#disability chatter

[isabelpsaroslunnen]

I know I should be grateful that I have a very treatable variant of bipolar disorder (it's fairly responsive to Lamictal+Abilify). And I am! I have friends with depression that doesn't respond to medication and it can be an interminable hellscape, whereas I always know that a) it'll shift states to hypomania at some point and b) I can take my meds and they will help a lot.

But. I'm also autistic, and just remembering my medication and coordinating appointments and dealing with my psychiatrist and getting my blood tested and generally keeping everything straight is aghghhhhhh. And between my dissertation and some personal stresses, I lost track and I've crashed from obvious-in-retrospect scatterbrained hypomania to my current feeling that my brain has been scooped out of my head, alternating with the conviction that everyone in my life secretly hates me, or at least is deeply bored by me, that I'm a terrible writer and an academic failure, etc.

I can't really think, otherwise, and it's doubly frustrating because I'm the one who fucked up my medication, at a time when I'm lucky to have health insurance, so ... ugh. And the idea of Dealing With People to get it straightened out is particularly exhausting.

[curiousitycollective]

Since this just happened to us again:

You cannot tell if someone has mobility issues just by looking at them

and

Not everyone with mobility issues uses aids. This doesnt mean they won't need to use seating or the accessible washrooms

[capillary-collective]

screaming and crying and sobbing because the disability, is in fact, disabling.

[canarymithrun]

"Mithrun is an allegory for depression" he's not allegorically anything he's just straight up canonically depressed and disabled

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Hello! I absolutely love your art, and just wanted to let you know! The first piece I saw that really reeled me in was seeing Pyro's decked out cane you designed. I use a cane myself for hip fucked up issues, but whenever I looked anywhere for decoration ideas I'd find nothing! I decorated it anyway but I couldn't help but feel a little... left out? Idk. But seeing your art actually made me shoot up in my chair because they were Just Like Me. I followed immediately and have been revelling in the amazing art n headcanons since

AHHHHH Thank u so much for ur kind words!! I'm so glad you like my art :) I had the same issue of trying to find some cane personalisation references on the internet but found near to nothing :(

Personally, I wasn't satisfied at all with my last Pyro cane design, so here's a new one I whipped up!! Leaning a lil' bit more to the whole "flamethrower" shtick (still makes zero sense as a weapon and a cane </3)

It's supposed to be detached from the bottom part and held sideways by the two handles!!

V.S. the Old design

[seiji-the-ice-drake]

The Rose fucking gentrified Osprey Cove

I suppose that makes sense. I wonder what's going on with the ninjas

Oh....

Well, at least the bright side is that you can enforce a "No refund" policy and keep the gold

[usagichanp]

My Mom when my Chronic Illness™ is chronic illnessing: Is there anything I can do to help?? Gatorade! Electrolytes! Salt! Migraine sleeve!

My Dad:

[feralwetcat]

m finally gonna get my cane soon!!:] we've been working on this for a while nd finally we're gonna get lookin for a good one

[sangrefae]

i feel like it must be said that i very much enjoy mithrun, he's one of my favorite characters, but the way the community at large handles him with safety gloves as if he'll break at the slightest criticism is very frustrating considering his role in the story is that of an antagonistic force

[transformativeworksandcultures]

CFP: Disability

 Special Issue CFP for TWC: Disability

Robert McRuer writes in Crip Theory that at some point in every person’s life, if they live long enough, they will be disabled. Yet, while disablement is an extremely common experience and ableism a hegemonic form of marginalization, disability is largely understudied across fields (Minich 2016, Ellcessor 2018). Fan studies has neglected to consistently explore disability or acknowledge the presence of ableism, resulting in a dearth of peer-reviewed publications on this intersection and a silencing of crip critique from disabled fans and scholars.

