windwardstar

[windwardstar]

The thing about the r slur is that people who are using it again are indeed using it as a slur. This isn't a word that is being reclaimed. This is a word that is once again being used 100% as a slur. You're being a bigot if you're using it against others. Straight up. There isn't another argument to be made. Knock it tf off.

#ableism #ableist slurs

[windwardstar]

Commission for a buddy's small business

[windwardstar]

the evil version of the pakidge? commints? is "test results?"

#coincidentally i have both a package and a test result waiting and they do not in fact cancel out but combine into a lot

[windwardstar]

#murderbot#I have Thought about this#tho perhaps not quite as critically as it warrants#it does seem like less intelligent entities are still depicted as being worthy of kindness and care#eg: Ship#but also there *is* a background radiation of like#equating intelligence as Better#and I’ve waffled about the use of the words ‘dumb’ and ‘stupid’ when I’m writing#generally I don’t completely refrain from using it but I try not to use it in an outright derogatory way#kinda how I wouldn’t avoid using the word ‘fat’ if it’s descriptive yunno2#however. idk. perhaps I should reflect more#it’s one of those things that’s so engrained in the social consciousness#and in the books too#and it’s an ableist pervasive poison that rubs me the wrong way#I should read though the books again with this in mind#more deliberately#dissect the use of the infamous ‘you little idiot’#even if it *is* affectionate#etc

nice to see other people thinking about this :D

"the still depicted as worthy of kindness and care" is absolutely present in the story, more for bots than for humans (which are collectively treated as somewhat infantalized by murderbot bc murder bot absolutely sees them as lesser bc they're not as "intelligent" as it). the problem here is the hierarchy of worth based on intelligence/processing power. (The two aren't mutually exclusive, and in fact tend to combine quite frequently into paternalistic infantalization)

and yeah, the problem is that it's so pervasive in society and there's no larger social understanding of this as something that needs to even be addressed. I'd also say it's very different from fat as a descriptive word-- because the body positive movement has done a ton of work to make fat a neutral descriptor and push for people to use it in a neutral or positive way. Dumb, stupid, idiot, etc haven't had that. The word disabled has though. (Basically, fat and disabled have been reclaimed as identity words AND been pushed as general use descriptors for the group by the affected group(s) themself. Dumb, stupid, idiot etc do not have any such push, do not have any such recognition-- and in fact I'll see things like "X doesn't make you stupid" because it's still so ingrained as a negative that people who are advocating for other disabilities still have to say "but it doesn't make you [this kind of disabled that we definitely see as a bad thing to be/that you wouldn't want to be]"

like. When I am having a bad brain day and can barely process language inputs, when it takes me a minute to look at something and identify what i'm looking at and any body actions that I need to take (and sometimes I just can't even do that, I'll just stare and my brain will buffer because it is too much for my brain to process), saying "it doesn't make you dumb" is just... you're [generic] trying to say it doesn't make me worth less than people who don't have those cognitive difficulties, but what it actually going on is "you're not like this group [who is undesirable to be], so you're still worth something"

there's just. not really any room right now for "neutral" use because there's been no push by the affected groups to reclaim it + the fight right now is in just trying to get people to recognize that it's ableist in the first place and "well it's ok if it's not used in an outright derogatory way" is very much an undermining of that and just feels like a way to justify continuing to use it because it's "not as bad" (which is very much how a lot of the ok we can't call people retarded, so we'll call them moron, oh moron is bad too ok so braindead/brain damaged/smoothbrained/stupid and so on where instead of actively examining how they talk and think about intelligence they just find new words to use that aren't deemed socially unacceptable yet).

hope that helped explain some things. it's always nice to hear when people are thinking about these things and reflecting and trying to pay attention.

Reading the murderbot books bc murderbot is very entertaining and there is a ton of good parts of the stories but also the fact that it seems someone is getting called stupid or idiot or moron on every page is very grating. Especially because I'm three books in and there doesn't seem to be any recognition at all that it is ableism or any indication that there will be. This is likely because the author doesn't actually see it as ableism and is just reproducing her own ableist biases in the works. (Because like yeah the vast majority of people don't realize the ableism involved and will actively argue that it isn't. And there's no current cultural understanding that it is ableist that you can count on to reliably assume the readers will recognize it as ableism without framing it as such.)

And for anyone confused about this and thinking it means you can't write about ableism.

Writing about ableism as a topic: you put the content warning for ableism to let people know it will be present in the work as a topic/theme + it's recognized as ableism within the work either narratively or directly by the characters, the harm abelism does is shown and so on.

