#tw: ableism

[jupitermelichios]

Hey, we need to talk about the way Batfamily fans write Cass using ASL, because a lot of it is really fucking ableist

But Cass can't speak, of course she needs to sign!

Not true! There is nothing physically wrong with Cass's vocal chords or mouth, there's nothing in her brain stopping her from making sounds, and she is not an elective mute. She actually learns to speak individual words really quickly after she puts herself into an environment where that's a useful skill. Basil teaches her to quote huge chunks of Shakespeare in Nu52, and that's easier for her than forming simple sentences. That would definitely not be the case if she had any physical limitations on her speech.

Cass's disability is that she was not taught any language, and so she is having to grok the entire concept of language from the ground up. Grammar and syntax; tonality; how to combine words to convey more complex ideas; how putting two words next to one another can change their meaning; how to break down a whole idea into the individual parts needed to turn it into words; the fact that people's words might not line up with their tone and body language so you have to pay attention to both; how to tell if someone wants a response or is stating a fact; how to work out meaning from context if a word is new or someone has an unfamiliar accent; how to know if someone is using a new word or if they actually just have an unfamilar accent and all the ways words can be bent and changed before they become something new; the fact that two words can use the same sounds but have the same meaning; the fact that there can be two different words that mean the same thing. This is all stuff she didn't learn as a baby, and not knowing it would be just as much an impediment to learning ASL as learning English (for accent, swap out things like having limited movement in their hands, or having learned slightly different forms of the same sign, using a lot of home-signs etc, it's the same concept in a different medium).

There is no language on earth Cass wouldn't have these problems with. ASL is not any kind of shortcut.

But she reads body language, and ASL is kind of like body language right?

Not true, also pretty abelist! Just as the sounds which make up spoken language are essentially arbitrary (there's no objective reason why the sound "gud" should mean good, English speakers just all agree it does) so most of the signs in ASL are arbitrary! There's no reason for

to mean good. ASL users just all agree that it does. Cass knowing body language would not help her any more with ASL than it would with English, and if anything, it might make it harder, because sign uses the whole body and therefore changes the way people use body language so unless she saw a lot of ASL users as a child (and there's no particular reason to think she did), she would have to adjust what she knows about body language to account for those differences!

But she signs in the comics!

Nope! She uses hand gestures to communicate sometimes, but that's not signing. Pointing at food and miming eating to convey hunger is not sign. Pretending to punch someone and pulling it at the last second to convey you could hurt them but won't (Cass's actual first communication with Bruce in the comics) isn't signing. I've done the point and mime thing in countries where I didn't speak the language, that does not mean I knew that country's native sign language!

But she learns ballet, that's like a physical language, so sign is the same thing!

Nope! Also low key kinda abelist. Dance is a method of communication, but it isn't a full language. There's almost no grammar or sentence structure, the vocabulary is extremely limited, and also you can just make up new dance moves or use moves from different styles of dance together and still convey your meaning (you cannot just make random gestures or use BSL and expect ASL users to understand you, because they're full complex languages). Cass vibes with dance pretty hard, but that's precisely because it isn't a language, it doesn't require any of the skills she struggles with in order to communicate emotion.

But ASL isn't like a real language, it's not as complex or nuanced as spoken English so it would be easier for her to learn

That is so fucking gross I don't even want to have this conversation with you. Go and sit in the timeout box and think about what you've just said, and then commit to doing better.

But I just think that once she learned it, she'd like using ASL because [it's very expressive/she's used to her world being very quiet/she can use it on stealth missions more easily/etc]

Valid, understandable, have a lovely day

But I'm writing an AU were she uses ASL because her backstory is too comic-book-y to fit in no-capes AUs but I didn't want to erase her communication difficulties so I've written her as having a different disability

Cool. Send me a link when you're done.

But what if I write her using makatong?

(For context, makatong is a form of sign developed for people who have intellectual or phsyical disabilities that affect language use, which uses more descriptive signs which require less precise hand possitioning than other sign languages, and which has very simple grammar, making it easier to learn than ASL). Yes this would be easier for her, because it's intended for people with similar difficulties to hers, but since her difficulties stem purely from a lack of experience which can be (and are, in canon) overcome with practise, it would be kind of needlessly limiting compared to her just starting out with very simple spoken language, and wouldn't give her as many chances to develop those language learning skills. Makatong is also not mutually intelligable with any other sign language, so she couldn't easily transition from that to ASL once she got used to signing, she'd have to start learning it from scratch.

But I HC her as deaf

There is 0 comics evidence to support that, but it's a headcanon, so who cares. You do you. Have fun.

