#We need more disability representation

[cherry-pop-elf]

🧹 Training 🧹

George Weasley X Wheelchair Reader GN (Warning: Fluff)

“Easy-!” You laughed, as George was zipping you through the hallways of the castle. Was your own fault for trusting a Weasley with the reigns of your chair. A Weasley twin no less. On the bright side, you always got to your destinations faster then if you pushed yourself on your own. Was nice to give your arms a break. Hogwarts wasn’t the friendliest with your chair, so George offering help was nice. You couldn’t help but feel guilty that someone had to push you everywhere, but that Weasley Charm washed it all the way. “I need to practice my speed, if we want to defeat Slytherin next week.” George would laugh off your protest, as he made a sharp turn around the corner. Nearly sent you both flying, but he always managed to keep your chair down on the ground. “GEORGE-!” Even in your panic, there was a thrill. A thrill of just being two friends having fun. “Do me a favor and gain some weight. You are WAY to easy to push around. No resistance at all!” He scoffed, as you two were soon zooming through the courtyard. The target being the wooden bridge. You wondered how your wheels haven’t popped a flat yet. “If you want to ask me out, just say so-!” You tried to meet his energy, as you held on for dear life. Watching as the evening light flickered through the wooden beams of the shelter. The distant sound of the water fluttering between the thumps of your chair on the floor boards. “Nah, I’ve never been one who’s direct~!” He teases, with ease, leaving you warm in the face from his remarks. How he was able to still talk steady, while doing so much running, is yet another mystery for Hogwarts to hold. Was just perfect, until you both forgot about the bump at the end of the bridge. Where the wooden boards meet earth. It was a total wipe out, as you were suddenly on the ground. Staring up at the sky, as your wheelchair toppled over. Nothing Repairo can’t fix. You sat up, and shook your head. You experience more pain in just putting on pants then going flying down a hill. With a look around, you would see George having his share in the crash. Face full of dirt, as his Quidditch uniform was muddied up. “If you need the wheelchair, get your own.” You warned, but did hold some worry. Sure, he plays Quidditch, but empathy is empathy. “You good?” You asked, getting a thumbs up. “Good, now get me back in my chair. Think you broke something-“ Was nice to joke about your issues. So many people would get uncomfortable whenever you talked about being disabled. George was always able to meet your energy. Make you feel normal. Like right now. How he got up, tossed his long hair back, and stuck his tongue out at you. “Your arms work! Just crawl!” He cackled, as you have a dramatic flop. “But I am so helpless, weak, fragile. Oh, I see the light-!” You sobbed, as you reached for the sky. “Alright alright. Can’t have you leave me behind like that. I’ll get lonely.” George would playfully kick your side, before fixing your chair for you. Making sure the wheels were on tight, before easily hoisting you up in his arms. Those Quidditch Players. So strong. “Or do you prefer this ride?” He puzzled, with a eyebrow wiggle. That quickly had you yank his Quidditch hood over his face. “Knock it-“ You warned, but smiled. He would toss his head back, still smiling that Weasley smile, before gently placing you back down. Making sure you were comfortable, and secure, before being far slower with you down the hill. “Think that’s enough training for one day.” George admits, as he did have a few scrapes now. “So about gaining weight-“ He nudged your shoulder. “Hm…..I don’t know-“ You playfully muse. “The lakes right there, just gotta-“ And he slowly started to tip you forward. “HEY HEY-!” You quickly held on, as he laughed at the panic. That’s what you get, for falling with a Weasley. “You are paying though.” You warned. “Wow, really? Disabled AND a leech.” He scoffed, but it was always in jest. It was always normal. You couldn’t have asked for anything else. “Butterbeer does sound good right now-“ You admit, as he rolled you off to Hogsmeade, enjoying the ride.

[martyrbat]

[ID: the uncoloured drawing for page 4 of the comic Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #192 next to the publicized page. In them, Alfred is in a room in the Wayne Manor and is drawing back the curtains to let in the sunlight. The narration reads, ‘In the morning, it's like nothing happened,’ despite Bruce almost bleeding out from a rough patrol last night. Bruce from off panel comments, “Ah, much better with the extra light. Thank you, Alfred.” Alfred looks over and dryly replies, “You know, anyone else would be doing pretty well just to be awake”

Bruce is shown to be in an electric hospital bed and has his head wrapped in bloodstained bandages, where little tufts of black hair stick out from it. He has a neck brace on and his arm is wrapped. There's a large bandage placed on his lower face, where his stubble is also overgrown due to neglecting his personal grooming in favour of focusing on Batman related duties. The revealed room is shown to be cluttered with several large, medical machines and carts full of medical supplies — which includes sponges, oxygen tanks and masks, pain relievers, syringes, bandages, and (inexplicably) a baster. Bruce sits up in bed and is chewing at the end of a pen as he looks down at a notepad and several papers that's on an overbed table.

