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We got new plushies

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We got new plushies

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The 2025 Gender Census is now open!

[ Link to survey ]

The 12th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 30th August 2025.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

If you can't wait for survey numbers, you can click here for a public spreadsheet of non-secret info with graphs as it comes in, updated manually a few times per day.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

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One thing I rarely see in injury and chronic pain fics is the grief that comes with missing out on stuff you love because you can no longer do them without hurting yourself. Writers who have been disabled their whole lives (or at least a long time) tend to forget that not all disabled people are used to being disabled. For able-bodied characters, especially athletic ones like vigilantes, a serious injury could mean a jarring change that includes giving up the things that mean the most to them.

I was physically fine until I was 18. Back then, my sense of self was entwined with interests that required a lot of movement and dexterity. I started doing MMA in middle school for self-defense. I loved parkour and even had a few hundred subscribers on my old YouTube channel. I learned to shoot and was gifted my first gun when I was 16. I took up multiple instruments. You get the idea.

My motorcycle accident fucked up the joints on my left side—my knee and shoulder especially, but also wrist to an extent. When it first happened, I thought I'd be on crutches for a bit but things would eventually get back to normal. The pain didn't go away even after I got rid of the crutches but I figured it was just residual and I should do what I'd been doing before. It's why I turned to substances—to block the pain and do what I love, but that's another topic. I didn't recognize my injury as a disabling thing until the end of the pandemic, when I put my parkour channel on an indefinite hiatus because it was seriously wearing my body down. It might sound silly to you but I was devastated. It's like if Spider-Man wasn't allowed to swing from buildings. It took me a long time to make peace with losing that part of me.

Another piece of that grief is even when you can do stuff, it's not the same because you have to exclude certain aspects of it for your own health. It's like the Robin that died and came back wrong. I can't use certain gym equipment and I have to tell my sparring partners what to avoid. I don't go to the shooting range much now because I can't extend my arm and hold a rifle for the amount of time it takes to aim without it starting to hurt. I'm a drummer, but I need breaks throughout the setlist and I can't do anything too fast or complex with the pedals, which means I can't play some of my favorite songs and my band is limited in what we write and perform. I can't take my motorcycle on road trips without frequent rest stops. Making accommodations helps physically, but emotionally, they're not always easy to accept because that means accepting the pain as a long-term disability rather than a temporary setback.

This got super long because I think it's unexplored in fics so some tips for creators:

First, learn how the body works and how stupidly fast and easy it is to get hurt. Mine was on a residential road because I didn't pay attention for 0.2 seconds

Learn the difference between internalized ableism and being upset over becoming disabled. I think a lot of writers skip over the feelings someone would naturally experience because it can be construed as ableism. Let them be in denial, sad, angry, etc. upon finding out because acceptance almost never happens right away. That's different from being a dick to themselves or others based on disability

Also, not everyone uses the same labels or has the same vocabulary to describe themselves. Different characters will have different ways of describing depending on their personality, level of knowledge, where they come from, and their relationship with their disability. I still don't really call myself disabled since I don't have it as bad as others so I tell people what happened instead (anyone who says "differently abled" will receive a different ability from me in the Denny's parking lot)

Think about how they cope with their new disability. Do they realize it's a disability right away? Do they talk to someone? Search desperately for a cure? Numb the pain? Turn to alternative methods? Do they worry about something else first, like money? Do they develop something else because of it, like a mental illness? Again, coping poorly is not ableism

What stays the same and what changes? I think about the difference between Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan after they were both wounded in battle

If they have a passion they can no longer pursue, it doesn't make much sense for them drop it so readily. Maybe they find a way to continue with accommodations (a good place to get creative!). Maybe they try and push through anyway. If they do ultimately resign, include the thought process and internal conflict behind it

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affirmations for writers: i know how to write. i have seen sentences before, and i know how to make one. i can identify up to several words and their meanings. i am not afraid of semicolons.

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screaming

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burn my dread (561 words) by kkomaism Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Persona 3 Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: SEES | Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad & Yuuki Makoto Characters: Yuuki Makoto (Persona Series), SEES | Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad Additional Tags: Missing Scene, POV Persona 3 Protagonist Summary:

His teammates all run when they're afflicted with fear, and even though they come back to him sheepishly each time, telling him that they didn't mean to, he just nods.

It's fine, it's just the status effect. He's not going to blame them for something that's out of their control. It just means that he has to get stronger to protect them, that's all.

But it does get him thinking. How bad is the fear?

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wow I sure would love to be able to look through The Summer Hikaru Died tag :|

Here's a proposal:

a new tag just for people and posts that don't hate people with photosensitivity. Where none of the images or gifs posted contain any flashing lights or neon colors. And you either write the image description for your post yourself or you add it in when someone else makes one for you.

And just make it all one word so it can't possibly get mixed up with the tag filled with strobing lights and neon colors.

TheSummerHikaruDiedPhotosensitiveSafe.

radical concept? maybe. Will anyone actually use it? remains to be seen. I know most people posting in this tag have no trouble typing, so.

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I hope in the inevitable (with how popular the show is) english dub they just have the most silly, backwater ass, southern hick sounding country accent you've ever heard while unspeakable horrors are happening around them.

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engaging in a high risk behavior (lying back down after my alarm already went off)

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two types of couples

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My international shop is open !! 🌼

Lots of Ryoshu (Ryomina) content, but there's also P4 and P5 MCs too !! Please do have a look around 🥰🫶

shop link here !!

If you're looking forward to the artbook, the preorder will be delayed until Tuesday (15 July) !

If you're worried about double shipping because of the artbook, it Will be like that since it's made locally 🥺🙏 the other products will have the manufacturer sent directly to your address, so the artbook is separated from the rest hence the preorders !

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Happy 19th anniversary Persona 3!!! 💙💙💙 thank you for so many wonderful experiences ever since I first found out about P3 in 2012. 🥹

Persona 3 will always have a special place in my heart and a story with amazing characters I will always come back to. I love you P3!!! 😭💙💙

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Re: this post

AO3 writers, apparently spam bots are now reaching the new low by leaving negative comments on authors' works (that are most likely copied and pasted, mass posted on random fics), meant to discourage and make authors delete their works. Holy shit.

Writers, if you receive mean/rude/negative comments on your fics, please always know that — with the new wave of bots — there are high chances of these comments being spam meant to try to get you to delete your works (so far, the only reason I can think of as to why they want writers to delete their works off AO3 is because, once the works have been deleted, it's nearly impossible for authors to claim ownership of their works in case of the works being stolen, used or re-uploaded without authors' permission).

Know that these negative comments from spam bots do not mean your works are "bad" in any way! They leave the same copy and paste script on various fics, because they want authors to feel discouraged, they want you to delete your works so they can maybe steal your works later without you being able to strike them with copyright violation once the original fics have been deleted.

How to tell if a comment is spam? These bots are always vague with their comments. They never include details from your fic (such as characters' names or specific scenes from your work) in their comment. They're being vague because they're leaving the same comments on various writers' works, various fics, various fandoms without reading the actual works.

Report these comments and move on.

I know how much a rude comment can affect an author. But please always remember that they just copied and pasted the same comment, same script onto your fic like they did dozens (if not hundreds or thousands) of other writers. They never even read your works. They're bots. They just want you to delete your fics so they can safely steal them.

Don't give them what they want.

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Yeah I’ll post this here too