But learning sign language would be better than learning to speak anyway because it's a universal language!

That is not even slightly how it work. Go read the wikipedia article on sign languages around the world or something. Do some research.

TL:DR; Cass does not use ASL in the comics, and nothing about her disability or sign languages in general would make learning ASL easier or more convinent for her than spoken English. That does't mean writing her signing is inherently bad, but you should examine your reasons for doing it to ensure you're not just perpetuating ableist stereotypes about the language.

#cass cain #cassandra cain #batfam #batfamily #asl #tw: ableism #black bat #batgirl #batgirls #orphan

[1863-project]

Please reblog for a bigger sample size - this is part of the same project as my earlier polls! (For extra data, please feel free to mention the character(s) in question in the tags if you've experienced this!)

PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER THE POLL IF YOU ARE NOT AUTISTIC. This is specifically for autistic people's testimonials.

#actuallyautistic #autism #ableism #tw: ableism #fandom #fandom ableism #disability rights #disability acceptance

[doctorofmagic]

Doctor Strange's disability: a (much needed) chronological review

In view of recent ableism and drama on the other social hellsite involving Doctor Strange's disability, here's my response, based on *CANON* material. (link to the thread on said hellsite here)

Stephen disability is established since 1963, back in Strange Tales #115. The story is focused on a flashback which portrays his journey from the decay of his medical career because of a car accident to his path towards the mystic arts.

Note that, in this very same issue, the Ancient One never says he would heal Stephen's *hands*, but perhaps Stephen would find the cure within. In other words, Stephen was supposed to heal his heart and soul from arrogance and egoism through magic, not a physical cure.

Also note that there are limitations within every aspect of comic books' universes. In this case, we're talking about magic. Magic is not a miracle thing. It demands training and, most recently as established by v4, a cost (Doctor Strange v4 #4).

Another clue that "magic can heal anything because it's fantasy" is not a valid argument within Marvel's magic world, as seen in The Oath. Stephen had access to the Otkid's Elixir, which could heal any disease, but the formula was lost in order to save Wong's life.

One last example comes from Spider-Man Family #5 (2007), featuring Morbius and Spidey. It establishes that healing demands the exact same price when it comes to magic.

Long story short, it's clear that the magic side of Marvel does not offer a solution to diseases through magical miracles. So this argument is totally invalid ~within~ this established universe.

Now back to Doctor Strange... No, he isn't using magic to heal his hands unlike some misleading accounts are claiming. In fact, there are several panels which show that he's actually in constant pain. Here's some examples:

- Doctor Strange - Sorcerer Supreme #48 (1992).

- Captain Marvel v10 #6 (2019)

- Doctor Strange v4 #1 (2015)

He also struggles to hold a pen and write, relying on magic to do so, as seen in the Book of the Vishanti.

Then comes the stupid argument I saw.

"Oh, but Google says his hands are healed!" is not a gotcha moment you think it is. We had FOUR MAIN BOOKS after that (Surgeon Supreme, DODS, Strange v3 and current v6). Allow me to clarify the details in chronological order.

Stephen indeed made a "magic" gamble and healed his hands. That much is correct. But it's not all (panels from Doctor Strange v5 #19 - 2019).

Waid continued this storyline in a new book called Dr. Strange (Surgeon Supreme), which would portray Stephen's duality as the Sorcerer Supreme and a brilliant surgeon. Except the book was cancelled at issue #6 (2020), leaving the character in a kind of limbo. Now enter MacKay.

MacKay kept a little bit of the former storyline as seen in Death of the Doctor Strange #1 (2021). On top of that, his hands appeared healed. However, that lasted only until Kaecilius murdered Stephen and stole his hands.

Stephen's temporal duplicate used a regenerative spell to bring original Stephen back through Kaecilius' body and the stolen hands. In here, we can see that his hands are scarred just like after the car accident (DODS #5 - 2022). OG Stephen died a second time with scars as well.

Stephen is indeed seen writing in v6 but it's not clear if he's using magic or not. Besides, he's not working as a surgeon anymore. Moreover, MacKay considers Stephen disabled as seen in this recent issue of v6 (#7 - 2023): "My own connection to the aether, the magic of the world, the power of the Vishanti, the power of the Sorcerer Supreme... Gone. Without all of that? I am just an old man with useless hands and a blade in his stomach."

In conclusion,

As of CURRENT DOCTOR STRANGE RUN by Jed MacKay and Pasqual Ferry, in the year of our lord Vishanti, 2024, Stephen Strange is a disabled character and no magic or ableism will erase that. Thank you very much.