Alfred brings him breakfast on a tray as he remarks, “I step out for twenty minutes and you're not only awake, you're already scribbling notes. Might I impose on you to set those aside long enough for some food, if not some actual rest?” Bruce instead asks where's the coffee, to which Alfred responds, “Actually, Sir, I think the last thing your overtaxed system needs right now is more stimulant.” Bruce challenges him, “‘Overtaxed’? Is that your professional opinion?” Alfred wryly replies, “As the one who found you riddled with holes last night, I can only speculate as to their cause. However... having discounted the possibility of suicidal intention, or gross incompetence, on your part...” Bruce immediately accuses, “You think I'm trying to do more than I can actually manage.” His butler calmly justifies, “Unless you've developed some new ability that you are hiding from me, I suspect you cannot be everywhere at once.”

In the original line art, there's two plushies (a round bunny and a bat) drawn amongst all the medical supplies. Sadly, it wasn't included in the publicized version. The third photo is a description of the drawing from the artist's (Seth Fisher) website. It reads: This is one of the delightful pages in which Seth put some amusements for himself which were censored and excised by the editors, in order to retain Batman's image as a serious superhero. In this page both the bunny and the bat in the lower right frame failed to make the final cut.]

[stewingstee]

Im seriously disappointed

They kept building it up just to take it all away? THEN SAY HE WAS A FATHER FIGURE?!?!?!

UGH MISS YOU ALREADY BABYGIRL you're the one who needs a father figure anyway and YOU STILL EXIST WITH ME YOU DIDN'T DIE

[goodpointsandbadpoints]

Thinking about episode 9 of A Kind of Spark.

-

I love how Keedie reengages with an old interest to help herself recover. That is a real thing that autistics do a lot to help themselves feel better. Whether it's an object that we love, or a topic that we used to learn everything about, going back to those old interests can make us feel safe and whole again.

I love that the show had that. I'm so used to stories about autistics that use the same five tropes over and over again (which isn't bad...but it starts to feel impersonal). You don't really see autistic characters do things like get burnt out and then recover with a special interest. I'm so happy about that being portrayed.

[miammey]

Since you seem insightful, do you think canon Jouno would/could ever have a guide dog for when he's not working? I mean, he is blind. He deserves blind rep tbh. Asagiri please give him blind rep because if you don't, I will.

I’m not the best when it comes to figuring out representations, mainly because I am not blind or visually impaired myself, but I feel like it would be nice to see him using either a guide dog or cane when off duty, in a sense using them to rest a bit.

I don’t think he can exactly turn off his other senses, and he probably spent a while training himself to be able to navigate with those (people aren’t exactly born knowing how to do that to the extent Jouno does), but I do think he’d enjoy just having time to rest and not focus too much on his surroundings, instead using whatever navigation device he has to guide him.

As much as I love the idea of him with a dog I don’t think he’d have the time to take care of it, and if he’s needed in the middle of the day for a mission or something it would be much easier and quicker for him to fold up his cane and put it in a bag than take the dog some place safe. (Yes they’re collapsable, idk if all of them are but a blind kid in my high school had a collapsable cane, it was neat)

There are also other ways to show blind representation that don’t include navigation aids. Actually, one that was mentioned by a mutual of mine, who is visually impaired, is that it looked like Jouno had dragged his hand across Tecchou’s back in the anime’s café scene, as if he was grounding himself and his surroundings casually, which I thought was really cool, she said it was something she did and it was nice to see.

Personally, I like those casual bits of representation, Jouno’s used to his lack of sight at this point, and so are the other Hunting Dogs, so they all know his limits, but it would still be nice to see more of those limits, if that makes sense. Maybe later we’ll see more of his disability and his struggles with it.

He doesn’t seem to think negatively of it, he wasn’t hesitant to ask Dazai for the horse’s number or anything like that, and he overall seems very used to his disability. I mean, it’s been over six years since he lost his sight, we’re not sure of when he lost his sight but it was long enough before he joined the Hunting Dogs that he was able to learn a new way to navigate well enough to be of use to the Hunting Dogs.

Overall, I agree that I would LOVE to see more disability rep with Jouno, but I also don’t think we should limit that rep to just navigation aids. Just smaller things like using a screen reader to do paperwork on a computer or to read texts, or using one of those plastic guide things to write his signature, or even just reading the braille on a sign before entering a room, things that can take one or two panels can go a long way

[mothslimes]

there is no way terfs or radfems ever got bullied by popular girls otherwise they'd realize what bullshit is rampant in female only spaces. my worst bullying trauma was inflicted by girls. (on that note, also, enough shipping "not like other girls" girls with the caricatures they draw of "other girls" because like... 99% of the time that was her fucking bully she drew bruh)

[justperfectlygay]

It has come to my attention that Viktor from arcane most likely has severe scoliosis. So as someone with scoliosis and mine was severe (*I don't know if it still is because of my back brace doing its job*) I'd like to say..

