#▞▚▞▚. ─── STOP DIGGING‚ WHO KNOWS WHAT YOU'LL FIND // [THEORIES] | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silentiumdrifter-blog · 2 years

Text

Hey, you, listen, want to hear about a war crime?

Hello, kids, do you know what time it is?

It's "We should talk about the Russian army" time.

How much do you know about the Russian army? Specifically the mandatory military service? To understand a few bits of more recent information we need to go through a small basic education on the subject.

1) Russia is one of the countries with mandatory military service

When boys reach 18, they either find a way to be exempt (like going to university or proving a medical reason for exemption), or they are forced to go to the army for a year. If they went to the university and they finished it before they turned 27 — to the army they go, unless they immediately get accepted to study for the masters degree. And getting an official medical exemption is really fucking difficult when the mandatory medical examination that the army conducts is ready to sign you up as long as you have a pulse. There are a few other ways of dodging this shit show, but these are the main ones.

2) Russian mandatory military service is bad. It is really, really bad.

First, how do you get conscripted to the mandatory service?

You fail at getting into university. No, I don't believe those who get into university are somehow better; Yes, that guarantees that the army gets those who didn't have the IQ, the dedication, the money or the chance to avoid it.

You have no other choice. Army gets the poorest, the least educated, the most desperate.

You actually believe that Russian army is a good and just place that benefits your homeland. AKA you have been brainwashed since birth and you are ready to justify any atrocity or harassment.

You got there to avoid legal troubles for dodging it, and are just hoping to get through it.

And we are talking only about the mandatory year of service. Now think for a second which of these people are going to sign up for a contract service later on. But back to the topic. Combine the first three groups with an unbelievable degree of abuse and harassment that you might encounter at a flip of a coin. I won't list them all here, the internet is a wonderful place and the lists of horrible accounts are easy to find. Beatings, abuse, torture, blackmail, having to stand in your underwear in the snow because your commanding officer whose nose is permanently red and blood has been about 50% alcohol for the last 3 decades didn't like your tone. Suffice it to say that there is an NCO in Russia called "Mothers of Soldiers" that is dedicated specifically to helping the kids in these situations and their families. Remember this NCO you'll see it again later.

What do you do in the army? In theory — you get into shape, you learn some basic discipline, you learn the skills you might need if you decide to enlist or defend your country. In practice... well, take a guess. First, you do whatever manual labour the officers need done. Paint their country house? Sure. Paint the grass at the military quarters to make it greener? Sure. No, I am not joking. Repaint the same tank over and over? Why not. Dig something for days on end? You betcha. Refusing is pretty much not an option. Second — you march and you march and you march and you march and you learn to look really pretty and patriotic doing it. Third, those who rise to the top of this hierarchy are the ones you really want to keep appeased so you do whatever they tell you to. It is like a prison in that sense, except the warden is there with you and there is a tank in the middle of your courtyard for some reason

3) it is constantly getting worse.

Remember the "Mothers of Soldiers" NCO? Told you you'd see it again. It used to track the abuses and crimes in the army, helping parents protect their kids, helping them find where the kids were stationed, etc. In 2021 this NCO basically stopped its operation and now serves as more or less a small info-service that gives out some recommendations, and that's it. Why? Because in 2021 Russian government signed into law new criteria used to determine if an organisation should be considered a foreign agent. Pursuing, storing or sharing any information about

How many soldiers are stationed and where,

Moral and psychological state of the troops,

Status and result of any investigations of crimes within the army

These three key types of information basically became illegal to pursue for any organisation, lest it be considered a "foreign agent" and most likely forced to close after some time. If you are curious how that is done — look at the case of "Memorial", which tracked the history of repressions in the Soviet Union.

So what does this mean? It means that if during that year of mandatory service you get beaten, abused and tortured, you have to REALLY hope that the system that created those abusing you for some reason decides to protect you. No spoiler alert necessary for the chances of that.

So, now with all of that out of the way — why is this relevant and why should you care?

Since the beginning of the "special operation" aka "war crime fest 2022" Putin has been consistently stating that there are no boys from the mandatory military service in Ukraine, only those who serve under contract. There are a few problems with that:

BULLSHIT.

There have been multiple reports of these conscripts being forced to sign a contract under the threat of violence. Care to guess how many cases will ever be proven? I think 5, to performatively punish 3 officers who will be blamed for the whole fiasco.

Starting from the 22 of February multiple families suddenly reported losing any and all contact with their kids who were going through the mandatory military service at the time. "Mothers of Soldiers" NCO reported multiple calls from terrified mothers who didn't know where their kids suddenly disappeared. Those who later managed to re-establish contact suddenly learned, that their kids were in Ukraine, fighting a war. To any American reading this — imagine that one of your friends disappeared and in 5 days you get a terrified message from them saying they were forced to fight in Iraq and don't want to die. I don't know if the messages from a Russian soldiers that the Ukrainian ambassador read at the UN are real, not for certain. But they sound terrifyingly real.

On the 9th of March Putin himself was forced to admit that "there were several separate cases of presence of conscripts in Ukraine". When the official admission says several sources — that means the real number is too big to hide or deny.

This is literally a mad dictator forcing kids to commit war crimes, simple as that.

Class dismissed.

#this is what the corruption at the core leads to #Most of you don't seem to yet realize the degree of exactly HOW fucked up the situation really is #And if anyone tries to say that he didn't give the order to do this — he built the fucking system that did it for him #Ukraine #Russia #war #context #soldiers #army #children #manipulation #war crime #victims #system #The well keeps on giving...

211 notes · View notes

ijustliketoreadstuff · 2 years

Text

Feri Gonzalez interview part 2: Marinette forgives Chloe

Someone on the wikipedia page finally started translating Feri’s interviews, for those who don’t know Feri is the colorist for ZAG inc and the ambassador for Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir in Latin America, The translator encouraged this to be passed on to other social medias since Feri’s interviews have a ton of interesting information, also no one bother trying to post hate in my comment section, I don’t want to see it here and I wont stand for it, if you guys want to talk about how much you dislike how chloe’s character was written then go make your own post elsewhere. And for the record, no she is not calling out the show for having to many good characters, she says there are simply enough good characters and chloe made an interesting villain, she posted in her other interviews what makes the other characters interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zncLVEGnT0&t=3s

Feri Gonzales: another detail a lot of people didn't like, but I completely disagree, is when some people said, "oh, they ruined her development!", no, to put it simply it just wasn't the development some people expected, many read into their fanfics and they just got attached to certain ideas, certain theories all saying, "oh their gonna redeem her!", and I mean, that's normal, it's normally a typical cliché to see in a lot of children's shows where the bully turns good, but that wasn't the case here, because that's not the message Chloe was trying to send. Chloe was not created to send the message, "oh, Chloe's turning good", that wasn't her point, it was never her point, never in life, people just assumed it was because well, you know, people like to jump to conclusions. Yeah no, that was never her point, all that mess about her "development" is not true, so I will just honestly and respectfully disagree with all that. If you really watched the show from beginning to end, if you pay good attention to it, just get off the street, like how I don't read fanfics. Its been a long time since I stopped reading fanfics, so the show doesn't effect me the same way it does others because I don't read the fanfics , I don't dig into theories, all that I take, I take strictly from the show, so I'm not influenced by any external ideas, so for me its much easier to see things. But I understand why for others its not as easy because their so wrapped up in the fandom, reading things and comics and fan groups that made up this idea about Chloe that really was not the real Chloe, it was simply the interpretation of a character that wasn't theirs, and so when she did something that wasn't the same as what they got attached to, from the ideas of other fans, they believed it was abandoned character development, when it wasn't .

