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thelegendofmik · 8 months

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Stop Defending Ableists Challenge (Level: Impossible)

So the other day I made a post listing all the ableist things Jacob Richmond has included in Legoland and Ride the Cyclone.

And the response was abysmal - the amount of "well actually..." kind of responses I got was disgusting and I took down the post because I find it counterproductive to argue with teenagers on the internet. However, I stand by the belief that if you think you are old enough to post publicly on the internet, you are old enough to be held accountable for what you post.

But I think what I had to say was quite important, so I am going to reword it here.

TW here for the discussion of ableism and ableist slurs (they are all censored)

There is ZERO (0) justification for the use of THREE (3) ableist slurs across both works. I don't fucking care if it was the 2000's. The ADA predates both shows and disability activism had existed for decades before that (as yannick very kindly reminded me). So no, it was not ok for Richmond to use those slurs in his works, regardless of the time period. Because there is nothing "correct" (politically, or otherwise) about ableism.

And before you say "Oh, but it was the character who said it, not the writer..."

CHARACTERS ARE NOT SENTIENT BEINGS! They are not created in a vacuum. Their thoughts and actions are often a reflection of the author's own beliefs and morals.

It was not Ocean who decided to use the word cr*pple. It was Jacob Richmond who decided to use it. Same with the r word and sp*z in Legoland. It wasn't Penny and Ezra who decided to use those words, it was Jacob Richmond. Because each character's actions are dictated by the decisions that the author makes for that character. And in this case, the author decided to be an ableist asshole.

Yes, characters can be assholes. They can be complex and nuanced beings. But there are better ways to portray such experiences than being violently ableist (i.e.: without using slurs). And why does the ableist character get complexity and nuance, but the disabled character is simply the sad, disabled kid, with not much else in his personality until he magically becomes abled bodied. Like we deserve nuance and complexity as well, people!

In a 2022 interview with Curtain Call Bway (here), when asked who his favourite character to write was, Richmond responds with the following:

Ocean is definitely my favorite character to write because it’s based on certain people I’ve met and certain aspects of myself too.

Like he literally admits it himself, that his decisions when writing an ableist character were based off aspects of his own personality.

The reality is, disability has never been more than a comedic plot point to Richmond. He has never cared about portraying a realistic disabled experience. He has never cared about disabled people.

And the cherry on top is that his response to yannick-robin being hate-crimed was to rewrite Ricky so that he could be played by an abled and therefore production teams wouldn't have to give a shit about ensuring their spaces are safe and accessible for disabled performers. If he actually cared about disabled people and properly representing our experiences, he would have worked with a disability consultant and fixed the issues within the show. Instead, he doubles down and causes even more harm.

To add insult to injury, he then licensed that script to Sarah Rasmussen and her team of ableist cronies for the DC production. Because him choosing to continue working with Rasmussen and her team just shows that he shares the same ableist values as the McCarter/Arena team.

So by saying that "its the character, not the author", you are defending Richmond and his violent ableism. You are attempting to justify the harm he has done and CONTINUES TO DO to disabled people. YOU. ARE. A. PART. OF. THE. PROBLEM.

Ride the Cyclone and Legoland (in ALL its forms and versions) contains so much ableist violence. This violence has traumatised REAL PEOPLE, but yannick, myself, and other people speaking out are the ones ruining the vibe by calling it out? Be fucking for real people.

Now if only my university papers were this thorough...

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thelegendofmik · 8 months

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Ride the Cyclone's Ableism Runs so Much Deeper than I Realised

Hi friends! Its been a while since I spoke about Ride the Cyclone, because it was a shitshow and I quite frankly wanted nothing to do with it anymore.

But I am a chronic ruminator, and its midnight and I am currently in a pain flare, so I have found myself ruminating on RTC. In my head, I jokingly introduced Ocean as "Ablest Extraordinaire!" - which led me to realise that while Ocean is the only one who is explicitly ableist, the others are inherently complicit in her ableism, as they stand by and do literally nothing about it. And they were most likely the exact same while they were all alive.

And then I had the realisation:

The choir only deem Ricky worth listening to - his story worthy of being heard - after he is magically cured of his disabilities and is all of a sudden able-bodied. Now that his existence is palatable to the ableds.

Isn't this an amazing message to be sending to disabled kids? (/s) That in order to even be listened to they should suppress their access needs (by ditching the mobility aids and/or forcing themselves to communicate verbally).