#doctor strange #stephen strange #tw: ableism #marvel comics #character analysis #meta

[princesssarisa]

Sometimes I'm still annoyed by Little Women analyses that take take demeaning, ableist views of Beth's character in the name of "feminism," like...

"Beth has to die because she's too fragile and self-effacing, lacks ambition, and represents an outdated, stifling model of femininity."

I wonder exactly why those readings seem more popular nowadays than, say...

"Beth shows that even a shy, unassuming, chronically ill person, who is never able to leave her parents' home or live a 'normal' adult life, and who eventually dies young without having 'achieved' anything, can still live a wonderful, precious life of enormous value to others."

...which I'd like to think is closer to Alcott's intent.

I wonder if it's because some people think they can't view Beth's life as precious and valuable without it leading to this:

"Therefore, Jo needs to give up her ambitions and become a gentle, self-effacing domestic angel like Beth was."

Personally? I don't think that's what the book aims for. It's what Jo temporarily thinks, yes: at first she does renounce her ambition and dedicate her life to caring for her family the way Beth did. But that's not the end of her story. If the ultimate goal of Jo's character arc were to teach her to be like Beth, then she would stay in Beth's place as a saintly housekeeper for her parents; Alcott writes that if Jo "had been the heroine of a moral storybook," then that's just what she would do. But she doesn't. Instead she starts writing again, finally finds success as an author, and later opens her school with Friedrich. Beth's kindness and unselfishness will always be an example for her, but she's still allowed to be her own active, achieving self.

Yet that fact doesn't mean we should belittle Beth either. Her way of life was just right for her, just like Jo's is just right for Jo.

Maybe this dilemma would be solved if critics would view all four of the March sisters as co-protagonists for a change, rather than just viewing Jo as the protagonist and treating the other three as if they only exist to serve Jo's character development.

#little women #beth march #jo march #commentary #feminism #tw: death #tw: ableism

[interstellarsystem]

Cofronting with your in-system partner is very nice because you get to just. Be there with them but different because you're in one body. I'm cuddling in headspace with him while he's got main body control and is scrolling through Pinterest and it's almost like we're in separate psychical bodies in a way. But it's closer in a way too? It's hard to describe but I think in-system relationships should be acknowledged more and not just treated as cringe or lesser.

People (usually outside of system community groups but not always) feel like they have a judgemental vibe towards in-system partners even if they accept other aspects of systems with open arms. Like it feels like some see it as sad to "have no one else". I'm poly and I have an in-system partner and an out-of-system partner and I don't see either of them as lesser because guess what? They're both people, within my system or not. I don't "have no one else", I love both of them a lot and I wouldn't trade either of them for the other.

Having an in-system relationship like that can be so... Healing, too. Like not only are they there a lot of the time compared to out of system partners so you have more support but you get to have such a close bond with someone in your own brain. And considering you have to share the body, I'd rather be friends with my headmates at least so it doesn't feel like I'm stuck at a horrible office job for the rest of my life. Dating someone just means you're closer to another aspect of your system and really it in our experience makes us feel more... Unified when there's complex positive relationships between us. For some systems it's actively a part of healing from trauma to get to be friends or at least tolerant of your headmates and sometimes it leads to dating which can be a huge benefit whether you're going for functional multiplicity or integration or anything. Of course it's not the only way to heal, that would be silly to even imply, it's just... Really not a thing that should be so looked down upon.

It's not cringe to "only be able to get with your headmates" because they tend to know others in their system better than most people outside of it on the basis of sharing a brain and being aware of things like inner thought processes. For some people they'd even prefer to only date their system members and that's great and shouldn't come with the sentiment of "they can't get with anyone else, that's sad".

#alterhuman #plural system #plural #actuallyplural #plurality #endo safe #dissociative identity disorder #actually did #op #merlin (xe/he/they) #everything althu #everything plural #althu experiences #plural experiences #tw #tw: ableism #tw: syscourse #warning tags to be safe really

[convolutedblasphemy]

Been reading threads on Twitter recently when I'm bored because some of the posts on there genuinely make me think about all sorts of different topics from angles I hadn't considered yet but also the more I witness Twitter culture the more I am glad I grew up on Tumblr as a teen instead of Twitter. Like, I logged onto Tumblr at 15, having mostly been exposed to conservative perspectives on society all my life and they taught me about feminism, helped me understand the experiences of marginalized groups, broadened my worldview, helped me dismantle and deconstruct the narratives I didn't notice I had internalized that harmed me and others and helped me learn cool things about the different cultures of the world. I don't know how I would have turned out if I had logged onto Twitter at 15 and seen posts like "Most women enjoy the idea of SA", "Sometimes people aren't ableist just because they complain that you mfers are a lot to deal with", "You don't know if this woman on TikTok who talks about her boyfriend not stopping when she said no and tried to push him off is actually an SA victim, stop kink-shaming", "When do we finally genocide Europeans?", "Bodyshaming is okay when the person is problematic", "Self-shipping is cringe and also if you do it with characters who have a close bond with another male character you're homophobic because these behaviors are inherently romantic", "Depression isn't an excuse to be gross and refuse to shower" and "[How can I help support this marginalized group?] By killing yourself" would have done to my teenage brain.