If you completely watched the series without any external idea from others since season 2, which is when things happen more or less for Chloe, to today, you'll notice that since "Queen Wasp" , you'll understand that's the beginning of her end, she will never be redeemed. And sure, they showed us that her mom found her a nuisance, they showed us her humane side, why she was so mean, they showed us why she was so arrogant, why she's always "I'm first", that is, they showed us why she is the way she is, but an explanation is not an excuse for ones behavior, especially if that person or character doesn't want to express change in their attitude when something good happened to them, which in this case was Pollens miraculous. So here (season 2), lots of people though, "yes, she's turned around, she's good now, Ladybug inspired her", no, people do not change over night. If there's one thing I admire about Chloe's writing its that she is stupidly human, Chloe is very realistic, there's real people like this, so to me, I find her writing very human, to me, it made perfect sense to see her react the way she reacted in "Miracle queen", because in "Queen Wasp", I mean, "Style Queen", "Queen Wasp" and "Maladiktator" , we see her reveal her identity to get her mothers attention, because she doesn't give a damn and because of course nothing impresses her. She used her powers to show off to call her moms attention, to blah blah blah, she was willing to put hundreds of lives on a train in danger just to look like a hero, a real hero doesn't put others in danger just to make themselves look good, so to me, from that point , I knew Chloe was going to plummet. Now, people think developments should be good, but no, development can also be bad, a character can fall, hit rock bottom, come out worse, and still be developed, its simply their other side of the coin and that's what happened with Chloe, they showed why she's so crazy, why she's so arrogant, but that's no excuse for her behavior. And what Chloe's character is, also meant to show us how you always have a choice, you always have that final decision, they showed this to us clearly in "Miraculer" when hawkmoth tried to akumatize her and she said, "No, I'm not falling for your trap, I believe in Ladybug" blah blah blah, and she throws the akuma, it was then that they were telling us you always have a choice, there will always be a choice, in that episode Chloe decided she had the choice to say no and she said no, because in that moment she still believed in Ladybug, because Ladybug still hadn't told her she could not be Queen Bee. For Chloe, being Queen Bee was about "Wow, I'm a star, a super pop star, everyone admires me", it was never about, "I'm a hero, I'm going to save people, I'm going to be the best I can be and be selfless", no it was all about "I'm here, now look at me". But because of what she did alone, people thought she would change, no that's not how things work, people will want to change because of their own convictions, not because someone on the outside is trying to put ideas into their head. Yes people from the outside can help support you and they can inspire you to change, but it ultimately falls onto you as a person if you want to accept that influence or toss it aside.

I never liked the principle of the whole "redeeming the bully" cliché for Chloe because it takes away what makes her interesting, that is to say, I feel Chloe isn't entirely evil, she's a neutral character who has her good moments and her bad moments, one would say she's a bit of an antihero that sometimes shines and other times she does the stupidest things, and I liked that about Chloe, she's a character with two very different sides, after all, everyone else is good, Nino is good, Adrien is good, Marinette is good, Alya is good, though sometimes she's really reckless but she's good, there's lots of really good characters, so I think it's really liberating for the show to have a character who stays true to herself and does both. Sometimes she's good, for instance with Sabrina, and sometimes she's just a demon. I liked how aside from her attitude making me burst out laughing, I liked that they didn't change her and say, "Yup, I'm good now", no , that's not how real life works.

Interviewer: Effectively, its the final development they were giving Chloe that I wanted to ask you and well, yes its been something you have been commenting on for a long time now and I like how they went down that route and not the typical cliché route, and I really like how they effectively showed how even if Chloe attempted to do good I feel what Thomas did in that final little note was very interesting because that doesn't erase all the bad she's done.

Feri Gonzales: And the idea isn't "oh, so no person can be redeemed?" or " we shouldn't think about such things?" no, no, don't go that far, Chloe's problem was that she still kept doing bad things, she didn't learn anything, the main hero didn't inspire her to stop being a mean person in real life, she was still mean, she's still rejecting Sabrina when she has her angry outbursts, she's still the same crazy girl even if you decide to forgive her, for instance, Marinette saw her through this angle. Marinette ended up forgiving her because she believed in her again more than twice, in fact in one episode she says "you know what, maybe Chloe can be good ",that is to say Marinette had hope she can be good, Marinette was willing to make peace with her past with Chloe, we know Chloe bullied her, but Marinette was willing to let it go and she gave Chloe another chance...but Chloe, for the fact that she revealed her identity, put her family in danger, put herself in danger and hence forth she put the team in danger, per protocol, Marinette had to take the miraculous away from her so Hawkmoth could stop targeting her, because Ladybug knew Hawkmoth was hanging over her, he knew who she was, he knew what would hurt her, he knew everything about her so Ladybug had to take the bee miraculous away from her, not because she wasn't a good hero, because the truth is she was cool just fighting alone, no one can take that away. The problem was Chloe's motivations were not selfless it was "look at me, I'm so cool" and secondly she revealed herself, she was in constant danger of being manipulated, her family was in danger etc. That said and done, it did happen, that was the whole point of the season finale, I feel like some people didn't pay that much attention to Miraculous Ladybug, because if you look at it from afar, I saw it coming a kilometer away. If you saw miraculous Ladybug you'll say, "what Hawkmoth did, became reality", its something I've said many many times, I think I said this in other interviews, I don't know if it was with you or someone else but I said, "pay close attention at what Hawkmoths doing", that's what I'm referring to because to some, a miraculous meant, "oh look, Chloe Bourgeois is a very interesting character, I think eventually she'll change her ways", but a miraculous is a privileges its not something that's owed to you, she saw it as "you owe it to me, its mine and only mine", from there we're going into bad, that is to say, that was an aspect of an antihero and from there things went bad. In the Miraculous Ladybug finale, people should have caught on that Ladybug wasn't her idol anymore, or rather, she didn't have her on this pedestal anymore , it was obvious there was really nothing left to give her the motive to be good or to go and make better decisions, she had no other motivations, her only motivations were that Ladybug looked at her and needed her because that made her feel important, that's what Chloe wanted. In Miraculous Ladybug, you realize Chloe's replaceable. Once she decided to not side with Ladybug and throws her off this pedestal, of course this being Miraculous Ladybug, Hawkmoth then comes in with a really juicy offer, telling her "you can be queen bee again", and of course she takes it because she has no reason to admire Ladybug anymore, her motivations were never to be selfless it was to be admired.

Interviewer: Exactly

Feri Gonalez: Helping Hawkmoth meant she wanted revenge against Ladybug for taking away a privilege she felt was hers, when it wasn't at all, not even since birth. To me, this was a completely normal reaction from Chloe, the story was leading you up to that finale, I don't see why the people didn't see it coming. Ever since "Queen Wasp" I could see very clearly that things were not going to end well for her, and what Hawkmoth was doing in "Miraculer" was a big hint to this. So when they say, "they ruined her development!", what development?!, they only explained to us why she was so mean. The entire time she was a hero it was always about "pick me!", She takes dance classes and get others akumatized. You cant take away the fact that she's moved to fight, but the akumas and Hawkmoth also give her power to fight, so just because your good at fighting doesn't mean your a good hero, you can also be a villain.

Interviewer: And I think that's the key to understanding Chloe's behavior in the final episode, because its just like you said, she never really did anything, well to be clear, she never wanted to change of her own free will. It was because of someone else that she was influenced to do something because she could get something. Even with Adrien, she tried to get Adrien to recognize she can be nice, but she didn't want to live to be good.

Feri Gonzales: Yes. And really in terms of Adrien, not saying he's not important to her, I think she does care for him to a certain extent, but I think she has more to gain from the fact that he's the son of a super fashion designer, so its more about not loosing those connections or the influence from saying, "I'm friends with that mans supermodel", its also more about, "I don't want to lose Adriens friendship because he's one of the few friends I have, also he's super important and life's about contacts and they have that kind of influence". So, once she endured, she said yes to everyone, but if you really take a look at "Despair Bear", just as Adrien promises her they will be friends forever, BOOM!, she goes back to "your macaroons suck, yours are greasy", Chloe will keep things going until she knows she's got that insurance, and once they tell her things will be fine, BOOM!, she goes back to the way she was, I never got the feeling that she did change. In reality, all the good that they showed Chloe do, like when she was being good to Sabrina, if you pay attention, you'll notice that's all left in the past, that is to say, they're things she just did, they are things that even after being Queen Bee never made her change, she just had a bonding moment with Chloe, that is, she just had her good moments in Miraculous Ladybug.

