#cw ableism

[immediatebreakfast]

I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? it feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully.

God, these are the first words that came out of Renfield's mouth after being brutally attacked by the Count to the point of unconsciousness, then seeing Seward first after being woken up. It speaks on so many unsaid things, and actions that came before the Count, before the Harkers, even before Jonathan set a single foot in Transylvania. How much has this old man suffered at the hands of the people supposed to care for him, who use his money then discards him without thoughts on his personhood, and the man who treated him like some kind of experiment until the very end.

I can't see any kind of righteous fury, nor even pity coming from Seward or Van when they began the surgery that would let Renfield talk one last time. Only Quincey, the man who has seen everything, calls for an explanation after seeing the mangled state of the poor old man, who sacrificed his life for the sole young woman (so young that she could be his daughter) who spoke to him like a human being in who knows how many years.

Renfield is a tragic character until the very end. The representation of the vulnerable, of the mentally disabled who receive no mercy from an uncaring system set up to fail them. Even the narrative itself cares less from his state, and his suffering once the groups gets all of the information they needed from him, leaving Renfield alone while agonizing; in the dark of what happened to Mina's salvation.

Utterly manipulated by the Count, dangling his freedom in front of him while feeding lies on eternal life. Never revealing anything, and being treated like a fool without a second moment to breathe. Is Renfield destined to always end up inside those four walls, will he ever be truly free, or seen like a person?

Go long old man, go long, right over the edge of the earth, and jump to a place where there is no pain nor suffering at the hands of your fellow human beings. Maybe Renfield will find a girl in a white nightgown, waiting for someone on the other side, and they will chat about frivolous things in a way that neither could when they were alive.

[nekropsii]

I'm sorry to bother with my ask, but you are the most trustworthy mituna/ alpha trolls writer and I need to hear your thoughts.

How do you think mituna Pre-game life has been based on his classpect? Heirs usually have a certain privilege over the aspect they inherit, they dont have to work hard like a page to get it, however they either dont know what to do with it or the aspect get to take control of the heir. Do you think Tuna got to live a more comfortable life for beforus standards? How would the doom manifest in him? John became wind, equius became irrelevant, pehaps mituna great act of heroism was doom taking control of him instead of him learning how to take control of doom.

We actually can infer quite a bit about this. He was Cassandra. The logical conclusion is to keep adapting the Cassandra myth, and to assume his Doom is being Cassandra.

Mituna was an incredibly powerful psionic and basically an oracle. In the game, he knew whenever something bad was going to happen, and tried desperately to tell people. They never listened. I wouldn’t say his story follows 1:1 with that of Cassandra’s, where his Doom Vision was granted to him by an Apollo figure… But it’s pretty damn close, and I’d have to assume part of why they never listened was because he still got Apollo’s subsequent curse - to see the future, but never be believed. Considering this is a destruction of others’s belief, and the curse came as a punishment for Cassandra telling Apollo she doesn’t want to date or have sex with him… We already know who the Alpha Trolls’s Apollo figure is. It’s Cronus, Bard of Hope. Destroyer of Beliefs, and Known Sex Criminal. Due to the severity of the abuse he inflicts upon Mituna on screen - the violent bigotry and insults, the blatant disregard for his clear, desperate, repeated exclamations of his lack of consent, the molestation - we must also assume he fulfills the role of Ajax the Lesser as well.

Following this train of thought is the idea that people would actually readily listen to Mituna’s advice on Beforus. If he told someone to cut shit out, they’d listen to him. He likely didn’t have all that much mysticism surrounding him, considering he entered his SGRUB session at 13 years of age - it likely would’ve manifested in the same way Jade’s friends listen to her because she tends to be right about everything, inexplicably. They think it’s weird he can do that, but just shrug their shoulders, puzzle about it, or think he’s cooler for it.

Although he was an able-bodied male and carries an extremely useful ability, he was still a Goldblood, so his life was not privileged. He was pretty high on the Culling block, with him actually likely being specifically sought after due to his unique ability. Perhaps he evaded this through means of reclusion.

Getting culled might, theoretically, adopt you into the potential for wealth of a Highblood, but your autonomy is still getting stripped away from you quite violently. You are a trophy. You show wealth and status. You’re a novelty toy. You’re shown off like a cool knickknack, as if you’re not a person with a life and feelings. Everything is decided for you - what you wear, where you can go, what symptoms you’re allowed to have and express, what you eat, etc. - your control of your own life harshly limited to the whims of the Highblood. You are a foster child in middle class white suburbia, and your life is hell.