#tw: ableism #tw: sa #tw: sui mention #twitter #tumblr

[thecoddaughter]

I’m kinda glad I’m not watching live rn cause I’d be so annoyed. Accessibility tools are used when the person who needs them decides the want to or need to. It’s always up to them, not some random joe shmo on the the internet. If someone tried to tell me or my friends to use our accessibility tools or accommodations when we are trying to be independent, I think I’d start to scream.

#qsmp #qsmp neg #neg #tw: ableism #tagging for courtesy #tubbo #pls let that man just live his life

[schizospec-culture-is]

Schizo spec culture is being damn near in a zombie state after a mental breakdown only to be accused of being on drugs at work because your brain is lagging.

I’m not on drugs, I’m just off my meds and had a really, really bad time before coming in, but thanks for making me divulge into my diagnosis to make you bite your tongue.

-

#schizospec culture is #schizospec #schizo spectrum #psychosis #psychotic #actually psychotic #neurodivergent #tw: ableism #negative

[irritatedprincess]

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then vilify people with NPD.

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then call people with NPD "evil," "bad people," and "inherent abusers."

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then armchair diagnose someone who mistreated or abused them (2 different things, by the way), or just anyone they strongly dislike/hate as "a narcissist" or "a sociopath."

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then make a stupid joke about autism/autistic people.

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then fakeclaim others because they don't "fit" their idea of what someone with [insert illness or disorder] should be.

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then deny that D.I.D is real.

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then publicly fakeclaim D.I.D YouTubers (for the reasons above), endangering them and threatening their livelihood. (Even "professional" quacks; look at what some loser "doctor" publicly did to Pixielockes.)

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then shame someone for not taking care of their hygiene every day, or for having a messy/dirty home.

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then yell that plastic straws should be banned when many disabled people need them.

People will say they've unlearned ableism, but then rage if someone ever shows a symptom or trait of their illness/disorder.

So many people are anti-ableism until-

#ableism #ableist bullshit #fuck ableists #cringe culture is ableist #fuck ableism #anti fakeclaiming #fuck fakeclaimers #narcissistic personality disorder #npd safe #dissociative identity disorder #did safe #pixielockes #dissociadid #rant #txt #tw: ableism #tw: fakeclaiming

[beep-beep-robin]

robin stops meeting up with the others, rarely even picking up the phone when steve calls.

they think she‘s angry at them for some reason, the last time she was with all of them she barely spoke, giving them all the silent treatment. she left early, asking steve to drive her home.

then eddie starts acting the same way. he withdraws himself from everything they have planned, shutting himself in at home.

steve and nancy are at a loss. the kids are confused. did the two of them have some secret pact to leave them all in the sand that they didn‘t know about?

so nancy sends steve over to their places - after all he knows robin best, and she doesn‘t feel like her presence would make eddie very talkative. and steve had gotten a bit closer to eddie in the past few weeks anyways.

he goes to eddies place first, because for some reason he thinks he might get an explanation out of eddie a bit quicker than if he went to robins first. he also kind of wants to give robin a bit more time.

but wayne opens the door, and he stops steve when he says he‘s here for eddie. tells him he needs some time alone now. but steve‘s had it. he wants to know what‘s going on with his friends, and he wants to know now.

he gently pushes past wayne, who doesn‘t budge too much, but steve makes it work. wayne on his tail, he walks down the hallway, softly knocking on eddie‘s door.

no reply. slowly, he pushes open the door. and there‘s eddie, on his bed, a huge pile of blankets on his shoulders, chewing on his hair and rocking back and forth with a bunch of dnd books spread out in front of him.

after two “hi eddie”‘s, he finally looks up at steve. waves at him. wayne reaches steve, telling him he should‘ve just left it alone. but eddie shakes his head, nods it into the direction of steve and then the room, as if to beckon him over.

so steve walks in, wayne throwing a questioning look at eddie, to make sure he‘s fine - a nod, and the door closes.