Reproducing your own ableist biases in your work: other people put a content warning in their recs the same way they mention the racism and ableism and misogyny in dracula or other historical works that were very much reproducing what was the prevailing attitudes of the time. The work itself does not actually recognize the ableism as ableism. It is simply reproducing it in the same capacity that it exists in real life and perpetuating it.

#ableism #ableist slurs

[windwardstar]

Is it really choir sheet music if it isn't a photocopy that says "do not photocopy this copyrighted material" at the bottom?

#only if it has a property of x stamp crossed out #even better if it is more than one

[windwardstar]

Ok so I've always been told you can't read in your dreams except I have always been able to read perfectly fine in my dreams. And in fact realized today I can read text better in my dreams than I can irl (none of the visual problems I experience in real life affect the text in dreams for me). So I'm curious.

(This is geared towards reading visual text with your eyes. But I am curious about braille/other haptic only text.)

Poll starts below.

[windwardstar]

Ok so I've always been told you can't read in your dreams except I have always been able to read perfectly fine in my dreams. And in fact realized today I can read text better in my dreams than I can irl (none of the visual problems I experience in real life affect the text in dreams for me). So I'm curious.

(This is geared towards reading visual text with your eyes. But I am curious about braille/other haptic only text.)

Poll starts below.

[windwardstar]

if u cant describe ur own stuff on tumblr u can still help ur visually impaired followers with 2 quick things:

look in the notes to see if someone already wrote a description. a lot of the time, someone already has

if theres no description in the notes or u cant write ur own, please tag the post as undescribed, so we can avoid inaccessible posts!

#image descriptions #accessibility

[windwardstar]

Ok so third book is done and have additional thoughts being: yeah no there is absolutely a foundation of intelligence = personhood = worth going on that is not being challenged in the slightest. (Processing power = intelligence in the case of robots. With murderbot having no problem overriding the autonomy/personhood of other robots, especially ones it deems lesser than itself.)

And yes. What a character believes or says doesn't automatically represent the author's beliefs- that sometimesthe characters are wrong and meant to be. But when it's the main character/narrator, there is absolutely no critique or challenge to the idea + it falls into all the regular ableist tropes, and most importantly the idea itself is normalized and pervasive within the author's society, you can assume it is probably the author's own beliefs being reflected in their work and that the character isn't meant to be in the wrong.

Reading the murderbot books bc murderbot is very entertaining and there is a ton of good parts of the stories but also the fact that it seems someone is getting called stupid or idiot or moron on every page is very grating. Especially because I'm three books in and there doesn't seem to be any recognition at all that it is ableism or any indication that there will be. This is likely because the author doesn't actually see it as ableism and is just reproducing her own ableist biases in the works. (Because like yeah the vast majority of people don't realize the ableism involved and will actively argue that it isn't. And there's no current cultural understanding that it is ableist that you can count on to reliably assume the readers will recognize it as ableism without framing it as such.)

And for anyone confused about this and thinking it means you can't write about ableism.

Writing about ableism as a topic: you put the content warning for ableism to let people know it will be present in the work as a topic/theme + it's recognized as ableism within the work either narratively or directly by the characters, the harm abelism does is shown and so on.

Reproducing your own ableist biases in your work: other people put a content warning in their recs the same way they mention the racism and ableism and misogyny in dracula or other historical works that were very much reproducing what was the prevailing attitudes of the time. The work itself does not actually recognize the ableism as ableism. It is simply reproducing it in the same capacity that it exists in real life and perpetuating it.

#murderbot #ableism

[windwardstar]

Do other writers ever get this like, hyper-specific dialogue exchange drop into their brains and you know exactly where these character are standing and what they’re doing and how they’re saying these words but that’s all you get. You don’t have much other context and this specific moment that exists only at this time in your headspace??

[windwardstar]

Reading the murderbot books bc murderbot is very entertaining and there is a ton of good parts of the stories but also the fact that it seems someone is getting called stupid or idiot or moron on every page is very grating. Especially because I'm three books in and there doesn't seem to be any recognition at all that it is ableism or any indication that there will be. This is likely because the author doesn't actually see it as ableism and is just reproducing her own ableist biases in the works. (Because like yeah the vast majority of people don't realize the ableism involved and will actively argue that it isn't. And there's no current cultural understanding that it is ableist that you can count on to reliably assume the readers will recognize it as ableism without framing it as such.)

And for anyone confused about this and thinking it means you can't write about ableism.

