about your disability pride month post: is there anything important/significant you think people should take notes on when writing a character with an upper arm prosthetic? (like starting from the elbow if i phrased correctly)?

Yeah! I think the biggest is that you ought to consider first, esp if its an OC, your reasoning for making the character disabled- you wanna make sure you're not fetishizing or exploiting their disability to prop up abled characters. I've got a list of questions for authors to ask themselves along those lines that I can post or dm

Secondly, you have to consider what level of realism you wanna go with. If you have a character where, in universe, the prosthesis functions in exactly the way an arm does, you could just go with that if you want - it's the path of least resistance, right? BUT you ought to consider that most prostheses in media exist in that way AT THE EXPENSE of good representation of disability. Erasing disability or "curing" it with magical prostheses IS a form of ableism that is so pervasive it just goes unnoticed by most. I believe personally that disabled bodies are worth portraying well even when the creators of the source material did not do that. SO if you want to go with real well thought our representation, here are some common things I think authors and artists often miss (specifically as it pertains to upper limb prostheses):

1) I already said this, but seriously, I cannot emphasize enough that upper limb prosthetics ain't cheap and are usually uncomfortable. Your character, if they are poor, or even like middle class, won't have access to multiple high tech popular mechanics cover story type robo arms. Even if they did ...

2) Not all limb different folks use prosthetics! I personally have used multiple and I disliked them. I tried very hard to learn, but there are multiple requirements to be able to use each model and sometimes, a lot of times actually, limb different people - especially people without a hand or an arm function Better without prosthetics. Be aware in your art that limb different people are Whole. How you ask can somebody without an arm, say, do all that stuff?

3) Consider the idea of adaptation in your writing and art instead of relying only on magicking disability away with prosthetics. Disabled People live in a world full of barriers and tend to be Very creative about navigating it, adapting to our environment through just being a little clever about how we do things is the biggest way i see other people with upper limb differences interact with the world. There are three main ways that we go about this without prosthetics: Using adaptive equipment, Finding an alternate method, or as a last resort, asking for help.

Example 1: I have like 1.5 arms ok so obviously only 1 hand, and I need to clip my fingernails every once in a while. The obvious solution to me, while it may seem gross, is just to bite them off. Bad habit, but efficient. I could use those horrible little nail clippers, with my remaining stump and a little finagling but it takes forever. I could also get some adaptive nail clippers - they make great big handled ones for ppl that can't grab the little ones. Or, I could ask my partner to trim them, but I'm usually too proud to do that. Let disabled people have their flaws too lol!

Example 2: I love to rock climb. This is where adaptive equipment comes in. I could slip off a rock climbing wall pretty easily right? So bouldering (rock climbing without harnesses) is totally inaccessible to me. But if I go to a gym that has harnesses, then that's fine - they catch me if I fall and that's adaptive for me.

Adaptive equipment comes in many shapes and sizes and can be regular items repurposed.

3. If after all that you Must create art or write about an OC or preexisting character that uses upper limb prosthetics, consider that in general, limb different people's prosthetics are not equivalent to having two arms. Prosthetics are only practical for limb different people if they enhance your life or are useful in some way, however, getting one high tech enough to do that is unlikely because they are expensive. There are different groups, clinics, and charities that make lower cost options but they tend to be much lower tech than is depicted (and often are clunky). My first prosthetic was a long flat piece of metal, similar to a doctors tongue depressor, attached to a plaster cuff velcroed around my stump. The idea was that since I had a little bit of stump poking out, I could pin objects against the metal and it would work like a crab's pincers. It was okay, but I did accidentally smack many. Many. Things with it, including my own face and since it was metal, that was unpleasant. Obviously hindered more than helped. Also it did not look even remotely like a hand.

4. Which prosthetics you can get generally depend on what you got on you. Literally. Bodily. With upper limb prostheses, If you don't have an elbow or wrist, your options are almost exclusively limited to the pricier electric options that are both super futuristic, unavailable to many, and also like new car priced. Many of the manual, non-electric models depend on the ability to flex a wrist or elbow, so if you have those things are a little more accessible overall. It also matters whether you are born limb different like me, or if you are an amputee. Amputees are more likely to be candidates for prostheses than people like me because they have all those preexisting muscles and nerves for prosthetics that are higher tech and require surgical attachment Also prosthetics might be an easier learning curve, and more useful for somebody who has been abled bodied than it would be for somebody who never had that limb in the first place.

5. This is a little thing and ... Not to get too medical with it ( and neither should yall) but limb different people often have physical changes associated with lack of or loss of limb. If you do not have a limb, you are not going to be developing the muscles that are surrounding it in the way an a nondisabled person would. Again for example I have 1.5ish arms which means I've got plenty of stump on my "affected" limb. Even when I did Varsity sports and everything, I was never able to get beefy on that side. It is a pet peeve of mine that many people do not seem to get this - Most art I see of vash the stampede has him with two super beefy shoulders and like yeah i get it that's hot, but if hes got roughly the same amount of stump as me, he probably shouldn'tlook like that. Another thing in this vein is chronic pain is associated with limb loss and limb difference- I have it and its reasonable that any prosthetic user or nonprosthetic using limb different person is more likely to have it. Again these are little things but if you're looking to do good representation you need to consider that limb difference is not just a cool little stylistic choice to make a character look tough or what have you - limb loss and limb difference mean that that character will not only think differently than abled bodied people, but move differently, pose differently, have different routines and preferences than are ever represented in most media. Disability is not a style, and it's not a diagnosis, it's an identity. It's important above all to be respectful of that by letting go of centering able-bodied expectations and aesthetic in your art and writing. Hard to do but i believe in y'all!

Hope that helps! I've also got a bunch of links to go along with these points, if you want them lmk! I'm always happy to take asks about this stuff!

Tl;dr please consider making characters that don't use prosthetics, or don't use them excessively because it's more realistic, better representation, and makes me, a disabled dyke on the internet, really happy.

Lastly if y'all liked my advice and appreciate my time you are always welcome to tip me for it - my c*sh*pp is $neptunedrive

Socialized medicine in the US is a partial solution to the myriad of problems with western medicine at best.

Western medicine is theoretically speaking the application of the scientific method to the human body, right? So it seeks to isolate "variables" in the name of "objectivity". Another word for variables here is context. And you just can't in a real way separate context from an individual's state of health; something medical professionals are VERY MUCH AWARE OF (see: shit life syndrome for one example) that exists in tension with both the current regiment of distributing healthcare and with the foundational mythos of western medical knowledge formation.

Western medicine is also beholden to the rest of the world. In places in the US where medicaid is actually relatively accessible, for example, you still have shit like racism and sexism and transphobia and ableism impacting care people get. And I understand that like, when people talk about their ideal socialist utopia, there's mechanisms in place that deal with social oppression; but I want you to think about just how big a project uniform care actually existing would be.

So in our current world, another obstacle to Making Medicine That Works is legality, especially re: the drug war. Very useful, known, well-studied substances have documented properties making them extremely useful or potentially useful for a variety of medical treatments (examples: THC for everything from gut stuff to emotional support; LSD for crohns and potentially diabetes; good old opiates and opiate-related-chemicals for chronic pain, some cases of depression and a subset of the experiences often diagnosed as schizophrenia and/or ADHD): but prohibition prevents application or further study (even for chemicals like THC that are legal in some states, if any program that receives federal funding is involved, can't use it! Fun right?). But sure, we can waive that one aside to and say that universal healthcare will also mean a total end to prohibition. That'd be cool!

So now that we've magicked away these problems, we have uniformly available healthcare that's getting better every day because all the social, legal and financial limits on medical exploration have been taken away. What do we have?

Well aside from a system that's gonna die with the rest of industry any time from next year to a few decades from now, still heavily dependent on plastics and factories and worldwide shipping and coerced labor in other countries, we still have a hierarchical structure where prescriptive knowledge is generated by centralized institutions who's abilities and members are dictated by governmental legislation and that inherently cannot see or account for the context of various people's bodies and lives and thus still limits the ability of disabled and mad people to explore/access unapproved/not-yet-approved treatments. But no, we can magic this one away too, obviously in the ideal socialized healthcare, everyone's needs will be accounted for so we'll have decentralized community medical exploration! And we'll use existing holistic healthcare tools and make more to account for individual people's context! And nobody will be subjected to coerced labor or nonconsensual treatment! And we'll find ways of creating medicine that are locally feasible, don't require global industry, and are resilient against climate collapse!

...so we no longer have contemporary western medicine (or civ, for that matter). Cheers!

But wait! There's more! You can live in this brave new world RIGHT NOW! what do you do with ur time, huh? You play video games? I bet you've put a lot of time and effort and skill-building and resource accumulation into it! Maybe you're poor as shit like me and have figured out emulators and pirating or talk to other people who share your interests about how to access them or you're into indie games! That is cool and meaningful! Maybe you like music! Maybe you like fiction! I bet you know a lot of lore/specifics/techniques/etc related to SOMETHING! maybe it's birds! Idk you but I am absolutely positive that there is SOMETHING you know a lot about that you have figured out how to know in a way that's accessible to you and applicable to your life. Maybe it felt easy, maybe it was really hard, maybe you did it because you want to, maybe you did it because you had to, maybe it's a really big topic, maybe it's a small one, maybe you can think of it right this second and maybe you'd have to ask some friends to point it out to you. Whatever it is, whoever you are, YOU HAVE BUILT A KNOWLEDGE SET AND YOU CAN BUILD ANOTHER ONE! You can start learning about the medicine that is applicable to your life right now. Go read the Wikipedia page for some medications you have around! Or for some ingredient in a food nearby you don't know what is! Or one you do know what is! Figure out a question about it! Google that question! Keep googling! Read some studies that come up and then search all the words you don't know and keep looking until you understand them! Look at you you're doing it! Keep going! This is how it starts!

