP because nobody in that universe questions anyone else's color, gender, orientation, etc. And it's organic because we didn't have to wait half a season to see a black character, or a disabled character, or a gay character.

The key to inclusivity is to realise that we aren't just 'bonuses'. Fill shows and comics with lgbtq+, POC, disabled, and female characters. Not just one every 15, 20 characters. Everywhere.

We are everywhere! We are proud! We deserve to be seen! We deserve to be depicted as the normal people we are, without diminishing our traits but without making them our whole personality either. Treat us like human beings, be considerate like you should be with everyone on the planet of course, but treat us like humans.

Antagonising people who are 'different' (in the mind of straight, white, abled people) will not suppress us. We will keep insisting until you hear us. It's literally one of the main messages, one of the main teachings of TDP and it's so damn important.

Every single person on Earth should watch it. Every single kid should be introduced to TDP at an early age. Every old bigot should watch it, as well. Everybody. Even if it's considered a y7 (y10 for s4 and s5 apparently) show, everyone, no matter their age, should give it a try and watch it thoroughly.

Lots of love to the creators and everyone, literelly everyone involved in the production of one the best, most entertaining, most exciting, most formative shows ever. Please, keep it up! And thank you so much!

[cripplecharacters]

Hello, I have a question. In one of my projects, set in a vaguely 1600s fantasy pirate setting, one of my characters starts out as a burn survivor, with a large burn on her cheek.

She wears a scarf initially to protect the burn from the salt air as well as some self esteem issues, however I don’t want to fall into the masked burn survivor trope, or have a self-hating disabled character.

If it helps, over the course of the story she gets access to hydrating salves and stops needing the scarf as she grows to accept her facial difference.

Thank you for your time, and for all the help you give to us!

Hey!

I think protecting a burn scar from salt is smart. It also could help with the sun-related issues. However, the scarf should be of an appropriate material - a rough texture would only irritate and scratch it, which causes even more problems. If you mention that, or show the process of her choosing something that works for her from that angle, I think it would be much more of a "medical device" and less of a "hiding disability".

It's important to discuss why she has the self-esteem issues. Don't make it into a "duh, obviously someone with a facial difference would have low self-esteem, just look at them" which I constantly see.

Was she bullied or harassed over being disabled?

Is she traumatized from experiencing abuse or aggression? Does she fear that being visibly disabled will make her a target for violence again?

Was there a particular person who made her feel that way, like a parent or a "friend" that influenced her view of herself?

Was society around her lacking examples of happy burn survivors, so she assumed that she can't be happy either?

Make it clear why she feels that way, and don't make the narrative frame her facial difference as the root problem. The problem should be the thing that caused her to feel insecure. It's the same as the fact that mobility aids aren't a problem, inaccessibility is - at least that's how I look at it as someone who has an FD and uses a mobility aid.

This is by no means disability-specific, but look out for tragedy porn. Even if she has had bad experiences, I guarantee you that she had happy ones as well. In her case, maybe she met the funniest girl ever at the 1600s fantasy pirate burn unit, maybe the doctor who treated her helped her discover a new hobby while she was stuck in bed. Her backstory shouldn't boil down to "happy (abled) life, then the Accident, then horrible (disabled) life". That'd be a very hurtful message to send.

I do appreciate that she gets character development around her facial difference. I will say that this internal change often comes from seeing other disabled people thrive, being proud, shown as beautiful and valuable, etc. Representation is important in stories, even in-universe. This was certainly the case for me, and is the reason why now I'm so loud about including happy and positive people with facial differences everywhere. This stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum, you're affecting how people see themselves. It also leads me to my last, probably comically predictable point, which is...

Add more burn survivors, or at least characters with other facial differences, into the story. Preferably ones that have the low self-esteem either far behind them or haven't struggled with it in general (we exist). They don't have to be major characters but even just mentioned; e.g. your character thinking about other survivors she met in the place that treated her burns, or her seeing people with visible facial differences out and about and it making her think about why she even hides hers, etc. In short - don't make shame seem like the default reaction to having a facial difference, because it isn't.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[orange-orchard-system]

Since mottos and slogans have been a hot topic in the plural community lately... I want to introduce one that I've been thinking of for a long while now! It's part rallying cry, part "defiance via continued existence", and part punk in the "spikes as a deterrent" way (if that last comparison makes sense at all, lol – I'm specifically thinking of things like how wheelchair users may put spikes on the handles of their 'chair so others don't try to touch or move them without permission). It's this:

"Plural as in there are more of us than you think."

[PT: "Plural as in there are more of us than you think." / end PT]

I've also considered a longer version that would tie in the queer community/queerness – which I know is intertwined with plurality for many people – and that version would be: "Queer as in here without fear, plural as in there are more of us than you think". What do you all think?