Writing about ableism as a topic: you put the content warning for ableism to let people know it will be present in the work as a topic/theme + it's recognized as ableism within the work either narratively or directly by the characters, the harm abelism does is shown and so on.

Reproducing your own ableist biases in your work: other people put a content warning in their recs the same way they mention the racism and ableism and misogyny in dracula or other historical works that were very much reproducing what was the prevailing attitudes of the time. The work itself does not actually recognize the ableism as ableism. It is simply reproducing it in the same capacity that it exists in real life and perpetuating it.

#ableism #ableist slurs #writing #murderbot

[windwardstar]

the first step to any successful fanfiction is two pages of bullet points about random details that barely matter interspersed with flippant oversimplifications of actual plot points

#writing

[windwardstar]

Another part of this is the fear mongering around incontinence post hysto.

Which like. First of all, gender affirming hysterectomies and ones done for medical reasons where there is cancer, endometriosis, or other tissues beyond the organs themselves that need to be removed tend to have different rates of complications. If the surgeon needs to cut out scar tissue that has fused your internal organs together, there's a much higher chance of the bladder and rectum being accidentally punctured or affected than if there is none of that.

There's also a difference between short term difficulties during the initial healing that will resolve themselves and long term ones that won't. If you have abdominal muscle pain and weakness due to havjng been cut open, yeah jt makes sense you might have difficulties holding other muscles in the area. Once things heal up the muscles can start doing their job again and jt goes away. Also like anytime a catheter is used it can temporary incontinence while the bladder sorts itself out.

But also like. Oh it'll make you incontinent... if you're a person with a (former) uterus your plumbing is primer for incontinence anyway. Like. Just age itself tends to result in incontinence as muscles weaken. Also pregnancy tends to result in it a lot. Like. There is just so much that can cause incontinence beyond just getting a hysterectomy (which isn't all that likely to even cause it). And just like.. you know what you do with incontinence? You wear pads or absorbent underwear or get a catheter. Which some people need! And there shouldn't be shame in it and it definitely shouldn't be made into a big scary thing.

And then of course there's the don't get a hysterectomy you'll be in constant pain. Which. You know. The fear mongering around chronic pain. But also like my hysto got rid of my chronic pain caused by said organs. I had a few weeks of acute pain that were only present when the muscles were being used (mostly when I was holding or using previously mentioned bladder or bowels). Once my internal incisions were healed that too resolved itself.

So it's just. There's the double layers of misrepresenting the actual chances of these things happening and the extent to which they will last combined with the framing of them as some terrible thing that could never happen to you otherwise and will be the absolute worst thing if it does. Like. Obviously the people doing the fear mongering don't want trans or disabled people to exist so they're not going to care about the ableism used in their efforts to prevent people from transitioning but it's just like. If the ableism wasn't a thing in the first place those arguments wouldn't be as prevalent as they are.

Was woken up by my body hurting because whoopsies I forgot I turned the heat down and my body does not like being cold. Also had some unhappy nerve pain from the top surgery acting up in resposne to the cold and like. Just. It strikes me so much in this moment how much ableism is baked into the fear mongering around transitioning. Especially in regards to top surgery and bottom surgery.

You'll be in pain? Yeah and? I'm already in pain. I've got other disabilities that cause similar or worse pain. This is nothing. Also even if I didn't have chronic pain to compare it to, this is nothing compared to the toll dysphoria took on my mental and physical heath. Or the pain that binding caused.

Also like, the only pain that's lasted past the initial acute healing stage has been nerve pain. Which has also just decreased as the nerves sort themselves out. When I do get a short-term increase it's because the nerves are doing their thing and reconnecting and starting to send signals back. Touching the area and giving it more sensation to help it learn is really effective at reducing or eliminating the pain and increasing sensation in the area (which is far easier than the pain spasms and joint aches that the rest of my body happens when cold) I'm also like less than a year out so like still very much in the healing stage.

And idk. To me at least the fear mongering of the top surgery pain is just. Don't do this it'll cause pain! Yeah so will so many other things people do in day to day life that causes accident or injury or just like idk hitting their funny bone on a door knob. Like.

Yes there is a risk of chronic pain post surgery. That goes for any surgery. But also most of that tends to resolve itself so most people won't actually experience life long chronic pain. But also like... people experience chronic pain. And just. There's so much ableism present in the fear mongering because it's the specter of disability being used to scare people away from transitioning rather than being treated as just another risk the person needs to take into account when making their decision.