He was amazing representation for the community. In my opinion at least. His character isn't one to "need saving" or "be a victory for the hero and victim towards the villain". He is his own and stands his own and doesn't let it defy him by any means.

Viktor proves that despite being disabled in many ways it does not effect you can have on others and the world. Viktor shows that he is intellectual, brave, morally well and strong willed. Not only that but he is a MAIN character, not a side one.

Viktor shows the emotions one may also have during being disabled. At first it still effects him but to the point where he can act like it doesn't effect him to much but it alters his lifestyle and actions, then when things get worse he begins to show that even though he is okay with having a disability he has a desperation to "make it better" and desperation is a huge thing within disabilities. We have the longing of wanting to be "normal" or healthy, some are contempt with it others aren't.

Whatever one you are it doesn't make you any less valid.

BUT there is an issue with the representation with Viktors plot. He had to *fix* his disability to be happy. Which then caused the death of a woman and if we follow to the point he becomes the machine herald, he loses his humanity to be the machine herald... So riot want Viktors disability to lose his humanity and end up being a mass murderer....... So don't immediately go to say Viktor is the greatest representation but it's more positive than previous showings.

Though, I have noticed an issue because of the fact Viktor has a back brace. This is that people see his back brace and mainly abled people say that it is a binder because he is transgender. Now, I do headcanon Viktor as trans as well, it's a good headcanon. BUT there is a line we do not cross, and this is one of those lines. Viktors back brace is to literally support his body or he can't function properly otherwise: aka he can't live without it. It is erasure to very little representation we have already. Viktor is literally the only character with scoliosis I know, and that might not even be canon. I am aware that there is either bad representation of trans characters or very little but please take in consideration who it may harm or do some research before hand. And no, Viktor doesn't just have a disease. Disease and disability are two very different things. His disabilities aren't an excuse for you to go off and headcanon him without proper knowledge. In my opinion if you didn't know, that is fine you made a mistake at least change it and apologize but if you did know he was disabled and it was a back brace or you choose to ignore what disabled people say for a headcanon politely fuck off. Again I am sorry that you don't get enough trans representation but neither do we and I feel as if this should be acknowledged rather than ignored.

Thanks for your time. However you take this. If you have another thought whether agreeing or disagreeing just thanks for the time. It means a lot. Though I hope I got the message across.

[transmascwillbyers]

There hasn't been enough Max appreciation on this blog yet. Max Mayfield is a badass, pass it on

[omi-papus]

Listen I adore Toph as much as any human being with a brain. But “Blind except actually not at all, save for a few times when its funny” is really not the type of representation you can expect people in 2023 to be satisfied with.

[troythecatfish]

Here’s my personal recommendation of a YouTube video to check out:

[lunarharp]

a random draft where i was ramblingg about witch hat & art to myself for myself :)

rare time i feel like actually going off about the thing i’m having fun with right now in more detail ... but not on twt where strangers might try to discuss back at me lol sorry but that is scary. (not that you even have the room to soliloquy on there)

i love how there's characters for varying types of artists to relate to. people like agott who have been adept at drawing from a young age but feel overwhelmed by feelings of not meeting their expectations. and are driven mostly by feelings of wanting to prove their worth..

people like oru who have always been around the art but now are burnt out from commissions and wondering just what they're drawing for... and ones i relate to the most personally like coco and qifrey, who started drawing at an older age to the skilled people around them. like coco i'm so happy that i'm in the world of drawing(/magic) now and excited every day but also weighed down by fears that i'll never get to what i where i need to be after starting at this late stage and also whether i'm really cut out for this....

and like qifrey i only started drawing after a narrow escape from trauma... i started drawing to make sense of what my life is now, just as he was invited by beldaruit to become a witch because it was the only safe path he could take. (although i've not been through anything quite like what he's been through... ouagh)

and there’s tetia who just wants to draw to make other people feel happy about what she’s made, to have fun, and spread hope and happiness and gratitude. who feels so happy whenever someone thanks her for what she’s created - i understand now how it feels to want to thank them for thanking her and how making art, when you get a meaningful response, can be a truly warm communal type experience. but you do need that response - her overwhelming happiness when the dragon thing was happy and she said it was the first time she’d ever felt fully appreciated for her magic and it made her soooo happy. she had been drawing until then, but it was the last puzzle in place to make her realise the breadth of what magic can be for her.

