#The Good Place ableism

[rjalker]

wait what problems? abt the good place I mean

(from this post https://www.tumblr.com/rjalker/745151382384951296)

Eleanor Shellstrop was sentenced to hell for aplatonic crimes (a version without eye contact)

[ID: A picture of Eleanor Shellstrop from the show The Good Place. Eleanor is a white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a blue plaid shirt and smirking at the camera. A black line has been drawn across her face, hiding her eyes. The aplatonic flag is behind her, with four horizontal stripes of dark purple, blue, green, and cream. End ID.]

(feel free to use for icons/whatever, no credit needed)

I reblogged it from myself and tagged it

I wish more people would talk about the problems in The Good Place. I love this show. But zyg. The Problems™

___

Just off the top of my head:

Obviously, the original post: Eleanor is not only condemned for being an asshole to people, but for also just not wanting to have or seek out friendships.

When she's a kid and gets to her new school and announces she doesn't want anyone to try to befriend her, no matter what, because she's not looking to make friends, this is treated as her being a horrible person, simply because she...is setting clear boundaries and isn't looking for companionship.

Later at her job, her employer pressures her into joining the company parties and making friends, and fires her because she doesn't want to spend her time off with her coworkers. This is treated as her being an asshole, instead of just being a perfectly reasonable boundary for someone to have.

There's a difference between genuinely being an asshole, which Eleanor did a lot, and just setting boundaries. Not wanting to have friends does not make you an asshole. Setting boundaries between your work life and your personal life does not make you an asshole. Making it clear that you don't want people trying to hang out with you does not make you an asshole.

But The Good Place portrays Eleanor not seeking out friendships as the exact same level of horrible as all of her genuinely horrible behavior.

In a similar boat we have Chidi, who is undisputably disabled by what is a very clear anxiety disorder that controls his entire life and causes him so much stress, and even when he's not hurting people with his behavior, the fact alone that he has anxiety is portrayed as a reason he's a bad person who "deserves" to go to The Bad Place.

And yes, there is a twist that reveals that Literally Everyone for the past several hundred years has been sent to The Bad Place because of capitalism and blah blah blah, meaning that even genuinely good people who aren't assholes have also been sent there, but this doesn't change the fact that Eleanor and Chidi have been getting demonized by the show for things that aren't actually bad.

And I'm sure there's more examples and other kinds of bigotry but it's been a while since I watched the later seasons so I can't remember off the top of my head.

Please feel free to add on if you have more examples!

[uncanny-tranny]

The most infuriating form of sanism is this idea that mentally ill people/people with mental disorders are just too stupid or too unenlightened to know how to be a proper, well-adjusted person

So many therapists have ignored signs of my unwellness simply because they assumed I was just... being stupid, and I just needed educating about why I'm acting disordered (apparently, mental disorders stop disordering you once you are condescendingly told why you're just disordered and dumb, who knew (sarcasm)).

Like, I could tell them that I knew my behaviour wasn't "rational," wasn't "reasonable" to do or believe and I'd still be treated like I was so dumb I needed hand-holding and scolding about why I'm acting disordered.

I truly wish that people would be able to take the idea of guidance and stop twisting it into "I am superior and enlightened and the people I am trying to help are stupid and wrong and beneath me!"

[luigis-slut]

So did any other autistic people have ABA therapists encourage your parents to have you participate in a "variety of activities" as a young kid to prevent you from developing special interests?

Did that prevent you from practicing an activity long-term, thus keeping you from being good at anything? And as an adult, did that inhibit your ability to develop hobbies and find interests that you're passionate about?

Because that’s sure what it did to me.

[limpfisted]

my hc is, wyll keeps his sending stone eye a lot longer than he should. he’s honestly afraid he’ll NEED mizora for something. there’s always a chance he will need to make another contract. and he WOULD, for all the “right reasons.”

when wyll heals from mizora—well and truly heals, and is no longer scared of the powerlessness he feels without a contract—he throws it into the sea of stars for good. but that’s super hard for him, and may never happen.

but it really depends when he would do that. bc a part of him will always want mizora to be able to find him, and help him. he really is co-dependent with her, where even when he doesn’t need her—he feels like he does. he always wants to be able to make the choice to go back to his contract

sometimes it’s not simple as “cut your abuser out of your life” or “kill them.” not every problem can be solved with the britney spears “dump him” t-shirt.

wyll doesn’t regret making his contract. he would choose it again, if u let him. it offers him literal superpowers and stability and he’s just USED to having mizora in his life always willing to get him out of trouboe when he needs her.

sometimes she was the only “real” person in his life

she’ll always mean something to him. not many good things, certainly. but something, something more complicated than “kill her” or “deny this connection to a super powerful devil that can help u be a hero and do the right things in ways u couldn’t on your own.”

i dunno, its complicated. especially for disabled peiple, who often need a support system for stability and just the basic shit to survivr, and often end up trapped with abusers, idk man its all a mess! its a big mess!