Interviewer: Thomas Astruc gave out a message, its something you said as well that I really liked, "if you saw the season 3 finale, you've understood why Chloe does things, she doesn't do things because she's selfless, she does them to get recognition and unfortunately that doesn't erase all the bad things she's done. "

Feri Gonzales: Exactly!, it made me laugh as I heard you say that because how many times have I told you that? anytime I talk about Chloe on my page, your my witness, I've always said the exact same thing!. And I swear to you I never talked about what Thomas said, he has talked about Chloe but I never heard him talk about her exactly like that in an interview.

21 notes · View notes

fakeloveaskblog · 3 years

Note

aw, sweet loceit in the evening sun. logan is actually super good at explaining healthy relationships and boundaries and stuff actually, i betcha he could recognize abuse no problem

…aye remy! REMY!! HAve you thought about going to that gay bar more often? who knows, maybe you'll encounter someone nice, make friends with like-minded people, hear some disco, the full nine yards. janus might be there, remus might be there. (just look around for the guy with the blue tie, he's a great guy, if he's not wearing it he'll look like he has that blue tie kinda energy! you could totally just get drunk and unload your grievances on him and i bet he won't even mind!)

(Mentions of U!Virgil but I say beforehand when that happens so those who don’t like U!Virgil can enjoy the rest of the fic up until then)

(Words: 4100)

Remy wiped away a tear while looking at your message. The cold light from their phone was the only thing brightening up the room. Virgil was sleeping beside them, his arm was laid around their waist.

"You just like tots gave me the greatest idea! I'm gonna invite Rem out to the bar! It's gonna the funnest thing like ever! Thanks girl!!"

2 days later Remus was dangerously close to eating the moss straight from the gay bar's wall. He had been left without supervision for over 15 minutes while he sat outside waiting for his friend to show up, what else was he supposed to do?!

"SSSSUUUP BABE!!!"

Remy came towards him as fast as they could. They had on a short leather skirt, a neon mesh crop top and a leather jacket over it.

They did a little turn "I just like felt a bit glamorous today!"

Remus choked on his own spit "The world must be a dark place when you aren't feeling glamorous"

"Awwww babbbe"

He sent them a big grin. He'd just put on his usual oversized dysphoria hoodie and matching oversized (:O) sweatpants.

Remus' smile disappeared in an instant as he noticed dark bruises all around Remy's neck. Shades of purple and green collided against each other.

"Ehm did a vampire come and attack you last night? Seriously are you alri-"

"JUst a reminder that it will be loud in there" Remy interrupted.

"Oh. Right!"

He fumbled around in his bag after his headphones. After putting it and a chew necklace on he did a thumbs up. Remy took off their sunglasses and leaned down so they were face to face.

Their face was so close he could feel their breathe against his lips. They put the sunglasses onto him and sent him a soft smile.

“There’s like lots of bright lights too” They explained.

Remus’ heart fluttered. He didn’t understand why “T-thanks”

They moved their arm around his shoulders as they went into the bar. It was past 12 am so some of the daytime furniture had been moved to make place for a dancefloor. There was indeed lots of neon lights flickering all around the bar and fast pop music was blasting through the speakers.

It was hard to see any details of anyone around him so Remus quickly forgot about the bruise. In this lighting it just looked like a weird choker anyway.

A guy with a see through shirt bumped into Remus. He had top surgery scars. For a moment they looked at each other in the most knowing way. The stranger looked away and continued talking with whoever he was with.

Remus whole body seemed to vibrate. There were so many butterflies in his stomach it felt like he was going to puke, in a good way.

Remy sat him down on one of the tall barstools and slumped down right next to him “So whatcha gonna drink?”

“The squashed down organs of my enemies!!!” He shrugged “Soda?”

They burst out into laughter “What? You catholic or something? Not allowed to drink alcohol?”

He slumped in on himself and started fiddling with his necklace “I-I dunno-”

“No. No babe I was just like joking. Like a stupid bitch. It’s okay” They waved at the waiter “Your most alcoholic fruit mix and your finest coca cola please!”

Remus leaned in to whisper “With salt”

“With salt? Please!”

He kept vibrating like an overexcited weasel. After getting their drinks he kept tapping the glass to stim some of the happiness out.

“Honestly I’ve never been to a gay bar before. I’m digging it. Just like how I’m digging graves”

They playfully hit his shoulder “Then I’m tots gonna try my best to make this the ultimate first gay bar experience! I can’t think of any other lil fucked up gremlin buddy I would wanna have by my side!”

"Muhahah!! I am officially assigned ultimate gremlin buddy-”

“Greetings” A voice suddenly came from behind them.

Both of them flinched away. Remy let out a short yell and Remus was close to throwing his drink in the person’s face when he saw it was just Logan.

He had on jeans and a black button up with the top button unbottoned. He had with him iced coffee from starbucks because he had to drive home later.

“LOGIE!!!” Remy threw their arms around his neck to pull him closer “Babe this is the Log-legend. Once he was like sooo drunk so when he like tried to kiss me puked on my shoes instead!”

Logan grimaced “I am still very sorry about that”

“Oh I already know him through Janus” Remus replied.

“Oh my gawd babe” Remy looked between them all “So like we all know Janny?! Wig! Sad he isn’t here then”

Remus held up his cola “Cheers to J-anus!” The other two held up their glasses in agreement.

“Cheers”

“Cheerio!”

“He is very pretty and charming and cute” Logan dreamily sighed. He stopped himself from continuing to say compliments.

“Yeah” The other two sighed back in unison.

Logan sat down on a chair next to them. Remy looked around the bar before squinting at him “No Patty?”

He instantly started looking like a Very sad seal “Sadly my wife is away on a convention with her magical girl anime fanclub this whole week. I estimated that going to the bar would make me feel less lonely”

“You have a WIFe??? Like a real one???” Remus exclaimed, his eyeballs were close to popping out from surprise.

“Yes. This may be a controversial opinion but when I marry someone I prefer them to be physically real” He replied druly.

He got a smug grin on his lips “Does she peg you?”

“She does far more than just peg me”

“Nice!” His eyes went even wider “IS That a stim toy??!”

He pointed at the tangle Logan kept between his fingers “Correct. If I do not have something to relieve my focus onto I can easily go into senso- OH a chewie?”

Remus nodded while showing of his chew necklace. The two of them started rambling about their favorite stim toy. Until they went off into special interests (star trek/astronomy and art/animal biology respectively).

Soon enough Remus was showing pictures of the animal bones he’d found. Logan ooeh and ahhed at all of them before asking the most nerdy of questions (where he’d found them, their bone density, if any damage had been done to them) which only made Rem infodump which made Lo infodump which made them both happy stim.

Meanwhile Remy sat beside them completely zoned out. They got time to drink 2 more of those fruit mixes and a few shots. The room was starting to spin.

The loud music wasn’t keeping out the yelling. They dunked their forehead against the bar table and covered their ears to try and get it out. The music was supposed to keep it out! Why was nothing working! The bruise ached. Their throat closed in on itself until they couldn’t breathe.

“Remus” They gasped out. They looked over to their friend with a desperate look in their eyes. They just needed a distraction.

“So my theory for why you keep finding bones in specifically that part of the woods is because of the kind of dirt making it take longer for them to deco-” Logan was explaining while Remus nodded along.

“Rem! L-let’s like go up and dance or something. Please”

This time it caught Remus’ attention. He looked over to them “Sure- are you feeling alright? Did you drink too much? You’re looking like a mummy”

“Yes. No. I just like- Like- They’re playing Charli xcx of course we gotta like dance!!”

“I will protect your belongings then” Logan added.

Remy stumbled up on shaky legs. Remus sent them a warm smile that made them want to cry before taking their hand. He let them lead him out to the dancefloor. Honestly he was pretty nervous about it, but being with them always made some of the anxiety melt away.

They stumbled on their own feet and fell forward. Their friend took ahold of their wrists and pulled them close to his chest. Their faces were so close to each other. So so close.

