watched the first dr who special episode and while there were a few lines that made me cringe, i do think a little bit of cringe is a reasonable price to pay for seeing a black trans girl get a starring role in the longest-running and arguably the most famous sci-fi show in history

You mentioned that sometimes zoos don’t get the funding they need? Is there anything that we, as visitors, can do to help with that? Donations, contacting representatives, things like that? What can we do to help zoos, zookeepers, and the animals they love and care for?

What a nice question!

So on a “we need funding for this new habitat or major renovation” level, the cost is pretty astronomical compared to what the average person can contribute. For example, the Oregon Zoo’s brand new Polar Passage habitat (started 2016, finished 2021) cost $19 million. The Brookfield Zoo is planning to add on a new indoor/outdoor ape habitat to their Tropics Building and that’s estimated at $9 million. Unless you happen to know folk with very deep pockets, personal donations aren’t going to have an impact on that scale - although that doesn’t mean they don’t help the zoo in other ways!

Contacting your representatives and expressing your support for your local facilities is absolutely something you can do that helps. Especially so if the facility is funded by the city or the county, but even if they’re not, it’s really good for reps to know that their constituents value the facility and want to see it supported. You can always write them whenever, but it’s most useful if there’s stuff happening that’s directly related (funding allocation, new rules being proposed, etc).

I’m going to take this opportunity to plug another way you can help zoos, though, that’s a bit different. Your question is really timely because there’s actually an ongoing need for support at the moment (date stamp: 6/11/23). There’s an organization I volunteer with, called Zoological Disaster Response, Rescue, and Recovery (ZDR3) and they do, well, what it says on the tin. When zoological facilities, sanctuaries, and other facilities with exotic animals experience disasters - think getting flattened by a hurricane - ZDR3 coordinates a network of 130+ facilities who can show up and help. This is everything from sending food and needed supplies that are limited because of supply lines, deploying staff to physically assist an impacted facility with recovery, and even helping evacuate animals and house them until it’s safe for them to return. And it’s really important that it’s other zoos doing this work: if you’ve got to go chainsaw fallen trees out of an alligator habitat, you need people who know how to work safely around alligators! It’s a type of response work that other major disaster organizations don’t really do, because they don’t have the expertise with the animals or the needs of the industry.

ZDR3 can always use support, but, right now, they’re in the middle of a response in Guam where financial support is more necessary than normal. Guam got hit by the Super Typhoon Mawar on May 25th, and it absolutely ravaged the zoo there. It’s a small facility, with mostly geriatric, disabled, and unreleasable animals living there. A USDA representative asked ZDR3 if they’d be able to assist. The director flew out to assess the site and help as much as she could, but the thing is, because Guam is an island, they can’t ask teams from other facilities to deploy there the way the can with facilities in the continental United States. Instead the zoo is having to purchase all the supplies they need for recovery - and could really use assistance. There’s an Amazon wishlist set up with the tools and supplies they need, as well as a DonorBox link for direct donations (which go directly to the zoo, not ZDR3). If you want a tangible way to contribute to the immediate welfare of zoo animals and function of a facility, this a fantastic way to do it.

I don’t want to misunderstand and make things worse for people. When you (and others) say don’t vote, do you mean don’t vote for biden or don’t vote at all?

Hey thanks for sending this in. No worries I understand the confusion.

I said in the tags in the previous post that I think people should vote for the reps in that list because they can be bullied into doing things based on the traditional means of opinion sharing (calling, writing letters, etc) and plus it's a nice little "we meant it when we said we would not be voting for you when we called" to the other dems. Basicially, using your vote strategically as a threat and sending a message instead of just blindly voting blue because red is "worse" and not because you actually like any of Democrats policies.

When I personally say I'm not going to vote, I am still voting in local elections and school boards and things like that. I definitely think you should always vote on the school board, especially, if nothing else. But I don't think I will be voting for major politicians like presidency — at least next election. I don't live in any of the districts of the ceasefire reps either.

Not voting and seeing people not voting would make people change their strategies. They know they can't rely on votes naturally anymore — they actually have to earn them based on material change. That's my personal intention, at least, with not voting. That and... like hell am I going to vote for the party and people that called for the blood of Palestinians. I do genuinely think they're bad people that no one should ever support under any circumstances, and I'll stick by that.

People mention voting for third party and I've recieved asks about it but.... I'm not sure. I think being president of the most powerful country in the world changes you fundamentally. We (palestinians) were hopeful for Obama when he went into office, and he did nothing, largely abandoning us, and he was taught by Edward Said himself. He was friends with Khalidi. He knew what was happening and still he made the decisions that he did.

Now I don't think you should just blindly follow whatever anyone says on the matter. I'm only giving you my opinion on this based on personal experience and past circumstances. You should genuinely, honestly, think about how your vote impacts others, especially around the world. Voting "blue" just because it might be easier for you here, then largely ignoring the entire world that's affected by the US, is, in my opinion, a pretty selfish decision. Besides, as someone who is disabled, Biden has already abandoned a large swath of people and basically left them to die with how he's dealt with covid. The migrant concentration camps are still there. He can't do anything about the Supreme Court and their messed up decisions. He won't do anything meaningful to protect any type of person in the states either, so what are we voting for exactly?

Voting is not a chore you have to do to keep your rights. Voting is a participation in your political system depending on the circumstances surrounding the things you care about. When that political system largely ignores you, I don't see a purpose in participating and showing support — because that's what Voting is, support — to people you fundamentally disagree with and those that don't really care about you.