[moreeels]

vaguely related to lrb (but didnt want to put it in the tags there as its not my post to add discussion to i dont think) but i remember going through someone's 🌷 rentry where they like. okay tbf i dont think they painted themselves as an exceptionally good disability advocate but they did say they were autistic. and i go through their dni and among other strange and unusual things one of the things on that list is "dni if you think narcissistic abuse isnt real!!!" which like. it BLOWS my mind because like girl why are you throwing personality disorders under the bus. those are your cousins.

[synthshenanigans]

there’s one on here currently and they’re bringing back up old controversy (jashshipping)

Yeaa I saw that. They also seem to post a bunch of CJ related things, so I might make the daily photos one since there isn't one for just CJ screenshots/photos

[girlcalledwhatsername]

God give me the strength to not pick fights with people complaining about how every person who says anything about what helps them or others with their mental illnesses not following it up with a disclaimer of "you still need meds and therapy tho!!". There is no Single way to heal. Those therapies are often traumatising especially if you're suicidal and mention it to your therapist and they put you in a ward for it or because of the sheer amount of trauma a lot of people have with their therapists abusing the power they hold over their clients. And you'd think the blind faith in psych meds that were already founded on bogus science that was never properly proven to be true (the brain chemistry model) would at least dwindle now with the studies showing there's no correlation between serotonin and depression after all. Further readings and an organisation working on community based alternatives.

Another one and you can look at associated pages to find more, anti-psychiatry is the roots of mental health advocacy by mentally ill people who are marginalised and abused and oppressed by the system of psychiatry, it's nothing new and anti-science. Psychiatry is not an institution that is based on honest science.

I cannot believe the callousness of going to people or to creators or blogs or whatever that are talking about self care, about community care, about what helps them survive their afflictions, and having the audacity to say "you still need your meds tho, tell everyone mentally ill people need meds otherwise this is irresponsible and anti-science" no the fuck it's not. Therapy can help many people but it can and does likewise harm a lot of people too. People have the right to choose their treatment and choose how they want to heal from their traumas, you don't get to dictate that Western medicine has to be advocated by EVERYONE for them to be serious about their mental health. Psychiatric survivors are already traumatised by Psychiatry and speaking out about it and advocating for themselves and being thrown under the bus by people who don't care enough to organise and create a community that we can rely on.

Blind faith support for Psychiatry is Not Woke, it is Not Pro-science. And expecting people to advocate for it every time they so much as say "this comfort item helps with my disorder and distress!" is genuinely disgusting behaviour.

[disastergay]

I hate you nursing homes, I hate you psych wards, I hate you mental institutions, I hate you forced institutionalization, I hate you doctors and nurses who treat picky eaters’ “disrespect of authority” (refusing to eat food they don’t like) as the same thing as violence, I hate you anti-homeless architecture, I hate you “not in MY backyard” policies and you know what? I hate most daycares, too.

[fatespalm]

cw ableism-

my coworkers were having a horrifically ableist conversation around autism & adhd the other day and like… it sucked hard and i don’t really wanna think about it too much. but it’s interesting, i’ve noticed like. vestiges of this rhetoric, as so many people are realizing that they’re autistic, adhd, it feels like people are *this* close to realizing that “neurotypicality” “being normal” “not being crazy/insane” is actually just an arbitrary social binary that moves/transmutes/is more or less violent based on so many intersections of perception, that the “spectrum” of “disorder” is actually just the spectrum of fucking human existence, that actually — shocking — the problem is the myth of whiteness, the problem is the system of production & capital & how useful any given individual is for that purpose at any given time — but instead it seems like so many people’s rhetoric has shifted toward “they’re just faking it” and/or “i fucking hate addicts so much”

[giantkillerjack]

Watching Horrible Histories for the first time and reminded about working conditions in the Victorian era and how British people in that time believe themselves to be the Pinnacle of society!

Which reminds me a lot of America today - the greatest country in the world (as long as you don't look too close)!

I'm sure it'd be alright if we did a little (or a shit load of) imperialism - after all, we have better ways of living we can share with these poor foreigners! (Ignore our medical mortality rate, we are doing AWESOME.)

[arosebyan0thername]

Please wish me luck as tomorrow I plan on going out and searching thrift stores for my very first wheelchair (that is if I even get out of bed before 4 pm)

[anti-abuse-culture-is]

Antiship culture is having your perfectly harmless not-fandom-related poetry/random drivel taken down off of ao3 for "spam", but moderation never even LOOKING at the genuine child porn. So upset with staff on that one, especially because i was heavily delusional at the time and that poetry was my only outlet, even if it was extremely incoherent.