#monday trans ramble #it's also telling that those same things are used to scare people out of getting abortions #but that while theyre brought up as risks or just what happens to your body when you get pregnant they're generally not used to discourage #people from getting pregnant because we all know what these people actually want #but yeah like so much of the fear mongering is based in ableism and it's just like scooby doo meme of bigotry bc they all connect #to each other and dismantling one requires dismantling them all

[windwardstar]

Do you think insults like "idiot" and "moron" are ok? They were previously used as serious medical terms just like the r slur, is the difference just the amount of time that has passed?

My argument was that because it affects so few people, stopping the use of "smooth brain" is a waste of time compared to trying to stop the use of other slurs. Also, I'm pretty sure people aren't using these types of insults to suggest disabilities are a moral failure, I'm fairly sure people just use them to call something they don't like stupid without thinking it through any further.

-smooth brain anon

Ever heard the phrase, "the children throw stones in jest, but the frogs die in earnest"?

Yeah, a lot of people aren't thinking it through, which is the same with any other slur. But just because an individual person isn't thinking it through, doesn't mean the slur isn't upholding a larger pattern of contempt toward a demographic of people.

And it doesn't matter how few people have this specific disability. What matters is that using it at all suggests that using any disability as an insult is fine. It still implies that moral failure comes from having an inferior brain, period.

And yes, those other words you mentioned are also ableist. They aren't as severe, but they're still ableist.

Please know that if you continue to message me to try and barter or debate over which ableist words you ought to be allowed to use, I'm not going to respond. The optimal amount of ableist language in a person's vocabulary is none, period.

#ableism

[windwardstar]

"Stupid/idiot/smooth brained/delulu not ableist" yes it is you're just used to being able to ignore the ableism and the harm it does.

"Policing people's language is just a waste of time. The effort should be on other things. Not making people memorize a list of bad words."

Idk about you but literally every time this conversation happens there is extensive explanation about why it is harmful and ableism in an effort to get people to even recognize the ableism. There is actual push to go hey change the way you talk about disability and challenge the ableism underlying it.

"But abusers will just use the right words and still be welcome in our communities"

Who the fuck are you that you wouldn't be able to point out how someone is being abusive and making the community unsafe if they stop using ableist slurs??? Like. Idk. Seems like a really terrible justification for why you can't make it clear ableism isn't tolerated. Apparently you can tolerate ableism but draw the line at hypothetical abusers.

Also like... the ableism is here now. And so are those people... so like not sure how continuing to tolerate abelism is helping you make your communities safer...

"It's censorship"

Telling people hey this word is ableist don't use it isn't fucking censorship. It's asking you to fucking care about ableism and other people and to actually recognize how you talk about disability and mental ability.

#ableism

[windwardstar]

Was woken up by my body hurting because whoopsies I forgot I turned the heat down and my body does not like being cold. Also had some unhappy nerve pain from the top surgery acting up in resposne to the cold and like. Just. It strikes me so much in this moment how much ableism is baked into the fear mongering around transitioning. Especially in regards to top surgery and bottom surgery.

You'll be in pain? Yeah and? I'm already in pain. I've got other disabilities that cause similar or worse pain. This is nothing. Also even if I didn't have chronic pain to compare it to, this is nothing compared to the toll dysphoria took on my mental and physical heath. Or the pain that binding caused.

Also like, the only pain that's lasted past the initial acute healing stage has been nerve pain. Which has also just decreased as the nerves sort themselves out. When I do get a short-term increase it's because the nerves are doing their thing and reconnecting and starting to send signals back. Touching the area and giving it more sensation to help it learn is really effective at reducing or eliminating the pain and increasing sensation in the area (which is far easier than the pain spasms and joint aches that the rest of my body happens when cold) I'm also like less than a year out so like still very much in the healing stage.

And idk. To me at least the fear mongering of the top surgery pain is just. Don't do this it'll cause pain! Yeah so will so many other things people do in day to day life that causes accident or injury or just like idk hitting their funny bone on a door knob. Like.

Yes there is a risk of chronic pain post surgery. That goes for any surgery. But also most of that tends to resolve itself so most people won't actually experience life long chronic pain. But also like... people experience chronic pain. And just. There's so much ableism present in the fear mongering because it's the specter of disability being used to scare people away from transitioning rather than being treated as just another risk the person needs to take into account when making their decision.

#monday trans ramble #and look at that its actually a monday lol

[windwardstar]

Listen. Listen. There are both social and medical models of disability. And that both are required to look at the whole picture of disability, but each is important to look at. Learn to identify when someone is using one or the other. It's the whole nature-nurture thing where it's both.