Medicine exists in the same world we do and we can take it for ourselves and make it better!

Hunter and the “curing the disability” trope: an analysis of the twist of For the Future

Let’s start with the basics. How do you define a “disability”?

In basic terms, a disability is a physical or a mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses or activities; a disadvantage, or a handicap.

In the universe of the Boiling Isles, there are a few things that can be considered a disability which do not apply to our world. For example, Eda’s curse is a pretty clear metaphor for disability, and would absolutely count as one. It limits her, it limits her magic. It’s a disadvantage, a handicap. Curses are disabilities; ones that can be caused by other people or inflicted onto someone with malicious intent, much like disabilities that can come from injury.

Furthermore, magicless witches and witchlike creatures are also disabled. The entire Boiling Isles runs and is dependent on magic and the assumption that everyone can use it. The inability to do magic is, again, a limitation. A disadvantage.

We even see parallels in disabled experiences in those with weak magic. Willow was bullied relentlessly for years because people thought she her magic was weak. This reflects the experiences of many disabled children’s school years; disabled children are more likely to be bullied because of their disability.

Willow is often called “half-a-witch Willow”, which, as we learn in Any Sport In A Storm, is an established term not just made up for Willow. “Half a witch” is an established, well-known derogatory term for witches with lacking magical abilities. The very existence of derogatory terms for this obviously draws parallels to minorities of the real world; with, of course, the most apt metaphor being disability.

Hunter uses the term to insult himself for his own lack of magical abilities. A sort of internalized ableism; one that could have (dare I say it? should have) been resolved within his storyline.

This would be a disability that one is born with, as opposed to gaining, like Eda’s disability is. Willow is naturally bad with abominations, and Hunter was created without a bile sack; thus, without a natural ability to use magic.

So, now we have established that powerless witchlike creatures are disabled in their universe.

Hunter as a disabled character is quite an interesting point of analysis, especially in terms of his relationship to Flapjack. Flapjack is his disability aid. Not just in the “emotional support” sense for his PTSD, but using Flapjack’s magic (rather than just being unable to use any magic due to his natural lack of it) is a form of disability assistance. Flapjack made it easier for Hunter to exist and function in this world not made for creatures like him; powerless ones.

So, when they killed off Flapjack, this is, metaphorically speaking, them killing off not only the disabled character’s best friend, but also taking away the disabled character’s disability aid as a form of or catalyst for “character development”. Which, itself, is an ableist trope which might deserve its own analysis on how it appears in The Owl House.

And then, here comes the writers, saying that Flapjack’s death gave Hunter the ability to naturally use magic.

To put this into perspective, in terms of the allegory here, this is the Boiling Isles equivalent of a writer killing off my service dog and then saying that the death of my service dog cured me of my autism.

If you are unfamiliar… The ���curing the disability” trope is incredibly, infuriatingly ableist. It:

1 ) Implies that disability is something that can be overcome or cured in the first place.

2 ) Oftentimes, it’s treated as a “reward” for a character undergoing development. Hunter, of course, only was able to be “cured” because of how close he became with Flapjack. The disability being healed, narratively speaking, is his “reward” for overcoming his hatred for wild magic and Palismen, and making a true friend.

3 ) It implies that disabled people cannot be truly happy the way they are. If the happy ending that the writers imagined for Hunter was him magically losing his disability… That’s pretty damn depressing for us with disabilities in the real world.

And this isn’t even going into that many real-life disabled people don’t want to be cured.

So, basically: this plot development is bad. When Flapjack first died, I worried that this might be where they take it, but I ended up putting my fears aside. They did a very good job with portraying Eda’s disability; surely, they would have done enough research to know to avoid this well-known ableist trope with their other disability allegories!

Well, apparently not.

Disabled people deserve better than a show which is stated in its marketing of this season to have themes of disability having a disabled character’s disability aid and service animal die, and then be “cured” because of it. We deserve better than where Hunter’s arc is going. We deserve better than this.

I sometimes read anti Darkling posts for fun, just to see what reasons they have, and I saw a post that said that the Grisha ‘aren’t an allegory for oppressed minority’.

https://www.tumblr.com/wlwocprincess/710154380240994304/very-weird-how-that-mans-stans-act-like-the-show?source=share

Very weird how That Man’s Stans act like the show is “anti Grisha propaganda” and treat Grisha as an actual oppressed group of people that exist in real life in order to take it as face value as an allegory for real life oppression when there’s already tons of reasons to criticize oppression allegories that are “people with supernatural abilities that can kill people are the most oppressed group and are headlined by mostly white cishet able bodied characters that’s been done to death” therefore Leigh must be anti liberation for actual oppressed groups of people (and then proceed to talk over her as a Jewish disabled woman and insist that she “should know better” and make oppressed Grisha edits with Holocaust movie clips) when it’s established in the Grishaverse that real life oppressions still exist such as ableism, classism, racism (made an even bigger theme in the show), and xenophobia still exist within the universe alongside Grisha oppression but are treated very differently and a huge part of why that man’s philosophy doesn’t work is bc he’s privileged in every other way and therefore doesn’t care, in the show, he is even condescending towards Alina about it and undermines the racism and classism she’s been facing her whole life to prop up his goals and his point of view as a white man who’s never been in the body of an orphaned woman of color.

In short:

It's not oppression, because it's not real, and they could physically slaughter their enemies (if they're powerful enough), so they're obviously unbulliable.

LB is "Jewish disabled woman", therefore can do (or write) no wrong.

If you're "white", healthy etc. you cannot be oppressed.

The Darkling is somehow privileged... Not sure how...

Completely made up scenes that never happened in the show...

Realistic politics and nuance in a straightforward romance sprinkled with colour-coded racism?!

Not on MY WATCH!

Idk, why you bother reading that shit. At least this one isn't stupid enough to spam our tag... (Or I have her blocked...)

for the violence ask… 8/9/10

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

I think it's an easy answer to say Peter Parker but objectively, the majority of the fandom has a very fanon collective idea about who he is/what role he feels in a narrative that makes it feel like there are two distinct Peters that are running around in the tag. (Which is interesting, because Wade's character I think is pretty consistently written - the level of nuance differs, but the core of him is there, and I think it's because he's baseline a pretty easy character to understand while Peter is not since who he says he is/who he is contrats)

It's obviously mostly because comic canon + the three movie canons do not line up well the more recent they are, and the most recent converts are people who got into the TH movies, which are probably the least accurate/worst representation of Peter as a character. I think that writing him as a nice, sweetheart, infantile twink definitely fulfills a very classic yaoi fantasy and I understand why it exists, but at that point it's so disconnected from source it feels like a wade wilson/oc work that's been telephoned across the expanse of the fandom degrading Peter's core character further with every new iteration.

9. worst part of canon

I've said this once, I've said this a thousand times, but the ableism that exists within the comic universe to the degree that everyone that sees Wade and his scars reacts like it's the worst thing they've ever seen is not only unrealistic but also weird in canon context.

1) this is a world that has mutants, aliens, and meta-species and many canon characters have mutations or species traits that go outside the norm and they don't receive the same level of universal disgust

2) disability education! mutant rights are marvel's talking point for real world racism/ableism so why can mutants who are made of stone get humane treatment from fellow mutants but wade...does not? it's weird? it doesn't make any sense?

3) he literally does not look that bad (this is depending on author/artist. I saw someone say once that there are three Wades, horror Wade, action Wade, and romance Wade and depending on the comic plot line, his scars get worse to better respectively.) As someone who writes for this fandom I can confirm that there are many people who are attracted to Wade Wilson lol. It just does not. Make. Sense. To. Me. It's just ableism, plain and simple.

It just really bothers me. I really think comics are so based on conventional standards (I.E. every superhero is traditionally beautiful, body diversity doesn't exist, etc.) that when a character like Wade exists who is not conventional but still fits the body standards + the base of G.I. Joe it just doesn't make sense that he would receive the level of blatant ableism from every person he ever interacts with. I think he would get more! Is it what I'm saying.

10. worst part of fanon

I mean, where do we really start. (It's the babygirlification of Wade Wilson) it makes writing any level of nuance in their relationship very one-sided because you know the fans will literally agree with anything Wade does and contrast it with degrading and dehumanizing anything Peter does. Wade's actions are always justifiable because (vague hand wave in the direction of the babygirlification of serial killers) I think it bothers me so much because there are two people in this relationship and one of them is a canonical serial killer and one of them is a weird guy with a bad personality. I think they both suck, but if only one of them gets flack then it really makes the entire concept of them profoundly unfun.

Marvel_Kitten

See Marvel_Kitten’s existing works here.

