“Are people aware that sometimes shows have asshole characters, and that creates conflict?”

Ok, but have you considered that doesn’t mean people have to like those characters for their asshole traits? Like are you guys normal when someone tells you they don’t like the asshole character you’re not meant to like as a person?

Cool, I'm not the only one picking up this concerning trend of labeling asshole/bully characters as "autistic"

Like I remember seeing a lot more neurodivergent headcanons for Bakugo, which whatever. But not much for Midoriya, the kid who actually displays a hyperfixiation on a subject, and is tremendously bullied for it

And part of it is because these people view assholes as inherently more interesting and complex....for some reason

So that means only they can be viewed as neurodivergent. Which I need yall to understand how weird that sounds

When it comes to diversity and representation, takes like the one below are so funny, because the people who write them tell on themselves:

People of color and marginalized groups have been able to identify with white cishet leads because that is all we have gotten with very few exceptions sprinkled in. Of course the exceptions are going to be important to us. But when we make our own stories, studios do nearly zero to promote them so we don't even know to support them and white cishet audiences ignore them because it's 'not for them.' Then, when we are present in things they deem as theirs, they throw tantrums, start harassment campaigns against the people involved, and insist we need to make our "own" stories when we do.

Who exactly are the sociopaths?

And I love how they tell us to make our own stories as if the publishing industry/Hollywood is something we can just walk into without any barriers. Like, sure, let me just drive over and knock on the doors of every studio and see if they'll listen to some Nobody with a story. That's totally how the industry works.

Yall make no noise for Kizazi Moto, but then act like you experienced a hate crime when a Black girl plays Tinkerbell

Tiresome

it really sucks that the "planet of the bass" guy got popular on TikTok solely for making fun of autistic people. like, all of his "pov: you're sat next to the weird kid" videos got him popular, and all they are are him talking with an exaggerated speech impediment and displaying behaviors typically associated with kids and teens with autism to be seen as "annoying". and all of his comments are just people laughing and making fun of people with those traits (i.e, autistic people.) ive had him blocked for almost a year now, and seeing him all over my dashboard is just. idk. shitty ig. im not gonna like, be mad at people for thinking the meme is funny, but its just upsetting that someone who is that awful still has a platform big enough to push him onto multiple social media

like, these are just two of his videos in the "kid that's no fun" series he has. making fun of autistic children for getting overwhelmed, needing ear protection, following rules, needing order. all of which are traits heavily associated and often displayed by children with autism. like, idk, this just feels fucking gross and he built an entire platform off of it AND still regularly posts videos in this series.

You know what people don’t talk about enough for my tastes? How those of us who are mentally ill and Black work so fucking hard to make our crises small and silent and invisible so that our loved ones or strangers do not call the police for “help” and get us killed. The ableism police departments are known for toward every person experiencing a mental crisis or break is goddamn awful already but being Black on top of it? Fuck.

Back to this post because my heart is in pieces

Jordan Neely should still be here.

Anti-Blackness, ableism, classism, and the Cop Mayor of New York/NYPD failed him. The people in that train car failed him.

He was hungry, and he was tired, and he dared to say that aloud and dared to not fit in with ableist and classist expectations of proper decorum and etiquette. We have become so desensitized to the humanity of the houseless, mentally ill, and systemically disenfranchised people around us that the very CULTURE of my city has become one where an entire train car of people stand by while a YOUNG, VIBRANT, and wonderful HUMAN BEING dies in the arms of a vigilante loser with a goddamn hipster mustache who gets let go by police.

European White people are funny because they try oh so hard to seperate themselves from their US counterparts. But time and time again they say shit like this, and not realize this is word for word what White Americans also say in response to the murders of Black people

Also anyone who thinks about it for more than a min, would tell you that a "trained killer" is not the best person to bring out in these scenarios as they will always esculate a situation, but we gotta remember that this brand of cracker is quick to violence

They won't even stop to think about how someone who is trained in combat should know that having someone in a chokehold kills them slowly and painfully. So that marine knew what he was doing. He just wanted to kill this person, because again gestures to this particular brand

Literally mind-blowing that people think Nope 2022 is ableist for having a character (Mary Jo Elliott) portray the fictional counterpart to the real life Charla Nash, because they thought her inclusion in the movie as a disfigured woman was for the "shock value" of her face, and that the audience is supposed to find her appearance scary.