So, his life before the game was theoretically not as bad as it was in and after the game. He had yet to meet his combination of Apollo and Ajax the Lesser. He had yet to sacrifice himself for people who he called friends, yet who discarded him the second he stopped being what they wanted. He had yet to get locked with these people for eternity, still never listened to. But it still sucked. He’s an Heir of Doom, and a Lowblood on Beforus. It all still sucked.

[mxmorbidmidnight]

Today I was chased by a group of about seven boys. They started mocking me and yelling and spitting at me and throwing sticks. I asked them to leave, they kept getting closer to me refusing to let me go all while carrying large sticks. One of them started filming me, I asked over and over again for them to leave me alone. Each time I tried to run they followed and threatened me. Because I had my cane they were able to figure out who I was and that I went to the same school as them. As they got closer I ended up running, they screamed after me threatening what I think was either “get the fuck back here or I’ll shake you up” but it could have been beat you up. I hid and called for help. They kept looking for me and yelling after me, when I got my phone out to call my dad they thought I was filming them and ran.

I am female presenting and visibly disabled as they were cornering me I was separated from my mobility aid. I was alone, there would have been at least seven of those boys. People think that this kind of behaviour is a rare occurrence, that nobody would do something like that. It’s not rare. I experience this everyday. Everyday I go to school I am afraid because I know I’m not safe. I can’t use the student bathrooms because people will corner me there. I’m constantly on edge and looking behind me because I know that I’m not safe.

Kids of any minority group are not safe. How can you sit about here acting as if these things are not an issue when children are in danger? Everyone’s entitled to your opinions but I’m not too eager to respect your fucking opinions when they end with me in danger. When they end up with me an actual child, I’m a situation where I thought I was going to die. It’s more than an opinion when I’m not safe at school, it’s more than an opinion when videos filmed of me without my consent are all over the internet. It’s not just an opinion.

Queer kids de not safe.

Disabled kids are not safe.

Children of colour are not safe.

Jewish kids are not safe.

Muslim kids are not safe.

If you are racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, ableist or any other kind of bigot it’s more than just an opinion.

You contribute to violence against kids.

[kipskiptrip]

Happy Disability Pride Month! This comic was never meant to be pretty or neat, but rather meant to tell my story with internalized ableism and dealing with medical trauma. It's a very personal story, and even making it was a tough decision, but I went through too much recovery not to do so.

[roomwithavoid]

if you say “delulu” i’m going to hit you with my car

[ghostlyg0ssip]

who's gonna tell them that the g1 characters would beat the shit out of them for saying this

[theswiftheartsystem]

I did the meme right? Right? I’m not hit with the memes, sorry if it’s not right, I thought it was funny 😔

[yournewlodger]

A post about Edward Nygma and touch.

[superkirbylover]

saw a post talking about ableism in cartoons. overall i agree with the message of the post, but the points made and said feel really infantilizing.

for context, i am disabled and many members of my family are as well. this is all drawn from experiences.

there is something to be said about exclusively designing characters who are insane and crazy with a form of lazy eye. there is something to be said about portraying disabled characters as incapable and stupid. there is something to be said about how these tropes continue to push the idea that disabled folk are "other" and are treated poorly. however, the post and OP made a few comparisons i really didn't sit well with.

they claimed the design of old man mcgucket from gravity falls is ableist for giving him wall-eyes as a way to portray how crazy he is. however, the post failed to mention that he's also a mechanic. he's a genuinely smart character with real accomplishments that happens to be crazy and disabled via his eye condition. he has depth. i don't associate his craziness with his disability, and it feels ableist to me to exclusively focus on the eyes and ignore how he isn't just "the crazy guy." i understand wanting to avoid stereotypes, especially harmful ones. however there are real people who sometimes fall under these stereotypes. as a kid, i fell under the stereotype of flapping my hands when i was happy or excited. and yes, there are people who condemn and discourage autistic folk from doing this because it's "stereotypical." that feels insanely ableist to me.