I think it's very to-the-point, and plays on a simple premise: that we're not backing down – not in the face of hate, and not in the face of fear. Especially with the longer version; we're here, we're queer, get over it – and if you refuse to, just know that you can't silence us all, no matter how loudly you try to drown us out. We will always be here. There will always be someone to fight against the hate, to spit in the face of bigotry just by continuing to draw breath. It also has a nod to an older queer sentiment that I think we should bring back for both queer and plural folk alike – that we are everywhere. The cashier that scanned your groceries might be plural. The classmate sitting next to you might be plural. The neighbor across the street might be plural. We are here. There are more of us than you think. And we will not be afraid.

"There are more of us than you think" is also a nod to how statistics are often both misunderstood and just plain lacking in data. People really don't seem to realize just how population statistics translate to real life; how many people they pass by or have brief interactions with fit that "extremely rare" condition they dismissed, because something like "1.5%" doesn't look like a lot on paper, but ends up as a whole lot when you wander out into the world. That's at least one out of a hundred – and that estimate is on the more conservative side about one specific presentation of plurality, and doesn't account for many, many other forms of it. So, yeah, there are definitely more of us than they/you think.

I admit it can be read as a tad aggressive, but that's also part of the point. It's meant to be a very in-your-face type of motto, especially as a spit in the face of pluralphobia and all other forms of bigotry it entangles itself with – racism, sanism, disableism, ableism, religious intolerance, queerphobia, etc.. Yeah, your cashier, classmate, neighbor might be plural – and so what?! Yeah, maybe you should think twice about messing with us, because acceptance is growing and you're not going to be able to excuse your hateful nonsense for much longer without it being called out as such! But on the other hand, I think it can work well as a conversation starter, giving people the prompt to ask, "What does that mean?" In this case, the slogan being so provocative works in its favor! Yeah, actually, I'd love to talk about how plurals go unknown and deserve more awareness, how there are almost certainly more of us than even we can know for certain! And, again, spikes on a wheelchair – taking words as an art form, this slogan is art that's meant to make you uncomfortable, to make you question things; "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.", as Cesar A. Cruz said. It makes you scared or uncomfortable to think about there being more plurals out there than you first estimated there to be? Why does it make you feel that? Is this the result of unconscious bias? Why do you think we, the makers of this slogan, might be comforted by the same phrase that disturbs you?

We're plural as in more-than-one in more than one (lol) meaning of the phrase. More-than-one in this body, more-than-one of us out there fighting the good fight – helping others, breaking down walls, and pushing for a kinder and more accepting future.

Plural as in there are more of us than you think. Fuck your hatred, we're gonna be here no matter what.

[pinkhairswagtourney]

i need some serious help/guidance. i feel like a failure. i don't know where to turn – my family is part of the problem and they don't care about helping me, i don't have any IRL friends that i can ask for help from, and i've been so busy dealing with all my IRL shit that i've drifted away from any of my online friends. i've applied everywhere in my town that's hiring, and i mean EVERYWHERE. either i get aired from the jump, or i get a call back, ask for accommodations during the interview, and then never hear back from them. i feel like a lost cause. i can't continue to ask you guys for help forever, but i don't have anywhere to turn to IRL. without donos + commissions, i would actually be dead by now. i'm not kidding. my family doesn't give a fuck if i'm struggling or not, in fact they put me in positions where they KNOW i will struggle. they don't care. my parents never taught me how to do ANYTHING. every practical skill that i know how to do is self taught. they've literally set me up for failure in every aspect. they didn't help me with homework when i was younger, they didn't help me learn how to read or write, they didn't teach me how to socialize and make friends, they didn't teach me how to drive, how to cook, how to clean, how to apply for jobs, how to do taxes, how to do anything at all. and when it comes to the physical aspect, they knew that i was toe walking from a young age and didn't take me to a doctor because it was "cute" and "funny" how i walked on my tip toes all the time and i was so "clumsy" because i had no balance. the window for non-surgical remedies has closed, and now the only thing that can fix it is surgery, that i definitely can't afford, even on insurance, and i'm going to fall off of my parent's insurance next year when i turn 26. the toe walking has led to chronic pain in my feet, legs, hips, and back, and that, coupled with my fibromyalgia, makes just existing feel impossible sometimes. there are days where i don't want to move from my bed because my entire body feels inflamed. even if i were to get hired, how am i supposed to hold a job like that??? i don't know how to file for disability but i know that i need to, as soon as i can. i genuinely don't know what to do. i'm stuck in this house full of people who use me as a personal punching bag, mentally and verbally and physically. i have to keep my room locked at all times or people will steal from me or destroy my belongings. i can't even keep my insulin or food in the public fridge because my brother has destroyed my insulin with a hammer before, and my food will get eaten even if i label it, so i had to buy a mini fridge for my room. my brother shoved me down the stairs last year and my knee is permanently damaged from it, and that was somehow my fault. the only time anyone is talking to me in a kind way is when they want me to do something for them, and if i don't agree to do it, then all hell breaks loose, i've been screamed at, slapped, kicked, had things thrown at me, spit on, belongings destroyed, holes punched in the wall beside my head with a threat that next time it'll be my face. to the point that i just agree to run their errands and do their chores most of the time anymore. in fact, even though i pay my dad car insurance money every month, 9 out of 10 times he won't let me use the car for my personal reasons (doctor, store, pharmacy) unless i'm also doing something for them. they treat me like a child. no, they treat me like an object. but i'm supposed to be an adult. to be honest, i don't feel like an adult. i don't feel like a real person at all. i don't exist outside of this house or these blogs. i could disappear and only a handful of people would actually notice.

