#epileptic media

[dominikmorishitaleitner]

poster for INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING XVI and concerts by DAZED PILOTS, PALOMA 004, LERNPLANET dj GUNSHIP COLLIDER SA 29JUNI 2024 at KAPU, Linz

[justepilepsy]

The reason I am harping in on spiderverse so much is because it is otherwise a really good film and story and premise.

People are not wrong for enjoying it. I don't want people to stop enjoying it. But I want them to acknowledge that it's not normal for many even non neurodiverse people to leave the cinema with a headache. You don't need epilepsy to have a photosensitive seizure.

There is a lot of great art and great ideas in this movie beyond the rapid Glitch effects, highly contrasting bright colors on large screen areas, pulsing lights and patterns etc

The film goes on to inspire other main stream and indie animation projects to take after its visuals

But if a large part of those inspiring visuals is inaccessible then I am just worried this inaccessibility will invade media that has otherwise been safe for me or others to consume.

Spiderverse is a trend setting piece of art but the execution and apparently exploitative work environment has lead to the film being a real safety hazard.

Looking at the discourse and responses I keep seeing to the photosensitivity posts surrounding it, I worry that more than just the viewers , but also many great artists may think the bright flashing dangerous lights and colors are the reason the art is good, rather than creative scene transitions or fantastic character design and the excellent blending of various frame rates.

And if strobe lights and all these effects are realy what gets you hyped and pumped for any type of art. Then that is okay too. I suppose there is an audience for everything.

But it would still be nice if there was a safe viewing option for people to whom these things are genuinely dangerous.

I want to be wrong about strobes and the dangerous art direction decisions of spiderverse spreading. But I have not yet reason to think otherwise.

[str4wberry-goblin]

Apple+ show Invasion has an epileptic character as a protagonist!!! I haven’t watched all of it and have missed some episodes because my mom’s the one watching it but!!! This is pretty cool and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character in a show be epileptic and have a positive impact on the story

This show definitely isn’t photosensitive friendly unfortunately sorry gang

[redcandieddust]

What the fuck is up with the fact that there are people who are "anti trigger warnings". Like.

Kurwa jego pierdolona mac.

What does that entail, that you want cptsd and epilepsy sufferers to have health endangering reactions to random media that could have been avoided very easily? That you want the disabled and the victims of crimes endangered??

[xemnote]

Tumblr be like:

"check out these tags :3 here's #Epilepsy" and It's a gif or video with strobes playing against my will.

[mabelsguidetolife]

need more characters with epilepsy where their disability is not their Only Trait so you’re not just meant to pity them

[naniyou]

I watched the live with the CEO, here is the tl;dr

The good news:

Chronological dash is here to stay! Whether you have to toggle it weekly or new users default to “For you” was not elaborated on but at least that’s confirmed.

Custom themes are here to stay! Once again, may be buried for all I know but, for sure will remain an option.

Search updates are in the works!!!!

The neutral news:

Tumblr is seriously in the red financially and needs more support, Ad-free for example is not widely used

They would not comment on the suggestion to bring back NSFW behind a paywall (which we all know would get them a boatload of money)

They’re possibly going to add a donation system like Ao3 and Wikipedia.

They would “rather not” sell data to make up the costs

Most of staff are pre-2010 tumblr users including the CEO who joined in 2007, so they do actually use the site and have for a long time

The bad news:

Condensed reblogs/removing duplicate reblogs is going forward. The reason cited was to meet “certain expectations” of users coming from other social media, which isn’t good.

Disability features (specifically turning off flashing ads for epileptics) was met with a request to purchase Ad-free @zingring clarified that they are looking into it but suggested Ad-free as more of a stopgap until something is put in place

Overall it was more chill than I expected, @photomatt and @zingring seem to be far more in tune with the userbase than u/spez.

[wreyeder]

I want you guys to know this shit not only makes my life better and easier, and consequently makes me like you more, but WAY MORE IMPORTANTLY could literally save someone's life.