.

[notabled-noodle]

i would also like to add, on the note of getting professionally diagnosed, LOOK UP WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE SAYING ANOUT DISCRIMINATION in your country/state/ect. like, SERIOUSLY.. they're ppl, mostly white ppl ngl, in the us who. are all "it sucks.sometimes lol but getting a diagnosis is the best, totally worth it" and do not mention thae getting certain diagnosis', specifically things like autism or the like, means hou can be denied things like transplants, hormones for transitioning, surgeries, equal pay, and ~more ~ so

Seriously. look. it. up. not the sweet "oh get diagnosed shit" but laws and just what disabled ppl are talking about discrimination wise. i cannof tell you how many ppl I've seen or heard of whose diagnosis' have genuinely done the worst shit bc of the laws or just general bigotry they facd in their area. so PLEASE check before you seek a diagnosis. even if you'd u need the diagnosis anyway, it is better to know first instead of get bombarded eith it later.

honestly, I made the post because everything on here is so US-centric that I thought for the longest time that anti-trans legislation targeting autistic people was also a thing in Australia. there’s so much untrue information floating around, or information that is true in one place but gets talked about as if it is about every place.

ableism is a horrible and pervasive thing, but the work of disability activists has earned different sets of rights in different countries. it all really depends on the history of your place, and the disabled community there. cultural beliefs around disability play a huge role as well.

I agree that people should check before they get a diagnosis. I agree that people should look at what is true for their specific place. but I also think there is a level of fear-mongering on Tumblr that goes beyond reality. so. people need to get off Tumblr when doing said research!

[mergaliscious]

me: [I couldn't make the meme I wanted while I was out because] I needed specific screenshots of the Good Pl-- my spouse: *bursts out laughing at me*

[catcatb0y]

Man I just wanted to watch a silly video and draw a little bit before I had to wake up at ten am, but people can't stop being Weird (deragatory) On The Internet. I'm gonna get less than five hours of sleep on a day where I'll get yelled at if I put in my headphones.

[sneepity-snoop-snorpity-sneep]

I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS ON HOW AMERICAN SOCIETY HANDLES MENTAL DISABILITY AND I HAVE DECIDED TO talk about it to myself on my blog at moderate volume

THOUGHT NUMBER 1!!

OK so i’m pretty sure anyone who’s thought about it knows that the medical community (and other industries connected to it, like the insurance dudes), don’t consider brain-malfunction conditions to be on the same tier as other forms of healthcare, and give less priority to funding those departments, which means even if you HAVE got a bunch of medical professionals in those disciplines who DO take that ish seriously, they’ve got immediate barriers between them and the folks needing their services. which sucks.

that one i don’t have an immediate fix for, cuz i don’t think there IS an immediate fix, especially with how many more people are needing mental health treatments/evaluations these days. but you know what COULD have a nice big drastic impact on how people as a whole see mental health AND ALSO how large of a burden untreated mental health problems put on american society??

MAKE. ANNUAL. MENTAL HEALTH. EVALUATIONS. A. NORMAL. THING!!

like what parents are supposed to do with their kids and dr appointments is at least once a year, hop in the car or on the bus, and take their kid to get a physical! thats a totally normal thing people do, the idea being “even if there wasn’t anything obviously wrong before the appointment, its just a good way to keep an eye on our children’s health and catch problems sooner if a serious one does turn up!

well folks, that idea of monitoring one’s health preventing a lot of problems from becoming problems in the first place would also work with any and all forms of neurodivergency!! like how many people who struggle with a brain illness struggle mostly due to the fact that they weren’t prepared for it!? i’m totally projecting here btw, cuz guess what happened to me even though i WAS tested as a kid!! this exact issue right here!

obviously, a lot of mental illnesses specifically can’t be counted on to show up when you're still in childhood, where once a problem is revealed its the adults around you who are supposed to take care of you and make sure you’re getting what you need. BUT!!! but but but but BUT

if you DID come down with a condition as an adult, but you’d already been somewhat familiarized with what symptoms WERE IN FACT symptoms, and common treatments/solutions for said symptoms, due to having regular psychiatric checkups with a dr throughout childhood?

well, odds seems pretty good that you’d be much better prepared for that condition if/when it did come along, and it would probably take less time to notice it too!

say nothing of the fact that this would do a lot to de-stigmatize mental health, cuz if u arrange ur healthcare system so it is No Longer Assuming That Neurotypicality Is The Norm, then EVERYONE’S got that knowledge too, and even for the people who haven’t got a form of neurodivergence and never will -  them having a similar stockpile of background knowledge and awareness of mental health as those who do have a condition will do a ton to remove the obstacles in the way of effective society-wide treatment of brain illnesses (both on the stigma side of things, and on the practical symptom-treating side)