i want to do more than just survive by the skin of my teeth. i want to live, i want to thrive, i want friends, i want a sense of community, i want to feel loved and cherished, i want to be hugged. i can't remember the last time i was hugged. i don't know why i wrote all of this. i think it's a cry for help. i need someone to hold my hand through the process and tell me what to do because i have no idea where to turn. i don't know what the next step is. i know the things i need to do, but i don't know how to do them. i need to pay off my court fees, i need to buy my own car, i need to file for disability, i need to file for food stamps, i need to apply for a tax credit apartment so i can finally get out of this house. i'm just too stupid to figure it out on my own. with the constant swath of bills and no consistent income, it feels like i'm drowning and i'm never going to be able to get out of this situation. i can't do this alone. i need help. i'm so tired guys

[genderqueerdykes]

Hi. Here's a lot of words that y'all don't have to read and I have a question that y'all don't have to answer. I think you all make a lot of great points. I'm sorry if this is on the blog already.

I think I might be what you call an egg. I just try not to think about it. I'm going through a lot of stuff right now that needs processing and I can get to the gender thing when I can get to the gender thing. That said, I'm trying to let myself exist in queer spaces and it feels like everyday women are bashing men without batting an eye. Actually, that's happening not just in queer spaces. Nobody says anything except to agree. Even people that I've known for a while and know that I'm married to a cis man whom I love and respect (and who actually got me interested in feminism). I told one friend that I was uncomfortable by her comments and she flipped it around, pouted exasperatedly, and said, "I thought you were a safe space!" I didn't know that there was a safe space for sexism!

What the fuck do I say to people? I'm autistic and have an extreme sense of justice and can't just let things go but I want to be at least somewhat respectful-sounding because when you yell at people they shut down and think you're wrong/the problem. I also don't want to talk their ears off/write paragraphs like this. 😬

🌀

jesus, i'm so sorry people are treating you like that. it really hurts my head to see people do this. you don't deserve that kind of behavior, you're not a shitty person for trying to figure out your gender. you're not shitty for being happily married to a cis man. i have so many words so i hope i won't give you a reply that's too long to parse

no matter what people's beliefs are, everyone is reinforcing that women need to hate men. like you're right it's just everywhere. not just queer communities. it's weird. it's like, i get it, the way we force men to act is absurd. we need to focus on helping men snap out of the shitty things we force them to do and support them in growing and changing. also like i don't get how people dont see how terrible it is to openly admit that they see trans men, queer men, gay men, bi men, disabled men, men of color, intersex men, multigender men, and so on. there are so many groups of men affected by this i dont get why people don't care

this "safe space" thing has gotten abused to hell and back. it's out of control, now it's being used as a gatekeeping tool. it's weird to me but people are defining things like this:

general lgbt/queer communities = women's safe space

lesbian community = women's safe space

nonbinary community = women's safe space

butch, gender non conforming, genderqueer community = women's safe space

genderfluid, bigender, multigender communities = women's safe space

bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, & polyamorous communities: women's safe space

like it's gotten way out of control. people think that every experience that doesn't outright say man is a women's safe space. and even then, we see entitlement there in the transmasculine and trans man communities as well. the thing is is like. these are intended to be communities. not safe spaces. like

women's groups exist. there are groups dedicated to providing safe spaces for just women, irl. a lot of the time they're based out of crisis and sexual assault survivor clinics, but there's also ones for homeless women, and so on. like i honestly guarantee you that if you googled "women's safe space" you'd find some local, brick and mortar places designed to be there for women and only women. like. those. exist.

we don't have to turn the entirety of queerness into a women's safe space. i feel like women who have been hurt by men are running to the wrong place a lot of the time. or they expect every other queer person to have the same trauma as them. like i think people in general are very queerphobic and assume that most queer people are women, for some reason?

i don't know why people view this as the "running away from men club". that's how terfs define the lesbian community. if you want to show people why this is dogshit, it's because that's literally how terfs define lesbianism. that's how rad fems define lesbianism. the "we hate men, we never want to be around men ever again, men are inherently dangerous" club is the lesbian separatism club.

people often say "why is there a lot of talk of lesbian supremacy lately?"

it's because so many people got indoctrinated into rad feminism without ever realizing it. queer communities are not the "we hate men" communities. those are rad fem communities.

so many queer spaces need to involve men, because men are very important in so many queer experiences. erasing their experiences and denying them the right to be in those spaces isn't helping anyone. if people want to be in all woman groups, they need to search specifically for that. if someone defines "lesbian" as "women's only safe space," they're looking for a women's space. honestly, maybe people just need to be nudged in the right direction. maybe not enough people know there are literal all woman safe spaces irl that help women with homelessness, sexual and domestic abuse, childcare, substance abuse, mental health, and many other resources.

