#facial disfigurement

[mrmillipede]

the sickness that kills

[intervex]

Teratical: a coining for people who want to resist/subvert ideas of "monstrosity"

Teratical: an individual whose appearance is stigmatized in a way that society frames as "monstrous", who is critical of this framing and seeking to reject/resist/subvert ideas of "monstrosity". A solidarity-building term for liberation-seeking minorities that are the subjects of teratology: intersex people, disabled people, fat people, people with disfigurements, etc.

The term rhymes with "emphatical". The word teratical is presently an obscure word in English which means “incredible, marvellous” and shares the root terato- (monstrous) that is used in medicine. 😯

Speaking back to teratology

This is a backdoor way of reclaiming of the root terato- (monstrous) that is used in medicine. Teratology is the study of congenital “defects” and continues to be an active subfield of biomedical research. Some related terms include: teratosis (having such a congenital difference), teratogenesis (the development of a teratosis), and teratogen (an environmental substance which causes teratogenesis).

The scope of teratology as a discipline has long included intersex people, people with disfigurements, and a large variety of disabilities. It includes environmental teratoses (e.g. fetal alcohol syndrome) and genetic ones (e.g. Down syndrome). It’s worth noting that teratology has consistently included the study of people whose “monstrous” traits emerged over the course of their life span. Intersex variations which first become apparent at puberty have reliably been within the scope of teratology: congenital means you were born on this path, not necessarily that it was visible at birth.

While fatness, madness, and acquired disfigurements (e.g. burn survivors) haven't consistently been within the scope of teratology, the point here is for us teratical folks to reframe the conversation. I don't see a need to limit ourselves to the traditional scope of teratology. Fat people, burn survivors, mad folks, and anybody else who feels the spectre of monstrosity can use the term.

Why coin this term?

Because I want a way to talk about the shared history of intersex, disfigurement, and disability. I want a way for us to talk about our common political struggles. And I want a way to do it on Tumblr without invoking the Discourse around the term crip. ���

There’s an academic niche which takes a critical disability lens to the concept of monstrosity (monstrosity studies), and I think it’d be nice to be able to tap into that while working to build solidarity between the intersex, fat, mad, disability, and disfigurement communities.

@scifimagpie contributes a verb form, teraticalizing: to subvert notions of monstrosity in ways connected to disability/intersex/fat/etc justice/liberation. In the same vein of how queering and cripping are verbs used to subvert binaries and ideas about ability.

Flag details

The flag is inspired by the Disability Pride Flag and the Crip Pride Flag. Its stripes represent:

Yellow: the affirmation model of disability. Our existence is not a tragedy. Our lives and our unique viewpoints are valuable. Our bodies are beautiful.

Blue: the social model of disability. It’s not us who are the monsters: the monstrosity we face is the oppression we face.

Olive (yellow-green): the eco-social model of disability. The social model focuses on how the interactions we have in our daily lives disable us. The eco-social model winds back the clock to point out that we can be disabled by social decisions made long before we were born. For example, lead pollution in POC communities is a social cause of disability. I think of this model as “social determinants of health” meets environmental justice meets disability studies.

Purple: the social construction model of disability. “Disability”, “intersex”, and related categories are created by humans, and who is and isn’t included in the categories changes over time and across cultures. Beauty is also socially constructed.

Cerise (pink-red): the radical model of disability. Disability is socially constructed, but in practice we disabled people don’t actually get to control the definition of disability. So let's focus on who experiences ableism. Ableism does not act alone: it shares a deep history with racism and cisheteroperinormativity. 

You can learn more about these (and other) models of disability on their Wikipedia page! (Full disclosure: I created and wrote the bulk of the text in the article 😅).

Sub-coinings

While I'm in term coining mode, I thought I'd get the ball rolling on some subtypes:

Interteratical: teratical in a way that is linked to being intersex (e.g. “bearded lady” presentation of hyperandrogenism, Klinefelter’s)

Neuroteratical: teratical in a way which is neurological, such as tremors, paralysis, seizures, dyspraxia, autism, etc.