THOUGHT NUMBER 2!!

so this party-popper of thought was specifically inspired by a post i saw but can’t find (NVM I FOUND IT :D) that listed neurotypical traits in a similar manner as autistic traits tend to be talked about - i chuckled at it and then went like hey, what if tho, what if that could actually have some practical applications?

specifically, what if that exact premise was used as a the foundation of a unit in health classes in public schools?

like i know that even if you get a health curriculum and teacher that does a fairly good job of talking about what they’re required/allowed to talk about, there just isn’t enough time given to go into detail about a lot of important shit, and in the classes i got at least, neurodivergency vs. neurotypical-ness was one of the things not discussed (most of the ones i got focused on healthy relationships, which they did a good-but-not-great job on)

but if you had even just a couple lectures where the teachers first explain what each one is, give a few examples of neurodivergent conditions, and then follow it up with a talk outlining the neurotypical traits and explaining why/how they’re neurotypical traits?? it could definitely have a similar effect as the theoretical benefits to Thought #1

it would potentially re-frame the lack-of-condition that is being neurotypical - like i feel like the way people see it as ‘normal’ and while i get how that’s the impression people end up with, i think that’s a bad way to try and categorize the different ways the human brain functions - cuz what does normal even mean??? it doesn’t really describe anything except that ‘this person doesn’t seem to have anything going on with their behavior, they must be normal’ which. uh. hi there high-functioning folks, how y’all doing on this fine fall afternoon?

like if i’d been made aware that a lot of the stuff i did that i knew was what made me ‘weird’ were actually full-on SYMPTOMS that i actually shared with a ton of other people!? lemme tell you, it would’ve made a BIG difference in how much i measured the scope my problems based on ‘i’m weird though, so this is to be expected’

 Even (or maybe especially) though i didn’t actually know anybody personally with the same conditions, because hey! i didn’t know many people personally who also had asthma, but i never developed any hangups around how that affected my physical needs. why would I??! i’d already met a bunch of doctors about it, gotten an inhalor for it, and knew it was a Condition and that i was far from the only kid who had it. there wasn’t any empty space in my knowledge that i was left to fill with my own assumptions, that if i was so perpetually inadequate it must just be a trait i had and there wasn’t any point in trying to logic my way out of that burden

it doesn’t seem like it would be particularly difficult to close that knowledge gap when it comes to how people look at mental illness and neurodivergency, even just by explaining what’s really going into being allistic, neurotypical, or ‘normal’ would go a long way towards dispelling the idea that people have absolute control over their brains and behavior, as well as just being a great way to get folks with undiagnosed going-ons in their grey matter to shake off any assumptions they’ve made about how they should look at themselves for not being normal

ok yeah, having lectures where u explain how a person is neurotypical the same way you’d explain how someone is neurodivergent won’t help people with brain conditions know which one they’ve got or what to do about it - but i feel like the greater gain here is disrupting the idea that being neurotypical or ‘normal’ is something that awards merit or pride.

no one who’s not-neurodivergent got that way because of something they personally achieved or did. it wasn’t a reward they received from the universe for being a Certified Good Boi, they got lucky! they didn’t do anything to personally earn a brain that functions and on the flip side of that, starting out with a brain that functions isn’t actually some form of magical protection from losing that functionality if ur good luck runs out - a lot of forms of neurodivergence aren’t ones you’re born with after all.

and even the ones that ARE, same logic applies!! autism, adhd, and other conditions aren’t metaphorical coal in ur stocking for being naughty, they just are. nobody gets a say in what stats they have at birth!! (honestly the control we have even under our own agency and mobility isn’t that influential on our circumstances a lot of the time)

basically i feel like u want to start regularly introducing the idea that the perception of ‘normal’ is coming out of very measurable things in people’s brains. A perception which really just seems like another lazy way of assuming that those who have a functioning brain won’t ever have to worry about losing that, like it’s an inherent trait to you as a person or something - newflash! it ain’t. your mind, personality, and behavior are not magical airy-fairy things detached from measurable factors, their roots are all held within your brain, and your brain is an organ which can get sick or damaged. Not only that, but since its a very complex organ to boot, it doesn’t take a very big change to cause big differences in functionality!!

like yeah in theory it would be great if you could explain the difficulties people with disabilities face to those with no personal stake in that, and have them have sufficient empathy to consider that as something that matters. And although I’m sure there ARE folks out there capable of that, there’s also a lot of folks out there who will let you down BIG TIME on that front, so i think another tactic to use when trying to combat ableism would be to start requiring curriculums that gives all the folks across the board a nice big sip of