it doesn‘t take steve long to figure out that eddie doesn‘t, or even can‘t, really talk right now. so he just sits with him, eddie occasionally pointing out something interesting in his book to steve, and steve takes it all in with genuine curiosity. he enjoys hearing about things eddie likes.

after a while, eddie huddles in a bit closer to him. eddie’s just laying there, eyes tracing over the bumps and patterns on the ceiling, and steve almost falls asleep, basking in eddies presence.

then he remembers he was supposed to visit robin as well - and if robin‘s feeling anything like eddie seems to be feeling right now, he wants someone to check up on her.

he can‘t really leave eddie though - if the look on his face when steve got up to call nancy on the munson‘s phone was any indication. so he asks her to go check in with robin, make sure she‘s alright - that he doesn‘t think eddies withdrawal has anything to do with him not wanting them around anymore.

nancy doesn‘t mind. she likes robin, is comfortable around her. more comfortable than she‘d ever really felt around anyone, except for barb maybe. so that brings her to robins room, her parents having let her in.

no sense for boundaries, nancy noted when they simply threw open robins door, revealing her on the floor next to her bed. she‘s wearing headphones, music blasting so loudly that nancy can understand every word.

nancy closes the door behind her, and robin‘s eyes snap upwards, noticing her for the first time. nancy gives a little wave, feeling bad about intruding.

robin stops clicking her nails together, sliding the headphones off and resting them around her neck. she quietly greets nancy, telling her to come sit. she‘s reluctant, nancy notices. almost like her whole body adjusted and got more stiff once she saw nancy.

sitting down next to robin, she confronts her head on, in a soft voice, worried about overstepping. it seems like robins struggling to get her words out, brain too occupied to put her thoughts into sentences, she tells nancy.

nancy encourages her to go back to her music. tells her it‘s fine, she can go. robin seems upset about seemingly having to tell the truth, but she nods. nancy smiles understandingly at her, leaving the room.

she gets caught up talking to robin‘s parents, they complain about robin always having phases like this and that they don‘t understand why she doesn‘t just snap out of it. why she can‘t just be normal. nancy resists the urge to punch them in the face.

about half an hour later robin calls downstairs. when nancy walks back into her room, she says she heard her downstairs talking to her parents - that she could try to explain now.

nancy sees her trying to restrain herself from moving again. she tells her it‘s okay, sits opposite from her on the floor. asks her if she can try something that she used to do with mike, gently takes her hands, and starts rocking them back and forth together. it makes robin‘s face light up. nancy thinks she’ll keep rocking back and forth forever if it makes robin this happy.

then robin explains. she says it sounds dumb, but that it all got too much. the whole vecna thing, people getting injured. nancy interrupts, tells her it‘s not dumb, that they all were exhausted after everything.

but robin continues, explains that that wasn‘t all of it. she says she also got overhelmed by all the change. no offense to nancy, but for example, her and eddie suddenly being so close to steve, in nancys case, again. the change in her and steves routines, nancy and eddie being included in almost everything now.

the way her whole daily routine got thrown off during the vecna time, and even afterwards, with the hospital visits and everything. and that she feels horrible about that disturbing her, when her friends were literally in the hospital, recovering from life threatening injuries.

it all only hit her a few days ago. she didn‘t really get what was going on at first, but that she‘s had phases like this before. that it feels like everything in her just shuts down, she can‘t interact with anyone anymore, she just wants to be alone. can‘t do anything but listen to music and watch her favorite movie over and over. and that she can‘t keep her body still. needs to release all the anxiety somehow.

nancy smiles softly, thanks her for telling her all of that. says she can‘t relate to it, but that she thinks it‘s a very plausible reaction to everything. that she knows some people have a harder time adjusting to change, mentions the many times she‘s seen mike reacting almost the same way.

robin smiles at that, a grateful expression on her face. she thanks nancy. says she‘s sorry for any misunderstanding she might‘ve caused. nancy tells her to never apologize about doing what her body needs her to do, asks if she can hug her. robin agrees, throwing her arms around nancy. they end up hugging for a while, nancy adjusting her grip so it‘s tight enough.

later, when steve and nancy catch each other up on what‘s going on with their friends, they both have almost the same exact stories to tell (of course, with robin and eddies permission). from now on, the other two know they can always reach out when they want someone with them during times like these, but that they also will never be judged if they retreat for a while.