Okay so in MLP: Friendship is Magic, Scootaloo is disabled. There's no doubt about that; she's a pegasus who can't fly, not because she hasn't learned, but because she is physically incapable of it. That's a disability. And even then, she still goes forward and lives her life, she has her scooter, and even has an episode dedicated to... Achieving something big, even with her disability. Listen I don't remember the episode well enough but it's the one where she goes real far on her scooter and it's dramatic and all.

Anyway this post isn't actually about Scootaloo, fuck her. This is about TRIXIE

Because I think Trixie is ALSO disabled, or I at least like to interpret her that way. I like to think that her inability to go past basic telekinesis with her pony magic IS disability. Because no matter how hard she tries, she really can't do much else than that, JUST like Scootaloo

And I think it's really nice to see how proud she is of her stage magic as well if she IS disabled, because of the same thing with Scootaloo I mentioned before. And also media need more disability rep...

Gah, just. Trixie Lulamoon has disabled swag, ok?

i didnt wanna include this in the thing i just wrote in that reblog because its a bit more minor + i didnt want it detracting from the point of that rant but i did want to mention something related.

chuck is.......... kiiiind of a weird case. in terms of disability rep in brawl stars. like he is very clearly visibly disabled we see that it could not be more clear He is in a wheelchair. but also i find it odd that hes kind of... homogenized?? like i totally get im talking about brawl "couldnt do research if their lives were on the line" game here but it would be nice if there was some specification on what disability chuck has + what kind of wheelchair he uses.

there is more to wheelchair users than just paraplegia and depending on what disability(ies) he has it could really bring some aspects to his character. it would also be nice if he was disabled in a way where he could still walk occasionally—i think its important to say that not using a chair all the time doesnt mean the user isnt disabled. this isnt to say chuck shouldnt be paraplegic either im just asking for something a little deeper than He uses a wheelchair.

this second point is a lot more minor since its really only one thing that seems out of line but i think it would be fine to bring up. all signs point to chuck using a hand-powered wheelchair EXCEPT for his losing animation where his wheelchair seems to... short-circuit?? of course now that im typing it it might just be the train accessories on the front of his chair but in case it isnt... why is his chair electrically powered if he has handles that we see him use...... that doesnt make sense. mods trickshot these guys.

Since you seem insightful, do you think canon Jouno would/could ever have a guide dog for when he's not working? I mean, he is blind. He deserves blind rep tbh. Asagiri please give him blind rep because if you don't, I will.

I’m not the best when it comes to figuring out representations, mainly because I am not blind or visually impaired myself, but I feel like it would be nice to see him using either a guide dog or cane when off duty, in a sense using them to rest a bit.

I don’t think he can exactly turn off his other senses, and he probably spent a while training himself to be able to navigate with those (people aren’t exactly born knowing how to do that to the extent Jouno does), but I do think he’d enjoy just having time to rest and not focus too much on his surroundings, instead using whatever navigation device he has to guide him.

As much as I love the idea of him with a dog I don’t think he’d have the time to take care of it, and if he’s needed in the middle of the day for a mission or something it would be much easier and quicker for him to fold up his cane and put it in a bag than take the dog some place safe. (Yes they’re collapsable, idk if all of them are but a blind kid in my high school had a collapsable cane, it was neat)

There are also other ways to show blind representation that don’t include navigation aids. Actually, one that was mentioned by a mutual of mine, who is visually impaired, is that it looked like Jouno had dragged his hand across Tecchou’s back in the anime’s café scene, as if he was grounding himself and his surroundings casually, which I thought was really cool, she said it was something she did and it was nice to see.

Personally, I like those casual bits of representation, Jouno’s used to his lack of sight at this point, and so are the other Hunting Dogs, so they all know his limits, but it would still be nice to see more of those limits, if that makes sense. Maybe later we’ll see more of his disability and his struggles with it.

He doesn’t seem to think negatively of it, he wasn’t hesitant to ask Dazai for the horse’s number or anything like that, and he overall seems very used to his disability. I mean, it’s been over six years since he lost his sight, we’re not sure of when he lost his sight but it was long enough before he joined the Hunting Dogs that he was able to learn a new way to navigate well enough to be of use to the Hunting Dogs.

Overall, I agree that I would LOVE to see more disability rep with Jouno, but I also don’t think we should limit that rep to just navigation aids. Just smaller things like using a screen reader to do paperwork on a computer or to read texts, or using one of those plastic guide things to write his signature, or even just reading the braille on a sign before entering a room, things that can take one or two panels can go a long way

“Disenchanted symbolizes that Disney’s still stuck in their old ways and are in desperate need of change such as Non white protagonists, LGBT+ and disability acceptance,”

Do you think Disenchanted would be better with Non-white protagonists, or with LGBT+/disability acceptance? If yes, then how?

Woah this is a really good question and thanks so much for asking it.

I definitely think that Disenchanted would’ve been better with having at least a one POC main character to ease Disney into the new era of the late 2010s- early 2020s. I’ve already created an Asian character and you’ll see them appear in Chapter 3. The whole plot of Tftoml is not going to have the story be blatant Caucasian Conservative propaganda.