Preferred contact methods: Email: [email protected]

Preferred organizations: - Assistance Dogs International - Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund - National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (See the list of approved organizations here)

Will create works that contain: Happy endings, established relationships, hurt/comfort, fluff, Omegaverse, Matt Murdock centric, feelings realisation, love declarations, getting together, angst with a happy ending.

Will not create works that contain: Explicit content, smut, unhappy endings, rape/non-con, creature fics, heavy angst,

  -- Fic or Other Writing --

Auction ID: 1033

Will create works for the following relationships: Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanov - 616, MCU Thor/Valkyrie - 616, MCU Loki/Valkyrie - 616, MCU Matt Murdock/Jennifer Walters - 616, MCU Matt Murdock/Foggy Nelson - 616, MCU Frank Castle/Matt Murdock - 616, MCU Bruce Banner/Valkyrie - 616, MCU Marc Spector/Any - 616, MCU Harry Osborn/Peter Parker - 616, MCU Matt Murdock/Any - 616, MCU

Work Description: 2k word minimum, but will add 1k for every bid increment with a maximum of 10k total. Flexible on ship and universe. I have a lot of ships and more than a few rare pairs, but have tried to cover a broad range of characters here. Just ask if there's something specific you want. Odds are I'll be happy to accommodate you.

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

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-- Beta Service --

Auction ID: 2023

Will create works for the following relationships: Matt Murdock/Any - Any Universe Frank Castle/Any - Any Universe Foggy Nelson/Any - Any Universe

Work Description: Auction is for a sensitivity read, specifically blind/vision impaired characters, accurate depictions of ableism/disability specific discrimination etc hence the Daredevil ships, but am obviously flexible on ship and characters. 2k - 200k. Let's do this.

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

If there’s one thing I truly hate about the Krakoa era, its how its encouraged every ableist fuckweasel to come out of the woodwork with their Literally Nobody Asked thinkpieces about how ‘it just doesn’t make sense’ that characters like Karma wouldn’t use resurrection to get ‘her real leg’ back or Hellion his hands.

And to clarify, its not even like, its universally the books that are doing it? Like some of the writers have been just as bad about this shit, but that's kinda just them being them and not proof its inherently built into the narrative. Like Duggan using resurrection to be grossly ableist in how he had Emma and Kate 'punish' Shaw in Marauders, that's on him. But just as many other writers have been conscientious about NOT going there with their stories, with some like Ayala making a point to have Karma go through resurrection while still retaining her bionic leg, and that drives some fans WILD, I guess? Its super interesting to me that this is the character choice 'that just doesn't make sense' to them to such a degree they HAVE to fixate on it, they just CAN'T wrap their minds around why any writer would think any character would just WANT to 'stay' disabled if they didn't have to....like of all the ways to pick apart the intersection of worldbuilding and character choices and cry MAKE IT MAKE SENSE, this in particular is what gets some fans' goat, but....apparently so!

But I am just begging people to get that when many disabled people say 'you can use the word disabled, its factual, its not an insult' and 'accepting the reality of being disabled' - this is NOT the same thing as all disabled people seeing their disabilities as proof they're lacking or broken somehow, and they would take any opportunity to 'be fixed'....with the implicit corollary there being 'so long as they don't get fixed, their life can only ever be seen as suboptimal, and they can only be lesser than able-bodied people'....like hello hi that's the very ESSENCE of ableism RIGHT FUCKING THERE, and can we please grasp that you CAN NOT implicitly take it for granted that its only a lack of options for making someone NOT disabled, that's like forcing disabled people to SETTLE for a state of mind that 'pretends' they're just as valued or capable as able-bodied people even if in different ways.

That’s still being ableist as fuck and just counting on it not coming up as an issue so long as a person or character has 'no choice' about being disabled. But god help us if new options become available to that person/character and they choose the WRONG one, that doesn't make sense to people who have just been taking it for granted all this time that obviously people don't actually MEAN it when they say they don't view themselves as needing to be 'fixed' or lesser as long as they're disabled, resigned to a subpar life that could never measure up to an able-bodied person's in terms of fulfillment and happiness....they were just saying that because that's like, what you're supposed to say so that people will tell you omg you're so strong, right? Guys?

Ugh. Fuck off.

Like sorry not sorry, but it should be the goal of any sufficiently advanced society to use its resources and technologies to shape ITSELF to the needs of individual members so as to maximize their quality of life, NOT to use those resources and technologies to demand individual members shape THEMSELVES to match whatever parameters society has deemed the expected norm if they want to partake in a high quality of life.

This is like, the literal core of what ableism is and why it exists: evaluating a person's existence and 'value' through the lens of how much they're BELIEVED to be capable of benefitting society as-is rather than through the lens of how much society is capable of benefitting them as-is. Whereas if you literally just flip that and set the default expectation as how much can SOCIETY as-is, accommodate the lives and needs of all its members without demanding they conform to certain expected images first....then all members of society, with their needs met and accommodated for even if to different degrees and in different ways.....are equally capable of partaking in society and contributing to it to the same degree.

And in practice, what this means is when an amputee like Karma is not viewed as having options in 'not being amputated/getting her leg back or as close to it as she can come' but rather options in 'here's how she can partake in society just as fully as any other member regardless of her disability'....

And the options available to her are "high-tech bionic prosthetic personally made to her specifications and needs by Forge, the greatest inventor of the mutant race" and "literally die and have her soul/consciousness moved to a newly grown 'undamaged' replica of her original body, with her leg intact"....

Like, can you see how once the question isn't "how can Karma get her leg back and be 'whole' or 'normal'" but rather "how can Karma have her mobility needs met and enjoy a high quality of life" - suddenly the obvious option-to-pick out of the two aforementioned choices might not actually be quite so obvious?

But okay, some people are like even if Karma didn't want to go through the resurrection process JUST to get her biological limb back, she already went through it for other reasons, why didn't they just do that at the same time? Her new body was made from just her genetic code but she lost her leg due to physical trauma. It would have naturally had two functioning legs they had to amputate one of in order to match her pre-resurrection body...that's weird dude.

Eh. Eye of the beholder. Personally, I think the weird part is being so hung-up on the idea she might not have jumped at the chance to not be disabled that like, you have to logistically break down every part of the offscreen process just to highlight an angle that supports your agenda here. The comics spent decades telling us that the process of bonding adamantium to Logan's skeleton was an excruciating ordeal...with all the times he's died and been brought back in the current era, each time coming out of it with his adamantium skeleton clearly still a thing...are you going around breaking down the offscreen implications of Logan's body being put through that physical trauma again and again, just for the benefits mutantkind gets from having their adamantium-enhanced berserker be at 'peak durability'? No? That never comes up but you're here hyping up how barbaric it sounds to have the Five needlessly amputate an 'undamaged' Karma just for the sake of 'seeming progressive even when it doesn't make sense'?

Huh. Might want to look into why you feel the need to poke at one of those things but accept the other at face value. Just a thought.

Still, people are right - Karma already HAS gone through the resurrection process for plot-related reasons anyway....why WOULD she emerge from Arbor Magna with her prosthetic instead of the Five just using the opportunity to 'fix' Karma while she was already there?

Hmm. Gee. Idk. This IS a headscratcher.

Unless...could it be....

MAYBE THEY DIDN'T DO THAT BECAUSE NEITHER KARMA NOR THE FIVE SAW HER DISABILITY AS NEEDING TO BE FIXED, ESPECIALLY IF KARMA LITERALLY DIDN'T ASK!

The Five kinda make a big deal about not going through the resurrection queue 'tweaking' mutants unless they're specifically asked to for a specific reason - and that reason is one they're morally okay with. In the absence of any 'special instructions' they view their role as them being there to bring that mutant back in a body that matches the one they died in as closely as possible, in order to make the transition as seamless as possible and minimize that mutant's death trauma or awareness/reminders of what they'd just been through.

So the Five wouldn't view bringing Karma back exactly as she was as 'butchering' her new body for the sake of social justice points. They'd view it as respecting an individual's autonomy and not projecting their own expectations for what that individual's body ideally SHOULD look like, just because they have the means and opportunity.

Which means they brought her back with her prosthetic for one of two clear reasons:

Either because Karma asked them to, and they respected her wishes and considered it her body and none of their fucking business.

Or JUST AS LIKELY...

They brought her back that way because Karma didn't say anything about it one way or the other, and in the interests of not presuming to know her thoughts on her own disability, they opted for matching the body and existing accommodation she'd already chosen for her disability instead of deciding that was the wrong choice or an oversight on her part and making another choice FOR her, when again - didn't fucking ask.

Because here's a weird possible character choice for Karma, pre-resurrection:

Maybe....just maybe...she already considered herself a fully capable member of society, was happy with the body she had, didn't feel inconvenienced or abnormal because of the prosthetic she uses in place of her biological limb....just y'know, not actually going through life feeling her disability makes her less than 'she could be' or held back from a higher plateau of happiness or quality of living? Like, could be...she wasn't actually looking for opportunities to make improvements or adjustments to her life predicated on whether or not she had two biological legs instead of the one biological and one prosthetic one that she's been living a perfectly fulfilled and happy life with for years?

Could be....she just didn't say anything about her leg to the Five, or ask for changes to her body, because she either didn't feel she needed them, would just be a lateral move either way, or who knows? Maybe it didn't even occur to her!