sometimes there are behavioral health and crisis centers that accept just women. some psychiatric hospitals have spaces for just women. it really is possible to create, nurture and participate in womens only spaces. people are just trying to take over something they personally don't belong in, and it's insane that that's the norm right now. people are obsessed with going backwards in terms of progress in accepting diversity in queer lives.

anyway, i hate this shit, so i hope things improve for you soon, people are just. so proud of being mean right now. people are proud to be assholes and they take it out on disadvantaged men. isn't that sad? people are pissed off about patriarchy, the establishment ABOVE us, so they attack poor, mentally ill, disabled, neurodivergent, intersex, trans, queer men and men of color, as if that'll solve anything.

[imthepunchlord]

I think I know why Miraculous is so addictive even to people who don't like the show. Miraculous is a show that had a lot of good interesting concepts and ideas with a lot of potential. Like the kwamis and miraculous as a concept is a creative playground where you could do almost anything with it, and a lot of the characters in the show at their cores had a lot of potential and could have gone in really interesting directions. It's just that the show and its writers fumbled the execution of a lot of these concepts and characters, taking in probably the worst directions. I think that's why you see a lot of people re-imagining the series with these characters and concepts. Heck it's also probably why quite a few people take the base concept of the kwamis and miraculous, re-imagine them, and create a completely new story, like @callimara Wildward au and even your animula au.

Essentially so!

Concept wise, it's really, really great.

Everyone likes animals, and this is a chance for your favorite animal to pop up and have a hero worked around them. And that animal can exist as a cute little plush to sell with them being little mascots. Additionally, because animals can be visually interesting or be tied to certain ideas, you can do some really fun designs or ideas. Lions could be tied to kings or knights. Butterfly or Peafowl could be tied to formal attire or something with a performance motif. You could even use animals as a means to work around disabilities or limitations. Like, someone who can't walk or has trouble walking, if they want mobility, they could get Horse and become a "centaur" with the "miraculous" giving them a mecha horse body they can sit inside and it'll move for them. Not remove the disability, but offer enhancements to give them a way to work around it.

And what's clever is that animals are important to people, all over the world, we all have some mythology and folklore about animals, they represent certain symbols for us. And when you factor that in, hey, this animal could offer an idea for a power, and you could make a superhero character working off all that animal represents across the globe, or even just working off what your own views of that animal is.

Foxes are often portrayed as tricksters everywhere, so being an illusionist is a natural fit.

Horses across the globe represent travel, so doing a power based around movement works, be it super speed or teleportation. You can also work off horses tied to bravery, knights, and facing dangers and do something with the white knight idiom.

Rabbit's are fast, so super speed could be a natural fit. Or if you want to reference Alice in Wonderland, I would've voted dream hopping as the power, as one of the things that stuck with me was Alice thinking it was a dream, and dreams can be bizarre and random.

Owls are often tied to death, so something related to death could go to Owl, or you can work off owls commonly tied to clocks and it could have time powers.

And then you got the merit that with all animals can represent and be tied to, they can play a part in a character's growth. They can be their foil, challenge them as they are, and help pave the way to improvement.

Like, take my concept hero, Humdinger.

She's planned to start out as a "Lone Ranger"/the Loner, thinking she doesn't need to rely on others or only she can solve issues herself. And she's paired with Bee who is about community and teamwork. So you have a nice set up on how she's going to start, and how Bee will help her grow as a character.

And what's extra nice, is that writing wise, animals can give you some light guidelines to work off of, on what their roles can be.

You need a villain? Well, there's the "Big Bad Wolf". Snakes and spiders are also big symbols of fear.

This can also go into the Five Man Band if you're not sure how to do a group.

You need a Leader? There's Lion and Eagle to work off of.

You need a Lancer to challenge the Leader? Well, could do Bear or Wolf.

You need a Smart Guy? Fox, Owl, and Raven are all tied to intelligence.

You need a Tank/Strong Man? There's the iconic Bull, could also do Turtle.

You need the Heart, who's usually the love interest and keeps the group together? There's Ladybird, Dog, or Swan. Those are heavily tied to love.

And there's the fun of the little animal beings that power these heroes. You can write them based on animal archetype, you can write them based on their mythology and symbolism. You can tie them to mythical figures. You could delve into the unique morals and views they have. Like the snake could understand duality, or promotes the stance of duality, toeing the line between good and justice, or doing something bad and chaotic. The bee wants humans to live with integrity, work with others, see work done. The lion wants humans to be leaders and to face obstacles bravely, ect..

Additionally, based on folklore and mythology and how animals are in real life, you can get into some really interesting dynamics to explore between these little beings. The truthful rooster hates the deceptive fox. The wolf has a rivalry with the fox and the lion. The bee dislikes the bear cause the bear eats all of her honey. Turtle and snake are best friends. Eagle and horse are best friends. Ect..