I also think Disenchanted would’ve worked with having some good LGBT+ rep that’s represented in a respectful way. Hence I made Morgan AroAce since I’m one of the few people that did not care at all for her poorly developed and unnecessary romantic relationship with Tyson. If Disney wasn’t so painfully Anti LGBT+ (as it is right now) and kept up their theme of having a female protagonist sans a required love interest, Morgan would’ve had a really platonic relationship with Tyson. If Disenchanted kept their whole trope subversion strategy from the first film, Tyson could’ve subverted the ‘Prince Charming’ trope, by slowly revealing that his nice guy act is a facade and he’s been coming down with burn out from his Mother’s huge expectations and would like to be out of the spotlight. Morgan and him being friends would’ve made them grow closer from having to adhere to their mother’s expectations for them, they would’ve spent the movie hyping each other up, so that way in the final battle they could’ve stood up to their controlling mothers as a way to lift the curse. If Disenchanted had Sofie be older than infant and at least in an age range closer to Morgan’s she could’ve subverted the ‘Mean Stepsister’ trope.

This is why I got rid of unnecessary characters like Ruby, Rosaleen, Edgar, Tyson, Malvina entirely to adhere to my ‘less is more’ strategy with developing the main cast. I’ve also mentioned in the first paragraph that you will get an asian agender supporting protagonist.

I’ve even given the whole Philip family one trope to subvert each:

Morgan: Moody teenager, obviously that’s why I’ve changed her personality

Giselle: Evil stepmother, for her whole arc as the deuteragonist

Robert: Physically absent father trope, since most European fairytales don’t have fathers that take action and have the kid protagonist deal with their obstacles on their own.

Sofie: Mean stepsister trope, I’m trying hard to make her feel like an authentic 6 year old.

Here’s hoping that once Disney’s Wish movie comes out, it’ll manage to avoid the pitfalls Disenchanted ended up getting in.

Quick lil ramble regarding upcoming Care Bears, my AU, etc

I’m really looking forward to Be Me Bear’s release but I’m also like, really fucking nervous about it too? I’ve wanted another Care Bear without a badge for a while now, it’s a disability in the Care Bears universe and you should know by now that I love disability rep. But she also has some pretty bad implications and something could go wrong? Her existence is a kind of replacement for Oopsy and is most likely a solid sign that he’s never coming back. I’m personally fine with this, I think Oopsy’s better off in the hands of fans, but I know a lot of people miss him and want him to come back. I personally don’t think it’s a good idea because, as I’ve stated before, if Cloudco finds out that a lot of people see him as autistic it could go south very very fast. They could do bad representation, erase his autistic coding, or, god forbid, work with Autism $peaks. That’s not even mentioning that they could possibly give him a badge and erase his disability entirely. I really think it’s best if Oopsy remains forgotten by Cloudco, fans treat him better than a company ever could.

Back on topic with Be Me, it’s possible that she isn’t actually Badge-less? She could have a badge that changes depending on what’s drawn on her tummy. That would mean that she doesn’t have a disability and I got excited for nothing. I’m hoping that’s not the case and that she doesn’t have a badge, but I can’t help but fear the worst.

If things go well and she doesn’t have a badge, she will be a nice addition to my AU. Even if she does have a badge, headcanons and fix-its can always change that.

I have been considering starting up my AU again, the Embrace the Magic AU has given me a bit more confidence. Plus, I’m slowly being pushed away from the Kirby community due to increasing drama and infighting (and general weird stuff tbh, I saw someone making out with a dedede plush on reddit). If I start up the AU, I’ll make a new sideblog for it. Mind you, there won’t be a solid story. I’ll just be throwing these characters into this situation and just show little hijinks and general happenings within their lives n stuff. Obviously some heavy themes will be present, but the main focus is on healing and acceptance. Will probably be at least partially an ask blog too.

What do you think?

Three Best Sports Games For Microsoft Xbox 360

Getting "red ring of death" error on Xbox means that you will not be able to utilize your games console. You have options for Microsoft Xbox 360 repair. You can send the console to someone who can fix it or do it on your own. Repeat exceptionally for consist of that you need to disable from automatically loading at the startup. When done, go through the Apply button and then OK to use the lifestyle improvements. When prompted, click the Restart button to restart your technique. You will now see your Windows 7 computer booting incredibly faster. If any time you wish to turn on the program again, go for you to the System Configuration opening. And place a check mark in the box near the desired training program. Dell computers delivers business devices with Microsoft Win 7. microsoft office 2019 activation crack (lifetime activator) need to the XPS 13. Will be able to Go for their small business website, pick pcs, and check the box for Win 7. I am just in entire agreement that there is not any reason to upgrade from Microsoft Windows 7 to MS Win 8. However you get Win 8, its not the end of globe. office 2019 crack file and stable, and allows many improvements I like, the new task manager is quite nice. Even so it isn't really problematic. It runs every program I've tried regarding it that also ran on 7 (and I've tried a lot) and it's difficult incorporated with this. Because there is still more to be completed. Koso wants the same screen pop functionality when i mentioned until now. And he wants the CRM system his or her growth automatically populate more data from those "quick calls", like period of call, duration, even the kind of call (cold call, return call) guarantee his reps can do even less data entry. Koso and the guys at Thinking Phones are at this time putting these new features into site. Highlight the Connections tab, click choose the box Connect using my Lan (LAN), which usually select Backlink to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP. Click close to Exchange Proxy Settings tab, type URL in software program under link Settings heading, and then put a checkmark your box at the side of Connect using SSL only and brother ql-570 comes with below Only connect to proxy servers that have this principal name of their certificate. Type the desired information globe box below and check both the boxes at the side of Fast and slow online communities. If you use the Apple version of Excel participating in something to keep in mind that only a few versions of excel for the Mac have VBA inside them. Excel 2008 for example does to not have macros, but Excel 2011 does. When you want to automate Excel on your iMac or Mac Book Pro, ensure that get the 2011 version. microsoft office 2019 activation crack (lifetime activator) cannot go automation in any way. You can schedule automatic disk restoration to run daily, weekly, or recurring. Doing so will help clean your current disk regularly and makes it work with success. Disable or delete programs that scuff use all of which will no longer use in the future. There are certain programs inside your Dell computer and in Microsoft Technique system in which you never put on. If you face difficulty or encounter any error message, contact Microsoft Windows technical provide for.