And this isn't just a mentality expressed in the show (and by extension, by Jacob Richmond/Brooke Maxwell), it is one that is expressed by the teams that produce this musical. Exhibit A: McCarter theatre. They hire yannick-robin, but try to dictate which mobility aids he uses, and when, in order to try and make his disabilities more palatable to them and their target audience. And the moment yannick experiences a symptom of said disability (*gasp* shocking, I know, that a consistent denial of one's access needs leads to intensified symptoms) that doesn't fit with the carefully curated image of disability they want to portray, they throw him aside and deem him too "inconsistent".

Fucking pathetic, if you ask me.

To any disabled folks reading this:

You deserve to be heard, as you are. Tell your story however the fuck you see fit. You don't need to force yourself to be palatable to the ableds. They need to pull their heads out of their asses and grow the fuck up, quite frankly. And don't let anyone diminish your access needs - you deserve to have equal access in EVERYTHING. I love you all xx

That's all for today :)

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thelegendofmik · 8 months

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A Boundary Regarding RTC

Hey guys, I'm here to set a very very strict boundary regarding RTC content. Because while I will forever advocate for accessibility and safety for disabled people in the workplace, it is SO. FUCKING. DRAINING.

So...

If you want interact with my posts, or send an ask with the following:

"I don't support the ableism, but..."

"It's my special interest..."

"Its a hyperfixation..."

"I love RTC"

"I find it comforting"

DON'T.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HOW YOU ARE STILL OBSESSED WITH A SHOW THAT, MAY I REMIND YOU FOR THE FIFTY-MILLIONTH FUCKING TIME, IS VIOLENTLY ABLEIST.

Like it is so tactless to go "hey im gonna send something to a disabled person saying that I still love (and therefore support) a work that is violently ableist!"

You do realise that when a disabled person stepped in and was like "hey, this shit's ableist, can you fix it?", he got FUCKING HATE-CRIMED. And my autism gives me a very strong sense of justice. So when someone I consider a friend gets hate-crimed, I am going to RAIN DOWN HELL ON THE CUNTS RESPONSIBLE (and anyone who implicitly aligns themselves with said cunts by supporting the very thing that resulted in the hate-crime).

YOU CANNOT - I REPEAT - YOU CANNOT LIKE RIDE THE CYCLONE WITHOUT SUPPORTING THE ABLEISM. YOU CANNOT SEPARATE THE ABLEISM FROM RIDE THE CYCLONE.

Like please can we let this show fucking die?

#THE NEXT MESSAGE LIKE THIS I GET WILL BE MY THIRTEENTH. FUCKING. REASON #and istg if any of you send a message like that to yannick-robin i will hear about it and i will not be nice about it #ride the cyclone is ableist idk why y'all still worship it lol #ride the cyclone #constance rtc #jane rtc #mischa rtc #noel rtc #ocean rtc #rtc musical #disability #fuck ableism #penny lamb

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thelegendofmik · 1 year

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february 5th, 2023. 8:24 am, yet another sleepless night due to an ER-worthy pain flare. once again overwhelmed by ableism (especially related to a specific ableist musical) and the sheer audacity of a specific person to use their disabled family member to give themself authority in a subject which they had no authority to speak on and proceed to speak over disabled people and defend the ableist script change. And then play the victim when actually disabled people called them out on their bullshit. (*cough* kholby *cough*)

anyways :|

image id bc my handwriting isn't the most legible:

my mind is a dumpster fire.

I just want an escape from the ableism -> but while I could go MIA online and escape the bullshit there, I cannot escape it in the real world. I guess that's the thing about actually being disabled - you have to live with it 24/7/365, yet some people get paid to use your trauma + experiences for entertainment. The reality of my seemingly progressive disability is far from entertaining.

Ableism makes me want to fucking blowtorch myself but ya know, if I died, wouldn't I just be proving their point? That I'm better off dead? I almost believe it at this point lmao.

I'm done.

#ableism #fuck ableism #disabled #disability #ride the cyclone #save ricky potts #ride the cyclone is ableist idk why y'all still worship it lol #the ableism from ride the cyclone made me wanna end it all but im still here so you can deal with me bitching about it #actually disabled #chronic pain #chronic illness #my pain would send y'all to hospital very quickly so let me complain about it ffs #fuck my disabilities they are literally taking my will to live but whatever ig #fuck ableds #wheelchair user #idk what else to tag but if you made it this far congrats i guess

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