He didn’t let go. They couldn't remember him ever letting them hold him this close. Their chests pressed against each other. Their arms around his shoulders. His hands on their back.

"You’re right. It is a good song. Good to crash a car too" Remus said absentmindedly.

Remy let up into shaky giggles from how sudden he’d said it “Yeah. Yeah I guess”

They kept giggling. He chuckled back. He started spinning around on the dancefloor. They moved with him. His arms wrapped closer around their waist. Their cheek leaned against the slope of his neck (even though they had to lean down to get on his height level).

Remy quietly sang along to the music which made Remus start yelling along to it. The enby threw their head back from laughter. They took his hand and intertwined their fingers.

Remus moved his hand out and spun them around before pulling them close again. Their cheeks were flushed red, his was as well. He playfully dipped them down when the song ended.

It continued on into a song neither of them knew but they kept dancing anyway. They didn’t stay as pressed close to each other but they always had some contact. Holding hands. An arm around a waist. A head leaning against a chest.

When they finally got back to the bar table they were both panting. Remy was completely leaning on Remus since their body had started to hurt, but even through the pain they were both bubbling over with so much happiness they kept breaking out into bouts of giggling.

To their surprise Logan wasn’t sitting alone. A tall person with long dark hair sat on the chair beside him. Xir hand was on his thigh. The nerd had a soft smile on his face as they leant close to talk.

“Uh Lo?” Remus had to wave his arms around to get his attention.

His head shot around to look at them “Hello” He glanced to the person “These are the ones I was protecting belongings for” He stood up and held out his hand “Shall we?” Xir took it. Logan waved at his friends before going off to the dancefloor with the stranger.

“Huh. Good for him”

“I guess”

Remy ordered another high alcohol fruit mix. Remus happily chewed on his necklace while humming along to the music. Between their chairs their hands hang with their fingers intertwined. Holding their hand had started to make Remus feel all funny in the head for some reason.

The enby watched on as Logan and the stranger danced for a bit before moving to a corner to make out. When the stranger started to lead him towards the bar’s bathrooms Remy turned to their friend.

“Yeah okay he’s not coming back for like a while. Smoke break?”

“Of course!”

They finished their drink before leaving the bar. The pair stopped right outside. Remus sat down on the side of the pavement. Remy tried to sit down but they stumbled over themself and fell flat on the ground.

Remus got up to help “Are you okay? Are you sure you haven’t drank too much?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine” They laughed out.

He sat them down on the pavement while dusting off their clothes. He patted them on the head while pouting “You should get some water”

“Naaaah babe. I’m good”

In the moonlight the bruise was visible again. That horrible dark purple bruise around their neck. It looked like it hurt.

Remus put his hand on their shoulder “Beanie are you alright? I do know it wasn’t some halloween monster that got you that bruise”

For a moment their whole body tensed, they forced a smile “It’s fine. me and my boyf just tried like some new kinky shit in the bedroom y’know. Nothing more” They lied.

They took out a cigarette pack and a lighter from their bag. They traced their thumb over Remus’ lower lip and opened his mouth just slightly. Remy leaned closer while putting a cigerette between his lips. They lit it.

Remus took a deep breathe. It’d been a while since he’d last smoked. He leaned so close the cigarette nearly touched Remy’s skin. They parced their lips as he breathed out the smoke right into their mouth.

A smile spread on their lips. He held the cigarette over to them but they shook their head. They looked around in their bag again and took out a small poppers bottle.

“Should you really take that. Won’t your brain melt out of your ears?” Remus asked “I really don’t wanna have to slorp up your brain juice...yet”

“Relax babe. It’s like not dangerous as long as I don’t like take too much and I only take when partying” It took a moment before they quietly added “And I only party when I need to get out of the apartement”

“What?”

They forced on a bigger smile “What?”

Remy moved the popper up to their nose and inhaled as much of it as they could. It took a few seconds before they let up into a giggle. It was in a higher tone than their usual bubbly laugh, it almost sounded like cackling. They could see stars.

(U!Virgil mentions from here on out)

“Y’know my boyfriend gave me like a flashback or whatever last night” They giggled while swaying from side to side.

Remus gently grabbed their shoulders and moved them to lean against him so they wouldn’t fall over “Uhu. Did you stab him?”

“No silly. He just. He’d been soooo sweet all weeek and I just I just ruined it ‘cause i like overeacted to some joke he made while like we were washing the dishes” They were barely even aware they were speaking “And like it just kept going until we were like screaming at each other”

Remy was still smiling and giggling between every word but tears started to form in their eyes. Their fingers felt numb. Bile was rising in their throat.

“And he just like threw the plate he was holding down on the ground. And it like didn’t hit me. He wasn’t even aiming at me. He was just throwing it at the ground. But it shattered and it was so stupid and overemotional and stupid and pathetic but I just I just curled up on the floor and like had a panic attack like a stupid baby”

They smeared their hand across their face to try and get the tears away. They felt sick. Remus quickly put out his cigarette, it didn’t feel like the right time to smoke.

“And I just like- Is that normal? Is that fine? Like throwing stutff like that? I-I- he’s never done it before. Or I mean like not plates” They looked up at Remus “Is it fine?”

He gulped while fiddling with his hoodie sleeve “Well uh did he apologize?”

“Mhmm. He like- like for some minutes he like kept yelling ‘cause he thought I was just like faking a panic attack to like I dunno manipulate him but then he like comforted me and like calmed me down and like held me and cuddled all night until I fell asleep and- and he said sorry a bunch of times and like he said it would never happen again. He uh usually doesn’t lie”

“Well ehm then it should be fine right? Right?” They both shrugged at each other “I mean everyone can make mistakes! And it was during an argument! Everyone does drastic things during an arguments! So it’s fine. I think”

A shaking breathe of relief left Remy’s lips. They stretched themself over his lap and he moved his arms around them. “Thanks babe. I was like tots worried for a bit but y’know i was thinking like that too. So it’s fine”

“Yeah” He combed his fingers through their hair “You do know you can vent to me whenever right? I promise I won’t gross you out with details about how to pull out rabbit teeth ever again so if I can hold that back then I can also listen to stuff! I can super listen!!”

They closed their eyes. They felt so tired. So tired and sick and horrible. “Mhm. I know babe. I know”

Remy sent him a soft smile before suddenly puking. Some of it came on his pants but mostly on the ground. Remus stood up and carefully moved them down to a sitting position.

He rubbed up and down their back with one hand and held their hair back with his other. Their shoulders were shaking and they were taking in shallow breathes between every sudden throw up.

“It’s okay beanie-boo. Breathe. Breathe. You got all the time in the world. Until the sun blows up at least”

“I-I took- too much- too much” They slurred out before lurching forward again. It seemed to stop for now.

“I’m aware” He carefully wiped away some of the puke left around their mouth with his hoodie sleeve.

They leaned back against his chest. They closed their eyes and focused on breathing. He held them so so gently. As if they would break like glass otherwise. He pressed a kiss to the top of their head.

“There you are!” Logan said as came through the bar entrance “What a relief. I assumed you had left without me because you thought my actions were unacceptable” He noticed how pale and shaky Remy looked and got a worried look on his face “Is everything alright?”

“They feel like someone has slammed a fish into their stomach. Not good” Remus replied.

“I see. I suppose it woud be best to get them home”

Logan picked Remy up with ease to carry them to his car. He was quite sure he’d carried dogs that weighted more than them. Remus anxiously followed along.

He sat them in the passenger seat. He shook their shoulders until they opened their eyes. They let out a quiet whine.

He held up 4 fingers “Remy how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Fuck yourself”

“Noted”

They moved to the side and seemed to pass out again. Logan closed the door before turning to Remus.

“Did they take anything?” He whispered.

“Only a popper”

“Good. Do you need a ri-”

“Bus”

“Okay” Logan was about to go but stopped midstep and lowered his voice even more “Oh and Rem...Could you please not ask Janus to hang out next weekend? I am planning a surprise...I hope it will make him happy”

“Good luck comrade....Please text me once Remy is home safe. Please?”