Disability studies formed in critique of the medical model of disability, which views disability as a problem to be solved. Most of the field’s critical work historically centers the social model, which frames disability not as a medical condition but as a social process discursively situated in histories of power (Siebers 2008). Contemporary disability scholarship more frequently works from Kafer’s (2013) political-relational model of disability, which clarifies that disability and impairment are both socially constructed, while also making explicit room for material realities of disablement, such as chronic pain and fatigue, and the inextricable mental-physical experiences of the bodymind, such as aging and neurodivergence (Price 2015). Approaching disability across the humanities has produced diverse modes of analyzing disability as identity (Shakespeare 1997), community (Clare 2017), and mediated representation (Garland-Thomson 1997), leading to crip theories exploring disability intersectionality to critique the ideology of ability (Samuels 2003, McRuer 2006). Disability studies especially draws from queer theory, building on the concept of compulsory heterosexuality—the hegemonic framework which renders heterosexuality the only thinkable option—to propose compulsory able-bodiedness, the requirement that disabled bodies perform as able and desire ability, highlighting homophobia and ableism as intersecting oppressions (McRuer 2006, Clare 2017). Further intersectional crip critique comes from Puar (2017) and other postcolonial and antiracist scholars (Schalk 2018), who describe how the violence of ableism is inequitably applied across multiply marginalized populations, illustrating how disability is not only missing from many intersectional theories of identity, but intersectionality has been lacking in disability theories.

We, as the editors of this issue, understand disability within the framework of the intersectional political-relational model, and believe that fan studies is well situated to contribute to discussions of disability. For example, Sterne and Mills (2017) propose “dismediation” as one mode of aligning media and disability studies’ often divergent goals through recognizing disability and media as co-constitutive—media concepts are awash with metaphors of disablement, and disabilities are so often figured against the cultural narratives and technological specifications of media. Further, fan studies’ continued claims to fandom’s transformative capacity and attention to “bodies in space” (Coppa 2014) desperately require the incorporation of disability critique. Fan studies has not entirely neglected disability as a marginalized identity, as fan scholars have begun to explore the accessibility of online fandom (Ellcessor 2018), examine the disability implications of fanfic as care labor (Leetal 2019), and advocate for thinking with disability to become a “default setting” in our field (Howell 2019). However, the disciplinary lacuna between these two fields has made it difficult for these conversations to develop a strong institutional foothold. By centering disability in fan studies’ discussions, this special issue can foster an encouraging environment for emerging dialogue between the fields to develop, as well as a supportive space for marginalized scholars and fans who do not see themselves represented in media, fan communities, or scholarship spaces.

We encourage submissions from scholars writing about disability from a fan studies perspective, as well as disability scholars writing about topics intersecting with fans/audiences/reception practices. We especially welcome intersectional perspectives that engage with disability as it operates in relation to intersecting identities such as race, gender, sexuality, class, and nationality (Bell 2016). Pieces for this special issue may explore questions of disability and fandom from an embodied, textual, or discursive perspective, for instance: What are the experiences of various disabled fans in fandom? What discourses of disability are circulated, perpetuated, and/or critiqued in fan spaces? How do fans negotiate portrayals of disability in their subjects of fandom, from movies to podcasts to celebrities? How has disability accessibility figured in various fandoms and fan spaces? How do rhetorics of disability, illness, and health affect fan communities and discussions? How does disability identity intersect with fan identity, and/or other marginalized identities?

Submissions may involve but are not limited to:

Fans/fandom and…

Dis/ability

Impairment

Neurodivergence

Chronic pain and/or illness

Mental illness and/or Mad perspectives

Bodyminds

Health

Bodily norms/Normativity

Discourses/narratives/representations of any of the above topics

Accessibility, in digital spaces (Tumblr, Dreamwidth, etc.) and/or physical spaces (conventions, industry, etc.)

Fan mediums with particular relationships to disability, such as cosplay or podfic

Submission Guidelines

Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Diamond Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works, copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and promotes dialogue between academic and fan communities. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms, such as multimedia, that embrace the technical possibilities of the internet and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

Submit final papers directly to Transformative Works and Cultures by January 1, 2025.