Yes, eye strain sucks. Yes migraines are painful. Yes seizures are miserable. But every single epileptic seizure, to a very small but very much not zero degree, can just kill you. Seizures are horrible and dangerous - with aspiration and head trauma to take into account as well. Even if it's "not that much flashing" or it's "not that long" or "it's only a seizure" or whatever kind of excuse you may want to make - PLEASE think about photosensitive users when you interact with media

Anything with

Rapid change between different colors

Rapid change between light and dark frames

Anything that causes the value of the screen to change very majorly very quickly

Anything very color intensive/stressful for the eyes

Needs to be tagged with things like "flashing lights" "strobing" "eye strain" etc - NOT tags such as "photosensitive" or "epilepsy" bc we use those tags for our community

Please and thank you

[black-fist-order]

BREAKING: Renowned business expert Scott Galloway hammers Donald Trump as "stupid" and says that he's "blackout drunk" at the "wheel of the global economy" as his tariffs destabilize the entire world.

He also alleged that Trump's sudden tariff reversal enriched his MAGA cronies in the "greatest day of insider trading and grift in history."

This is one rant that every American needs to hear...

During an appearance on The View, Galloway — who is a successful entrepreneur and a professor at the New York University Stern School of Business — was asked by co-host Whoopi Goldberg about Trump's recent behavior.

She slammed him for having "wreaked havoc on the global economy since his so-called liberation day last week with massive tariffs" and pointed out that he backtracked and lowered his tariffs on most countries to 10% while imposing an effective tariff rate of 145% on China.

"It would be hard to think of a more elegant way to reduce prosperity this fast," said Galloway.

"Let's talk about Apple," he continued. "The notion was we're going to bring back all of those great jobs? The average Apple assembly person in China makes $500 a month. The average Apple employee focusing on more high-value things like design, store management, makes $200,000 a year here."

"We want to wear Nikes. We don't want to make them," he went on. "We have outsourced low-wage jobs overseas such that we can create more profits, more investments, and create higher wage jobs."

"If these tariffs hold, your iPhone's going to go from $1000 bucks to $2,300," he explained. "To make an iPhone in the U.S. it would cost $3,500. As a result, the threats of these tariffs take Apple's stock down the value of Walmart in three days."

"If these tariffs hold... 80% of toys under the Christmas tree are from China," Galloway continued. "So 90% of U.S. households are budget-constrained. So we're talking about half the number of toys."

"We're talking about a destruction in shareholder value such that your parents can't retire as quickly and we're talking about the entire world rerouting their supply chain around 'brand America,' which, quite frankly, right now is toxic uncertainty — so they can bypass a series of unpredictable, epileptic, sclerotic decisions," he stated.

"What we finally need to acknowledge: We have someone at the wheel of the global economy that is blackout drunk right now," he continued.

Later in the segment, Galloway dismissed the idea that Trump's policy is setting the stage for the "economy of the future" by bringing jobs back.

"First off, America is the second largest manufacturer in the world," he said. "And the Cato Institute — we romanticize manufacturing — the Cato Institute did a survey, 80% of us believe that we should have more manufacturing but only 20% of us want to work in manufacturing."

"There is no line to get in and have work at an assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan," he continued. "What we want is high-paying jobs. Quite frankly, if this president cared about young men and trying to up-level people we'd go to a minimum wage of $25 a hour."

"And by the way, if minimum wage had kept pace with productivity and inflation it'd be somewhere between $23 and $27 an hour," he explained. "This is nothing but in my view—"

"Do you realize that yesterday about ten minutes before he put a pause on the tariffs and Apple skyrocketed, the market went up 2000 points, there was huge activity in the options market," he went on.

"Yesterday will go down as the greatest day of insider trading and grift in history," said Galloway. "Someone knew what was going on and made a lot of money and it wasn't us and we're going to find out about this."

"If you want to go back — he talks about the great era of the late 19th century — guess what? When we didn't have indoor plumbing? Where we had child labor? I'll take Netflix and novocaine," he said.

"We have a habit because of social media to talk about how terrible America is," he went on. "There are [one hundred and ninety-five] nations, they would all trade places with us."

