a-totally-reasonable-username - Tumblr blog

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

My psychiatrist is so confuses as to how the fuck he's supposed to help me, especially like other doctors expect him to and it's hilarious every time

"I mean if you can't eat, sleep or move right, you're obviously not gonna feel great and there isn't a lot i can do to help your mental health if your basic human needs are met? Sorry but fucked up joints and intestines are not my medical field? Do you know of any way i can help you?"

And all these doctors (especially in the hospital) think that therapy is some kind of miracle cure but everytime i get asked if i go to therapy i see the mental image of my baffled therapist and i have to try so hard to not laugh in their faces

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

apparently people are now purchasing thick water to make slimes with because of a trend on tiktok

thick water is for disabled people who can’t swallow properly. stores usually have extremely limited supplies of it.

please don’t buy thick water for fun or to make slime with. it’s literally the only way some disabled people can drink anything. It’s not a fucking toy

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

If you dare come at me about banning straws, I will throw you into the sun cannon. I’m disabled, I’m crippled, I need disposable plastic straws, and all those pricey ridiculous alternatives aren’t working as well. Plastic straws were invented for the disabled.

Way to shit all over a vital access need because you think straws are worse than corporate greed.

We all care about the turtles, the seals, the oceans, obviously. Notice how the easiest thing to yell about was something that would barely affect anything but appealed heavily to emotional discourse.

The disabled community is huge, and it can be joined by anyone. Most of those As Seen On TV products were invented for us. Society still mocks us and ignores us, and often outright harms us in multiple ways.

Communicate better. Listen better. But stop putting us out in the cold because you are inconvenienced by our simplest needs.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Oh, you think you're safe now?

Nothing can deliver you from these paws!

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

the whump fan’s dilemma

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Everything is like “QUEER history” and “List of QUEER young adult books” or “Top 10 QUEER movies” and queer this and queer that and for the love of god please just say LGBT.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

*Sees someone on twitter arguing that DoorDash is necessary for the disabled because microwave food is too much to handle.*

...What. That seems absurdly specific.

There are a lot of reasons someone might not be able to microwave food. "I literally cannot get out of bed", "i need nutrients you can't just microwave", "my dumb brain has put up 18 billion barriers to try and stop me from eating and this is the loophole I have" "the microwave in this apartment is out of reach/not labeled properly/not ADA friendly in another way" "for x or y reason microwave food is a one way ticket to severe burns", etc. I found a lot of reasons someone might need DoorDash and I also found this cool article about food sharing in the disabled community and how the author had to rely on an abusive partner once because she was either in bed or barely able to crawl and they were among the few people bringing food.

Just saying, there's a reason disabled people have higher chances of food insecurity and there's a reason meal trains, meals on wheels, and other programs focus on bringing food to people in need and not just assuming "they have a microwave and money, why bother?". Sometimes you don't have a family or friends or mutual aid group to bring you meals when you can't even pop something in the microwave.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

"don't let your disability stop you from reaching your goals!" i have no choice but to let my disability put obstacles between me and my goals, you think i just pick and choose when i can/can't do something? it's the literal definition of a disability, it disables you from doing things. how hard is that to understand?

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Navigation: Helpful Posts

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Complication of posts from CrippleCharacters, as well as other blogs providing advice on writing disabled characters!

This list will continue to be updated with new posts.

Last update: 15/04/2024

Character Making Basics and Ideas

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How to Start Doing Research When Writing a Disabled Character Ideas for disabled characters: crutch users Ideas for disabled characters: facial differences Ideas for disabled characters: rollator users Ideas for portraying characters with Dwarfism General Ideas

How to Describe XYZ?

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Blindness Tropes: the "Blank Look" Describing Characters with Facial Differences as Pretty First Description: when to mention the Facial Difference

How to Draw XYZ?

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Tips for Drawing Characters with Facial Differences Drawing Blind Characters Drawing Amputees

General

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Writing a Newly Disabled Character Writing a Visibly Different Character Including Disabled Communities Disabled Characters in Historical Fiction Tokenism Discussion Disability and Superpowers Curing and "Fixing" Disabled Characters Is It Realistic to Have Multiple Disabled Characters? "Jaws Effect": how media affect the real world Worldbuilding with Accessibility in Mind How to Let Readers Figure Out the Character's Disability

General Tropes

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"Super-Crip": Magic and Disability I Did a Trope but It's Too Late - What You Should Do - made with the mask trope in mind, but could be applied more widely

Mobility Aids

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General Overview Overview, but with More Options - not writing advice, educational Magic Mobility Aids Tips on Writing Wheelchair Users How Often Should You Mention Mobility Aids? "But Mobility Aids Wouldn't Exist in my Fantasy World"

Amputation/Limb Difference

[large text: Amputation/Limb Difference]

Constructing Characters with Limb Differences: Discussing Fetishization Do Amputees Always Wear Prosthetics? Does a Character with Amputation Need a Prosthetic? Does a Character with Upper Limb Amputation Need a Prosthetic? Designing a Prosthetic Arm Making a Character with Upper Limb Amputation Genius Amputee Mechanic: Discussing the DIY Prosthetic Trope Causes of Amputation