Concept wise, this is brilliant for a series. By their symbolism, folklore, cultural views, and mythology, animals can give you so much to work with. And you can have nice guidelines to work off of, or you can do a different spin on those guidelines, like maybe the usually noble Lion is the villain and the often villainous Snake is the hero.

There's just so much you can do with the concept, so many possibilities. And it's a shame that it's used in this romance focused show, which isn't even a good romance, and it's just so uninspired and lazy, and where kwamis easily could've been the most fascinating part of it, they're just pointless inclusions.

And you just see that potential and how it's wasted.

At least for me, that's what has me wanting to do my own take on the concept and do something with the animula. There's a lot of possibilities for what they can do, and could easily be so interesting if given proper attention.

[intotheelliwoods]

(Apologies in advance for this lmao) So. It's been a bit since the first keychains went out, and I was planning to hop on the bandwagon of people who posted pictures of Poptart dangling out windows and tucked into beds, but life happened and I missed that train haha

Instead, I'd like to let you know something.

The past month or so, I've taken a good hard look at my health and tried to change it. I'm disabled, mentally and physically, and it takes a lot of work just to accept that, much less to improve my quality of life by dealing with it.

And I didn't expect it when I first started reading your comic, because it was just hugs and fun and pretty colors, but I think...I think 2al has made it easier to come to terms with my body, my limits, and the ever-expanding list of opportunities that I'm realizing I can still take advantage of as a physically disabled person.

Sprout got to be uncomfortable with his missing arm, use a prosthetic as an emotional crutch of sorts, and learn how to deal with it with help from Big Leo. Big Leo and Sprout got to experience and show the fact that an aid is an aid and not a permanent requirement. Poptart gets to explore life without a prosthetic by choice, and the challenges, and rewards, that come with that.

But most importantly, they all exist. You didn't shy away from the fact that they ARE disabled characters now, with trauma and healing and options for aid and different reactions and ways of dealing with it. The positives, the negatives, the little things that no one really thinks about (Sprout's cold robot arm and how it's not as comfortable to hug), you took it all into account as an integral part of their character and story.

And I didn't know I needed to see that, but here we are.

So I wanted you to know that, even though I don't have cool or funny pictures to share of it, my Poptart keychain goes with me to physical therapy, regular therapy, and everywhere I go with my cane. On bike rides and to check the mail. To doctor's appointments and visits to the store.

He lives with me while I learn to live with myself - a reminder that I'm not the only one going through this, that I can be disabled and still happy and silly and loved.

And that's amazing. So thank you so, so much <3

[penncilkid]

Been thinking about my experiences as a POC within fandom while also being an artist and how much that sucks sometimes. This is primarily in regards to the Redacted fandom, but could be applied to any other fandom honestly.

Proper "fussing" under the cut (for those who would rather not see):

Sometimes, I really stop and think about what it must be like to be a white person in fandom, especially when you're an artist. To see yourself reflected in the spaces you exist in all the time. There are some exceptions to this, of course. For example, lack of body diversity is just as much of a problem in my opinion (Like fat people exist. Disabled people exist. Fat, disabled people exist. You can draw them, y'know? /rhet) But generally speaking, it's not difficult to find designs that probably look like you. There will be blondes, brunettes, redheads even— It's everywhere you look.

I don't think most people realize how isolating that ends up feeling though.

Because it's not just the fact that most of the art/designs you'll stumble upon won't resemble you. It's the fact that the prevalence dictates how everyone else interacts with fandom too.

Do you know how much it sucks seeing a post saying "So we all agree that Asher's blonde, right?" and knowing that most people are thinking of a white guy and nothing else?

Or noticing how Alexis, a generally "hated" character in the fandom, is the only vampire most people are willing to make visibly brown?

How about the fact that Gavin, the "thrilling" and "sexy" incubus, has so many black and brown designs— But I can count the non-white Lasko designs I've come across on my hand?

People can do whatever they want. I've said it before, and I'll continue to repeat it when I make these rambles. If you want to make every single design you have varying shades of white and never stray from that, that's your prerogative. But for the love of god, I wish I didn't feel like I was fucking crazy for talking about how much that shit sucks to see as a person of color.

On top of that, do you know how frustrating it is to watch white artists get praised for generic diversity when POC artists have been consistently bringing forth such compelling, stunning designs to table? Like I see the kind of shit that gets praised in this fandom and what doesn't. Racial ambiguity or the slightest addition of a curl gets treated like it's revolutionary— And that's only if it's the "correct" character. It has to "make sense", right? The same way Sam has to have sun-kissed, golden skin even after he's been turned, or the way Guy has to be white because there's no way someone with that personality could be anything but.

Do you know what it's like to be filled with such a sense of joy because someone made a design where a character had your skin tone or hair texture or facial feature? Like, I genuinely have a strong reaction whenever I find a black or brown design in this fandom because they're so rare in comparison to everything else. And when I really stop to think about that, I realize how fucked up of a phenomenon that is.