"Do we have income inequality, we have polarization, do we have struggling young people? A hundred percent," he said. "But guess what? This nation is less bad than any other nation except if you want to take us back to the past. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."

Galloway was then asked about America's image around the world under Trump.

"We have the greatest inflow of capital which drives our stock up which lets us borrow money at a lower cost," he explained. "We have the greatest inflow of human capital. What do the best and the brightest in the world have in common? They want to come to our universities, they want to live in America."

"And part of that is that the American brand is risk aggressiveness, it's rule of law, it's consistency," said Galloway. "Rule of law has gone out the window. Right? We've now decided to defy court orders. We're having used car sales on the White House lawn."

"We are rounding people up with the wrong tattoo and shipping them off without due process to essentially hellscape prisons," he continued. "Rule of law is gone. Consistency? The tariffs are on, they're off, the tariffs are on, the tariffs are off."

"We're alienating nations that love us and we love. When did we decide to go to war against Canada!?" he asked. "Canada!? You know what Canada did?"

"There's this great line that the Holocaust survivor talking to Warren Buffet said, how do you judge friends? V'ery simply, I ask a question would they hide me?'" he said.

"Canadians hid us in the [Iran] hostage crisis," he went on. "The Canadian embassy hid six Americans and if they'd been found out they would have been hung by cranes. We're going to war against Canada!? They are our true friends. We can't even articulate why we're angry with them. We are going to war with everyone at the same time."

"The big winner here, if there is a winner, is China over the medium and long-term, who says 'You may not like us, but you can count us,'" said Galloway.

"The damage here... When he paused the tariffs yesterday, he took the knife halfway out of the economy's back, but the injury will take years, if not decades, to heal," he predicted. "The definition of stupid is doing something that hurts yourself while hurting others. This could not be more stupid...!"

[ms-demeanor]

Not to be rude or derailing your answer to the ask about the scorched earth post, but I do think quite genuinely that the site is becoming more openly hostile to its userbase, or at the very least its disabled userbase. While I’m not a fan of mobbing people’s personal blogs in targeted harassment campaigns, I think some people are also ignoring that staff blatantly said in a recent post that epileptic users would need to pay for ad-free to have their safety assured

I kind of don’t think that’s being ethical or user friendly, to me that sounds like they’re refusing to meet basic accessibility requests and answering with ‘pay us money to be safe’. Strobing and flashing ads aren’t just eyestraining, they can legitimately lead to serious injuries for epileptic folk, and telling people with epilepsy to just pay up or get lost is kinda… I dunno… disgusting?

So it looks like in a livestream (not on a post so far as I've been able to see) either photomatt or zingring made a glib and inappropriate response to an epileptic user asking about flashing ads and suggested that maybe they needed to pay for ad-free.

That's bad, I don't like it, and if it was supposed to be a joke it was a shitty one.

Zingring, tumblr's COO addressed that comment in a post where she said:

Buying ad-free (or gifting ad-free to someone else) is always an option, but that is not the solution (and of course, some folks simply can’t afford it). Sorry that it sounded dismissive in the session! That was not my intent.

I still think that's inappropriate (it's not that ad free isn't *the* solution, ad free shouldn't be *a* solution to accessibility), but it looks like Zingring has addressed this issue multiple times.

She got tagged in this post listing ways that tumblr could improve accessibility for photosensitive users and seems to have pretty consistently followed up; she has explained that there are rules against flashing ads that are sometimes violated by the advertisers and asks people to please report ads that break those rules so those advertisers can be blocked, has noted that there is apparently a "stop all autoplay" option in the works behind the scenes. She does also seem to take it seriously when users reach out with complaints about accessibility issues and seems to be willing to explore options.

Looking through that blog, this does not seem to be a site that is hostile to users with accessibility issues so much as, like everything else that's wrong around here, it is ridiculously understaffed so every project that someone wants to have as a priority is a project that someone else needs put on the backburner.