“Of course”

He did a little nod before leaving. Logan got into the car. He couldn’t stop looking at the bruise around their neck. Remy continued to sleep for most of the ride until they they were 5 minutes or so away from their apartment. They suddenly flinched awake.

“Stop the car!” They gasped out.

“Are you still feeling the same?”

“Logan stop the fucking car!” There was fear in their eyes.

Logan stopped by the side of the road. The road was barren and dark. It had to be past 3 am at least. Remy crawled back into the backseats while their whole body shook.

“Don’t. Look. At. Me”

“Sure” He stared down into the steering wheel to not accidentally see their reflection in the glass.

“I just. I just have to change clothes. I just. I don’t want Virigl to call me a whore again. I mean. He won’t. But what if. What if he gets mad. I just. I just have to change” They slurred out.

They stumbled out of the car after changing into a pair of long pants and closing their leather jacket. A cold chill went up Logan’s spine. He quickly stepped out of the car as well.

“Okay bye bye Logie!!”

They tried to move but Logan grabbed onto their shoulders. He forced back a choking feeling in his throat “What do you mean by your boyfriend getting mad?”

“Pff! It’s nothing! I’m drunk!! Byyyeeeeee”

They started to stumble away but Logan easily followed along “It did not sound like he called you a whor-...you know what...with your consent. I am simply going to remind you that calling a partner things like that is not okay. Not in any circumstance”

Remy’s expression turned cold. They walked faster “I don’t like what you’re implying”

“I’m not implying anything”

“Yes you Fucking are!”

“Exscuse me for being worried about your wellbeing. What you just said sounded like a very bad sign”

“Yeah exactly it only SOUnded bad! My boyfriend isn’t bad!” Remy snarled out.

“I am not saying he is. He doesn’t have to be bad to say awful things, as long as he changes”

They shoved their hands into their pockets. Their hands moved into fists “You don’t know a fucking thing about me. You tried to kiss me once when you were drunk and that’s all. We don’t know each other”

Logan took a deep breathe “I don’t need to know you to see red flags. Remy-” He searched for words “Remy you’re bruised. How- you can’t expect me to not get worried”

Remy suddenly stopped and turned around to meet his eyes. “MY BOYFRIEND ISN’T ABUSIVE! I-”

“I’m not necessarily saying he is. I just wan’t to talk-” His voice started to sound desperate.

They looked like a cornered animal. Tears were brimming at the edges of their eyes “YOU DON’T KNOW A THING!”

“Remy-”

“I DID THIS TO MYSELF!” Their hand went up to the bruise “I DESERVED IT! VIRGIL DIDN’T DO A FUCKING THING! I DID! I TOOK A BELT AND HURT MYSELF! OKAY?! VIRGIL CARES ABOUT ME!”

He tried to sound soothing “Remy please take a deep breathe-”

“NO! NO! YOU KNOW WHAT LOGAN?! THERE IS STILL CUM ON YOUR FUCKING LIPS FROM YOU SUCKING OFF SOME STRANGER IN A DIRTY BATHROOM! SO NO! I AM NOT TAKING LOVE ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO IS CHEATING ON HIS GODDAMN WIFE!”

They stormed away. For a moment Logan was frozen in place before he forced himself to run after them to try and make sure they would be okay.

“I am not-”

Remy looked at him for one last time. The look in their eyes made him feel cold. It was pure hatred.

“Logan get the fuck away from me! I am drunk and high and alone on a street with no one but you who is sure as hell fucking stronger than me and all you’re doing is spouting bullshit! So please get why I want you to leave. And why I don’t ever want you to talk to me again!”

He stopped dead in his tracks “...Right....Yes....I am so sorry”

Remy didn’t even respond. They simply turned and walked away. Logan stayed and watched to make sure they got home to the apartment safe before going back to his car.

He slumped down in the seat. His heart was racing and his thoughts were for once an illogical flurry. He sat motionless for several minutes before finally getting some semblence of an idea.

He took out his phone and dialed one of his usual numbers. It took several signals before Emile Picani picked up.

“Mhm? Logie bear? I can’t today I have clients in the morning” He yawned out.

“This is about one of your patients. I am fearing that they are in danger”

In an instant all of the sleepyness in Emile’s voice disappeared “In danger? Physical? Is it urgent? Do I need to call someone? Which patient are you even referring to?”

Logan hesitated. If Remy had reacted that strongly to him just attempting to ask about his boyfriend it was very likely that they would stop going to therapy if Emile brought it up. His throat tightened, he didn’t want to put them in any more danger.

“I....Nevermind Emile....This was just a far too gone joke...Someone dared me to call you. I am sorry. Have a good night”

He ended the call. He leaned his forehead against the steering wheel and let out a long sigh. His hands held onto the wheel so hard his knuckles whitened.

Logan had no idea what to do. No idea at all. All he knew was fear. Fear for Remy’s safety. Fear for their well being. Fear that anything he did would only make their situation worse.

#mini fic #remus sanders #logan sanders #remy sanders #sanders sides #remsleep #resleep #rem^2 #these sure keep getting longer huh #its past 4 am #fun

14 notes · View notes

oikoik · 4 years

Text

—the sound of rain (pt.1)

warnings; none

word count; 1307

a/n; here she is! ghost!shimizu makes her appearance :)

━━☆ six days later ☆ ━━

The sun was already close to beginning its descent into the horizon by the time you were standing in the entrance of the small apartment you would now call home. Boxes littered a few rooms of the flat, although there weren't many considering Atsumu had still been home when you and Suga went to pick up your things. The decision of leaving was beginning to sound better each day you were away from him. Though you'd be lying if you said you found the silence of the vacant apartment to be rather eerie.

You crossed over the threshold of the doorway. Suga had just left to go back to his own place and now you were alone. Completely and utterly alone. A faint chill ran through you at the thought. Maybe you'd get a cat to keep you company.

Aside from the bare walls and empty rooms, the space itself was perfect--cozy, large enough for you to live comfortably. The unpacking wasn't taxing, not physically at least, but it still felt overwhelming to know that a new chapter in your life was starting.

At a quarter to midnight, when you could feel fatigue pulling at your limbs, you managed to convince yourself to crawl into bed, the coldness of an empty home giving you little to no comfort in the dark hours of the night.

You were sound asleep until a crash came from the kitchen. Your heart thundered in your chest as you searched for something to defend yourself with, should it down to it. Clutching onto the neck of a metal water bottle, you silently tiptoed towards the front of the apartment.

Images raced through your mind of men clad in dark clothes, or Atsumu having found your address and showing up to try and convince you yo come home. What you weren't expecting to see, however, was the small figure of a girl crouch over a few boxes scattered across the laminate flooring.

Your eyes were focused on the dull yellow glow surrounding her lithe figure. At first glance, you thought it was an angel, but when the girl turned around, all the air in your lungs seemed to evaporate.

She was beautiful, and had features that were very much human, but the opaque glow to her skin made that theory impossible. The girl's eyes grew wide upon seeing you, her gray-blue irises studying every detail with curious wonder. When you finally found the ability to speak, all you could do was ask, "Who are you?"

"My name is Kiyoko Shimizu." Her voice was real, very real. So real in fact, that it sent a chill from your head to the tail of your spine.

A small part of your brain told you that you should be terrified of the strange presence in your new home, but you could only feel a sense of calm and comfort wash over you the longer you looked at Shimizu. Curiosity won over your rationale and you played into the company you now had. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

"You do?"

Shimizu didn't laugh, but her shoulders shook slightly as if she had. "Well, I used to. But it appears that you are the new owner."

You struggled to find the words to say, still trying to comprehend the complexity of the whole situation, "you did?... And… why do you look like.. that…?"

For a brief moment, you feared you had offended the girl, but Shimizu merely tilted her head to the side ever so slightly. You nearly mimicked her expression, uncertainty also playing into your subconsciousness.

"You mean… you don't realize it yet?"