Its a perfectly plausible character choice to assume Karma wakes up every day and just thinks of herself as...herself. Not as a disabled person, specifically, or a person with only one functioning leg, specifically, or someone who is forced to rely on a prosthetic she only claims to be okay with having for lack of any other options, but would enthusiastically be rid of at the first available opportunity because her life up until that point wasn't actually GOOD, it was just 'as good as it could be while disabled and with a prosthetic.'

Despite her high-tech bionic leg, could be Karma views herself as a whole fucking person, not a robot who needs to be recalled and standardized back to her default factory settings before she can optimally serve society to the best of her abilities.

Maybe Karma didn't use resurrection to fix herself because the idea that she needs to be fixed is so far out of left field for her, it didn't even pop up in her mind as a possible choice to even consider making. And post-resurrection, its never felt to her like a missed opportunity or something she should have thought about beforehand, because if it didn't register as an option ahead of time because it wasn't an option she actually felt she needed, why the fuck would it be or feel anymore necessary to her in hindsight, even if it only occurred to her later that 'oh yeah, I could have asked them to do that while they were bringing me back'?

Seems to me like looking for ways or opportunities to fix a problem only certain readers even consider to be a problem? That's not so much about it actually being any more of a problem now than it was in the first place. Its still just them struggling with the notion that a disabled character - or person - who already does have other accommodations for their disability....might feel no need to jump at an option to be 'whole/non-disabled' just because it exists, as their focus is more about what they can do than how they do it and they're already satisfied with what they can do and 'being whole/normal' isn't even on their radar because it presumes they don't see themselves that way already.

And that's not a problem with the premise, an unrealistic character choice, a social justice agenda, etc, etc, ad nauseam.

If you're sure a problem exists there, that's a you problem and like, get better soon I guess? Or stick with being a lost cause. Idk. Your call, really.

But anyway. The thing is yeah, disabled people aren't a monolith of course and there absolutely ARE people and characters who WOULD pick something like the resurrection process to gain their body's full range of function, as like, their preferred option for addressing a disability in their existing form. And like, they're valid for that? I mean, real disabled people are valid for that and disabled characters written by disabled writers are definitely valid for exploring that route through the lens of lived experiences with a disabled person's perspective. Disabled characters making that choice while written by non-disabled writers, like I'm ngl, its still gonna be a side-eye from me on that one, lads, because the likelihood of that being born of the writer's own unpacked ableist assumptions is always gonna be high here. Given the scarcity of disabled representation in superhero comics, sorry not sorry, I absolutely AM going to question why an able-bodied writer would consider taking that narrative route to be the ideal character direction to take with that character. Like there are choices you CAN make with a character but its like ehhhhh, SHOULD you though? Didja have to? There were no directions you could take that character OTHER than that, without seismically shifting the optics around that character and their established history as disability representation? Hmm. Well I mean, okay then. If you say so.

He said. Unconvincingly, and with a continued case of side-eye and a decreased likelihood of reading more from that writer in the future because he likes reading writers that make good choices and this one said no and well, hard to argue with that.

In all seriousness though, I will say when it comes to writing 'use something like the resurrection protocols to address a character's disability' narratives, like, if you're determined to explore that option because of Reasons I Guess, or because you feel its unrealistic that NO disabled mutants would want to go that route....

Well, there's always characters who exist as disability METAPHORS, due to having mutations or powers that make them disabled-in-universe but in ways that have no real world equivalent.

I mean, people looooooove leaning on characters like Chamber - who are hardly ever written as DISABLED since the most common focus for their disability is how cool and distinct it looks visually - like, some people LOVE bringing up characters like Chamber as gotchas or trump cards in conversations about ableism in comics (usually without ever making the point they think they are).

Personally, I've never been a big fan, like I like plenty of these characters, like Chamber, just not them being hyped up as disabled representation specifically, because I'm always going to wonder hey why do you need to give such prominence to disability metaphors when characters with actual real world disabilities are right there too? Y'know?

And I do think that magical situations merit magical accommodations - as in, anything that's introduced as the source of a narrative or character conflict, but that categorically could not exist outside of fiction....like, I think its a cop-out to try and use the former as metaphors for disability or real world issues, and limit characters to ONLY seeming able to respond with real-world measures. Like nah, let like be a response to like. I'm not going to be mad if a story comes up with a magical fix to a magical illness that had magical symptoms, because it undermines the reality that not every disease can be cured. Like, yes, that's true, but this story left realism behind several exits ago, so don't try and sell me on how its reality's fault you wrote a sad ending to a story that could never happen in reality.

So if writers or fans are really that steamed about it being totally unrealistic that NO mutants would try and use the resurrection protocols to address disabilities impacting their current quality of life....okay, fine, whatever. At least pair that narrative choice with the characters whose need for further or better accommodations to their disability CAN'T be met with real-world options, because no treatment protocol for 'accidentally blew off my face with an energy blast' exists. Like congrats, here's where the disability metaphors can finally contribute to narratives in ways that aren't better tackled with actual disabled rep. Use them to tell these kind of stories while freeing up actual disabled rep to continue to be disabled rep that doesn't circuitously enable ableist arguments with stories that are pretty much guaranteed to be read in bad faith.

And voila, there you have your 'range' and 'realistic spectrum of choices' without in any way leaning into the idea that characters disabled readers relate to are all just settling for accommodations for their disability while waiting for an option that erases their disability, at least as far as optics go.

Thus Karma still has her prosthetic, even post-resurrection, because she just flat out didn't feel a need NOT to. She's lived with it for years, she's happy and healthy, she legit just doesn't spend much time thinking about how her life used to be nor has she romanticized it as better than her life now, with biological limb vs prosthetic being the real hinge factor. This has been her normal for years, she's not looking for ways to change it because there's nothing making her feel she NEEDS to change it.

And maybe Hellion still has his prosthetic hands which he operates telekinetically, with no plan to use the resurrection protocols to 'get his real hands back' any time soon. Being Hellion, he might tell people the reason is "I didn't spend years becoming a pro at using my TK with more ease and precision than anyone else just to give up my best way of rubbing my skill in everybody's faces. Plus, hello, war wounds? Chicks dig the battle scars." While could be his real reason is he really doesn't mind the prosthetics or miss his biological hands all that much, and there's still like, thirty million dead mutants, many of whom have been dead for years. Feels weird, thinking he could be the reason someone who died on Genosha won't get to finally get their second shot at life tomorrow, just because Julian wanted his 'normal hands' when if he's honest with himself, the only real reason he cares one way or the other is he's occasionally insecure people don't find him as attractive anymore. And Julian's too vain to let vanity be the reason he pulls a dick move that just makes him feel worse instead of better. Don't think about that one too hard. Julian's best character development comes from his ego accidentally full-circling him into making good choices.

And Wiz Kid's still in the tricked out hoverchair he's been using most of his life, fitted with all the best toys that his technopathy uses in all kinds of ways, and his logic is quite simple. "Its like this, see. I'm already awesome, whereas if I'm like hey, I should literally kill myself for the sole purpose of continuing to be awesome, just a little more vertically now, this could counterintuitively be the thing that suggests that I am not in fact already awesome, and that's not awesome. Y'see? Plus, I mean, seems a little pointless considering I'd still have to take my chair with me everywhere anyway. Where else would I keep all my stuff?"

And Chamber, who largely exists as psionic energy chambered in an organic body that apparently doesn't need him to eat or drink or breathe to maintain it, given his lack of nose, mouth and lungs, but that still gets leg cramps, is vulnerable to being shot at, and takes a punch from the bad guys WAY worse than if he were just psionic energy…all of the above leaves him kinda straddling two different states of being in a way he doesn't exactly love but that doesn't lend itself all that well to relatable stories focused on how this affects his day to day life. So have HIM decide that if circumstances lead to him winding up dead and in the resurrection queue, please don't even try to figure out the logistics of matching his pre-death body, which only ended up the way it is due to an accident with his initial power manifestation he's not even sure they COULD replicate. Have HIM request that he wake up in the body he would've had by now if he hadn't accidentally blown half his own face off for no reason other than not knowing how his powers work, and now that he knows more about how his powers work....he probably can avoid blowing half his face off again and go back to enjoying burgers.

Just please for the love of god, can ableist assholes who just think its weird to see an amputee not hate her body, like, finally shut up about Karma's leg.  

I swear to god, they're like the Wicked Witch's flock of flying monkeys, always waiting in the wings to swoop in and shout "its unrealistic that you're not miserable and suffering because you're disabled, caw caw, your happiness is fake news unless its fleeting or you're faking it for the internet clout. Deluding yourself isn't healthy, its so much better to just admit you're secretly waiting for the day society comes up with a way to fix you so you can finally have fun, stop pretending you like your life as much as normal people. It just doesn't make sense. Where's the logic? Disabled people can't be happy until they're not disabled!"

Course, call them ableist for this and they're like “first off I can't be ableist cuz I'm a good person so jot that down, and second, ableism isn't real or at least not a real problem. Also why are you calling me a eugenicist that's not true and even if it was that has nothing to do with anything."

And then you try and point out "notice how pushing the idea that disabled people can only TRULY be happy like other people by 'fixing' their disability implicitly suggests that anyone with lifelong disabilities spends their entire life miserable, which is kinda key to eugenicists advocating to cut back on programs that exist specifically TO help disabled people, because it contributes to even people who don't agree with overt eugenicist ideologies kinda viewing the deaths of people with longterm disabilities as sad but almost a kindness in a way? At least they're not miserable anymore?"

