Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".
Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"
And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".
Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.
At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.
So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!
Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!
Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!
Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.
17K notes
·
View notes
What I love about Toph the most (besides being arguably the funniest cutest bamf on the show) is she's the best at what she does because she's blind, NOT despite it.
There's this narrative in real life of "overcoming your disability!" and "not letting it stop you!" that irks me, because people's disabilities DO stop them sometimes. Being on sand, swimming, and flying are disorienting and awful for her.
But being blind helps her be connected to the earth in ways people with average vision can't be, like the badgermoles who originated the art and taught her directly. Her blindness is part of why she's the greatest earthbender of her generation, if not the greatest ever.
And that just makes me happy.
439 notes
·
View notes
There's a headcanon from a while back that Warriors braids people's hair as an idle / to connect / to decompress. May I propose other small physical connections and comforts, like Legend giving back scritches?
If someone is seated on Legend's bedroll with him during downtime and they're just dozing or he sees someone who's tense and decompressing he'll reach a hand out and rub their back. If they respond well he'll give scritches. He doesn't have to ask or talk about what's bothering someone that way and can still give comfort. I think the motion would be soothing for him as well.
Wild will give scritches too but watch out because he'll start tickling and poking when he gets bored. Good hefty pats and a slight shake. Giving Wolfie / horsie pats to everyone haha!
Sky has the best hugs to sigh troubles away into and he will hold those who need it.
Time's hugs give strength. A hug that fills one with confidence.
Twi will give massages. Also the same kind of pats Wild gives and hair ruffles / scalp massages but he has better control of his own strength when messing with people from being big brother to the kids in Ordon. Wild's pats lean towards playfully riling someone up, and while Twilight's can also be that, they're more secure and comforting as well.
Hyrule and casual touch! Sitting just near enough that something is touching be it an arm or leg or leaning fully into someone. He'll get into the space of those who allow it and will take their hands and massage their palms or press their hands between his to keep them warm. We've seen him in the updates the past year or so grabbing Time's shirt when he made a breakthrough with Twi, and nudging an elbow at Legend when laughing. I think it's something he'd do more often the more comfortable he is with the chain. Resting an elbow on a shoulder, hitting an arm with the back of his hand to get someone's attention, offering a hand for calf stretches, playful rough housing, etc. I love it for him.
Four with the back scritches as well. I like a headcanon I've read in sister_dear's works where Four doesn't usually like people messing with his head, ruffling his hair, etc. But, I can see him accepting a palm to his forehead or over his eyes when he has a headache (from Twi specifically!), and doing so for others. He'll press his face to people like a cat and lean. Like Sky, he'll hold people. It's what he's found works. (He is little so finding a way to do so can be awkward but so help him he will protect those he cares for!!!)
Wind ruffles and braids hair as well. Also full out rough housing, play wrestling, trying to pick people up, etc. I can also see him sprawling over those he's comfortable with. They're his pillow now. Whoever he's fallen asleep on is no longer allowed to move. They have to deal with the fact that he heats up in his sleep too. (Space heater Wind.) But I think his slowed breathing and trust would be a comfort.
108 notes
·
View notes
sits up in bed. so lana and ema definitely thought they were responsible for edgeworth "choosing death", right?
(the rest of this post was supposed to go in the tags, because it's not very well organised or written, but it got too long so. here are the slightly edited tags for your reading pleasure (or otherwise)):
i was going to make this solely about ema because she's the obvious one with her open adoration of edgeworth, but the thing about rfta is that it goes to great lengths to emphasise the connection between lana and edgeworth as well.
the sl-9 incident showed that lana grows attached to people deeply, hence angel starr's comment on how, when neil marshall died, 'she (lana) felt like her own brother had died.' with edgeworth, i think it was similar but worse. because he's not just a coworker or subordinate who's dear to her. he saved her life. and it cost him his own.
at the beginning of the case, edgeworth says he was mistaken for thinking that lana was always looking out for him post sl-9 (a statement interesting on its own because that's when everyone else says she grew distant), and, later on, he brings ema fingerprinting powder because lana asked him to. then, of course, there's the 'lady luck' comment he makes.
similarly, on lana's side, you obviously have the end of the trial when she says he did well, but there's also that additional moment post-trial where she's the only one to notice — in a group comprising her, ema, phoenix and gumshoe — that he's 'hiding', listening to their conversation. point is, there's enough to suggest that she might have been the nearest thing edgeworth had to a mia; his 'chief prosecutor' to phoenix's plain 'chief'. they're as close as two people can be in a relationship where one of them is constantly lying and the other is von karma's star pupil.
rfta is pretty straightforwardly depicted as the case which solidified edgeworth's resolve to do what he did; i don't think i have to prove that. rumours about him have reached new heights, his car and knife were involved in goodman's murder, he makes an unprecedented mistake in court by failing to connect the evidence room and carpark incidents, thus forcing the chief of police to enter the trial to do so himself, and he's publicly revealed to have relied on falsified evidence to secure a conviction in the sl-9 case, all of which only happened because of lana. jake marshall even claims that from the beginning — that if you trace edgeworth's rumours back to their source, you end up meeting one person: lana skye.
and it gets worse because at the end of rfta, she thinks he's fine!! she literally says, 'i was afraid the pressure would break you, but you rose above it,' and reminds him he's nothing like gant because he's not alone. she leaves the case thinking he will be okay. and then, what, like a week passes, and she finds out that he wasn't, and that he's gone, and it's her fault. even after she was freed from gant's control, even after she had finally stopped lying, she couldn't prevent herself from claiming another life. so much for 'lady luck', i suppose.
and the game reiterates this multiple times. gumshoe states at the start that edgeworth's ties to those higher up in the department have made him the subject of constant rumours, and phoenix says (in front of ema) that he shouldn't be held responsible for the forged evidence because that was all lana's doing, which then leads to edgeworth commenting (again in front of ema) that he feels as though 'something inside him has died.' it all goes back to lana. we can argue and say that it was technically gant's doing that caused all of this, but lana still took actions that led to it. even her complicated friendship with edgeworth isn't spared; it's that closeness between them that exacerbated those rumours. how could she not feel responsible in some way?
and with ema, it's rather obvious, isn't it? if she hadn't gone poking her nose into things, none of this would have happened or come to light. and, of course, she'd never choose anyone over her sister, not for anything in the world — it's simply not a question, but that's the problem, isn't it? it's not a question. it's not some hypothetical moral dilemma. it just is. she may not have killed neil marshall, but she still has one king of prosecutor's blood on her hands. and now she has to live with that. she just. has. to live with it. no matter if he chose otherwise.
moving on from that a little, i think it's actually wild how much of ema's journey to becoming a forensics investigator is paved with bad memories. neil marshall's death and her subsequent inability to testify are what drives her to begin pursuing it, her first proper investigation results in her idol's "death" and when she finally graduates, the person who saved her sister has been disbarred, and she can't even help because she isn't allowed to. all that pain and constant pursuit of her goals, and she's still the same ema skye, still that girl shrouded in darkness, always one step behind the truth, one step a little too late. no wonder she was angry in aa:aj. i would be furious.
115 notes
·
View notes
More of my Courier.
Her name is Aria Strong, and she works as a courier to support her younger sister's technological endeavors. She and her sister were adopted and raised by a scientist, and while her sister is more research-oriented, she's also significantly smarter than your average wastelander- and a damn good shot with a rifle as well. Typically has a sort of deer-in-the-headlights stare and speaks rather bluntly to those she respects. for those she doesn't, she masks the hell up and puts on the rizz to get what she wants.
179 notes
·
View notes