Articles: Peer review. Maximum 8,000 words.

Symposium: Editorial review. Maximum 4,000 words.

Please visit TWC's website (https://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or email the TWC Editor (editor@transformativeworks.org). 

Contact—Contact guest editors Olivia Johnston Riley and Lauren Rouse with any questions before or after the due date DisabilityFandomTWC@gmail.com. 

Works Cited

Bell, Chris. 2016. “Is Disability Studies Actually White Disability Studies?” In The Disability Studies Reader edited by Lennard Davis, 406-425. New York: Routledge.

Clare, Eli. 2017. Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure. Durham: Duke University Press.

Coppa, Francesca. 2014. “Writing Bodies in Space: Media Fan Fiction as Theatrical Performance.” In The Fan Fiction Studies Reader, edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse, 218-238. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Davis, Lennard. 1995. “Introduction: Disability, the Missing Term in the Race, Class, Gender Triad.” In Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body, 23-49. London and New York: Verso.

Ellcessor, Elizabeth. 2018. “Accessing Fan Cultures: Disability, Digital Media, and Dreamwidth” in The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, edited by Melissa A. Click and Suzanne Scott, 202-211. New York: Routledge.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. 1997. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.

Howell, Katherine Anderson. 2019. “Human Activity: Fan Studies, Fandom, Disability and the Classroom.” Journal of Fandom Studies 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.7.1.3_2 

Kafer, Alison. 2013. Feminist, Queer, Crip. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Leetal, Dean Barnes. 2019. “Those Crazy Fangirls on the Internet: Activism of Care, Disability and Fan Fiction.” Canadian Journal of Disability Studies 8 (2). https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/491  

McRuer, Robert. 2006. Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. New York and London: New York University Press.

Minich, Julie Avril. 2016. “Enabling Whom? Critical Disability Studies Now.” Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association, 5.1. https://csalateral.org/issue/5-1/forum-alt-humanities-critical-disability-studies-now-minich/.

Price, Margaret. 2015. "The Bodymind Problem and the Possibilities of Pain." Hypatia 30, no. 1: 268-284.

Puar, Jasbir. 2017. The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Samuels, Ellen. 2003. “My Body, My Closet: Invisible Disability and the Limits of Coming Out Discourse.” GLQ 9, no.1-2: 233-255.

Schalk, Sami. 2018. Bodyminds Reimagined. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Shakespeare, Tom. 1996. “Disability, Identity and Difference.” Exploring the Divide, edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer:  94-113.

Siebers, Tobin. 2008. Disability Theory. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Sterne, Jonathan and Mara Mills. 2017. “Dismediation: Three Proposals, Six Tactics.” In Disability Media Studies, edited by Elizabeth Ellcessor and Bill Kirkpatrick. New York: NYU Press.

[isabelpsaroslunnen]

"Don't be afraid to ask for help!"

—me, a hypocrite

[creepyscritches]

Man it is worth pointing out that the ACA is a living piece of legislation. Like every year updated protocols and guidelines release to the whole industry from CMS (gov oversight) and I educate professionals in my field on the changes each time. It was built intentionally to be an evolving and improving system that can handle more and more people each year. The ACA is not a stone tablet; it's an arm of federally protected benefits like Medicare that is inherited and maintained and built up by sequential administrations. It is WORKING, it's so reassuring to see it become so intertwined with our American health care model that an entire wing of the industry is now dedicated to the ACA.

Yeah, we want a better health care system, of course we do!! That's why so many people dedicate their careers to supporting the ACA!!! THIS is the fish crawling onto land that can eventually become a health care system that treats us with dignity. We just have to keep evolving it into a more equitable and accessible option. I vote with my head mostly tuned into future health care + research policies and it makes my goals much clearer. Biden has spent 2 separate administrations leading the Cancer Moonshot research funding initiative that has contributed significantly to the boom in cancer breakthroughs. Trump suggested we drink bleach for covid. I trust one significantly more than the other to continue funding ACA and NIH initiatives and interests 🤷

[curiousitycollective]

Tumblr needs to understand that two groups with what are considered to be different or even opposite experiences can actually face the same issues, often within the same social systems.