And they're like "whatever, look its unfair of you to try and paint me as ableist just because I'm obsessed with painting disabled people as eternally miserable and incapable of ever truly enjoying life so is it really that bad if we just write them off cuz we figure there's no point in trying to make their lives better if they can't ever actually be better, the math just doesn't add up and you can't argue with math even though we were talking about people and not math? Like even if that was ableist, calling me ableist for that is way worse than me actually being ableist, which I wasn't. Or did you forget that I'm a good person? Hah! Checkmate."

But hey, whatever.

What harm could casual ableism about comic book characters ever actually do?

Why do people hate King Kuei so much and not Zuko? Both of them were abused by father figures, with Kuei actually having his power usurped when he was a toddler after his parents were murdered. The bear stuff is obviously his response to trauma, and Long Feng kept him sequestered and lied to. I just feel like the fact the he was a non bender is why and it feels weird to me tbh because I feel like since Imbalance, non bender prejudice is the in-universe racial prejudice, so people dislike King Kuei because he's not a "cool bender" like Zuko is.

Hello, anon! I tend to keep to a very tiny (kataang) corner of fandom, so I was not even aware that this was a *thing* until you brought it to my attention and I asked around. I very strongly considered just saying that this is a kataang blog and I don't often venture into other areas of discourse, but this intrigued me for a few reasons.

I'm in the process of writing a longer kataang story that doesn't paint Kuei particularly favorably. He's not a "bad guy," just he's still learning how to be a true leader and he is still largely taking the advice of other, older, more experienced people in his circle. (In my story he is taking advice from the Council of Five to pressure a now-of-age Avatar Aang to have children to ensure that the next avatar will have a teacher, should anything happen to Aang.) I agree with you that Kuei is a very sympathetic character for all the reasons you mentioned. BUT I also feel that BOTH he and Zuko still have a long way to go in terms of growth at the end of the series. There were times when both Kuei and Zuko put their foot in their mouth making racist comments that they probably didn't even realize were racist (I've mentioned Zuko's comments about Air Nomads in TSR before, and also Kuei's comments about the Water Tribes not being "civilized" in North and South were pretty bad, too). I don't think anyone in AtLA is "perfect," and that's by design.

I would hesitate to call anti-nonbender prejudice the "in-universe racial prejudice" because racial prejudice ABSOLUTELY already exists in AtLA as I noted above. I think it's probably more similar to a form of ableism, but we see ableism in action with Teo and Toph as well. It's absolutely a form of prejudice BUT

I don't think it's the reason people like him less than Zuko. I think we only see Kuei for a couple episodes in canon, whereas we follow Zuko from the very first episode to the very last one. We see his growth and his struggles. His storyline is a very western one, and so many people from a more western audience latch onto him. He's definitely a "fan favorite" in the fandom at large, to the point of many in the fandom becoming zuko-apologists and rationalizing all of his poor (often racist or sexist) behaviors.

I will say that I've never really seen Kuei-hate though, but like I said I sequester myself into a tiny tiny corner of the fandom, where I don't have to see or read anything unpleasant about kataang and I can enjoy my fandom time to the fullest. So obviously I miss things. I'm not an expert on these things and sometimes I wonder why people send me certain asks because this is literally just a kataang blog lol, but I'm happy to answer anything I can to the best of my ability.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on that. Anyone who is more knowledgeable about King Kuei discourse than I am is free to tag onto this post and explain things since I literally had no idea this was a thing until I saw this ask in my inbox. Thanks!

blog intro!!

hello everyone! welcome to the blog :)

i have no idea how to use tumblr, so bear with me here. this blog is mostly going to be me screaming about my opinions, whether that be politics, activism, syscourse, general controversies, or just things i feel passionate about. i will be trying to keep this blog as civil in discussions as possible, but some posts will be just plain ranting (and will be tagged).

a little bit about me:

i have a pretty big name hoard that i may or may not share, but you can call me nore!

i'm part of an osdd-1 system. i'd prefer being referred to as a singular person (i/me), but i may occasionally use we/us.

my pronouns are she/him

i am queer, genderfluid, and aro

i am wasian

i’m disabled

I’m pretty decently mentally ill and very passionate about mental health/disability advocacy!

i love music - mitski, lorde, aurora, the festival, mother mother, doja cat, bridgit mendler, various soundtracks, disney music, and penelope scott are my top artists! 

my main interests include percy jackson, american propaganda, advocacy, politics, art, culture, the mcu, moths, geography, and spirituality

now a little bit about my beliefs:

political: i am very very leftist. some may say too leftist. i believe in universal healthcare, prison reform, gun control, anti-racism, protection of native land, defunding the police, and i’m anti-capitalism. i generally don’t have a single good word to say about the us government, democrat or not, but AOC does have my heart. if you don’t believe in equal rights for all, including racial minorities, disabled people, those who are incarcerated, lgbtq+, religious minorities, people of any genders, etc, we are not going to get along.

syscourse: i’m staunchly anti-endo. if you think things like forming a system without trauma and “system hopping” are real, i urge you to read some academic literature about systems. parethnicity is fucking stupid, alter race doesn’t exist, and every alter is the body. littles aren’t comparable to singlet children. i tend to have a more clinical view of dissociative disorders, and i will not hesitate to correct misinformation.

i am very pro-self dx as long as you are doing a lot of research first! i don’t mean googling it for a week, i mean spending months diving into academic sources, researching presentations and related diagnoses, and doing a lot of internal reflection.

typing quirks are controllable and stutter typing quirks are ableist

i am not radically inclusive. i support neopronouns and most xenogenders (as long as they aren’t offensive), but i do not support the idea of supporting all “good faith” identities. identities that contradict each other, such as male lesbians or bisexual lesbians, are not something i consider logical or valid (and i will be discussing why). i am also extremely anti-transx and will be calling out any ableism/racism/transphobia i see from them (and in general).

i tend to have a very clinical view of the world. i have a hard time understanding the emotional aspects of arguments and i often prioritize logic and facts over anything else. while this can be helpful, it can also harm my worldview, and if you believe i’m brushing over more important emotional or non-physical aspects of an issue, please let me know so i can add it to my perception of an issue and consider changing my views.

we do not have a dni list because obviously i can’t tell anyone to interact, but i will be using the block button freely if you are overly hateful! i’m also 100% open to respectful conversations about any of this stuff. once i figure out how to use tumblr i will respond 😉

hate the genre of Content Creator who does the bare minimum of Not Being a Hateful Person and makes bland videos mocking pickup artists or incels and turns their brand into exploiting bigotry for views and is like “look at these crazy funky guys aren’t they so insane?? hating women is not good!” and people fawn over them for being slightly normal and you get women saying “i’d trust him with my drink at a party (i’m saying i dont think he'd try to rape me. this guys awesome!)” but it’s so obvious the CC are stiffly saying this supportive shit and it’s not necessarily that they don’t believe people deserve basic rights, but they’re not suited to be An Activist and they’re being pushed to be more enthusiastic about it than they really are since they don’t want any pushback but people are pretending these folks are in fact activists because they also dont want to be invested in real, meaningful, impactful political things so they’ll continue to viciously support the people who are like “hey. trans people exist. if i see you being transphobic, your pronouns are going to be was/were!!!!!!” but also they’ll slip in ableism and be able to get away with it because nobody cares about us and all their abled followers will be like “we forgive you!! you obviously are so great and perfect and Unproblematic that you could never even accidentally do anything unsavoury”, completely ignoring how it was obviously a conscious choice to do the ableist thing and they have no right to forgive someone for that type of thing and these internet personalities all flock together and live in this vague super liberal realm of being the most empty bland people who aggressively tweet like “whoaa Fascism is bad, look at that!! i used the F word! i also don’t think biden is doing enough OHH isn’t that so radical and leftist of me to say!?” and fans whose political views aren't yet fully developed because theyre so young or are just as blandly liberal think these are the greatest Left Wingers to ever grace the universe and that nobody else could be so bold as to not actively wish for genocide and it really fucking waters down what actual “leftist” beliefs are supposed to be about and they never even state hard opinions or views like theyre some kind of christian public figure who doesnt want to announce their denomination in order to avoid controversy or division and you get people excitedly calling them “““breadtube”””-adjacent because ohh isnt it so exciting that a common funnyguy can be the leader of the revolution because they watch videos on stream and mock transphobic political figures by calling them gay lovers (its okay because they are taking an anti-transphobic stance and have “bisexual energy”) and dont even directly criticise whats being said (politicial streamers won't accomplish anything anyway, but nobody here cares) but oh my god this is so important, nobody else has ever said Villain McBadman says bad things but also the online figures have edgy friends who have a history of shit like blackface and using slurs and being shitty to people but ohh oh its okay theyre a Rehabilitated Bigot, theyre totally fine now, i love them dearly so you cant criticise them, you trust my judgement you believe everything i say because im an unproblematic king, an honorary lesbian you might say, ignore how hostile they are to people who take issue with the offensive gross things they still say, which people purposely misconstrue as benign and merely Slightly Overstepping so they can collectively gaslight each other into remaining comfortable with the people theyre aware are shitty but ultimately dont care to give real consequences to and then everything makes sense when the mostly female audience is also cishet and white and abled and fully capable of producing a shitty environment where people aren't allowed to bring up real problems because ughhh youre talking about this still? that was like two months ago. stop trying to cancel people for petty reasons and stop trying to talk about issues that affect real peoples lives because this inconveniences me and now i have to find another carbon copy of this guy so i can performatively be uncomfortable with bigots and feel like i’ve accomplished a lot of morally profound things.....