However, to very gently push back: how much of what you're experiencing as hostility from tumblr is actual hostility and how much of it is seeing posts like this, which suggests that tumblr is removing accessibility features because the lightbox didn't have double-tap-to-zoom on mobile for some users for a short while, claims that the blocking/flagging issue is a false flag against trans women, shared the inaccurate fearmongering post about tumblr live's ToS, and also claimed that tumblr "allowed" flashing ads that violated the in-place rules that tumblr has for advertising?

(this kind of goes with the 'nobody understands the ToS' but also nobody understands ads; tumblr does not have enough staff to look over the ads that go on their site every day, no social media company does, they rely on advertiser agreements as a sort of enhanced honor system and reports from users if the advertisers don't hold up their end of the bargain; the only way around this for any site that uses ads is to not have ads and that post is explicitly saying don't pay for tumblr because they are doing ads wrong - either they have to run ads and some bad ones are going to slip through and users will have to report them or tumblr will have to be 100% paid by the users or tumblr will go away. If you see ads that are unsafe for photosensitive users on *any* website you should report them to the site because the site almost certainly doesn't know that there's an advertiser violating the ad ToS unless someone tells them)

Generally speaking, I am actually *not* seeing worsening accessibility features, I'm seeing improvements compared to where we were five years ago - alt text on images is now built-in and devs are working hard on making tumblr more compatible with screen readers (as noted in the changes blog regularly); tumblr itself started offering different dashboard themes for users after years of complaints about contrast levels and readability; the "tiktok/twitterified" desktop dash view that everyone hates is supposed to be more readable on wider screens.

Compare this post in October of 2022 when Changes celebrated adding animations for posting (and told users those could only be disabled at an OS or browser level) with this post from July 2023 when they rolled back a feature because of an unexpected use case that could cause problems for photosensitive users.

These aren't things that I'd expect to see from a company that didn't care about accessibility, or that was openly hostile to questions around making the site more accessible.

I don't disagree with you that the comment from the stream about buying ad free was inappropriate; it absolutely was and it must have made photosensitive users feel like shit. But in the three months since that comment tumblr has been very responsive about getting flashing ads removed as soon as possible and seems to be working on more permanent fixes. I think this may be an instance of able-bodied people not realizing how shitty and dehumanizing their joke was (and it was) and taking the steps to do better.

If you don't think they're doing better, I probably can't convince you. I certainly don't think that tumblr is perfect about accessibility and I think that users need to continue pushing for improved user control of how the site displays and interacts with various devices. But compared to the kind of responses users complaints got from staff in 2018? I feel like things have improved a lot.

[foldingpaperflowers]

Watching VIP has taken away literally any sympathy I had for any media company continuing to use strobes.

Like, dropout, not only put the exact time stamps for when strobes were in the episodes, BUT they seemed to use some sort of slightly grey filter over the strobing effect?? Which basically removed the contrast that causes issues with my epilepsy.

They managed to keep a creepy ambiance, while keeping photosensitive epileptics as safe as possible. And idk as someone whose had a lot of seizures due to media, I just really appreciate the time stamps. And i especially appreciate that the filter just made the strobes not a problem for me

[welcome-to-latveria]

Couldn't give a fuck about any of the drama surrounding the Snow White remake until I saw they gave Sleepy the dwarf 'narcoleptic cataplexy' (not even what it's called ffs) for laughs and in the process mixing up 2 extremely serious narcolepsy symptoms and misrepresenting them for the sole purpose of comedy. Congrats Disney you made comedy out of people suffering from a rare debilitating neurological disorder! Fun! This shit is not cute it's not comedic it actively harms people with narcolepsy and their families. For years I ignored my symptoms because I had been convinced by shitty portrayals like this in the media that narcolepsy meant you randomly fell asleep despite the fact that's an extremely uncommon presentation of the disease. I guess showing the debilitating reality of it is not comedic enough for Hollywood so they'd rather do the same fucking joke over and over again because hey look isn't it hilarious how some people in real life have damaged brains that means they will never again have a normal sleep-wake cycle? Isn't that literally the funniest thing you can think of? Like isn't it SO funny how I'll never sleep through the night without waking up ever again in my life? Isn't it SO funny how me and every other person with narcolepsy are living functionally sleep deprived for our whole lives? Isn't it SO funny how everyone now recognises how important sleep is to your health and mood but people with narcolepsy are biologically incapable of ever having that proper restful sleep that is so fundamental to a healthy lifestyle? I'm sick to death of the media using narcolepsy for laughs they wouldn't fucking dare to do this with any other neurological condition ffs like they would rightly be ripped to shreds if they made a character who had epileptic seizures for comedic effect but when it comes to narcolepsy it's just carte blance I guess lol