if people are looking for a comic with lgbt representation, i recommend dumbing of age! it’s a comedy/drama about several people in college. there are mlm characters (gay and bi), wlw characters (lesbian and bi), and trans characters (no nb characters confirmed yet but there’s a trans man and multiple trans women, one of whom is an ace lesbian)! the characters feel very fleshed-out; not just one dimensional stereotypes of lgbt people. it is so refreshing to see so many lgbt characters in one series.

it might not be for everyone; there is potentially triggering content such as religion, occasional discussion of sex, abuse, suicide, homophobia, and attempted rape. if you want more details, you can message me; i’d be happy to clarify and say if certain sections can be skipped/summarize parts you’d rather not read.

still, it’s a charming comic i’ve been reading for years! reading the updates every day is something i always look forward to. it’s sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes heartwarming. i’ll end this post with two of my favorite strips!

SPN did Market Research for Dean & Cas

Disclaimer: Yes this is a sock for safety reasons. Post is long, but please read it.

No shit there I was checking my email, as you do, and I saw I had a screener from one of the market research groups I’m signed up with.  On average, I do a market research thing every 3-4 months because I like non-reportable money. And giving my opinions. And talking to people behind 2 way mirrors without having to go to a police station.   

Market research itself was early December, 2016. First email contact with the screener was late October or early November. 

I see it’s an “offsite,” meaning a market research company is subcontracted by another company who wants to do the market research at their own facility, but doesn't want to find the participants on their own, so they use the Market research company (in this case Schlesinger and Associates) as an intermediary. I can’t remember if this screener identified itself as being for TV, not all do, some might identify only as entertainment, and some might be even more vague until you get into the screener. Regardless of the identification for the screener (TV or entertainment), I fill out almost every screener I receive unless it’s obvious, from the subject, they won’t want me (ie looking for certain types of professionals)- it didn’t matter, then, if the subject matter was something I particularly like, I would’ve filled it out anyway.  

After normal, but more detailed than usual demographics questions, the screener asked about TV habits. Eventually,  it said the word “fandom” and asked what TV fandoms I’d count myself in.  It was roughly a list of 20 shows and listed “fandom” (defined as I watch every episode and read additional materials about the show. Note this is not what fandom itself would consider fandom, but people most fandom dwellers would still count as GA).  Beyond fandom, one could indicate they: watch all episodes but don’t seek out more,  watch most episodes, have seen some episodes, watched a few, or haven’t watched.  (I just got a screener for soap operas and realized that part was the same and made note). Therefore, fandom, to corporate, are people who watch everything and maybe buy some swag for the show- magazines/shirts. Then, they asked about conventions I might have attended.  And then asked about my dream vacation, so I babbled a lot about my dream to go to SDCC (I hadn’t at this point). Supernatural was on the list of shows, so I made sure I answered the essay questions about it, because why not? It was my favorite of what was listed.  It was a long screener. I don’t remember the rest. Though sometimes I might remember a detail if a screener reminds me of it. Most fun screener I’ve filled out.

A few days/weeks later, I got a call for step 2- the phone screener for the people that sounded good when filling out the form. And where they try and make sure your answers match or fit that same person who answered them. I passed step 2, and was told there would be homework, and asked ifI’d have time for it, since I would only have so many days to watch the assigned material and write essays about them. 

Homework arrives: I have to watch and write essays on all the bonus features of Supernatural S10. There might’ve been something in there from another year, too. And all the bonus features from some season of  Big Bang Theory.  Essays for all of it, too.  And I mean essays, not short answers.  It was like the SATs, and I was analyzing blooper reels (among other things).  I still don’t get why they wanted essay questions on blooper reels, but I’ll always happily write one again cause that was the funniest essay to have to write! 

I had to both print and bring and email all my answers ahead of time.  I did not keep them.  I’m honestly curious what I might’ve written.  

So in December, I get to go to WB’s market research department. Fun fact: the entrance to that building faces what had recently been the Supernatural poster. I check in. At this point I think it’s a group. Because most market research is done in groups. Also they said I was there for the “DVD bonus features study” 

I wait in the lobby, but I’m surprised there seem to be very few others around. I don’t think I got there too early, but all the others were taken back before me. And they didn’t seem to be there for the same study.  Oh and I wore business casual clothes but had some show-based earrings for fun.  

Finally a nice lady brings me back to a room. She turns off the lights and gives me a fancy remote and has me play with a new system for watching bonus features. I had to start with BBT. Then we did something else. Then I was allowed to scroll through and I picked Supernatural, and answered all the things.  By this point I figured I would be released soonish   because I was supposed to be there only for an hour. And this was at least half an hour at the most. No clock, though and cell phone off.  Maybe this part went faster than I remember, but it was less interesting so it felt longer? Or less interesting compared to what came next. 

We switch gears. I’m no longer allowed to pick what we watch and talk about my thoughts on if SDCC panels belong in bonus features.  (Me: should have a preorder and you get to watch it when the season airs with DVD to arrive when season ends. Silly to watch it after the season when it’s mostly vague spoilers for the first episode or so). Obviously WB doesn’t listen to me about everything.