I love the designs that I've made, but I've also noticed which ones "do better" comparably. I don't change much of anything with how I go about posting or promoting them. The only difference is that some of them fit what is considered widely "canon" in fandom. And the others... don't. I go out of my way to make every design POC in some regard, and you can usually tell visually even without the addition of colors. I'm not gonna stop doing that because I know why I started in the first place. But fuck, it does start to hurt seeing white artists with the same general white designs get hyped up endlessly while I internally debate if I should even make another character look like me or not. If it'll even matter to anyone but me.

Some days, I just really wish it didn't feel like shit being black in this fandom. I hate knowing that I'm gonna post this, and I'll probably get responses for other people of color primarily.

But maybe putting this out will help that pill get easier to swallow.

[dinodaydreams]

Having kinda a meltdown/mental breakdown about my chronic illness and disabilities and how much they actually disable me and how much of the pain and trauma from it I keep inside.

I'm 17 years old and I can't eat gluten, tapioca, most she'll fish besides shrimp, and sugar but medicine let's me eat sugar again so that's good.

Everytime I leave the house I use my wheelchair cause even tho I'm not paralyzed my leg hurt so terribly even just to stand and I can only go up stairs on good days and we live in a two story house I live on the ground floor and the shower is in the upstairs.

And i usually need help taking a shower because trying to reach certain areas of my body hurts too.

I have hyper mobile ehler danlos syndrome, celiac disease, POTS, possibly small fiber neuropathy, fibromyalgia, I'm deficient in a lot of vitamins because for the majority of my life I've been eating food my body can't digest and it's been damaging my organs.

I'm in pain everywhere on my body everyday without fail.

I'm on so many medications that some doctors are afraid to prescribe me more because its "too many for your age"

I have binocular vision disorder and can't see without my glasses and even with my glasses it hurts my eyes to read most books digital and paper

I'm constantly dislocating or slipping my bones out of place on accident.

I suffer with a lot of mental health struggles also partly cause of my genetics and partly because of my childhood trauma.

My existence causes pain to those who love me I'm sure because all I ever really do is talk about how much pain I'm in and I end up in the ER every couple of months with something new that's wrong.

You ever start bleeding from somewhere and you don't know why? Cause that is not normal.

I can't go into certain stores or malls because they aren't wheelchair accessible at all I can walk sometimes but mostly not.

We always have to check google images of stores before we go to see if I can go.

I can't even be near the things I'm allergic to cause the smell makes me feel sick.

Sometimes if I smell sugar it instantly makes my stomach hurt without touching or eating it.

I'm in so much pain all the time my body just expects it now.

I can feel the fucking weather change by the way my bones feel.

I couldn't eat fruit or vegetables for a month or two because they had natural sugars in them and that's all I wanted.

Everyone tells me im so strong and resilient and they could never live my life but I don't feel strong I don't feel like anything is really worth it on days like these

I just wanna cry all the time

I smell people's food sometimes cause I can't have it

I don't put much energy into myself because I don't feel like im worth it

I don't think others feel like I'm worth all this either sometimes

I probably cost my family so much in medical bills every year

I'm so scared and so sad man

[enbycrip]

Thing to remember if you are writing anything involving class and working class people, including game design: poverty is a major cause of AND a major result of disability and chronic illness.

If you write something where every working class person, every person who comes from a working class background, or every poor person, is healthy and physically strong, and just as much or more so if you bake that into a game system by giving people from those backgrounds high Health or Strength stats, you are making an active *choice* to erase a substantial part of the experience of and results of poverty.

Disabled people exist *everywhere*. In every setting - even when there’s magical healing or nanobots or whatever, frankly, erasure of disabled people and the experience of disability is an active narrative choice to erase us. So we *certainly* exist in *every* real world present-day and historical setting, and the fact that you don’t think so is due to active cultural erasure of disabled people and the experience of disability.

While disability is *absolutely* present in every strata of society, the experiences of disability and poverty are deeply and inherently entwined. Given that the vast majority of people are workers, and primarily physical workers throughout history - and if you don’t think disability massively impairs your ability to do call centre work, let alone food service, care work, retail work, or most of the other low-paid jobs in our current service economy, even if they are not habitually classified as heavy physical work, you need to massively expand your understanding of what disability actually is.

Poverty is generational in all sorts of ways, but one of them is that gestational and childhood poverty affects a person for their entire life. There are so many illnesses that one is predisposed to by inadequate nutrition during gestation and childhood, or by environmental pollution during those times (most likely in poverty-stricken areas). Disability and illness in parents and family members so often sees young children go without essentials and older ones forced into forgoing education and opportunities so they can care for family members or enter paid work. It’s a generational cycle that has held depressingly true in urban and rural areas, and that’s before even considering the impact of genetic illnesses and predisposition to illnesses.