#whoopdie do #my autistic babies #:) #steddie #ronance #autistic robin buckley #autistic eddie munson #and a sprinkle of #autistic mike wheeler #tw: shutdown #tw: ableism #(bc of the comments from robins parents? just to be safe) #original post #vanessas writing #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #me: let‘s make robin and steve‘s parents as bad as i can #also me: wayne you angel

[bones-and-earth]

To ignorant fucking doctors/psychiatrist /therapist:

thanks for:

- Assuming/insinuating that I am semiverbal and slowly losing whatever ability to have to speak from pain ON PURPOSE.

-Assuming that I am over reacting by using a mobility aid- because I'm in so much pain. (I can barely fucking stand let alone walk at all. I am shaking so severely that it hurts to even use a Cane )

-Assuming after displaying obvious traits of autism, and being disabled mentally to the point it not only impedes my speech but my ability to socialize and work- that I was not only delusional from my BPD but also a hypochondriac and liar looking for attention. And seemingly thinking I am less likely to be autistic because I'm AFAB and got good grades.

-Assuming when I was literally sobbing from migraines since age 6 that I was a hypochondriac (later diagnosed with chronic tension migraines)

-THANK YOU for not realizing that ptsd and c-ptsd was a actual diagnosis and asked me to define the diagnosis and list its symptoms. (Literally asked me: "What is post traumatic stress disorder?" Apparently he never even heard of it despite being a psychiatrist)

-Assuming I've gone to inpatient so many times because he assumed I "refused to take any medications in the past 3 years." (Which is a actual blatant lie )

-saying I can not use my aac despite me having mentioned my speech loss episodes.

-dismissing all my experiences and thoughts on my own mental health as delusions because at the time I had a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

-telling me it was my fault I was being verbally and mentally abused because I was "ungrateful despite living under her [the abusive family member] roof."

This all actually happened!!

I understand doctors are human and not perfect but at bare minimum actually listen.

So to all the medical professionals: stop dismissing patients, assuming things about them and actually listen.

And to anyone who has experienced this or similar situations I'm sorry.

(Just to clarify for those who can not easily read tone - the thank you is heavily sarcastic in this post. I am quite frustrated.)

#actually disabled #disabled #physically disabled #chronic pain #chronic illness #disability #disabled punk #neuropunk #mentally disabled #physical disability #tw mental hospital #tw: ableism #tw abuse #tw ableism #tw medical trauma #tw medical mention #angry post #inherent mistreatment in the medical field

[1863-project]

Please reblog this if you vote, and if you'd like to share your own stories with me, please do, as this poll is part of a larger study I'm working on and the more data I can get for that, the better! If you'd be okay with sharing your story with me and having it anonymously included in the essay I'm writing, you can message me so we can discuss further.

#ableism #tw: ableism #fandom #fandom ableism #disability rights #disability acceptance

[batwynn]

Almost every day I think about that first post I saw a few years ago where someone decided that people enjoying the cuteness of otters needed to be destroyed for the sake of ‘reality’ and ‘facts’. The post was open from start to finish that they were telling you that otters did ‘horrible things’ because they wanted to ‘break the illusion’ or whatever. It was full of language and tone that implied or outright said that people were ‘stupid’ or ‘foolish’ for liking otters, and that they should be punished with this information. This fact. This fact that was a twisted form of humans applying their moral concepts on to wild animals, to begin with, but was also simply being put out in to the world to hurt people for liking that animal. And then I think about how everyone started sharing this ‘fact’, post after post sharing the same tone and language of punishment, of implied ‘stupidity’ for ‘not knowing’. People gleefully commented this ‘fact’ on thousands of otter picture posts, they posted it a million times on the otter fan facebooks, they made tiktoks, they hammered it in over and over again. Don’t like otters. Don’t think they’re cute. They’re Bad™️. You’re a Bad™️ person if you like them. And people genuinely believed that. I saw so many people genuinely hurt by this, who thought they were a bad person and needed to stop liking or sharing otter pictures. Or they’d add a little note at the bottom, ‘I know otters are Bad™️ but I still think they’re cute.’ And I can’t not think about how pointlessly fucked up and cruel that entire thing was from the start, and how manipulative and shitty it was. And how it spun out into the universe until even now, on an otter video posted earlier this year, there’s dozens of comments about how otters are Bad™️ because one person decided that this wild animal doing something that is repugnant to humans, the animal with no knowledge that this is Bad™️ or with malicious intent (because it’s a wild fucking animal), meant they needed to hurt and punish anyone who liked that animal. And, finally, that people were so afraid of being seen as morally wrong/Bad™️ that they destroyed their love for this animal on the word of some fucking rando online without stopping to look internally at their own moral compass and understanding of animal behavior.