Musculoskeleteratical: teratical in a way which is musculoskeletal (e.g. brachydactyly, hip dysplasia, kyphoscoliosis)

Syndesmoteratical: teratical in a way connected to a connective tissue disorder (e.g. EDS, Marfan’s)

Dermoteratical: teratical in a way which is dermatological (e.g. albinism, vitiligo)

Fat-teratical: teratical in a way which is linked to being fat

Mad-teratical / psychoteratical: teratical in a way which is mad/mental

Enviroteratical: teratical in a way which is linked to environmental causes (e.g. lead)

Genoteratical: teratical in a way which is genetic (e.g. Down Syndrome, CAH)

Cryptoteratical: teratical in a way which is unknown or unclear (credit: @scifimagpie)

Racioteratical: teratical in a way which is amplified by being racialized

Flags and additional subcoinings on demand. 💜

Tagging for archival: @disabilityflagsarchive @disabilityflags @mad-pride @varsex-pride @radiomogai @liom-archive @interarchive

[rowanellis]

Why Are We So Scared Of Disfigurement?

"About half way through my research for this video I realised I had to ask myself a question I’d never considered... a question which made it a whole lot more wide reaching, and much more personal... "Am I disfigured?"

✨ watch the video essay here ✨

[noperopesaredope]

I've Finally Figured Out Why Curly's Skin-Thing Frustrates Me

I was talking to someone earlier about how people sometimes refer to Curly as "corpse-like" and why that might be offensive to burn victims, and I was trying to explain why some people might think that way. I think after that conversation, I was finally able to articulate what frustrated me about Curly's burn situation. He doesn't look like he actually has burn scars.

Here are some real life 3rd degree burn scars (sorry if some of them have a before and after photo, they were the best I could get):

Here's also a diagram of burn severity just as extra stuff:

They appear very different from Curly's scars. They are more...wrinkly doesn't seem like the right word? They do not seem to have straight lines that flow in a specific pattern, and are more vein-like than anything. A lot of them also have a more regular skin tone. Whether pink or not, they are not the shade of deep crimson red that Curly's are. They overall look completely different in many ways. One might argue that different types of burns and different degrees cause different scarring, and I agree with that. In fact, having looked into burn scarring a bit more, I believe that Curly's scars may be 4th degree or higher, as it went past the skin.

Let's look at a few:

I have found an example of a real world burn survivor with some similarities to Curly:

(Honestly really liked this video, especially since it taught me a bit more about burn survivors when I first watched it a few years ago)

He, like Curly, had a disfigured mouth and eyes and whatnot. It shows that some of Curly's injuries are realistic, such as his mouth and probably his eyelid. However, his burns still look very different. All of them look much more similar to each other than they do to Curly.

In general, I have not yet found an example of burn scarring that looks similar to IRL scarring. I believe that's one aspect of this, but there is a second, bigger part. The big issue here isn't just that Curly doesn't look like he has burn scars, but that he does look similar to one of those medical textbook muscle diagrams.

His burns are a lot more fleshy and have a certain pattern to them that regular burns (even the most severe ones) don't. They follow lines across the body and take on a certain shape, whereas usually burn scars aren't quite like that. In face, the look a lot like the actual muscle structure:

(The bandages looking a bit like bones certainly doesn't help with that)

On top of it all (and this has always drove me insane), he is specifically described as having no skin. Even the most severe burn survivors have something. They have skin, or at least some sort of layer between the muscles and the outside.

According to all my research (and trust me, I tried), it is physically impossible to live without skin. You will die.

To me, Curly doesn't appear to have actual burn scars or even look like he was burned. Hell, before I knew anything about the game, I never would have guessed he had been burned. Instead, he looks more like his skin was peeled off, not burnt off.

A metaphor I used while talking to the other person is that Curly is like seeing a character who supposedly broke their spine, but then you learn that their entire spine actually disintegrated into nothing and they have literally no spinal cord. And you're like "wtf how is this bitch still alive" because you can live with a damaged spine but you cannot live with zero spine at all.

People don't think of him as a burn victim because there are no burn scars. In fact, I often forget he's a burn victim because he doesn't appear to have any actual burn wounds. Like, all his wounds don't look like burns of any kind. They look more like those medical textbooks. Thus, people see him as "corpse-like" because no living person with burn scars looks like him (at least, not that I can find). Because he literally looks more like a diagram of muscle structure than he does a burn victim. His design is unrealistic in a way that make people horrified.