Not to mention that a great deal of neurodivergence is incredibly disabling in every strata of society - yes, bits of it can be very advantageous in certain places, jobs, roles and positions, but the *universality* of punishment for not intuiting the subtle social rules of place and social environment again and again means most ND folk end up with a massive burden of trauma by adulthood. On top of the poverty that means in loss of access to paid work and other opportunities, trauma is incredibly shitty for your health.

Yeah; it might not be “fun” to write about or depict. But by failing to do so you are actively perpetuating the idea that the class system, whatever it is, is “just”. That poorest people do the jobs they do because they are “best suited for them” instead of because of societal inequality and sheer *bad fortune* without safety nets to catch people. It is very much worth doing the work to put it in.

[saintjosie]

I got shadow banned for calling out the ceo on his bullshit lol im 100% done with this shithole site its too late to undo the hostility towards us imo

you are so incredibly valid. leaving just because you need to for whatever reason is really important and always valid.

but from my own experience with choosing to leave spaces on the internet, i think it’s worth taking an extra second to review the things you like about any given platform that offers online community.

i’ve been doing tiktok for almost four years now and i’ve considered deleting everything and leaving so many times because of how badly trans people are treated on tiktok. i’ve spent hours deleting and blocking hate comments and dms. seen my friends get banned while nazis and terfs are allowed to stick around. (no tiktok ceo dming trans people though that’s pretty special to tumblr)

but taking a second to think about the good things that i get out of tiktok helps me take a second away from the immediacy of an emotional situation and have some clarity. i have met so many people from tiktok (and i even met my gf on tiktok). i have learned so much about myself, about queerness, about anti-racism, about disability. it helps me stay informed on what’s going on in the world.

and anytime i think about deleting tiktok, i try to take a step back and consider all of it - the good, the bad, and how much it’s all worth to me. and who knows? i may delete tiktok at some point because at that moment its just the thing i need to do.

but especially now more than ever, i think it’s important to consider the value of staying connected because we are losing places for trans people to exist on the internet period. the drama here on tumblr is unfortunately just another example of what’s happening everywhere else too. other platforms might be less loud and a lot smarter about it than the way the tumblr ceo is going about things (except for twitter cause lol elon) but they’re all doing the same thing - oppressing trans voices and doing nothing to protect us.

but on every single one of these platforms, including twitter, trans people stick around and continue to be visible and connect people to community, because our community knows the value of community. there is absolutely value in a ton of people leaving a platform to take a stand but doing so without organizing or having another place to go could be disastrous.

you very well may read this and decide that it does not at all apply to you, and if you’ve had clarity all along, that’s awesome! you should do what you need to do without hesitation. but if not, i hope some of this will help you consider what is best for you!

[cripplecharacters]

I have a character in a wheelchair, in a school/society that isn't up to modern code and would not be very accessible to wheel around in. Her chair is on the cheap side (definitely not motorized), and is a little old fashioned/outdated. She can't stand unassisted or walk more than a few feet at a time due to pain and balance issues (I'm still working on exactly what her diagnosis should be. Maybe I'll send you an ask about that later if I can't figure it out on my own) Do you have any advice - in general, but particularly on how to portray her friends helping her get around without making her seem helpless or committing any other faux pas? So far I know:

1: They should never touch her actual chair or pick her up, and so

2: Their help is mostly going to be delegated to changing the environment, not her. Opening doors, walking ahead to find an alternate smoother path, etc. (What if she's somewhere where there is no way through? Is it alright to have her leave the chair and lean on them or something in an emergency? Or should I just avoid writing those situations, favoring perception at the cost of realism?)

They don't follow her around everywhere, they're her friends not her caretakers, so she does get around by herself often. Is there anything else I should think about or is this alright?

Hey!

Sometimes it can be okay for them to touch her mobility aid if she allows them to. The never-touch-a-mobility-aid advice is real but is mostly meant for strangers who think they're helping someone by kidnapping them. Many wheelchair users get around exclusively by someone else pushing their wheelchair, it's all about consent.

If she needs to get to a place where the only way in are stairs, she might ask her friends to lift her wheelchair up with her still in it. But the key is that it's her initiative, and she's the one calling the shots because it's a very vulnerable position to be in. You can check out wheelchair skills videos like this one. Being in this scenario is obviously not ideal, but this is what people simply have to do.

I'd also try to figure out if she can transfer (get out of wheelchair into X and vice versa) on her own or not - if she can get on the ground safely and then back up, she could potentially learn to go upstairs backwards on her butt and drag her wheelchair in one hand, step by step. If she can walk a bit, she can use her wheelchair as a crutch and hold the railing with the other; for walking she can do that by leaning against a wall or holding onto someone for support. But if another person is involved, consent and warnings are key: they can ask where they should grab her by, she can tell them to walk slower or stop, instruct them how to safely sit her back in her wheelchair before they start walking, all that. They shouldn't treat her like a ragdoll who can't speak the moment she needs physical help.

If it's a modern-ish society then she could ask her friends to call the place they're visiting to check how accessible it is. Calling and trying to get it out of people gets exhausting so the friends could learn to pre-call before making any meeting in a place. It's more just being considerate than anything else.