there is something to be said about trying to avoid harmful stereotypes of disabled folk, but i feel like people tend to overcorrect. derpy hooves is an excellent example; rainbow dash gets very frustrated with her in season 2 and is a bit rude. her voice was silly and she was oblivious. because some parents called and found this offensive, there was a redub and re-animated version of the scene featuring her. however, this version is infinitely more ableist to me. it's no secret derpy is disabled, and i personally resonate with her. to me, she is autistic. on top of missing social queues and having a hard time understanding things occasionally, her lazy eye can impare her visually. it is an undeniable fact that sometimes, disabilities will frustrate other people. my autism frustrates my friends and family sometimes. this isnt rooted in ableism. to me, its much like how non-disabled folk will get frustrated with each other. people should treat others, including disabled folk well and avoid getting mad at things they cannot control. however, erasing the fact people do get frustrated with autistic folk feels infantilizing. people will get frustrated with me. sometimes i do things that are objectively irritating. i don't want this erased. it's a part of being human. what i don't want is the irritation being used as a justification to treat disabled folk as sub-human. this isn't what happens at all in the scene. now, in a later season with derpy and rarity, i have many issues with the scene and how derpy and rarity are portrayed, so i do think there is something to be said there.

as long as the character has depth and is portrayed with respect, much like a person, then personally i don't find issues. i am personally tired of people overcorrecting for ableism in media. there is some correcting to do, don't get me wrong. but i don't want my disabilities washed down to the point where negative experiences with my disabilities are erased. they are important to my and many other folks identities as disabled folk. i don't want my experiences to be sanitized.

[nekropsii]

A Homestuck-Themed PSA from the depths of 2007, left yellowed and crusty from years of being left buried in the dirt of forums and forgotten by the modern era, reminding us all to Be Fucking Normal.

[mxmorbidmidnight]

You know those teachers who would have posters in their classrooms like “weird is a superpower” and “in a world where you can be anything, be kind” then would proceed to scream at a neurodivergent child until they cried.

[saintjosie]

You’re not disabled

oh yea?

i’ve been super open about being adhd, autism, cptsd, and bipolar disorder and i have plenty of other mental illnesses that i don’t talk about bc i don’t need to reveal my entire life to the internet. i have enough diagnoses that it’s nearly mathematically impossible to fill out a mental illness bingo card without winning. i’ve failed classes, lost jobs, and nearly taken my own life more than once.

but just cause you can’t see my disabilities means they don’t exist right?

you’re ableist full stop 🤡

and i don’t need your validation 🤗

[shreddheir]

am I the only person who doesn’t think that EOW link being nonspeaking is angsty or sad? In canon, he’s not too torn up about it by the time the game takes place. The incident that caused his speech loss happened when he was a kid, so he’s had a lot of time to adapt to it. He communicates perfectly fine without verbalizing. Everyone in his life is accepting of it. There are other things you can angst about that happen to him in the game. I don’t think the fact that he’s canonically disabled is angst potential in and of itself

[bonefall]

now am very curious to see a terf’s reaction to meewa-gender, as someone who thinks the way that you have conceptualized gender for the clans (and the way you are pushing the boundaries of it within that same framework) is Very Cool. like. did they fully just have a hernia in your inbox? because that seems likely

ok I can't hold onto it anymore I NEED to share this one, I've been laughing for DAYS. They got so mad they made the third gender real

The TRADITIONAL gender roles: Man, Woman, and Meewa

I make women do less work?? have you seen heartstar she never stops

Like even by TERF logic, I'm making the boys into girls, and then the girls are all just working the meewas like packmules?? we JUST made the gender real and we're putting them to work

Also I'm a guy now! The TERFs have FALLEN for my NEFARIOUS LEFTIST PRONOUNS

THE MENTALLY ILL... my bestie in christ, i am the mentally ill

It's a bad thing I don't talk about cat penis??? Wh?????????

Anyway like and share if you're the mentally ill eating it up ✨

[preyduo]

hey you can say wilbur is an awful person and a piece of shit without being ableist and saying hes a narcissist. btw. you can say hes abusive without saying he has a personality disorder because hes "evil because people with NPD are evil" because even though youre not directly saying it thats what youre implying.

[lastoneout]

It might seem extreme but I think it would really help some able-bodied people get their heads around the importance of mobility aids if they considered them an extension of their user's body, bcs like, if you wouldn't suggest someone cut their own arm off and leave it at home for your comfort then you shouldn't ask a disabled person to leave their mobility aid behind either. I'm not removing my lungs so you don't have to see me breathe any more than I'm leaving my rollator at home bcs accommodating me is inconvenient or being seen with me makes you uncomfortable.