#otters #internet culture #moral panic #moral police #internet trolls #tw: ableism #ableist language cw #tw: animals #tw: otters #tw: swearing #cw: stupid #I used that word in quotes because that is the word I frequently saw used in these posts about otters #message me for additional tw tags #anyway just thinking #about people being fucking mean on the internet #yet again #additionally and in case people #think this means I condone rape because they can’t read or comprehend #no I don’t fucking condone rape

[thingstrumperssay]

I just finish this three part video series about what TERFs say when they think that nobody “on the outside” is looking.

It’s over five hours long if you don’t speed the videos up so I’ll just highlight the most important parts- It turns out that TERFs are not only transphobic, but also racist, homophobic, sexist and ableist and encourages child abuse! Who could’ve seen that coming besides maybe everybody who isn’t a bigot, especially considering that Posie Parker was part of one of the groups.

“Carol Marinara” was able to get into these groups by pretending to be a mother with a son who’s saying that they’re non-binary just “looking for help” and they would say things like “isolate him” by taking them out of school and drilling that “trans is bad” into them everyday until “he finally gets it.” And if they kill themselves, “don’t worry. That’s not your fault.”

They also said that a lesbian wasn’t raped by her girlfriend unless “she’s actually a man, because rape requires a penis” and throws the r-word around. A lot.

And when somebody who’s named themselves Marinara for this came out to say that they weren’t one of them all along they started freaking out and one of them said “we talk in these groups because we can’t say this stuff anywhere else!”

I’d highly recommend the series... If you have five hours to spare And can stomach blatant homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, sexism, mentions of child abuse, and mentions of rape..

There’s a lot of trigger warnings but they go over them before those parts of the video.

#transphobia #terf #terfs #gender critical #caelan conrad #queerphobia #queerphobe #transphobes #tw: transphobia #tw: racism #tw: ableism #tw: child abuse #tw: sexist #carol marinara #tw: rape #posie parker #gender critiical #kellie-jay keen

[interstellarsystem]

Endogenic Systems and Experiences in the Neurodivergent Community

We tend to stay mostly on the fringes of syscourse nowadays without directly interacting with it too often but I'm going to post this more broadly and less focused on our specific instance of this because community-wise I think it's important to talk about.

Endogenic and other non-traumagenic systems are so commonly excluded from so many neurodivergent-safe spaces where they would otherwise be able to gain knowledge about the disorders they might have, share experiences and coping strategies with peers, or at least have a sense of community that is so commonly valuable to disabled and/or neurodivergent people. In a lot of cases, even people who only support non-traumagenic systems get shoved out.

[Continued under the readmore as it's long.]

This obviously harms non-traumagenic systems, but I have to point out that when people sit there and say "we care about REAL disabled people!", I have to say.... Do you? Because if you did care about those with mental illness, physical disability or neurodivergence, you in my mind wouldn't exclude them based on something unrelated to the topic itself which might even be something as small as holding an opinion that other people get to be the judge of their own experiences. You can say that you care about "real" disabled people, but what about when a traumagenic DID system also has a tulpa that they consider just as valid and real as their alters? What about when a system labels themselves as quoigenic because in reality, you owe no one the knowledge that you are vulnerable and traumatised? What about when a system starts out as endogenic but gains so much trauma later on that they develop dissociative symptoms?

We're quoigenic because while yes we are diagnosed with DID:

DID does not have trauma in the diagnostic criteria so our diagnosis doesn't mean anything by way of origin. Nontraumagenic is not the same as nondisordered the same way that traumagenic isn't the same as disordered.

We cannot remember a time before we were plural so we cannot say with accuracy what our actual origin was.

We have headmates we consider to be from both traumagenic and endogenic origins and it feels unfair to pick one.

We don't owe anyone a quick little "hey, we have trauma!" flag on our pinned post which can easily paint us as a target. This is the exact reason we don't share our triggers online--it's not safe.

You don't owe anyone personal medical information including your diagnostic history, your trauma history or lack thereof, your current medications or how many times you've been in a hospital. That is your business and yours alone to decide who you share it with. It's downright dangerous to share some of it, especially so publically. So who is anyone online that clearly isn't your specific medical practitioner to decide whether your experiences are real enough to allow you into spaces meant for a usually completely unrelated thing? Why would someone holding the opinion that endogenic systems get to decide what labels they use be denied access to spaces just because they support people with differing beliefs and/or experiences?