Systems can have parts language forced on them when it is detrimental and other systems can have people language forced on them in the same way.

Bi people get told they'd be better if they were gay and gay people get told they're better if they're bi

Physically disabled people are told its to difficult to accommodate their needs and so are neurodivergent people.

Binary trans people get called by "they/them" while nonbinary people are told that "they/them" is to confusing as a singular pronoun and only he or she is acceptable

In our experience often the people who are doing the shitty thing are the same people in both cases. As easy as it would be if everything was nicely paired opposits where everything that happens to group a is the opposite for group b life doesn't work like that and acting like it does causes hurt and miscommunication all around.

[skeleticals]

now I understand why waystones are disabled . its bc all the old waystones are still there and they could prob tp there

[goneinthemourning]

how in the world is mobile compatibility akin to accessibility? a big swath of neocities users are there BECAUSE they hate the way smartphones have become so widespread that many people have them instead of a computer. it's a pretty important part of the movement. "accessibility" is important because disabled netizens deserve to be able to view websites as much as everyone else, not because it can cater to more users. not having a computer is so far from being a disability that it's almost insulting to imply that the two are related in any way.

not everyone has access to devices with bigger screens. devices cost money. some people do not have enough money to purchase device with bigger screen. intentionally excluding people who cannot purchase bigger screen device is classist. (also some ppl just don’t want to have another device, or could buy another but aren’t for which reason.) denying access to someone who cannot afford a device is in my mind pretty similar to things like not providing image descriptions or being wary of eyestrain during creation. PLUS. is there potentially a link between someone being disabled and not having the money for another device? That would be crazy to think about wouldn’t it /sar

mobile support on the small web doesn’t have to be perfect, but how is not trying—or worse yet just being an ass—any better than not having image descriptions? if someone needs yet another several hundred dollar device to engage, what is the point of the “movement”? A web movement that does not try to be accessible is not free. Classism and ableism (just like every other social issue) are linked. What’s insulting is to imply that they aren’t. And if you can’t find some way to make your site more accessible, you aren’t a good webmaster.

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

I see scoliosis, and now I must project my constant back pain onto Heavy specifically because have you seen how that man holds his weapons???

mans got a shit back, and it only gets worse when they go to colder climates, which he hates because that means he's in more pain when he's trying to focus on his family when he gets to see them

his Mama makes him rest, and he gets made fun of by his sisters, and he just smiles cause the other Mercs are just like this

My GOD I'm not the only one who gets concerned about how Heavy carries his weapon!!! Like:

HEAVY... BABE, GIRLYPOP.. BESTIE... plz, I know it's a very heavy gun, and this is probably the most efficient and comfortable way of carrying it for you but THINK OF YOUR POOR SPINE!!

Imo, he probably has a bit of Lordosis and Scoliosis (like me!!). Basically, for those who don't know: Lordosis is when your lower back/spine protrudes too far forward than normal; and Scoliosis is when your spine is crooked (when seen from the front)

Now, I personally have a very mild version of these, so I don't wear a brace. BUT, maybe Heavy has to wear medical back braces to reduce the strain during off times! Like these fancy adjustable fellas:

OR alternatively- although it probably wouldn't really help fix the back problems he already has- a weight belt might be helpful to reduce risk of worsening his already fucked spine and avoid any serious back related injuries.

A weight belt is something commonly seen worn by weightlifters, with the main purpose of reducing the stress on your back, and providing support to your lower spine where most of the weight will be going. I don't actually know if this would help for a spine that already has Scoliosis, but who knows!

Once again, friendly reminder that I am not a medical professional in any way, so I might have been wrong or incorrect in some areas!! Please feel free to correct me, or simply add your own little tidbit of information if you happen to know more!