Oh! In the screener as part of normal demographics, I was asked about my sexuality. It isn’t completely rare (I can talk about another market research where you had to be queer to be part of it), but there were some short answers about representation or something similar. Something that is significant *now,* but at the time I didn’t notice as being too weird.  Since they probably had me listed to the people behind the mirror as X (if they even got my name) Y resident, bisexual, age.  I very specifically said stuff to her about representation cause I wasn’t gonna miss my shot.

Anyway so we switch from dvd extras and she queues up video from another file.

She puts a scene of Supernatural on and has me watch. Then repeats it. And asks questions about my opinions on what’s happening.  Then has me watch and only pay attention to Character D and tell her what I think his emotions are.  Then again but with Character C.  

Complete torture… lol… at this point I’m confused, but enjoying this torture.

So there I am watching the Crypt scene over and over and analyzing it.  And talking about their feelings.  

And then I stop her and say something to the effect of “look I’m bi. There’s not a lot of good representation on what being bi is like.  But from episode 1 I’ve known Dean is Bi.”    And I babbled about how important a macho badass but closeted character is for representation. And that I hoped they did more with that.  I included some anecdotes from other lgbtq friends and straight allies and how they all felt as I did- Dean is Bi, Cas is whatever he wants to identify as, and we felt we recognized our experiences on the screen and hoped for continued and louder representation. 

Bam. My interviewer was called out of the room by the people behind the mirror. Suddenly I’m getting a whole new set of questions

Like this is the most baffling and amazing thing that's happened to me in years. It imprinted in my mind, and I haven’t mentioned it to too many people, because of the NDA and being afraid to jinx things. But now I don’t feel like it matters to be as quiet. Obviously I don’t want WB to go after me but... market research isn’t unusual, just mostly used for spin-offs or new shows not for plot points of shows already happening. At least, that’s my understanding. 

The interviewer  comes back after a short discussion with whoever was behind the glass. Asks a few more questions

We’re now very much going into various things about what I’d just said. I took my shot. And apparently it paid off big time.  At some point she’s pulled out of the room again and given a paper with more questions. Some were about Dean’s bisexuality, or how I, and anecdotally my friends, saw him as bisexual.  Others were about the potential romance. None, that I remember, were about Castiel’s sexuality- I guess that was a given or not important. 

I don’t know if any of the writers were behind the glass from the beginning, but I felt like they stalled to get someone there, maybe.

The interviewer was baffled and made sure I knew nothing that was happening was normal.  They wanted to ask me more questions than they usually care to get out of their market research volunteers. 

So those are the most important parts. Basically almost everything I was asked after that was about character analysis and queerness and a whole bunch of other things that were related (I also mentioned needing more disability rep, too).  I was back there for at least 2 hours.

Okay. So. How do you write bisexual characters?

(For the record, I, as a bisexual myself, already know how to do this. I just want to see how other people do so to see, like, their take on it, if that makes any sense at all.)

hi! so, this is once again very broad. "how do you write bisexual characters" is a big thing, but i think i know what you're trying to ask.

first of all, since you're bi too, you can take a lot of liberties that non-bi people can't. you can go closer to stereotypes and dissect them from the inside, because you are on the inside. We as bi people can talk about the experiences of being bi, how we confront stereotypes, internalized biphobia, etc. basically, you have license to play around with bi characters however you want, as a bi person.

but for the rest of this, i'll direct it more generally, advice that could be given to bi people and non-bi people alike.

first thing to note: i am one bi person. i do not speak for all bi people. if non-bi people read this and expect to immediately understand everything ever about bi rep... no. stop. bad. i'm spraying you with a spray bottle right now as if you're a misbehaving cat.

i'm one dude on the internet. in fact, i'm gonna mention @yourbookcouldbegayer, here; it's a good idea to also ask them shit. ask more than one person! (again, not you specifically. you're bi. do whatever the hell you want.)

anyway, onward.

the main thing:

bi people are people, first. while you should make sure your bi character isn't, like, some terrible stereotype of bisexuals, when it comes down to it, if you make a fully-fleshed out 3 dimensional character who also happens to be bi, i think most bi people will be happy with that.

some things to avoid (for non-bis):

please do not make your bi characters promiscuous, cheaters, overly flirty/sexual, or known for never staying in relationships long. it's really tiring to see bi people categorized like this. If you do have bi characters like this, for the love of god, have more than one bi character, and make sure your other bi character isn't like that. there's nothing wrong with being the above things! (except a cheater. cheaters are terrible.) and you can have bi characters who are. but a lot of people, especially non-queer folk, see all bi people as being like that, and that's bad.

additionally, tread carefully with polyamorous bi characters. i am saying this as a polyam. that doesn't mean don't have polyam bi people! it means that a lot of people see every bi ever as polyam.

and if you make your bi character "a lesbian when she's dating girls and straight when she's dating boys" or "gay when he's dating boys and straight when he's dating girls" i will eat your shoes. that is a threat. Orientation doesn't work that way!! bi people aren't just constantly flipping between gay and straight!!

don't do the "they're just calling themselves bi for attention and are actually gay/straight" thing, either. that is also bad. Bi people are bi.

finally, if you're not bi or some other mspec identity, don't write a story about what it's like to be bi or biphobia. you can have bi characters and bi protagonists, but you don't know what it's like to be bi or to navigate biphobia.

some things i, as a bi person, want to see more of (other bis feel free to add!!):

aspec bi people! trans bi people! bi people in loving, committed relationships! bi people who are single and totally cool with it! disabled, mentally ill and neurodivergent bi people! bi poc! bi4bi relationships! bi people with bi friends (and queer friends in general)! bi-oriented aroaces! bi people who love being bi! bi parents! BI PROTAGONISTS!

i am extra-serious on the last one. While i don't want non-bi people to write about *being* bi (like i said), i am DESPERATE to see bi protagonists/POVs. write about bi space captains, bi dragon-riders, bi superheroes, bi chosen ones, bi people navigating the apocalypse, bi people in cute fluffy romances. it's nice being in stories at all, but sometimes you wanna be more than a side character, yknow?

bi people feel free to add on! and if you disagreed with something, please do tell--as i said, we're not a hivemind, and every bi person is different.