You shook your head nervously. A part of you knew you should be afraid after having woken up to such a strange occurrence, but you only watched in wonder as the yellow-rimmed girl took a cautious step closer. "I'm a ghost," she spoke as if it were the most normal statement, her hand motioning to the rest of the apartment, "and this is where I reside."

You were silent for a lengthy moment, your eyebrows drawn into your forehead. When you did finally speak, you couldn't refrain from lightly pinching the skin of your forearm. "I think the stress is getting to me… this isn't happening."

Shimizu's voice was gentle, soothing almost, as she whispered, "I can assure you that it is indeed very real." And to emphasize her point, you watched as she reached for the water bottle you had since placed on the countertop. Instead of flesh meeting metal, you watched as her fingertips seemingly passed through it.

"Oh…" another pause settled between the pair of them. You couldn't tear your eyes away from where the bottle sat, intact, unmoved, and with a set of fingers through it. Finally, you rubbed at your eyes, "I'm going back to bed."

Kiyoko said nothing, just watched in mild shock as you wandered back towards the bedroom, a far-off look on your face and the metal water bottle left forgotten on the counter.

The next morning, you woke up shortly after eight, and nearly had forgotten of the nighttime encounter. Your feet cautiously bring you towards the kitchen, a sigh leaving your lips when you saw no glowing figure examining your boxed possessions. Just a normal apartment, on a normal morning.

You walked towards where a few boxes sat on the counter and pulled out the coffee maker. After a bit of digging through two other boxes, you had found a mug and was shortly after leaning over the counter, a cup of coffee warming the palms of your hands as you looked out the window over the sink.

"Good morning."

The mug nearly slipped out of your grasp as a surprised gasp left your lips. You spun around, only to come face to face with the same mysterious girl from the wee hours of the night.

Upon seeing her, your heart slowly stopped hammering against your ribcage. You set the mug gingerly onto the countertop, "So it wasn't a dream after all."

"Not in the slightest."

Now, in the light of day, you were able to notice distinguishing features of the girl. Your eyes traced over her face, noting the small mole just below the corner of her lips, the dark raven hair that fell to her shoulders, and the gentle aura she seemed to emit no matter the time of day. She wore simple clothing--a light cream cardigan sweater with a short blue skirt and black tights--then a realization hit you. There was no way this girl couldn't be much older than yourself.

Her voice brought you back from your trance, "I'm assuming you'll be leaving soon?"

You couldn't hide the surprised expression that followed Shimizu's insinuation. "Why would I be leaving?"

"…Because you're scared? Not many people stay once they've seen me." You could have sworn you saw something flash in her eyes. Sadness, maybe?

You thought for a moment, taking her words into consideration. Were you scared? Intrigued? Confused? Most definitely. But afraid? You didn't think so.

"No, I'm staying." You took a sip from your coffee, finding the usually bitter liquid just a little bit sweeter than usual. "I mean- if that's alright with you?..."

You aren't sure what made you say that, but it felt strange to announce your stay in a home that was once someone else's, especially when that person is present.

Shimizu looked a bit surprised at your remark, no one had stayed for long after she made herself known, let alone ask for her approval. "Of course," a soft smile played at her features, emotions she hadn't felt in a long while leaving their dormant cage.

You couldn't help but return the gentle grin. Maybe loneliness wouldn't be a problem after all.

taglist;

@veggytaled

#haikyuu!!#hq!!#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu scenarios #kiyoko shimizu #kiyoko x reader #my writing #the sound of rain

15 notes · View notes

lesliepump · 7 years

Text

Podcast #147: Accessible Justice, with Haben Girma

In this episode, we talk with deaf-blind civil rights lawyer and accessibility advocate Haben Girma about accessible justice and how designing courts, law firms, and the attorney-client relationship for people with disabilities can increase access to justice for everyone.

Haben Girma

The first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a civil rights lawyer and she advocates for equal opportunities for people with disabilities. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change, and Forbes recognized her in its 30 Under 30 list. Haben travels the world consulting and public speaking, teaching clients the benefits of fully accessible products and services. She is a talented storyteller who helps people frame difference as an asset.

You can follow Haben on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Thanks to Ruby Receptionists and Clio for sponsoring this episode!

Listen & Subscribe

To listen to the podcast, just scroll up and hit the play button (or click the link to this post if you are reading this by email).

To make sure you don’t miss an episode of The Lawyerist Podcast, subscribe now in iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or find out about new episodes by subscribing to our email newsletter.