i just fucking hate when people who are of marginalised groups that these youtubers, streamers, etc often defend in the most simple way aren't used to seeing people be okay with them and instead of watching videos by and supporting people who share the same marginalised experience, they want some kind of approval and the comfort of a privileged person saying “i think people like you should not be killed merely for your divergence from the established norm” and so fiercely defend them and weep all over anyone who doesnt think this is a good step toward actual support for marginalised people.

and i hate when people act like it takes a huge amount of effort or education to know what the right thing to say is, or know what nonbinary people are or know that lgbtq charities exist or say Cops Aren’t The Greatest and not fear social exclusion for being too much of a Crazy Hardcore Liberal. people can profit off of this and exploit the way people have become accustomed to others being so outwardly hateful and garner an audience theyre comfortable performing for and catering to, even if they dont feel that way in their every day life.

i hate how clearly disingenuous and forced it is when they try to appear radically inclusive and yet people are longing so strongly for acceptance that they are just okay with it and think it’s the greatest thing.

People complain about how people on disability are a drain to society

And if we ignore the horrible ableism that comes w that sentiment

Can we focus on how if

Universal Basic Income

Universal Health Care

And Living wages for employment (ESPECIALLY FOR DISABLED PPL)

Existed, there wouldn't necessarily need to be an extensive disability/ssi structure. I think in a utopia, disability/ssi would still exist, but it wouldn't have to be so much because people would be able to afford medical care/equipment, able to apply for insurance that wasn't evil, work however much they comfortably could and contribute to their own expenses. It could possibly be seen as a safety net or something only profoundly disabled ppl used extensively..... Obviously this is not well thought out but it was something i thought about

His Garden

Loki x Autistic Teen reader

Summary:

Loki always lived by the saying, "The bad are never really bad, and the good are never really good" but this girl defied that. He believes she is wholeheartedly good, she doesn't have a bad bone in her whole body. She snuck into his garden frequently, but Loki just couldn't find it in himself to be mad at her for that. Instead, they became close, and he helps her get out of her current situation of living with an ableist family

Word count: 2,469

Warnings: ableism and mistreatment of autistic people

Note: Not every autistic person experiences autism the same. I'm autistic and I am writing from my perspective of how I personally experience autism, but not everyone feels the same as me or has the same perspective as I do.

i'm just going to say in asgard autism exists because disabled people exist everywhere, even in fantasy. the term 'autistic' is known in asgard, and it is similar to reality here where it's mostly neurotypicals and it's a neurotyoical universe there.

.oOo.

Almost everyday, there was a girl in Loki's garden. But he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed with her, despite her being on his property. He could tell she loved flowers, and his garden of course had many, many beautiful flowers and plants.

Because she frequented so often, they were bound to run into each other eventually, and once they finally met and talked, they had started growing a bond with each other. Loki quickly became like an older brother, or even a father figure to the girl. She sought out Loki when she was upset, when she needed advice, or just someone to be with. And loki felt the same about her, she felt like a daughter to him in a way.

The girl doesn't have a family, her family died a couple years ago, and Loki knows this. She doesn't talk about it a lot, and he doesn't ask either, but as a prince he hears all the 'gossip' that goes around in Asgard. He knows that she lived with a family that took her in, and although he's never asked, he can tell that they aren't the most loving or caring family.

This is her second family she's lived with, the first didn't work out apparently. Because of the girl needing a home and her family passing, obviously there was a lot of talk about her. From the mother's gossiping about her, telling everyone what they've heard from the family that took her in, to even just random strangers that happened to hear about what happened to her family.

Loki always heard about how "difficult" she was, but when hearing in more detail what the complaints were, Loki doesn't understand why everyone saw those things as difficult. He gets irritable whenever the girl comes up in conversation and they talk about how "hard she is to deal with". He's met the girl and is relatively close with her, and she is none of those things.

Loki always lived by the saying, "The bad are never really bad, and the good are never really good" but the girl defied that. He believes she is wholeheartedly good, she doesn't have a bad bone in her whole body. And he can't fathom how others can see her so poorly and and ignorantly.

.oOo.

The family I'm staying with consists of a wife, husband, and two kids. I dont interact much with the kids, I honestly can't stand children. I try my best to avoid the parents as well, but I also need to make a good impression on them so that they will be kind to me.

The parents don't have much regard for the fact I'm autistic. They find my autistic traits to be a burden, they just outright ignore the fact I'm autistic most of the time. They do things that they know will cause me to have sensory overload or even a meltdown, but they don't care, and only become more frustrated with me when I can't handle those things.

I've been told that there are some people coming over today, most of which I don't even know. New people make me extremely anxious, and not to mention all of the overstimulation that comes with having too many people over. The constant, loud talking and multiple different conversations happening at the same time, mixed with the hundred of other noises like glasses clinking, and chairs scraping the floor.

The other kids aren't even home, and I doubt they will care if I leave as well. So a couple minutes before people are supposed to arrive, I sneak out of the back door and head to Loki's garden.

His garden has become my safe space. It's where I am most of the time, more than I'm even at my home. I love his garden, flowers are a special interest of mine so his garden is like a dream to me. I also really like Loki as well, and I always look forward to seeing him.

There's not many people that I verbally talk to. I am usually nonverbal around new people, and even people that I do know, it's rare that I'm able to speak. I can barely ever even speak verbally to the family that took me in, which is a great annoyance to them.

But Loki is different. When we first met, he never got mad at me when I couldn't speak. He instead gave me one of his unused notebooks and a pen to communicate with him, even letting me keep them. I take the book everywhere with me now.

Eventually, I was able to start speaking around him. He was patient and never rushed me, never forced me to speak. And when I did, he didn't celebrate over dramatically, which would've brought too much attention onto me and make me become anxious. Instead he simply commented, "You have a lovely voice, just as lovely as your penmanship."

I didn't realize it at the moment, but later that night I realized what he was implying. He didn't think I was a different person for finally speaking, and even though I did speak, he doesn't look down on the fact that I had to communicate by writing. He is okay with both ways of communicating.

I take note of the dark clouds as I'm walking to his garden, smiling to myself. I love the rain, it's so relaxing to me. However, I absolutely can't stand the feeling of wet clothes, it has sent me into a meltdown multiple times before.

When I feel a small droplet of rain on my nose, I frown and immediately pick up my pace. Of course I forgot to bring my coat, I was too focused on just sneaking out of the house. I do have my notebook though, holding it clutched tightly to my chest.

Thankfully I'm able to make it to the garden before the rain picks up. I wrap my hand around the fourth fence pole from the left, putting my thumb on the scanner built into it. Although from the outside Asgard may look somewhat similar to earth besides our still "medieval look", we have technology more advanced than earth. Midgardians often forget that and underestimate Asgard.

The gate opens, since Loki added my thumbprint so that I could come to his garden whenever I want without having to sneak in. I run down the gravel path of the garden, the large bushes acting like walls on either side of the path. I've been here so often that I know exactly how to get around, although to others it could be a maze.

I finally come upon my favorite spot and take shelter under the nearest tree. I sit down and lean my back against the tree with a huff. I'm not sure why I love this spot so much, there are many more extravagant areas of the garden. But this area just feels more hidden than the rest.

There's rows of flowers alongside the path, with tall bush walls behind them. These flowers are beautiful, they glow bright and are always moving. They can be the most interesting thing to watch, I could spent all day just watching the petals and leaves sway back and forth or even twirling around each other. Maybe that's why I love this spot so much.

There's trees in front of the passageway to get in here, so you have to go in between the trunks. The leaves from the trees make it a hard spot to find, which is maybe why this spot feels so safe to me.

For a while I just watch as the flowers move, listening to the steady rainfall, my legs tucked up to my chest and my head resting on my knee. This is much, much more relaxing than being home with a bunch of people. The sound of the rain hitting the ground is much more soothing than all of the noise that comes from gatherings.

I hear the sound of gravel being crunched in the distance and it slowly becomes louder. A smile forms on my face, knowing what that sound is. Eventually the leaves of the trees rustle and Loki walks into the little garden space, a soft smile on his lips.

"Hello darling." He says as he sits on the ground next to me. I smile up at him and nod my head, silently saying hello. "I was hoping you'd be out here, didn't know if you'd stay home with the rain." I shrug my shoulders and grimace.

"Much better than being home right now. Besides I like the rain, well when I'm not drenched in it." Loki chuckles at the last part. "Well I can't blame you on that. What's going on at your home?" He asks, concerned but keeping his tone soft and gentle. "There's a bunch of people over. I'm not a huge fan of new people, you already know that."

"Why would your parents invite them all over then? If you are so uncomfortable with it." I look down and fidget with the pages of my notebook. I decide to just get it over with and tell him. "You... you know I'm autistic... right?" I'm not sure why I asked it like that, since I actually don't know if he has any idea.