Holy shit HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

THEY ACTUALLY WENT THERE?!?! THEY ACTUALLY WENT THERE?!?! RUSS IS CANON GAY?!?!?! I started getting suspicious after they uploaded that preview clip on the Holby Twitter that deliberately cut out any mention of the gender of Russ’s dead spouse but I still started clapping and screaming when he said “my husband”. OH MY GODDD.

My faith has been restored: there is NO WAY Henruss won’t happen now. It was all very very clearly set up as the buildup to a romance and I just. OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. THEY’RE ACTUALLY DOING IT. WE’RE ACTUALLY GETTING AN ENDGAME GAY ROMANCE FOR HENRIK I’M GOING TO FAINT.

Also, we’re starting to get a vague timeframe for Henrik and Russ’ friendship. Henrik knows of Russ’ daughter, but hasn’t met her. She’s 16, meaning she was born in 2004 or 2005. So Henrik and Russ likely met in the late 90s/early 00s, and stayed in touch but grew more distant over time.

Russ’ interest in Henrik is very very obvious, he’s been flirting with him for three episodes now. But I’d say it’s pretty clear that Henrik is interested too and doesn’t really know how to deal with that.

Also, everybody hand it to me. I was getting gay vibes from Russ before he even DEBUTED. As Dominic Copeland once said: my gaydar is a finely-honed precision instrument!

I just. AAAAAH RUSS IS GAY RUSS IS GAY AAAAAH.

Oh, yeah, and there were other storylines too. It’s been nice seeing some disabled characters of colour on Holby lately (even if the stories are a bit of a mess), I wish Casualty would do the same because their disabled rep is great but it’s not very racially diverse. And while I don’t have personal experience, I thought the Josh storyline was handled pretty well? Triggering, but well-handled.

Anyway HENRIK IS GETTING AN ENDGAME ROMANCE, AND IT’S WITH ANOTHER MAN. Everybody cheer!!

SUBMITTING THIS ACTUALLY IT GOT LONG AND TUMBLR ASK LIMIT KILLS ME

OKAY honestly i have a lot of feelings on garrett but one aspect i like . honestly never see discussed in the fandom is disability and how it relates to his character. and i don't think he's perfect rep ( i do definitely have my issues with his writing ) but i also think he's one of the better written disabled characters i've seen , especially when it comes to humor

i feel this way about a lot of superstore's writing but the humor is always either laughing With garrett or laughing at ableists , not making a joke out of garrett's disability ; a lot of the humor regarding his disability actually makes me laugh pretty hard , especially when he uses it to fuck with abled people , and it's really rare that humor about disability in media actually makes me laugh because so often it's just . obviously written by abled people

i also appreciate that he's not desexualized and isn't made Other while not being made Basically Abled with disability slapped on as an afterthought , which i notice a lot in media ( writers don't know how to portray a complex disabled character and disability ends up more cosmetic than something that actually effects them )

and tbh something i don't see a lot of people really talk about is how garrett is never framed by the show as like. wrong for not expending a lot of energy on putting All his Effort into Everything / doesn't demonize that he doesn't have these Massive Career Aspirations because like . disabled characters in media are pretty much always showed as needing to Push Through It and achieve a lot to be inspirations and we're Constantly pressured to put in as much effort as possible , when in reality that's like . more than we can be expected to do healthily . and seeing a character who's just allowed to do the minimum and support himself in a job that Works for him who isn't pushed into needing something More means a lot to me

and again i don't think his writing is perfect - honestly i think a lot of abled people see his writing as just . a lazy person allowed to be lazy because it can be hard for abled people who don't need to really think about this to even Consider it as a factor , so it might've been nice to have it even like . mentioned since i really can't tell if it's even Intentional . and i'm honestly still iffy on him just being Vaguely Disabled ( because on the one hand nobody should be required to give a dx label/talk about their health but on the other disability is such a wide spectrum that it feels like a bit of a cop-out to be that vague ). i also really wish he'd gotten the chance to interact more with other disabled characters but that might just be me

HOWEVER overall his character/portrayal means so much to me and i'm really hoping to see more disabled characters like him in media

What can I do to limit Amazon’s* negative impacts without harming vulnerable communities who rely on their services?

* or any similar company that people are forced to use to survive if they are poor, disabled, elderly, rurally isolated, or any combination of the above

My post on Amazon has been circulating pretty far these past few weeks, and a lot of people keep trying to argue about what can be done right now. 

1. Contact your representatives

If you live in the US, there are several sites you can use to figure out your senators (you have two) and your representative (you have one). Call them if there’s a phone number. Email them if there isn’t. They’re obligated to have SOME form of contact. If your rep is already on your side, they can use your email as evidence for how citizens feel about the issue when Congress is in session to argue. If your rep is NOT on your side, they will see the email as evidence that a portion of their constituency is NOT willing to reelect them if they don’t play nice, and that scares them a lot. Either way, make yourself heard. Harass them if you have to.

(For more local issues, especially things like minimum wage and labor laws, you can find your representatives for your state or city government, like your mayor or governor or county rep, and contact them as well. Make yourself heard.)