Like. Literally how do you miss the point that much?

The horror is not that she is disfigured.

You're not supposed to find her scary.

You're not supposed to be horrified at her appearance.

You're supposed to be horrified that she was victimized by a system that neither cared for the safety of her and her costars as human beings, or about the animals they were working with.

an abusive system that chose to put people and wild animals in close contact and stressful situations for entertainment and profit,

that as one of only two survivors of the attack, Mary Jo is once again a victim of the same system that is attempting to exploit wild animals for the sake of spectacle, but instead of tv producers, it's her fellow survivor continuing to perpetrate the cycle,

the one person who should have been able to understand the danger, the one person who should have realized just how badly this could go wrong, and instead he's embracing the danger, thinking he's special, that he's lucky, that he was "chosen" because he escaped the Gordy's Home attack physically unscathed where the others were ripped apart and died.

We are not meant to find Mary Jo Elliot / Charla Nash scary or horrifying because of their injuries.

We are supposed to be horrified at what she was put through for the sake of entertainment,

the pain and trauma she was put through because other people thought themselves capable of controlling a wild animal,

And the fact that here she is, once again, being subjected to the same horror, only this time it's at the hand of a friend who should have known better, having lived through the same attack.

We, the audience, The Viewers if you will, are not supposed to find Mary Jo Elliot / Charla Nash horrifying for her scars-- we are meant to be horrifed in how she gained those scars.

The entire premise of Nope is a commentary on the exploitation of animals and people for entertainment and the inherent danger therein, and inviting the audience into researching the real history Charla Nash's attack by Travis the Chimp is literally just a way to show this is not just a horror movie, these things happen in real life and we need to stop this from happening again

Like. This movie is as against the exotic pet trade as you can possibly get, especially because this is still very much a problem today, chimpanzees and other primates are still legal to own in almost half of the United States,

the 2011 Zanesville "Zoo Escape" is right there,

And oh look! A quick Google search pulls of an NBC video from June 23rd, 2021 , of someone who owned a Chimpanzee for 17 years having her 50 year old daughter viciously attacked and having to lock herself and her bleeding daughter in the basement so she could call 911 and direct police to do a headshot on the chimpanzee so they could get medical attention.

Like.

This is not a cheap "haha, disfigured people are scary villains and we're showing her for the shock value"

this is literally a horror story about what this woman lived through and is being put through again by someone she should have been able to trust,

and a lesson that things need to change, because this is not just a single incident that happened decades in the past, this is happening right now, and it's going to keep happening until we enact real change to protect people and animals from suffering.

I’ve noticed this is the same backlash kind of backlash we saw for Jordan Peele’s Us, with how Lupita portrayed her character to have this voice disability(the character herself had her throat damaged). And listen, there is always room to point out ableism in horror

But these same people would remain silent for other horror movies that are extremely and dangerously ableist like Split. Or whatever Joker was about

So like I said with the whole Bucky arm thing, don’t all of sudden be concerned with ableism in media when it’s just an excuse to crap on Black people and our works. Also knowing full well you allow others do the same thing if not worst

btw, eczema is a disability. people think its just flakey skin, but it's much much worse than that.

eczema causes cuts, bleeding, and pain. sometimes my eczema on my hands is too painful to the point where i can't use them. eczema wakes me up in the middle of the night because of the uncontrollable itching. eating is painful because everytime i open my mouth to take a bite the corners of my mouth are cracked.

eczema hurts. eczema makes it hard for me to get things done. eczema is not just flakey skin. eczema is a disability.

like yall be ableist as fuck in my comment section making rude comments about how ashy and dry my hands look. just shut the fuck up.

People on twitter are saying glasses aren’t a disability aid, and like… I get glasses have been pretty normalized, but I’m poor and need my glasses to drive/see in general/stop myself from getting migraines so… if my glasses break, I’m pretty fucked. Not being able to see is a disability for many, actually.

People don't seem to understand that there's more symptoms to vision loss than just "blurry vision".

Without my glasses, aside from not being able to legally drive, I get horrible migraines because of the strain put on my eyes.