Loki smiles and nods, surprising me. "I do. And I don't see anything wrong about it, you are who you are and that's perfectly fine." I stare up at him in shock for a moment before flinging myself into his arms, wrapping my own around his waist. He hugs me back tight, rubbing soothing circles on my back.

"Thank you." Is the only thing I can say. "No need to thank me" he responds. I pull away, still in shock that he has reacted so well. "Now, why don't you tell me why your parents still invited people over?" His arm is wrapped around my shoulder and I lean into his side. It feels like a huge weight is lifted off of my shoulders, and I find myself even wanting to share these things with him, share how hard it is living in a neurotypical world.

"They aren't very... accepting of the fact I'm autistic. The last family wasn't either. Me being autistic is just a burden to them. They sometimes just completely ignore that I'm autistic, and do things that they know I can't handle. They want me to be like them so bad, so instead of caring to figure out why I have a shut down or sensory overload, they just force me to do those things hoping I'll get over it or something. So I snuck out when I heard people were coming over, they don't care that I can't handle it."

Loki grows more and more angry at my words. He can't believe that I'm being treated like this. He wishes that others could see me the way he does, but he knows that that's not possible. He takes a deep breath before responding, not wanting to let his anger slip out. He doesn't want me to think he's angry at me, because that couldn't be further from the truth.

"You don't deserve the treatment that you have been given. You deserve to be listened to and respected, not forced into harmful situations. I wish I could say it's hard to believe that people would treat you this way just because you're autistic, but unfortunately I know that it's all too common. I can't even imagine having to live with people who don't even take who you are into account, and instead purposely harm you."

Loki's eyes are watering as he speaks, as mine are too. He takes in a large, somewhat nervous breathe, making me confused as to what he's about to say. "How would you like to live with me instead? You don't deserve to live in such conditions. And I promise you that if you do live with me, I will always be supportive and accommodating. I want you to be able to come to me if something is bothering you, if you feel overwhelmed, if you need help, anything. You deserve so much more."

After I get over my initial shock of the question and how amazing all of his words sound, I nod my head, breaking out in a smile. He smiles at my answer and pulls me in for a hug, both of us crying at this point. "I don't even know what to say Loki. Thank you, for everything. You're the only person who has been accepting of me, and I can't even put into words how thankful I am."

He hugs me tighter in response. We both just take in the moment, neither of us speaking. We both can't contain the smiles on our faces. My head shakes and my eyes squeeze shut, a stim that I do when I'm happy. Instead of judging me, Loki only looks at me with adoration, smiling somehow even wider at my movements.

"Why don't you come with me inside, yeah? Don't worry about that family, I can deal with them later, I am a prince after all so who are they to deny me." He says with a joking smirk. I laugh at him, knowing that he's not completely joking. He stands up and holds his hands out for me, so I put mine his and he helps me up.

I suddenly remember that it's still raining out, and we are going to have to walk out in the rain. My skin crawls at just the thought of the feeling of my clothes sticking to my body. Loki immediately senses my dilemma, not even having to ask what's wrong.

He takes off his cloak and wraps it around me. It's huge on me, but also very warm and definitely will protect me from the rain. I smile up at him and his eyes shine as he looks back down at me.

We start walking back to his place, which I've never been inside of. He's invited me in multiple times but I've always refused, feeling too invasive going into his home like that.

"You know, I've always kind of seen you as a daughter to me. Maybe it was just fate that now you're going to live with me." My heart warms, overjoyed that he feels the same as I do. "Me too. You're the person that I always go to, and you're always there for me. And I do look up to you as... well a father figure I guess."

We both look at each other, smiles on our lips. It feels almost like a dream, being accepted for who I am and getting away from the people who aren't as kind.

no rebl0gs please

im going to be real, i have OSDD-1. i dont like to talk about it much and will go back to not talking about it much. but like i just saw a syscourse post breach containment onto my dash so like i want to say this to any well meaning allies:

obviously my opinion is not universal among DID/DDNOS/OSDD havers online, but the 'endo vs traumagenic' thing is absolutely an online slapfight and not something that should be treated as anywhere NEAR a priority or a necessity for allies to understand

yes, it is generally understood these disorders are formed as a response to trauma. i dont believe its possible for someone with a perfect childhood to form a dissociative disorder either lol. but most people claiming to be endogenic absolutely do have something going on. even if its not actually DID/OSDD and may be something else (delusions maybe) being mistaken for it. these disorders can be misdiagnosed because of other situations that can replicate some of their effects.

and like i absolutely dont value the psychiatric industry over the lived experiences of people affected, but it cannot be understated how poorly this is understood. there is debate on the role of trauma. there is debate on whether DID is sometimes therapist induced rather than occurring naturally. some dont believe these disorders actually 'exist' at all. all of these stances have significant backing, meaning one's own understanding of what they experience will likely depend on who they were diagnosed by or what sources theyre reading on it.

and like all that combined has created a situation where sufferers have at best a nebulous understanding of whats going on, hence online communities forming that may center around misinformation (or even rather different expert's competing takes on these disorders). is this a problem? maybe to some extent, but like DID/DDNOS/OSDD havers are overwhelmingly going to be victims of psychiatric abuse, are taken advantage of in our personal lives, and are similarly victims of extreme systemic ableism and stigma in the same capacity as other heavily stigmatized disorders like schizophrenia.

again i cant speak for everyone or tell you im absolutely The voice of authority (especially bc this is something a lot of people will extremely disagree with lol) but just like weigh my statement against your understanding of systemic ableism and take it as you will i guess.

no rebl0gs please

So, some non-sexual age play fic got cross-tagged with de-aging (which I was actually looking for, but I got curious about the other stuff) and just...

Authors do NOT want to touch on how this structure of universe* would intersect with disability politics and systemic ableism against developmentally and mentally disabled populations.

Anyway, going under a cut because I'm doing one of my "I know people write this either as a stress reliever/coping thing or as a kink, but I'm going to take this handful of elements I saw and go in an unintended direction" rambles like I did for omegaverse. Also this touches on a lot of the Ugly things about ableism, which I'll warn for in the tags if you want to check those before hitting 'read more.'

* Littles are a known, rare but widely-occurring phenomenon with some kind of physical, biological component that may include decelerated aging, and there are equivalent Caregiver roles that are similarly based in an unspecified biological, possibly genetic source.

SO

It's a form of involuntary loss of mental faculty, inability to focus, incontinence, emotional instability, and dependence to the point of requiring a full-time caregiver. It has a lot in common with real-world disabilities! But in these fics, it's categorized and named, and social accepted and even celebrated (for cute/innocence reasons, which... reaches into fetishization), rather than widely disparaged. So how does that filter into non-Little forms of "adult that does not have adult faculties and requires care?"

What happens with a developmentally disabled person who doesn't WANT to be coddled, but is constantly given such treatment because the most visible form of such things is Littles, and people project onto disabled individuals what they'd want out of a Little 'if they had one.'

Like there's less "you're a parasite to society" bullshit, but way more infantilization and the like.

How do you even identify whether someone's a Little or has, let's say, long term brain damage from a childhood seizure? And since this is involuntary and is a disability in more than just a social model (that is to say, adjusting the world to be more disability-friendly would not remove the need for a caregiver), we also have to ask what happens if someone is a Little and doesn't want to be? What happens to them then?

Most of the fics I sifted through while looking to see if this had been addressed were clearly Coping or Personal Interests from people who are already in a real-life Little community of one sort or another, meant for Feel Good stuff, but one of them included Little clones being culled by the Kaminoans for their drawbacks as soldiers (as so many TCW fics like to play with), aaaaaand I got distracted by what the Senate petition to stop said culling would look like.

None of the below is more than tangentially related to the fic I read beyond 'Little clones exist and get culled' and 'Kix is a caregiver in this structure.' The rest is all me.

Anyway! In most of these AUs, 'Littles are Cherished' on a widespread societal level, so obviously they shouldn't be killed! Even the Senate can agree!

But then Kamino argues that in that case, they'd have to wait until later in life to identify problems, and would put years into training clones that actually DO have non-Little disabilities and will not be competent soldiers, wasting resources.

The Senate cares much more about that (money for useless clones that aren't socially important? Ghastly, tighten the budget please) and titters over it, and then someone (Padme? Bail? In my mind the person petitioning and giving on-the-ground reference info about Littles getting culled was Kix, who got caregiver designation in the fic that sparked this train of thought, so maybe him, except we need someone who can BE an asshole to other Senators without fucking up, so back to Padme) asks if that means they are specifically upset about not being able to murder toddlers for crying too much or being disabled.

And someone argues that clones might PRETEND to be Little too escape punishment or be removed from the army for safety, which is met with "I assure you that there are no troopers who are so ready to escape this situation that they will literally shit themselves for it. If a trooper wishes to dodge the call of the army, he'll just desert."

At that point someone else points out that they're clones, no people, so are they even REALLY Littles?

I also got to thinking about, like, what would a clone that was Little and got noticed but managed to not get culled be like? There are probably some, let's say like... three total Littles that the Kaminoans noticed that weren't culled, only because they displayed high levels of skill in a non-combat department.

(There were more, like a dozen or so, that escaped notice because the medics caught on and LIED THEIR ASSES OFF to protect their brothers.)