He literally, in every possible way has no skin.

And that is why so many people are freaked out by him.

[tangytangy]

the seasons pyro fics have my entire SOUL in its grasp right now.. this is from summer/winter, and ive also attached my interpretation of this pyro’s facial scars/wounds! i headcanon/suspect that pyro received minimal medical attention until their first dispenser interaction, which could only heal the major infections festering, leaving their face heavily scarred.

and im sure they have nondescript hand and body scars, but shhh i havent decided those placements yet ^_^

[aggretsu96]

It’s been awhile since I’ve done some art!

Arcane is my new fixation, and Silco is just… ( chefs kiss )

What a fine man 🥵

[dysfunctionaldogdude]

The amount of disfigured / Intensely scarred characters I like is surprisingly large

Idk why people are bothered by that stuff

Like Sal is neat

Wade is silly

I might get Krueger but like that's just if I think about it too hard (Trypophobia)

Remus is babygirl (I'm baby girl chat)

Joker is my dude (me)

I don't really understand the fear of stuff like that, it really isn't as "gross" or "ugly" or "horrific" as people make it to be

Like if I saw someone walking around with half a face I'd only be concerned if it was fresh or something otherwise it's not really my business 🤷

So what if someone is walking around looking like two-face? That's not something you would be worried about

People seem to be too caught up in the whole pity and looks aspect. My only concern is if it's fresh and they're in pain or if they're safe

Or people like Hillbilly (DBD) like he was born like that, it's not really anything anyone could do much of (his parents were shit but that's not my point)

OR THAT KID FROM WONDER

LIKE GUYS IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?

[sadicubus]

Facial differences/disfigurements

A flag for people with facial differences such as burn marks, scars, microcephaly, facial paralysis, etc.

Requested by; anon

ꕀ Excuse my inactiveness i haven't been doing well physically or mentally but I will retheme & post most (maybe, eventually)

Requests will be done soon (I hope)

[unorganisedalienrubbish]

My first fan-art I think? Anyway, he’s Sally from Sally Face. I got all nostalgic for the game this week and needed to draw him.

Click for better resolution

Art Taglist: @whump-queen @honeybees-125

Lmk if you want on/off the taglist

[ghostblobbletea]

What if the accident melted a hole in his cheek :)

[stbrutus]

clay-face

[blackforblue]

Another Sally face doodle!

because I am physically incapable of staying in one fandom for too long

[rondleberg]

Can't stop thinking about this. Like imagine saying this about any other minority group. "Encouragingly, our findings suggest that the removal of gay people stopped homophobia."

?????

Including the word "encouragingly" is BATSHIT like oh it's so good that disfigured people undergo unnecessary surgery in order to look normal because then they're treated like human beings!!!

(Video)

[joysofbraindamage]

"Wonder" movie is NOT inspiration porn

Spoiler Alert!

I watched "Wonder" with some fellow disabled activists after hearing the movie get ripped to shreds by various disabled reviewers. None of us found it to be inspiration porn. The offending scene where Auggie gets an award actually involves him getting an award for something he wrote about kindness in school, not his facial disability. The ableist characters get called out rightfully so. The movie allows both the disabled character and able bodied characters to have a voice. I love that Auggie was told not everything was about his disability. In the scene where the former bullies defend Auggie from bigger kids has to do with how boys show respect based on male biology, the former bullies saw Auggie in regards to defending himself and gained respect for Auggie because Auggie was no longer passive.

The movie has issues of course. The movie does follow tropes about disabled kids getting bullied that has been done a million times, and the actor is not disabled, the kindness message should have been replaced with respect but no, it's not inspiration porn, its cause and effect. I suspect many reviewers projected their own internalized ableism into this story and did not take the movie in fully. I also suspect they hate non disabled characters having a say and reasons and backstory for ableism.

[lyrics-in-the-sun-capture]

Just letting you know..

Shared some old teenage posts from previous old Tumblr accounts just let everyone know these old accounts of mine aren't possible, for me to logged back into them. Sadly many if them are hacked due to knowing some horrible people during the time I had the blog throughout my teenage years.