I wouldn't try to avoid realism; if the setting is inaccessible to wheelchair users then it should be shown, otherwise it should simply be accessible in the first place.

Realism of course will affect the "alternatives" when it comes to access. Every larger building has a back door to roll the garbage out, and in places where accessibility is uncommon to nonexistent, this will be the only ramp to the building. Behind-the-building dark alley garbage ramps are their whole entire thing. Same for finding smooth paths, in many places wheelchair users have to go on the road to be able to go anywhere and risk being hit by a car. My point is that these alternatives largely do exist, but they're not meant for disabled people even if there is no other alternative. Exploring this could also help with making your setting feel more real in general.

For many of the issues of "what about XYZ scenario?", if you were to put it in any search engine you will find mobility aid users trying to figure out the same thing or giving others advice because inaccessibility is still one of the biggest issues out here that we encounter every day. The extreme majority of the world is inaccessible, and we try to adapt as much as possible; unless your actual scenario involves magic or aliens then there's definitely some sort of solution for it that's probably on reddit already.

[Disclaimer: not all wheelchair users can get out of their wheelchair without specialized equipment like a hoist. I assume that this is not the case for this character considering she can walk a tiny bit, but please keep this fact in mind for more severely disabled characters.]

mod Sasza

[gayaest]

Hey! I've been loving your art for too long, I think what you're doing for the disabled community it's lovely, it's awesome, I'm so sorry that there are people giving you hate comments, keep doing what you do, keep including people, maybe I don't necessarily have the same diagnosis as your characters, as I have Tourette's and Autism only in regards of that, but... I think I can talk for many of us, that your art makes us really happy, I love seeing people go like ''Omg, this character is just like me!'' it makes my heart warm, thank you, for everything, seriously, I love representation, and you've done an amazing job on it.

Disabled people exist, we're everywhere, even if people don't notice it sometimes, even if people do realize sometimes and don't care, we are people, we are your friends, family, partners, we are everywhere, and we have the right to exist. <3

Thank you, It’s really nice and sweet to hear that. Sometimes it feels like I get consumed by hate comments, because due to the nature of what I post it is seen as “controversial” inherently, for being disabled people, or fat people, or people or color. It’s not fair, but that’s exactly what life is for me and people like me (my followers).

It’s okay not to share my diagnosis, I don’t expect it! (Though, I am autistic as well!) The disabled community is not a monolith, and that’s how I’ve gotten my art to the point it’s at! By listening to stories that aren’t my own.

Connection is key to community, and so is Listening. I always do my best with both (even if it means asking for repeats and research on my own when asked). It takes a lot of hard work, and my life is often consumed by researching disorders and understanding disabilities, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, because it has made me a understanding attentive person that tries to make everyone feel included somehow.

Thank you again, this is so sweet to hear. I appreciate it very much.

[ciderjacks]

ngl I was ranting to my friend about this but I think the worst part of becoming physically disabled for me is not the shock, not the pain or shitty doctors or rescheduling or confusion or fear, but the way people start fucking treating you.

I have had so many people, good people, people I’ve known for years, start treating me completely differently. And not in like an oh it’s awkward now and sometimes they ask dumb questions way. I mean they’ve started observing my every movement, trying to find some inconsistency and “catch me lying”, calling me out openly and accusing me of faking, trying to prove I’m not really disabled. More than one person who I know has done this. I don’t know if abled people understand how insanely awful that is to do to someone. I don’t know what’s wrong with my body either, but I know what I can and can’t do. The idea that they know my body better than me is already shitty. Not only that, these people who I know and have known (often for years), are now telling me to my face that they think I’m the kind of person who would do something like faking a disability for attention. like are you fucking serious? Did you always think that low of me, or is it just because I’m a cripple now that you feel comfortable assuming that?

The main reason I’m avoiding getting a wheelchair even though my crutches aren’t working well for me anymore is because it will get worse. I can take most ableism, that attitude is not one I can take easily. It makes me nervous to exist in public, makes me nervous to do what’s right for my body.

Like, it’s disgusting, it pisses me the fuck off. How dare you treat me like I’m not a person anymore just because I’m disabled. And don’t pull that “well it’s hard for people to accept” bullshit. Shut up. You think that’s hard? I was a physically healthy person who went on walks everyday before this. Do you want to imagine being 17 in the middle of senior year and randomly losing that, and having no idea why, as it slowly progresses and doctors keep being useless? Does that sound awful to you? I bet it does- so then imagine you go through that, but the whole time your best friends and family are standing there and instead of supporting you, they’re obsessing over your movements and telling you to your face with no shame that they think you’re a lying attention seeking asshole. Imagine how terrible that would be. Imagine how betrayed you’d feel.

Idk, I wanna emphasize again that the people who do this are good people, because y’all seem to not want to acknowledge how normalized this treatment of disabled people is. You see it in media, comedy, conversation, everywhere. Abled people don’t want us to exist, so they accuse us of being fake and it seeps into everyone.