Blindness

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Making a Blind Character: what to add, what to avoid Designing a Blind Character: Discussing the Eye Covering Trope What to Give Your Blind Character Blindness Tropes: Daredevil, milky eyes, and blindness-negating magic The Blind Prophet Trope Guide Animals: Dogs, Horses, and Their Fictional Equivalents Blind Characters with Superpowers Portraying Photophobia in Pre-modern Times Characters with Albinism DeafBlind Character not Wanting to be Blind

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Characters

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Creating Deaf/HoH Characters Writing D/deaf/HoH Characters Tips on Writing Deaf Characters Visual Indicators of a Person being Deaf Tips on Writing about Hearing Aids

Facial Difference (FD)

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Introduction to Facial Difference: basics, tropes, what I want to see Constructing a Character with an FD: Discussing Disfiguremisia and the "Mask Trope" Does My Character Need a Prosthetic Eye?: alternatives What Would Happen to A Character with a Scar Through the Eye? Personal Opinion on the Scar Through the Eye Trope How Scars Affect the Character, and How the Character Affects the Scar (in the technical sense)

Other

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Introduction to Writing Intellectually Disabled Characters: basics, tropes, how it actually works Writing Characters with Tourette's Syndrome Writing and Drawing Burn Survivors: basics and resources Writing Characters with ASPD Dwarfism and Fantasy Stories Stereotypes around Characters with Dwarfism Writing a Character with Russel-Silver Syndrome

Making Your Content Accessible to Disabled Readers

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Image Descriptions Tutorial Writing Image Descriptions for People Who Can't Write Them How to Tag Your Posts (Tumblr)

Recommended Blogs

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@blindbeta @cy-cyborg @a-little-revolution @mimzy-writing-online

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

This ABSOLUTELY works.

I have used this for many years. Definitely b do it.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

The last time we were on a long flight, my wife and I invented a game we call "Little Guy."

You start a game of Little Guy by saying, "I'm gonna hand you a little guy." The little guy is some kind of baby animal you are imagining. "Oh," she might say in response, "Okay," and hold out her hands for it. I will then mime handing her the animal. This provides some clues as to the little guy's size, weight, and general ungainliness.

She then gets to ask questions about what kind of little guy this is, BUT NO QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS ACTUAL APPEARANCE OR SPECIES ARE ALLOWED. Qualitative questions, or questions about his behavior, are the only ones permitted. She can ask "Is he soft?" or "Does he seem nervous about being held?" or "If I put him in the bathtub, does he seem okay with that?" or "Would he like a lil grape?" or "Is he the sort of little fellow who would wear a vest in a children's book?" but not "Does he have fur," "Is he a reptile," "Is he from Asia," etc. Some questions are in a grey area so you have to follow your heart, but the point is not to identify the animal as fast as possible: the point is to guess the animal purely based on vibes + how he would act if he were in your living room right now.

And I'm not limited to yes or no answers! If she asks, "Would it feel appropriate to see this little guy in a propeller hat?" I can reply, "Oh no, he has a gravity to him. A bowler hat would be a more appropriate hat." Or if she asks, "Does this little guy have protagonist energy?" I can say something like, "he probably wouldn't be the main character in a children's cartoon. He'd probably be the main character's ditzy best friend who's always eating sandwiches, or something."

We're big Twenty Questions to kill time in a waiting room people, but Little Guy is more about the journey than the destination. It's got a different kind of sauce that's nice if "killing time" and "lowering anxiety" need to happen hand in hand.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Tfw when you're reading fanfic and it's fun and good and great and then you get hit with a line that is so raw and deep and right where it hurts

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

“I don’t like the terms high support needs and low support needs because they just remind me of functioning labels”

You realize that it’s not bad for someone to need more support then you, right? You realize that people needing more or less support than you is a thing, right? You realize that maybe we still need labels to get the point across and build community within a community, right?

You realize that the lives of higher support needs people and lower support needs people are different so they need something to connect with eachother, right?

If you don’t and still think that…then maybe you need to work on yourself.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but intrusive thoughts are basically your brain’s (sometimes very upsetting) way of saying “If there were two guys on the moon and one of them killed the other with a rock would that be fucked up or what?”

I’ve personally found that adding the “would that be fucked or what?” part in myself really helps put the more disturbing thoughts we sometimes get into perspective. Helps me say “yeah thar sure would be fucked up” and move on with my day.

It’s not not a secret desire, it’s not something that only occurs to you because you’re a bad person. It’s just your brain deciding to process the fact that it knows an uncomfortable thing exists in the world by feeding it to you in an absurd “what if” with you as the main character.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Recommendation/Tip

If you have migraines and you're looking for a free symptom tracking app with lots of customizable options on what to track, you might want to check out 'Migraine Buddy'

You can use it to track episodes and attacks like seizures, anxiety attacks, fnd episodes, and more, as well.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

Finished these orchids last night, and I think they turned out pretty well. Blackwork embroidery on 14-count Aida.

Pattern here.

[a-totally-reasonable-username]

You guys know how to travel in a car with your canes, right? You know where to put them so they don’t kill you in an accident? You’re not just holding them on your lap?