Headaches and migraines go hand-in-hand with vision loss.

Hell, even when I'm wearing my glasses, if one eye's vision gets even slightly worse, the migraines are back because the eyestrain is back.

And at least in the US, vision care isn't covered by regular health insurance. (Which is ridiculous, of course, but hey, that's the world we live in)

There have been numerous studies that show that students in low-income school districts struggle academically because of their unmet vision needs. And almost as soon as these students are provided with the vision care they need, their academic performance improves.

Yes, glasses are one of the most destigmatized disability aid, but that doesn't mean they're any less of a disability aid, and that doesn't mean that poor vision is any less of a disability.

And hell, there's still stigma around glasses. How many TV shows and movies show the nerdy, unpopular, ugly character suddenly become more "improved" when they remove their glasses? How many TV shows and movies make fun of glasses-wearers, especially their panic when they lose their glasses? How many glasses-wearers are depicted as socially-awkward, ugly, old, and unpopular? The only characters who wear glasses usually are unpopular nerds, elderly people, and nagging secretaries! There's still a hell of a lot of stigma around glasses, and just because they're very common, doesn't mean there still isn't soooo much stigma that needs to be worked on.

just gonna leave this here. 

And while contacts are socially more acceptable to wear in our society, they are also a disability aid

I need to wear contacts to perform certain tasks in which my glasses will get in the way somehow(get smudged, get fogged up, fall off if I move around all over the place, going on roller-coasters, wearing 3D glasses, wearing costumes etc.)

The reason I don't wear them all the time is because they also have their own limits, such as making my eyes really sensitive or dry out

Again, not nearly as stigmatized as glasses, but I don't like how people reduce them as aids you only wear just to make yourself look more "appealing"

Y'know, some people do have a strong crying response to stress, and they might cry (even against their own will) when faced with an upsetting situation and that doesnt mean they are "gaslighting" or "manipulating" you.

There are people who use crying as a manipulation tactic? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that every person that cries during a heated argument is trying to get under your skin. They have their own emotions and issues, and frankly, not everything other people do is a personal attack on you.

Jfc I am not surprised OP got shitty responses, but like, if your reaction to this post is to immediately look for ways in which you can misinterpret and misapply it in order to be self-righteous on the internet, then I have some terrible news for you about who is actually engaging in incredibly manipulative and dishonest behaviour here. Hint: it’s not OP and it’s not people who cry easily.

Tbh this wasn't the best way to explain your intentions OP

I am someone who is prone to crying, and received trauma for being constantly told that my crying is manipulating the situation in my favor. Literally as I'm typing this I am crying, because it upsets me how little people around me seem to care

I just also know how conversations about weaponized white tears tend to go, and poc in these discussions are always attacked with this belief that none of us can be neurodivergent or that we don't have human emotions

Again, I completely understand OP's original point and agree with it, that is traumatizing. It's also traumatizing, however, for poc who have been gaslighted during these topics of white women tears. So I understand their initial frustration too. I was mad at this post first reading it, because whenever I talk about weaponized tears I am accused of being cruel. So that's another form of trauma that affects how I read these posts

And looking at the amount of White women here patting themselves on the back because now they have proof that poc calling them out are just ableist, I don't think a lot of people understood OP's intention here either

The irony here is a lot of y’all are being antiBlack and ableist against neurodivergent Black people in the notes

There are Black people literally just asking for clarification of this post’s context, and the moment they bring up the possibility of racism y’all gotta call them dumb or inhuman for it

“The focus on cis white male presentations of autism creates a massive diagnosis barrier for marginalised people. Our actions are viewed differently depending on our race / gender etc. We need better representation in media and we need academics to understand and embed cultural nuance, not seek to further restrict diagnosis.” (@girl_unleeshed on Twitter)

Here’s the second comic I worked on for Autism Acceptance month! This comic is a collaboration with Leesha (@girl_unleeshed on Twitter). Please check out her Twitter to read more of her awesome and thoughtful writing!

Disabled Representation Has Come Farther Than You Think

You’ve Just Been Conditioned Not to See It.

I recently got into a huge fight with an abled friend about disabled representation, in which he was completely convinced that the stance he held was that of an ally. He’s a long time friend of mine and I know he really did think he was fighting for us and coming from a place of trying to help us.