Write emails in your own words about one of the following subjects:

Supporting the USPS. It’s the backbone of the US shipping industry, and major shipping companies like UPS, FedEx, and Amazon use it for overflow.

Monopolies and antitrust acts. Reference past antitrust acts leveled against oil, railroad, and telecom monopolies.

Raising the minimum wage. Reference inflation.

Enacting a marginal tax rate on high earners (re: the 1%, but phrased in a way that they’ll take seriously). Reference the marginal tax rates of the fifties.

Increasing disability benefits. Try to work something in about how stringent the requirements to qualify are, and how benefits don’t cover enough for medical care, transportation, assistive technology, and so on.

Increasing social security benefits for retirees. People pay into this fund all their lives as part of their income tax; it’s supposed to benefit them right back! (You can circle back to marginal tax rates and how the rich usually have savings and don’t need social security, but the poor often don’t have savings and rely on it.)

Enforcing corporate taxation. Find some statistics on who paid corporate  taxes in the past few years and who didn’t. Make sure to find a few big names and what their tax rate SHOULD have been. Emphasize how much extra money the government would be making.

Nationalizing the health care industry. Reference how well it works for countries like Canada, Korea, or Sweden, and how often hard-working Americans are bankrupted by unexpected medical emergencies.

Enacting or enforcing higher standards of employee rights. Did you know that minimum wage employees in Indiana don’t have the right to a lunch break unless they’ve been working at least twelve hours?

Legal repercussions for predatory pricing practices. Walmart is the best-known for this, but Amazon does it too, and they’re a fair bit sneakier about it.

Capping rent prices. Housing costs are among the highest financial pressures Americans face right now, and the fact that housing costs have risen SO much faster than the minimum wage is why it’s impossible to rent a one-bedroom apartment on a minimum wage anywhere in the US right now.

Capping upper management incomes. A CEO should not be earning several thousand, or several million, times as much money as their employees. It’s a long stretch (so argue the more achievable things first), but imagine if we could convince the government to say “actually, you can only make up to twenty times as much per hour as your lowest-paid employee.”

Banning police as threats against unions. UNIONS ARE GOOD THINGS. SUPPORT THEM.

Anything else that comes to mind! There are lots of subjects. This list is not an exhaustive one.

2. Vote

Pretty self-explanatory, I think. Vote in every election. Sometimes you won’t be able to vote for your top choice, and that sucks, but remember that our system is fucked and you have to go for the lesser evil that’s still capable of winning. So vote Blue (because ambivalence to our desires is better than glee at our suffering), and then send as many emails and make as many calls as you can to force them to recognize that, since you helped them get into office, they have to honor the deal to actually represent you now.

3. Support small businesses

Okay, so supporting local businesses probably isn’t too easy in a pandemic. You can’t just walk to your nearest mom and pop store to see if there’s an affordable option. That said, if you can afford to do so, try to see if there are small businesses in your area that are doing delivery or curbside-pickup.

If you live in a more rural area, see about ordering from small online businesses for non-essentials. If you’re thinking “hey, I’d like a new scarf” or something, check Instagram or Etsy first. All faults aside, Etsy is only a marketplace, not a seller themselves, so they rely on the vendors using their site to remain in business. (Whereas Amazon tries to drive their vendors out of business to take over their market share.) You can also use Google Shopping, eBay, or Craigslist.

4. Don’t Use Amazon (or similar), but don’t shame people for using it either

Some people rely on loss leaders to survive. That’s a fault of the American economy being a horrifying mess, and I listed a whole litany of the causes above. Money talks, so avoid using Amazon unless there is NO other way to get your product, but if someone you know uses Amazon, and you know they’re struggling, keep your mouth shut. If they’re not struggling, mention your distaste for Amazon but don’t push the issue; they’re more likely to come around if they feel like you’re not passing a moral judgement on them for it.

5. Recognize that many fairly-priced products are more expensive than you’re used to

The example I usually use is fashion. We’re used to a shirt costing ten or twenty dollars, even at places other than Walmart or Target. This price is what we’re led to believe is reasonable, but it’s really a factor of incredibly underpaid workers, usually overseas. If you can’t afford it, feel free to blame the low minimum wage (I certainly do), but remember to take a step back and remind yourself that it’s not that the piece is expensive, it’s that you are underpaid, and the current system is trying to teach you to expect cheaper items as the norm so they can get away with paying even more people less than they deserve.

6. DONATE

Yeah! There are a whole lot of nonprofit agencies that focus on issues that relate to this topic. I prefer to donate to organizations that focus on enacting systemic change through legal or institutional channels, like the ACLU and AAPD, but there are a lot of options, some of which focus on more direct help, or on specific parts of the country. Figure out one that speaks to you, check it against a trusted charity rating system like Charity Navigator, and set up a monthly donation if you can afford to. Constant support can cause compassion fatigue, but consistent support is how you Get Shit Done.

7. March

Join an activist group and march. Sometimes there are other major events going on (hijacking one of the current marches against racism and police brutality in favor of one about monopolies would be in bad taste AT BEST), but there will come an opportunity to make your voice heard by showing up on the street and just yelling with a sign.

Now go forth and unleash hell.

Hey Emma! I adore your writing and I was wondering if I could ask for your advice. When writing an autistic character, are there any characteristics / plots etc that you don't like seeing? Or anything stereotypical that is overused or often portrayed incorrectly in writing?

Hi! Thank you so much 😊 I’m always willing to talk about autistic rep! This is a very interesting question and I’m so glad you asked.