Transcript

Speaker 1: Welcome to The Lawyerist Podcast with Sam Glover and Aaron Street. Each week Lawyerist brings you advice and interviews to help you build a more successful law practice in today's challenging and constantly changing legal market. Now here are Sam and Aaron. Sam Glover: Hi, I'm Sam Glover. Aaron Street: I'm Aaron Street. This is episode 147 of The Lawyerist Podcast, part of the Legal Talk Network. Today we're talking with deaf/blind civil rights lawyer and accessibility advocate Haben Girma about accessible justice. Sam Glover: Today's podcast is sponsored by Ruby Receptionist and its smart, charming receptionists who are perfect for small firms. Visit Call Ruby dot com slash Lawyerist to get a risk-free trial with Ruby. Aaron Street: Today's podcast is also sponsored by Clio Legal Practice Management Software. Clio makes running your law firm easier. Try it today for free at Clio dot com. Sam, we had the privilege of seeing Haben keynote the Clio Cloud Conference in New Orleans this fall and instantly knew that we needed to have her on the podcast to talk more in-depth about some of these topics. We've talked a little bit in the past about accessibility as it relates to law firm websites and client experience and intake. I think it'd be worth spending a couple of minutes here before the interview refreshing how practices in accessibility can relate to better design overall for everyone. Sam Glover: Yeah. Haben and I talk a little bit about this. I think it's really worth emphasizing. Microsoft has a theory on this that they employ in their design. I think it's really aware of just the advantages that you can have by designing for people who are disabled. The theory is that people who are disabled have more challenges moving through the world day to day that they've already solved most of the problems that the rest of us have. In designing things for people who are disabled you're probably solving problems for everyone else too. That turns out to be true again and again and again. You're listening to this through the medium of a variety of devices that were all built with accessibility first in mind. Aaron Street: Absolutely, whether that's your iPhone with a whole set of accessibility features or on the website. Sam Glover: Phones, keyboards, microphones. All of that stuff was built for disabled people first. Aaron Street: We transcribe every episode of this podcast so there is an alternate text version of it. Those might help people with disabilities access the content in this podcast but the reality is regardless of whether you have a disability or not you might prefer the text transcript of this and it makes it easier for Google to know what's in this podcast so that if you're searching for this topic it makes it easier to find. Lots of ancillary benefits to pursuing things that are good for some people that make them good for lots of people. Sam Glover: I want to say this again and again. It is not that difficult. I know that it feels daunting because it feels like you're trying to put accessibility on things or you need to go out and reach out to a consultant who will make your stuff accessible. Really, it's just about the stuff you ought to be doing anyway. In hiring somebody to optimize your on-page SEO for your website you're probably also nailing 98%, 99% of the things that you need to do to make it accessible. It's stuff you ought to be doing anyway and it's not that hard. I think once you dig into it you'll find that it's a lot less difficult than you maybe worried it is. There's no reason to delay. Make it so. Aaron Street: Today's conversation with Haben is not an SEO conversation but it's fascinating how a conversation about how to make justice more accessible for people with disabilities can have SEO and marketing implications and ... Sam Glover: It's super neat. Aaron Street: It's a really cool topic. Sam Glover: Here's my conversation with Haben. Just at the beginning we're going to leave in the delay while Haben's translator types my questions for her to respond. I just want you to get a feel for the way the conversation flowed and then we'll start cutting out the typing so that it flows a little more quickly. Here's the conversation. Okay. Go ahead and introduce yourself. Haben Girma: My name is Haben Girma. I work as a disability rights lawyer, public speaker, and author. I teach organizations about the value of disability. Disability can be an asset to a community, an organization. It's a matter of learning about how to be accessible and what are the different things we can do as a community to make sure our websites, our apps, our facilities are welcoming to everyone. Sam Glover: Haben, thank you so much for being with us on the podcast today. Maybe we should start by talking about how we talked about disability. What are some of the words that we should be using when we need to distinguish between people who are disabled and people who aren't and just discussing disability in general? Haben Girma: The words I prefer using are disabled and non-disabled. A lot of people ... Well, some people are not comfortable using the word disability but I'm comfortable using the word disability. The word disability for me is associated with civil rights because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and other civil rights protections that use the word disability. Maybe in this podcast we can use disability and non-disabled. Sam Glover: That sounds good. I'll do that. On your website you have a frequently asked questions that starts with some messages that we should avoid when talking about people who have disabilities. I want you to tell us a little bit more about those messages and why we should avoid them. Haben Girma: There's several messages to keep in mind. One message is that when we talk about disability we should avoid trying to judge people with disabilities as existing to help non-disabled people feel grateful that they don't have disabilities. Often stories in the press will describe people with disabilities as inspiring non-disabled people to stop complaining. Like, "You have no excuse. Disabled person did this. Therefore, non-disabled people should feel shame that they're not able to do this." That's not fair. That's disrespectful. It's still stigmatizing a group when you're using them to shame another group. I don't want disability to be used to inspire shame in anyone. The interesting thing about the disability community it's the largest minority group and it's a group that anyone can join at any time. Our bodies are always changing. As we grow older change is a natural part of growing older. At every stage in our life we deserve dignity, inclusion, and access to everything. It's really, really important to respect those of us who are different. Rather than categorizing us as an other and stigmatizing we should instead be welcoming to everyone because it's not really us versus them. We're all going to change. We're all going to be different at some point. Sam Glover: It sounds like part of the danger is in thinking that disability is something unlucky that happens to just a few people when really you could almost look at it as a spectrum that we all sit somewhere on it. Haben Girma: Exactly. There are actually a lot of people with disability. In the United States there are about 57 million Americans with disabilities. Throughout the world there are about 1.3 billion people with disabilities. That's a significant population. When companies choose to be inclusive they get to tap into this large market. It's good business to be inclusive because you get more customers, a larger audience. That means more business, more revenue in the long run. Sam Glover: When we talk about people with disabilities we're talking about I think roughly a fifth of the population, which is a huge chunk. Haben Girma: Exactly. We may also be talking about our future selves. Sam Glover: I think, though, a lot of people who don't think of themselves as having disabilities or who don't fall into that don't really understand how to empathize with the problems faced by people with disabilities in just moving around the world. Maybe you could tell us a little about your journey to becoming a lawyer so that we understand how that has played out in the law school and law experience that you've had. Haben Girma: I am deaf/blind. Most of this world is not designed to be accessible for people who are deaf/blind. I faced many barriers. My disability is not a problem. The problem is the way the world is designed. People can choose to provide information in multiple formats or they can choose to provide information only in one format. People can choose to design a building to have ramps and elevators so that people who use wheelchairs have access or they could choose to only have stairs and deny access to people who use wheelchairs. When there are barriers it's not the disability that's the problem. The problem is the design and the choices that people make. Sam Glover: I really like that way of thinking about it. Thanks for that clarification. The world is a design problem and we've only designed it for some of the population. Haben Girma: Exactly. Most schools are not accessible. I was very, very lucky. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, which happens to be the heart of the disability rights movement. The city of Berkeley was one of the first cities to have curb cuts so that wheelchair users can independently move from sidewalk to sidewalk and cross streets and travel around a city. A lot of disability rights access changes have been first in the San Francisco Bay Area. I grew up here so I've benefited from many of these changes and I've benefited from having teachers and going to schools that valued inclusion. I had people telling me, "Yes, you can." I had people getting me all the materials I need in accessible formats. I had access to school. I was able to learn math, science, English. If I had grown up two hours outside the Bay Area in other parts of California or in a different state in the United States I probably would not have been able to get an education and go to college and definitely not go to law school. I know other deaf/blind students in California who missed part of elementary and middle school because the school refused to provide real materials or they refused to provide interpreters. The parents and students spent all their energy trying to advocate for access when they could have been learning. There's still so much unfairness here in the United States and limited access to materials. We need to change that. We need to make sure everyone has access to an education. Sam Glover: One of the things that you've talked about before is just pointing out how many innovations that we all use came to us by way of designing for disability. What are some of your favorites? Haben Girma: A lot of the technologies we use have been designed or inspired by people with disabilities. These stories are hidden. Very few people know about them. I think it would be beneficial to get these stories out there and have more people learn about the stories. One example is Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet, is hearing impaired. Before the internet existed as we know it today, deaf people didn't have an easy way to communicate long distance. Vint Cerf found that by sending electronic messages, electronic mail, he could communicate long distance with people without having to strain to hear on the telephone. This benefits everyone. Email benefits everyone. Lots of people use email now. That's an example of how something that helps the disability community, a solution inspired by disability, often has benefits for the whole world. Sam Glover: I think when Vint Cerf was using the internet over the phone lines the phone lines were also designed by Alexander Graham Bell to overcome either his hard of hearing or his wife's difficulty in hearing, wasn't it? Haben Girma: Yes. Alexander Graham Bell did a lot of research to try to find ways to help deaf individuals communicate. Through that process he ended up developing a telephone. That's another example of how when you see disability as a design challenge and design solutions, often these solutions benefit the entire community. Investing in hiring people with disabilities and making your businesses accessible drives innovation. You're more likely to have a more innovative workforce if you include people with disabilities. People who think differently are more likely to come up with innovative solutions. Diverse teams are stronger teams. Sam Glover: You've mentioned before that ... Maybe this is just what you're getting at but in designing things for people who have disabilities you're probably solving problems for the world at large by doing that. By designing your firm or your business around accessible principles you're probably building a more client-friendly firm for everyone. Haben Girma: Exactly. Wouldn't everyone want more clients? Wouldn't you want to be able to tap into the largest market possible? Another thing