If we as a system with multiple disabilities want to go into a space for people who are schizoaffective because we need others who won't immediately jump on the ableism train when discussing something we're diagnosed with that has so much stigma, should we be denied that just because we don't label our origin with a clear-cut "we are traumatized!!" label? Should we be denied access to spaces because we don't want to sit around and smile while parts of our system and other members of our community are called fake and evil and whatever else they come up with? It's so common in spaces for people with disabilities to be exclusive to traumagenic systems and people with an anti-endogenic mindset that people don't realise they're not only hurting the endogenic community, but literal chunks of their own community itself.

I can't even begin to understand the reason why.

Endogenic systems by just existing do not cause harm. They're not like a transphobe you would not be safe around by default of having a label. Not every nontraumagenic system is a saint but if you took any communtiy and called everyone in it the equivalent of an unproblematic holy angel, you'd be lying. People are bad in every community, some worse than others, but the nontraumagenic system community literally just wants to exist--and yes, sometimes a nontraumagenic system (or supporter of such) does have dissociative symptoms, or maybe they have autism, or maybe they're physically disabled. Should they be not allowed access just because of the way they chose to label their system, or their opinion of people picking their own labels for their personal identity?

What exactly is the reason they're so excluded everywhere? I'd try to assume that this level of exclusion (to the point of endos being on DNIs next to transphobes and racists) would mean there's some real harm being done on a community-wide scale, but even when looking for it there isn't any explanation we've been able to find. "They're fake" is all we seem to see which has no actual backing whatsoever. "They're harmful" is another but.. How? We might be looking in the wrong places, but we have never seen an actual explanation for how nontraumagenic systems cause harm as a community just by being themselves.

At this point, I have to wonder how many people who say "we care about real disabled people!" are just covering up their "we care about socially acceptable disabled people who I understand and/or do not find cringey" sentiment instead. Being neurodivergent should never be about fitting into tight little boxes--it's part of the whole point of having a community like this. You're not the majority, and that's okay. So why are we dividing the disabled community into boxes too?

Of course, this doesn't only apply to ND spaces. LGBT+ spaces are similar and even more divided from the concept of being a system that it makes even less sense to block nontraumagenic systems from entering the space. How does their system origin relate to their LGBT+ identity? Sometimes it can, but should a trans person be excluded from a trans space because they have a friend who is an endogenic system and they support them fully?

Overall, the main point is that it makes no sense whatsoever to be anti-endo in general, let alone so violently anti-endogenic system to the point where you hurt members of your own community due to it. Sometimes from something as simple as them supporting endogenics alone. Your safe spaces aren't actually safe if you exclude a nonharmful group who also belong in that space due to having a personal identity or opinion different to yours. If you want somewhere to be a safe, inclusive space, it should include everyone as long as letting those people in won't cause harm. People who are seeking to cause harm (racists, transphobes, etc) obviously do not belong in a safe space because they seek to harm others, thus making the space unsafe. But people who just want to be themselves without harming anyone should be included in your space if they fall under whatever it may be topic-wise. Even the "cringey" ones. Even the ones who don't quite make sense to you or have "contradicting" labels. Even the ones who use labels completely differently to the way you do. And even the ones who are uninformed or misinformed but trying their best to learn. Your safe space is not safe if it excludes those who do not follow your every single mindset and thought without any deviation.

#reiterating that traumagenic and disordered are not synonyms and that you can be disordered and endogenic too by the way #important note here #plural #actuallyplural #plural system #plurality #endo safe #pro endo #system #alterhuman #didosdd #actually did #syscourse #actually endogenic #endogenic #disabled #quoigenic #did system #did osdd #neurodivergent #did #disability #op #mystery (they/it) #tw #tw: syscourse #tw: ableism #everything althu #althu experiences #everything plural

[blackplaaague]

I was feeling ashamed and cringey for wanting to keep my cartoon character pins on my battle jacket, and I've been made fun of for my cringey interests before, but you know what? Cringe culture is dead, and I killed it. If I want a handmade pin of my childhood comfort character, so what? Who cares? Who cares that I bought a pin from a small business I wanted to support, instead of a giant, money-gulping company? The company's CEO? A middle school bully with no friends and no life?

If you're gonna gatekeep me from the punk community because I supported a small business for nostalgia purposes, I'm going to wonder if you're the real poser here. Because a lot of the time? The folks who make fun of people with childish interests/appearances? They're abeilist.

And ableism does NOT belong in punk.

Anyway peace and love on planet punk rock, Ellis out

#tw: ableism #punk #punk rock #cartoon character #pins #I wear what I want #punk fashion #battle jacket #the character is spinel btw #well #she's the biggest one #the others are smaller #easier to hide #She's huge actually #my biggest pin #well maybe not the biggest #but the heaviest for sure #bp rambles