Obviously this is going to be my own opinion (and to some extent, things I’ve talked about with other autistic people) so it’s not representative of the whole community. There is no absolute do/don’t rules here, because autistic people are as different from each other as allistic (non autistic) people are, so the rep is and needs to be varied and complex.

There are many overused tropes when it comes to autistic characters. I think the most obvious one is that a very large portion of autistic characters, especially in general media, are white, male and mostly cishet. It is a misconception that autism is more present in men, and autistic POC deserve rep. I’m not sure how widely known this is, but there is also a much higher fraction of queer autistic people than among the general population. (I tried to find some more articles to link here but I don’t have any on hand and looking this up is a minefield I noped out of immediately. I’ll try to come back with clearer resources).

The usual autistic character is usually of one of two types: little white boy who doesn’t speak, where the story is invariably about his parents/siblings/teacher and never about him, or adult white man who has “Asperger’s” (or maybe isn’t even clearly identified as autistic) and is socially awkward and a genius, usually in math or computers. Those are very much overused stereotypes. Both are often portrayed incorrectly as well: the nonspeaking child is usually only portrayed through the eyes of allistic people and not given any kind of personality, and the adult man often has very little personality other than their genius and their bluntness, doesn’t seem to have any other autistic traits than the ones allistics are meant to admire or laugh at (think Sheldon of TBBT).

That is not to say that all those characters are bad rep, but it would be really nice to see more variety. I want to see autistic POC. I want to see autistic women and nonbinary people. I want to see autistic WOC & nonbinary POC. And I want to see more diversity in the autistic traits that they have, but also in their personalities. Autism isn’t a personality, even though it is part of a person’s identity and affects who they are directly. Autistic characters should have their own likes and dislikes, dreams and hurdles to overcome that aren’t linked to their autism, and their own agency. This last one is especially important in the case of any disabled characters (and doubly if it’s not a man) because this is something that isn’t often given to disabled characters.

Now into slightly more details:

- Autistic geniuses do exist, but that trope is way overused and usually portrayed badly. That doesn’t mean it should never be used again, but it should be done carefully. Characters like House (House, MD), Sherlock (BBC Sherlock) or Sheldon (TBBT) have imo done actually harm to our community, and definitely to me personally (because identifying with a character who self-identifies as a “high-functioning sociopath” is didn’t really help my mental health when I was 16 and depressed). They are either assholes to the people around them, or their awkwardness is played for laughs. You’ll notice that these are also characters who aren’t formally identified as autistic in the shows, even though they are clearly autistic-coded. I do have examples of autistic(-coded) genius characters I think are quite well done, like Sherlock in Elementary or Flynn, Cassie and Jake in The Librarians. Parker, in Leverage, could go into this category, but I’d say that her ‘genius’ is of a different sort, and it’s an interesting twist on the trope.

- Nonspeaking/semi-speaking autistics are underrepresented as full characters (ie outside of the trope mentioned above). That would be really nice to see, but please do proper research before trying to write it. I would love to see characters using AAC tablets or sign language, for example.

- A lot of autistic people also have other disabilities. That can range from other neurodivergences & mental illnesses (ADHD, bipolar, dyslexia, PTSD, etc), physical disabilities, chronic illnesses (some illnesses like EDS have a high co-occurrence with autism). A lot of autistic people are queer. Both of those are things I’d really like to see more of.

- Stimming. The stimming I’ve seen portrayed, when it’s even there (it tends to be mostly forgotten in the genius-type storylines), tends to be very stereotypical. We all have different ways of interacting with our environment and of communicating. There are a lot of ways to flap (clapping, hitting fists together, fluttering fingers, etc), to rock, to self-soothe. I’d like to see characters who use chew toys and stim toys, who stim-dance, who sing, who echolalize a lot.

- Meltdowns. [mention of self-harming stims] This one is a bit delicate. Writers who have an autistic character tend to want to show them in a meltdown at some point to sort of “drive home” that they’re autistic and what it means. I get that, but I also think that it’s something that is hard to portray respectfully if you’re not autistic yourself, and maybe you should really think about whether it’s necessary. If you do decide to do it: not all autistic people will hit their head or hurt themselves or get angry. I tend to just burst in tears and be unable to stop for hours. There are many ways to melt down.

- Specific interests. While math and computers are common specific interests, they are way overused. Specific interests can be anything. Mine is currently Shadowhunters, but also medieval swords and sailing ships and autism and linguistics. Specific interests can be lifelong, they can change overtime, they can last a month and be over. They can coexist simultaneously. Some autistic people don’t really have any.

- I would like to see more stories of late-diagnosed people, though maybe leave the stories about diagnosis and identification to autistic writers. I’d like to see older autistic people. Especially older autistic people who are more visibly autistic. I’d like to see autistic people who are thriving in life, who are in love and have a partner who loves them back, who are good at their job (but not geniuses), who don’t have a job but volunteer and create and do things, who have children or pets.

- Sensory stuff. Hypersensitive hearing tends to be the most common trope, though not necessarily overused, but there are so many other things you can do. We have a lot of senses (more than the usual 5), and autistic people can be hyper and hyposensitive to each of them, sometimes both at the same time. So you can have your character struggle to feel pain, but be bothered by lights. They can be hypersensitive to color, or inversely seek it. They can love listening to the same music over and over again (that’s also a stim).

- As far as plots go. Again, agency is paramount. Their autism shouldn’t be their personality and their motivation. They shouldn’t be striving (or be required) to “overcome” their autism, and even less be cured of it. Accessibility barriers are a reality that should be reflected in fiction, but the story needs to be about more than that.

Here’s a post with some advice and things we’d like to see more of. I hope this was what you’re looking for!