[spot-the-ableism]

https://www.tumblr.com/homochadensistm/762029424206020608/do-not-open-this-persons-archive-and-go-to-october

just was made very uncomfortable with the use of the r-slur (especially as an autistic person)

“The R-word, also known as the R-slur, is a hurtful term that remains prevalent throughout social media, according to a Kantar Social Listening study. The research shows that when social media users are posting about people with intellectual disabilities, 7 in every 10 of those posts are negative, and 6 in 10 contain a slur.  The R-word is a form of hate speech that stands for “retard,” “retarded,” or other offensive words ending in “-tard.” While “mental retardation” was originally introduced as a medical term in 1961 for people with intellectual disabilities, in the decades since, the R-word has become an insult used all too commonly in everyday language. Those who use the R-word often do so with little regard for the pain it causes people with intellectual disabilities—and the exclusion it perpetuates in our society.” -source

there’s not exactly any perfect resource I can point to that explains everything correctly so I will explain, since I will be @‘ing homo with this information I genuinely do think it’s that because their first language is not English they probably don’t know about the reason why people are upset, so I am using the benefit of the doubt.

“Retard”, “retarded”, “retardation” and “retardant” are all words that mean to slow or delay something. It’s originally a French-ish word.

there are many different contexts that the word is used, not all times is it a slur.

But the reason it is, is due to almost a hundred plus years of systemic abuses to intellectually disabled people, epileptics, people with learning disabilities and people with autism and schizophrenia.

for almost a 100 plus years people were sent to institutions or asylums to live out the rest of their lives abused or dying, many many people died in those institutions.

they were diagnosed with “mental retardation” which is actually an umbrella term for all sorts of mental and neurological disabilities, many people with Down’s syndrome, facial deformities and differences, people without the use of their vocal cords and more were also treated in these asylums and institutions and were among the many effected by the rampant systemic ableism and eugenics of the time.

there is this idea that asylums and institutions are not bad, when in reality it’s been almost 200-300 years of them and you can have families and friends and people who wrote books about it and they’ll tell you what it is. Hell.

so why did I give you that context?

well the reason “retarded” or “retard” is a slur is because of those institutions and asylums treatment of people they called the R slur.

their autonomy was taken away, they had no rights, anyone calling out the abuses of institutions were for a long time also penalised, and the eugenics of the time had swayed way too many peoples opinions of the rights of the neurodevlopmentally disabled.

over time things got better and the eugenics of it all started to be penalised, but the fact remains that the r slur is incredibly hurtful and harmful to people still to this day.

there is generational trauma that comes with being neurodevlopmentally disabled or having intellectual disability.

so a lot of people are very insulted and upset at the usage of the word as a slur to insult or belittle others.

I hope that makes sense to you @homochadensistm

[kylejsugarman]

the belmont community center is a great place for girls of all ages to hang out, work on projects, and learn new things. here are some of the center's most frequent attendees—and closest friends!!

quick bios for each of my girls below the break!! :>

TOP ROW: LEFT TO RIGHT:

willow calhoun: 14, best friends with makena and nominal "leader" of the girls alongside her as the two oldest. epileptic, wants to be an animator.

makena amaku: 14, best friends with willow and nominal "leader" of the girls alongside her as the two oldest. talented seamstress, popular on social media.

nell mayhew: 9, being fostered by the feldman family after being surrendered to the foster care system at age 4. serious minded and practical, obsessed with dance.

caitlin feldman: 12, was legally adopted by the feldman family several years ago after being fostered by them. hard of hearing, very smart, wants to be president and dresses like it.

kavi bahmani: 12, best friends with amelie and kanani. has severe adhd and dyslexia, super passionate about musical theater, always in a good mood.

amelie maybeck: 13, best friends with kavi and kanani. transgender girl who has recently moved to the area. very shy and quiet, but loves painting and visual art.