Only one of the three is allowed in the field. That one is Tech, with Hunter as caregiver, getting along with Wrecker well specifically due to Wrecker having a TBI with long-term effects that puts them on a comparable maturity level when Tech is regressed, so they're decent 'playmates'. (That may not be the best way to phrase it but I am very tired.)

Kamino, Cloning and Übermenschfantasies

The Fandom has a pretty unanimous opinion of Kamino as a horrible place. Obviously its horrible. But as how horrible is it actually shown?

CN slavery, ableism, biopolitics, eugenics, racism, totalitarianism

First, the Kamino scientists specialise in essentially sentient trials and deliver-to-your-door-slavery. It is their business model to make a custom tailored workforce for whoever pays the bills. They have no ethical misgivings about creating and selling slaves. This alone is so inherently evil and makes the Kaminoans on par with the Sith. And this alone should disqualify any positive depiction of them. Yet we see a beautiful Kamino, very little violence of any nature and Nala Se in TBB being somewhat nice to Omega as if that could rehabilitate her character. The cruelty of Kamino is always only implied, making it somewhat comfortable for the audience to engage with the clones as the product of slavery. Which is distressing especially since the actor playing the clones is a Māori man, giving this a racialised edge too.

Second, the clones are perfect. They are the ideal soldiers in body, mind, spirit,... you name it. But the surviving clones of Kamino that get to live - like Rex and Cody - are the survivors of an ableist venting process, meaning the less perfect clones are dead. Therefore not there anymore to be looked at (and fetishised by) the regular Disney audience. The only undesirable clone we ever see is clone 99 who dies shortly afterwards. And the bad batch are variants of the Fett clones, but shown as beautiful and capable (and very problematic), implying that only the useful and appealing "abnormals" deserve to live. This is very much in line with the Kamino philosophy on biopolitics, genetics and usefulness as a determining tool to decide who is allowed to live/shown on screen and who isn't. This shows that the writers of TBB and TCW have internalised much of the inherent ableism and normalised exploitation in our real life societies. They agree at least unconsciously with the Kaminoan line of thinking on biopolitics, genetics and eugenics. And it explains why the writers are so unwilling to depict the evil of the kaminoan society that sees the body as a product to be sold and its creation painstakingly controlled. Just like real-life capitalism and its supportive discriminatory mechanisms.

Lastly, none of this is new. The idea of a "perfect human" aka the aryan Übermensch as a planned and maintained creation by man, is part of a set of megalomaniac ideas of socials-darwinists and white supremacists. And in the end it matters little that the original clone is based on a Māori, since he is only the canvas to whitewash and project whatever fantasies of white power and perfection the creative heads behind the shows have internalised. It is important to deconstruct all of that since we, as the projecting audience, deserve to live and be happy without oppression, without exploiting of our bodies as a resource or having to justify our existence as useful. There is no way to show Kamino and the philosophy it represents as tolerable or the lesser evil, that needs to be endured or can be reformed. And Nala Se is not a redeemable character, she is the Dr. Mengele of the Star Wars universe.

Every cooperation with Kamino is complacency with a most oppressive system. And there is no way to show the clones as something different than survivors who not only survived the clone wars and what followed, but most importantly Kamino as the forge of their painful creation - for no one can escape what is etched with malice into their body.

This text kind of happened due to dialogue with @queenquazar, Check out her writings.

Fuck it, I'm gonna dissect all the bullshit in that one Lilith post bit by bit

TW// Lilith hate, victim blaming, abuse, cult mention, ableism towards Autistic people, sexualization of minors (briefly mentioned)

I'll be putting my text in bold just in case it's hard to distinguish between the pictures and my commentary

Here's the post I'm referring to in case you're curious

Moving on and starting with this bit

People pay attention to Eda all the damn time, she's literally one of the main characters. Funny how you only mention tik tok and nothing else. Is that the only other social media you have? Because fans on different social media platforms act much differently; on IG and Reddit stuff like the sexualization of minors and fucking ODALIA AND ALADOR STANS are normalized, where everywhere else it's pretty much universally agreed that that stuff is bad. I don't know a lot about what toh Tik Tok is like just because I don't usually go on tik tok, but even if it is like this, it's not the same for the rest of the fandom. A lot of the fandom still hates Lilith and blames her for her abuse and not being able to leave

You say that like she's a bad person, she's really not. The curse she placed on Eda wasn't intended to be permanent and probably wasn't even supposed to take the effects that it did. She was most likely scammed. I mean look at how she reacts when Eda transforms for the first time. She also feels guilty enough about it to throw herself into an abusive situation and spend almost her whole life trying to make up for it. Lastly, yes she hurt Luz, but let's not forget that Belos threatened her life upon Eda's capture and Lilith was running out of time and had no other option. Obviously what she did was wrong but she's not the real monster here.

"I do like Lilith" this entire essay says otherwise.

Literally none of us ignore any of the bad shit she's done, stop lying about us.

Yes, Lilith did mock her for her curse, which was messed up, but we don't actually know for sure if the curse is basically canonically a disability in that world, so if that's the case then for now it's technically not ableism until we get confirmation otherwise.

"it was an accident and I forgive Lilith" no you fucking don't. First of all this entire essay is you talking about how evil you think she is and secondly, if it really was as bad as you view it, you wouldn't be that forgiving.

Ah yes the victim blaming, the one thing that almost everyone does to Lilith and barely anyone talks about.

There is literally not a single Lilith stan out there who blames Eda for getting cursed. You're just mad that your victim blaming towards Lilith got called out so you silence us by lying about how we do the same thing to Eda.

No one is making Eda out to be the villain either, the only example I can find of this is a few fanfics where she treats Lilith a lot more harshly than she should, and even then, scenes like that are written in a positive light as if you're supposed to be on Eda's side, so with that in mind, the writers of these fics are clearly not even Lilith stans. In terms of how actual stans treat Eda, the worst they do is make her slightly ignorant of Lilith's trauma, kinda like the fandom, minus the "slightly", until she grows as a character and learns to see the red flags. If that's the problem you're talking about, then breaking news: Eda's not perfect either. She has flaws too just like literally everyone else in the show and people are allowed to write about them

Tell me the truth: are people making playlists for Lilith that include a lot of sad and angry songs because she's not a happy person anyway so there wouldn't be a point in having any happy songs, or are they making "trauma" playlists? There's a difference

I'm sorry, are you trying to tell me that people recognizing Lilith's trauma is victim blaming Eda? That's not how it works sweetycakes

There is far more Eda angst out there than there is for Lilith, where are you finding so much Lilith angst? LILITH is the one who's traumas are being ignored while Eda's gets all the attention. You're acting like one of those white cis gays on twitter who see black people talking about the anti blackness they experience daily and accuse them of being homophobic because "there is so much homophobia in the world and they still manage to make it all about race".

No one is saying that Lilith has worse trauma, we're only saying that her's is also severe and that it definitely exists. Also funny how you're allowed to be mad at us for comparing Lilith and Eda's trauma (once again lying about us), then you go on to do the exact same thing and say that EDA'S trauma is worse. Even if, hypothetically speaking, Eda did have it worse, that doesn't mean Lilith doesn't have the right to be traumatized. Both of them have trauma, both should be recognized. Also, Lilith had far more going on in her life than just the guilt of her actions, she was was implied to have been psychologically and maybe physically abused, and was probably even tortured. Stop ignoring all the red flags and condemn the actual abuser (Belos) before you criticize anything the abused (Lilith) has done.

We're not making everything about Lilith, like shut up.

Please don't say that autistic people "have autism", it implies that it's something that can be removed from us. For example: you don't say "a person with blackness" when referring to black people or "a woman with homosexuality" when referring to Lesbians.

Oh yeah I'm also autistic so here are MY thoughts

Amity and Lilith are not antagonists anymore, hcing them as Autistic is not villainizing autism.

The autistic Lilith headcanon was made by autistic fans, allistics only latched onto it because they either wanted to be supportive or they saw that she actually had a lot of autistic traits

You're not the only autistic person alive, just because you're not like Lilith or Amity doesn't mean none of us are or they're not autistic. I mean, I know I am

You're not fun or funny

"not all Autistic people are like this" remember that line, dear readers

Actually, I prefer the autistic villain trope MUCH more than the grown ass autistic adult that acts like a five year old trope. At least we'd have less stereotypes associated with us.

Autism is not supposed to be portrayed in only fun and happy characters, that is literally the epitome of stereotyping and infantilizing. You literally just said that not all autistic people are the same, doesn't this count as being all the same? Does this mean I don't exist anymore? Am I just not autistic? Are you even aware that a flat affect or monotone voice is literally a very common autistic trait? You can't just say that we're stereotyping autistics and then just go on to stereotype us, like what the fuck are you even on? Is it only ok when you do it?

Amity is not edgy for fuck's sake

Literally no one is headcanoning Lilith or Amity as autistic because they're mean, we headcanon them as autistic because they actually show traits of it

Oh, our harmless headcanons are making you feel uncomfortable because they don't fit into the stereotypes you made up about us? Good to know our plan is working I guess

Last thing I wanna say regarding this post as a whole: why are you acting like liking Lilith and feeling sympathy for her is a bad thing? If you find this then don't say "I don't think that's a bad thing", answer HONESTLY

Well that's all I have for now, thank you for reading, I need to go to bed soon