to keep in mind is that the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. There are also other laws, state laws, and federal laws that prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. Access is a right. It's really important for everyone to invest in inclusion. Sam Glover: As a civil rights lawyer I imagine you have a much clearer window into some of the ways that access to justice is harder for people with disabilities. What are some of those challenges that those of us who aren't dealing with disabilities on a day to day basis may not be aware of? Haben Girma: Some of the barriers that exist in terms of access to justice are physical. Court houses, reading spaces that are not wheelchair accessible. Designing access to people who use wheelchairs. That could be lawyers who use wheelchairs, it could be judges who use wheelchairs, it could be clients who use wheelchairs. There is a lot of information online regarding legal services. Often information online is not accessible. The vast majority of websites and apps have access barriers. We need people in the legal field to ensure that their websites and digital information is provided in accessible formats. The web content accessibility guidelines teaches people how to design websites to be accessible. For mobile apps, Apple and Android accessibility guidelines teach people how to design them to be accessible. Sam Glover: Haben, have you had a chance to visit Lawyerist dot com? I'm wondering how well we've done. Haben Girma: No. I haven't had a chance to visit it yet. Sam Glover: We have tried to design it around those accessibility principles. It's not really that hard. It turns out that a lot of those things that you would do to build an accessible website are the kinds of things that Google would like you to do to optimize for search engines. It turns out Google is also deaf and blind. Haben Girma: That's a good point. When people make their services accessible it increases content discoverability. Accessibility, some of the things that are necessary to do to make sure services are accessible online is to make sure you have text labels or images for buttons and when you increase the text associated with your content you also help with search engine optimization. Those are things to keep in mind. Access benefits you in multiple ways. Sam Glover: One of the things you mentioned when I heard you speak at the Clio Cloud Conference is that you have to be aware of trying to put accessibility on your app or your website or your building at the end. Can you say a little bit more about why that's a problem to try and add accessibility? Haben Girma: It's much harder to try to add accessibility at the end of the design process. It's much easier to plan for it from the start. An example we often use is to compare it to building a skyscraper. To ensure wheelchair access a skyscraper needs an elevator. It's much harder to build the skyscraper without an elevator. Then once you're done building the skyscraper to add an elevator afterwards. That's more costly, time-consuming, it takes more resources. It would be easier and cheaper to design the skyscraper to have an elevator. Put it in the plans. Same thing with digital accessibility. If you plan for it from the start it's easier to do. Sam Glover: It sounds to me like accessibility needs to be part of the lens through which you see the world and see the design problems in your client service delivery methods? Haben Girma: Yeah. Accessibility needs to be prioritized. Make sure your websites are accessible, have your designers look at the web content accessibility guidelines, and design the website based on those principles. It also helps with search engine optimization. Also, keep in mind that there have been a lot of lawsuits these past few years regarding digital accessibility. I worked on one of those cases. It was a case called [inaudible 00: 19: 49] of the Blind versus Script. Script is a digital library. Blind individuals wanted to be able to read books in the library. The way the library was designed created barriers for blind readers and blind readers couldn't read books on Script. Script tried to argue that the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't apply to online businesses. The judge in that case looked at our arguments and agreed with us and said that the Americans with Disabilities Act does apply to online businesses like Script. Script and other online businesses need to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act. That was an exciting, rewarding case to be involved with. It's something that a lot of organizations need to keep in mind. Sam Glover: A bit of a stick and a bit of a carrot. Haben Girma: Sam, can we take a few minutes break? My dog is crying. Sam Glover: Yes. Of course. This podcast is supported by Ruby Receptionists. As a matter of fact, Ruby answers our phones at Lawyerist and my firm was a paying Ruby customer before that. Here's what I love about Ruby. When I'm in the middle of something I hate to be interrupted. When the phone rings it annoys me and that often carries over into the conversation I have after I pick up the phone, which is why I'm better off not answering my own phone. Instead Ruby answers the phone and if the person on the other end asks for me a friendly, cheerful receptionist from Ruby calls me and asks if I want them to put the call through. It's a buffer that gives me a minute to let go of my annoyance and be a better human being during the call. If you want to be a better human being on the phone give Ruby a try. Go to Call Ruby dot com slash Lawyerist to sign up and Ruby will waive the $95 setup fee. If you aren't happy with Ruby for any reason you can get your money back during the first three weeks. I'm pretty sure you'll stick around but since there is no risk you might as well try. Aaron Street: Imagine what you could do with an extra eight hours per week. You could invest in marketing your firm, you could spend more time helping clients in need, or you could catch your daughter's soccer game. That's how much time legal professionals save with Clio, the world's leading practice management software. With Clio tracking time, billing and matter management are fast and easy. Giving you more time to focus on what really matters. Clio is a complete practice management platform with plenty of tools and over 50 integrations to help you automate daily tasks such as document generation and court calendering. See how the right software can make it easier to manage your practice. Try Clio for free today at Clio dot com. Haben Girma: Sorry about that, Sam. Thank you for your patience. Sam Glover: Oh, of course. My dog is currently enjoying our freezing cold weather here in Minneapolis. Haben Girma: Wow. My dog ... When I lived in Boston we had to deal with snow. She hated snow. She would refuse to go to the bathroom when it started snowing because she didn't like snow on the ground. Sam Glover: My dog is a husky so my challenge is getting him to even come inside. Haben Girma: Oh. Husky, those are beautiful. Sam Glover: He is very fuzzy. Haben Girma: Did you grow up in Minnesota? Sam Glover: I didn't. I grew up in Virginia, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Haben Girma: Wow. That's a fun and exciting childhood. Sam Glover: It sure was. Haben Girma: Did you go surfing in the DR? Sam Glover: I was in second and third grade so I don't think I got past a boogie board level. It was very cool. It's one of my favorite places in the world. Haben Girma: Yeah. I went there for a wedding. It was amazing. The staff were super friendly. Often times when I go into a restaurant here in the United States the staff stare but they don't really ask questions. In the Dominican Republic I remember when I was in restaurants waiters would come up and ask, "What is this? What are you doing?" Not in a mean way. Just in a friendly, curious way. I just explained that it's a keyboard and braille display. People type on the keyboard, I read in digital braille. I let them try it. They typed in Spanish and I know basic Spanish. I studied Spanish in high school and college. [Foreign language 00: 24: 20] I was able to read that and respond back. Sam Glover: Very cool. It seems like one of the challenges is people who don't want to engage because they're shy or uncomfortable asking questions or approaching you. Haben Girma: Yeah. I love questions. There's nothing wrong with asking questions. I don't mind if people ask me questions about disability. The thing to keep in mind is your intentions. It's more about attitude. If someone uses the wrong word I'm not going to get offended. If they have a pity and disrespectful attitude I'm not going to be happy. It's more about their intentions, how they approach a situation. Is it friendly, respectful curiosity? Or is it pitying questioning, implying that you don't belong and to leave their establishment? It's really about their intentions and attitude. When people come up and ask questions I'm happy to explain. Deaf/blindness is rare. I don't expect people to know about deaf/blindness. My parents didn't understand deaf/blindness. They hadn't heard of Helen Keller or braille. My parents are from Eritrea, Ethiopia, so they were learning a whole new system: the American culture, our system here, and improving their English in addition to learning about disability access, braille, the civil rights movement, that sort of thing. I'm used to people not knowing. I don't mind teaching and explaining as long as people are respectful and kind when they ask. Sam Glover: It sounds like a lot of the solution to inclusion and to increasing accessibility is to include. At the beginning of every process, whether it's creating a business or a building or meeting a new person, to favor inclusion rather than getting to it later. Haben Girma: Yeah. Plan for it from the start. Make it a priority. Before you build something, whether it's a new building, a website, an app, a program take the time to plan about accessibility. How can you make sure everyone in your community is welcome? If you're not sure, do the research. Look at the web content accessibility guidelines, engage with the disability community. There may be disability organizations in your area. If not, you could tap into national networks. You could contact disability rights experts, like myself. You can reach me. I have a website Haben Girma dot com. I'm also on social media, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. People can find and follow me there. Reach out to people if you don't know the answers. Definitely start asking questions with the intention of trying to welcome everyone. Sam Glover: I think what people will find as they try to open up their practices, their websites, the court system, is that it's actually not as hard as it seems like it might be once you get started. Haben Girma: Exactly. It's really not as hard as it seems. Often times disability access needs are free, simple, easy. The vast majority of people with disabilities can explain what they need. If you ask, people can help point you in the right direction of what you need to do. Sometimes it's being flexible. Maybe moving a meeting place from an inaccessible spot to an accessible spot. Maybe it's just moving furniture a little bit to create more room. Maybe it's bringing in an interpreter. Maybe it's switching from telephone to email or using a chat service that provides access. Just being flexible about how you communicate, where you communicate, will allow you to connect with more people. Sam Glover: That sounds awesome. I hope that lawyers who are listening are starting to think about ways that they can bring that fifth of the country who is disabled in and help them find legal services and make them clients. Haben Girma: I strongly encourage everyone to think of this as a business opportunity. It's not charity. It's good business for all of us to be inclusive because you get to tap into a larger market. Sam just said it's one-fifth of the population. 57 million Americans with disabilities. That's a significant market. It benefits all of us to be inclusive. Sam Glover: Haben, thank you so much for being with us today. I really enjoyed our conversation. Haben Girma: Thank you for spotlighting inclusion, Sam, and creating the opportunity to teach more people about disability access. Aaron Street: Make sure to catch next week's episode of The Lawyerist Podcast by subscribing to the show in your favorite podcast app. Please leave a rating to help other people find our show. You can find the notes for today's episode on Lawyerist dot com slash Podcast. Sam Glover: The views expressed by the participants are their own and are not endorsed by Legal Talk Network. Nothing said in this podcast is legal advice for you.

This transcript was prepared by Rev.com.

Podcast #147: Accessible Justice, with Haben Girma was originally published on Lawyerist.com.

from Law and Politics https://lawyerist.com/podcast-147-haben-girma/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#Legal #law

0 notes