And it really got me thinking about the way abled people perceive disabled people. And how that message is internalised and reinforced in so many ways.

My friend was trying to say that characters like Cyborg, Misty knight, Daredevil, Toph, Edward Elric, Bucky, Nebula, etc were not good representation. And he at first refused to listen to me (an actual disabled person) when I was like; no, we like that. we love that. we LOVE seeing badass and competent and sexy disabled people. It’s validating and empowering.

His argument was that it didn’t really count because nobody saw them as disabled and that it would be the same thing as saying Gamora is black representation.

While I understand where he was coming from, both of us also being black, it was hard to get him to understand how it wasn’t the same thing.

Gamora is a black actress painted green to portray a green-skinned alien. She has black features, yes, but within the narrative she very much is not a black woman. She’s an alien.

But a disabled character is always still a disabled character. Regardless of how high tech or SciFi or magical or fantastical the world or universe is; an amputee with a prosthesis is still an amputee. They are still disabled. Yes, even if their prosthesis shoots lasers.

And other characters, like Toph and Daredevil, who are both blind, have superpowers/superhuman abilities that allow them to overcome their disability. That does not make them less disabled.

Their blindness still impacts their everyday lives. They can’t read. They can’t draw. They don’t know what things or people look like, or what color things are. They can’t read someone’s facial expressions during a conversation. They can’t follow a map without assistance.

When I asked my friend for examples of what he considered good disabled representation he said Professor X, Oracle, and the Thinker. And that made me pause and I won’t lie, it upset me. It felt degrading. I got kind of angry at him and it got a little heated.

Because what he was saying is: the smart one in the wheelchair that never actually joins the battle because their body is too frail? Those are the only good disabled characters? The ones who still need to be protected and treated tenderly and are physically weaker?

Do we only exist when you can view us as some subhuman lesser other that you can take pity on?

But it’s not only my friend who thinks this way.

I’ve seen quite a few arguments online about people who don’t think Edward Elric is disabled, despite being an amputee.

Who don’t think Cyborg is disabled, despite the fact that his entire power set is due to a life support and mobility aid device.

And my friend was shocked that I, and many other disabled people, find these depictions of strong and confident and capable disabled people empowering. He fully expected that I would find those depictions offensive.

And that’s when it really hit me.

The issue is not that characters like Bucky or Toph or Daredevil are bad representations of disabled characters.

The issue is that people don’t perceive them as disabled. They’ve internalized this belief that disabled people have to be weak and delicate and fragile and in some way physically inferior.

They’re only considered disabled if they’re tragic and/or weak. Or ugly. People love to project a tragic subhuman otherness onto disabled people who are ugly.

If they’re cool and badass that confuses them. That doesn’t fit with the narrative that’s been built in their heads.

The idea of a competent, confidant, and strong disabled character, especially a cool disabled character is just so completely foreign to them that they don’t even consider it.

Now I’m not saying that depictions of disabled characters like Oracle or professor X are bad or harmful. We need representation of disabled people who aren’t strong and don’t have superpowers and maybe don’t feel particularly empowered. That’s a genuine representation of many disabled people.

It just isn’t the only one.

I think the issue with disabled representation is not that it doesn’t exist (as I’ve seen many abled people online claim in our defense) but that we need to shift the way we think of disabled people so we stop overlooking a lot of the really cool and badass and awesome disabled characters we do already have.

So if you read this far through this essay, please stop for a moment and consider the preconceptions you have about disabled people.

Have you ever overlooked a disabled character because they were strong, powerful, charismatic, or, (God forbid!) SEXY?

And if so, I’d ask you to take some time to examine in yourself why you don’t think of disabled people as being able to be those things.

Mod Izzy

if u consider yourself a horror fan you like NEED to be aware and educated on the ableism thats been put at the heart of so much horror. like... is that character actually scary or do they just have a limp/scars/disfigurement that real normal people have irl and have to see depicted as horrifying and dehumanizing? if you think any of those things or things like it are scary in ANY context you need to step away from the horror genre and familiarize yourself with the fact that people can and do look like that and they do not deserve to be an object of fear