During education/secondary school/late primary school times when I discovered the internet umfortantly I was dealing with so much online bullying, bullying in general offline, I do not promote or tolarate anything of this on any of my social media. Back then! It was far worse for me please hear me out when your facially disfigured going to school life is so much harder to face on a day to day bases.

Life is more differcult, the pressure is real not just being a young teenage girl back then. That's true!

My escapes was art, photography, media, music, song-writing.

That was what I choose to turn to when I needed to express what I kept inside.. so much has changed over the years compared to where I am now.. anyhow maybe if we try to be a little kinder, more gentle to one another online/in person to regardless of who you are/whatever your story maybe whilst understanding that people in this world are different. Who are just facially different many are physically to also- you are beautiful, your feelings are valid, you are good enough and you do matter.

I hope that if anybody sees this post! It helps you in anyway

Don't let anybody get you down because of what makes you different and stand out, infact being unique induviual is a really cool thing. Owning who you are is cherry on the cake so stay true to who you are!

I am an older woman these days! Always try my best to be positive, be brave, most importantly to be real throughout good or bad and ugly. Online or offline considering music is my life I'm lucky enough to use my platforms online to inspire, educate just be me that's all I can do! Record songs that come from myself.

❤️

[passionslikemine]

This is an excellent take, and also holy shit, why do we have to keep having this conversation, not even the pre-existing characters with facial disfigurements are safe.

literally pleased with almost all of the new atla trailer except as per usual, Zuko's scar, idk why studios are so scared to commit to the intensity of the thing, its supposed to be shocking and obvious and textured and the first thing you see... that's the point, Zuko is supposed to struggle with feeling like it defines and brands him before finally coming to the point in his journey where he defines it.

Hollywood/big studios are known to hesitate or straight up avoid properly and honestly and unapologetically showing people with disfigurements/disabilities/facial differences etc. with the realism they deserve. Which is a shame in general for representation and humanization but ESPECIALLY in this case as its minimization actively harms it's narrative purpose as well

I promise making the scar more intense (shrivel up the ear a bit, make it intrude in his hairline, make his eye in a permanent squint due to nerve damage, for god sake REMOVE THE EYEBROW IT WAS BURNED OFF) will not make Zuko "ugly", (the actor is incapable of looking ugly and also the implication that scars make people too unappealing? yikes) but will actually do the character and his journey justice, not to mention really show Ozai's brutality, another essential narrative tool. Especially when he's bald like hello??? It should be even more stark and intense when he doesn't have hair to distract from it and cover his ear!!!

When transitioning from 2D to live action, of course some visuals are up for interpretation but that usually involved ADDING detail because the constraints of having to stay on modeling frame to frame is gone, not minimizing, removing or airbrushing. Doing Zuko's scar right to me is absolutely essential and I'm disappointed they seem just as as scared to go there as I thought they might. It doesn't have to be gory, if you've ever seen burn victims in real life or in pictures or even cosplayers/artists who are skilled in realistic burn makeup you'd know its possible to balance realism with humanity. It's possible especially with their resources to avoid the "scary Halloween makeup" route while not holding back on the brutality of the original injury.

Budget is definitely not an issue, or "scaring the kids" considering this remake is likely aiming to go a lil darker in tone than the cartoon (which was already super dark with its target audience of nickelodeon 7 year olds so no excuses) Audiences SHOULD be unsettled and upset when they see him but not because he's hard/disturbing to look at but because we are human and do not want to imagine someone doing that to a child.

It's a deliberate choice out of the all too common fear/hesitation to allow someone who is destined to eventually become a protagonist and is meant to be sympathized with to be "too ugly" while this hesitation is very rarely applied to straight up villains (again we come back to media's historic villainization of facial deformity). It's a trend that's always ticked me off in fanart too. The boy's face was melted, for gods sake. Zuko was always portrayed as an attractive boy in the cartoon (fire nation girls fawn over him) even with the intensity of his scar which is something I've always admired! People exist with scars similar to Zuko's in real life, and should not only be permitted to be represented as good guys and/or as attractive when their scars are toned down to be "palatable"

Like I said there's more that I loved than didn't love about the trailer, that can be a whole essay on it's own but I needed to get this very specific vent off my chest because it missed the mark so hard and stands out like a sore thumb in comparison to all the other visuals that hit the nail on the head to me