BOTTOM ROW: LEFT TO RIGHT:

maryellen ligotti: 11, best friends with melody. has cerebral palsy and needs crutches to safely ambulate. VERY obsessed with video games, a little on that damn phone but very sweet.

melody young: 10, best friends with maryellen. aunt runs the center and encouraged melody to participate to "socialize" since melody is autistic. shy, happiest when gardening.

claudette roberts: 8, youngest of all the girls and new to the center. comes from wealth, but isn't quite aware of it. super generous and curious, loves to bake.

josita ferrera: 13, best friends with ivy. immigrated to the us with her parents at age 2 from guatemala. hugely determined to be a pop star, musically gifted and very driven.

ivy phan: 12, best friends with josita. type 1 diabetic, has a service dog named dash to detect blood sugar drops. competitive athlete, always ready to practice and perform.

kanani kapano: 12, best friends with amelie and kavi. realized she likes girls and has become very interested in gay activism and community organization in general. really calm, but super protective of the younger girls.

[mxmarsbars]

The impy and pearl headcanons were really cool to read! If it’s alright, though, could I ask for an explanation of FND and of the different types of seizures you talked about? Something my smooth brain can handle 😭

info from google went straight through my head and I prefer asking actual people directly anyway!

hi hi hello!! thank you for asking!! :] please don’t feel bad about not being able to grasp the entire disorder from a first time search, it’s definitely a complicated thing ^_^

FND stands for functional neurological disorder. it’s more so an umbrella term to describe the odd ways that the brain and body respond to certain stress and stimuli. to put it simply, your brain reacts to certain triggers (examples being physical injury, mental and emotional stress, and/or past trauma) in a way that is similar to that of a seizure, but doesn’t show up in the brain as one. hence why the shutdowns are often referred to as “non-epileptic seizures.”

symptoms can range from subtle to more severe. after exposure to one’s trigger, they may experience loss of balance, weakness (sometimes even paralysis), and uncontrollable body movements. lack of consciousness can even occur, which is when the term “non-epileptic seizure” is most relevant. the person’s senses may also be affected, resulting in numbness, vision and hearing problems, and issues with speaking.

from my experience talking with neurologists and with getting diagnosed myself, i was told that it’s often paired with epilepsy, but it can also be a stand alone disorder!! you can have FND and not be epileptic and vice versa ^_^

i’ve rarely seen it represented or talked about online, let alone in media, so that’s why it’s very important to me whenever i talk about it!! it’s a very complicated disorder and can affect your life in a myriad of ways, and it’s often quite hard to cope with. so i’m happy to spread awareness about it!! and i’m even happier people will listen :]

EDIT: just realized this also asks about the other seizure types i mentioned >.< i can summarize the other two main ones below!!

absence seizures are categorized by being small, sudden, minor seizures that typically span between 15-60 seconds long. while you don’t lose consciousness in the usual passing out sense, most people experiencing an absence seizure will find themselves stuck in a staring spell, and for me, it almost feels like an out of body experience you only realize you had once you’re coming back to. these can sometimes have triggers, other times they will just happen at random.

a grand mal seizure is one of the more extreme cases. these ones can be fatal, given the extreme way the body reacts and the absolute whammy your brain is taking from the seizure itself. for symptoms, think foaming at the mouth, choking, aggressive and uncontrollable body movements, and loss of complete consciousness. these often require multiple days, if not weeks, of time needed to recover, especially if the person was not hospitalized when or after it happened.

i hope this helps clear stuff up a bit!! :]

[cannondisabledcharacters]

An anon sent me this article to share. Its an article talks about living with epilepsy and playing video games. Its a very informative article and is written by an epileptic person.

Thanks to the user who sent me this