and riche who is determined to not lose the “her”-ness from her art, doesn’t want to learn new techniques and become more regular and orthodox in style if it means she feels she’s losing something... i get that!!! precious autistic-coded child... the ways we feel about our art differ depending on our own mental landscapes. hahhhh... shirahama said she began this series because she was having a conversation with artist friends about how it feels like drawing just really is magic. i mean..... it is.

i think writing feels like magic too, and i’m glad i can do both now. any creation is total magic. i’ve drawn scenes that were in my head and that’s let other people see them and if i can trust their comments about it, has moved them in some way or at least let them imagine a scene or a situation that they wouldn’t have imagined otherwise. but it’s different from just telling someone about it. when you draw something, or write something it really exists now - outside of you. THAT’S SO WEIRD.

i liked drawing a lot of takarazuka things (before i realised i got kind of burnt out drawing all this transcore stuff that people were not exactly responding to because it’s so niche and weird lmao) but drawing fanart for something that also ONLY exists in art is so special. it’s not acted by real people. like.. they’re just little people that someone drew and now i draw them too. total magic. and she gets up and draws them every day the same as me...

i love that a manga isn’t just art, it’s storytelling too. doing both writing and drawing at the same time - it feels like such a perfect and fascinating combination of skills and facets of creation. i’m better at writing than drawing, so i don’t feel like i can express my original stories well enough in comic form just yet. but i might just get there.

the world is so confusing and overwhelming and terrible every day. only creation is something i can understand. sometimes i can’t understand it - when i feel REALLY bad, it’s definitely like, what’s the point. and i wish i had more things to experience at present than just creation - i want to be outside and just feel and be as well as create. and at some point i’ll definitely stop posting my creations online. but creating has become something that i don’t need to understand the reason for it - so at those times when i wonder what the real point to any of this is.... lately, i usually still create anyway. just as you’d still breathe and sleep even though you’re hurt and confused by the horrors of the world. it’s becoming how i express myself. i find myself drawing pretty much every day because it’s part of how i make sense of shit now and i naturally want to do it. not doing it is painful.

i hope this magic continues. i hope it becomes far more wonderful than i can even imagine from here.

and i won't lose.

[cherry-pop-elf]

hi! Your morning routine with George Weasley was really cute! It was really sweet just like George :)

Aw! Thank you very much! I just noticed you don’t really see disabled people get X reader Stuff. So I figured, as a disabled person, I fix that! We don’t really get remembered in media in a way that’s healthy. Used as plot points or have to still be pretty and act able bodied in order to be equal. So I wanna try and normalize that you can just EXIST ya know? More to come! I promise! Just expect a lot of George Weasley. Since he’s helping me process the trauma after all

[prince-geo]

literally pleased with almost all of the new atla trailer except as per usual, Zuko's scar, idk why studios are so scared to commit to the intensity of the thing, its supposed to be shocking and obvious and textured and the first thing you see... that's the point, Zuko is supposed to struggle with feeling like it defines and brands him before finally coming to the point in his journey where he defines it.

Hollywood/big studios are known to hesitate or straight up avoid properly and honestly and unapologetically showing people with disfigurements/disabilities/facial differences etc. with the realism they deserve. Which is a shame in general for representation and humanization but ESPECIALLY in this case as its minimization actively harms it's narrative purpose as well

I promise making the scar more intense (shrivel up the ear a bit, make it intrude in his hairline, make his eye in a permanent squint due to nerve damage, for god sake REMOVE THE EYEBROW IT WAS BURNED OFF) will not make Zuko "ugly", (the actor is incapable of looking ugly and also the implication that scars make people too unappealing? yikes) but will actually do the character and his journey justice, not to mention really show Ozai's brutality, another essential narrative tool. Especially when he's bald like hello??? It should be even more stark and intense when he doesn't have hair to distract from it and cover his ear!!!

When transitioning from 2D to live action, of course some visuals are up for interpretation but that usually involved ADDING detail because the constraints of having to stay on modeling frame to frame is gone, not minimizing, removing or airbrushing. Doing Zuko's scar right to me is absolutely essential and I'm disappointed they seem just as as scared to go there as I thought they might. It doesn't have to be gory, if you've ever seen burn victims in real life or in pictures or even cosplayers/artists who are skilled in realistic burn makeup you'd know its possible to balance realism with humanity. It's possible especially with their resources to avoid the "scary Halloween makeup" route while not holding back on the brutality of the original injury.

Budget is definitely not an issue, or "scaring the kids" considering this remake is likely aiming to go a lil darker in tone than the cartoon (which was already super dark with its target audience of nickelodeon 7 year olds so no excuses) Audiences SHOULD be unsettled and upset when they see him but not because he's hard/disturbing to look at but because we are human and do not want to imagine someone doing that to a child.

It's a deliberate choice out of the all too common fear/hesitation to allow someone who is destined to eventually become a protagonist and is meant to be sympathized with to be "too ugly" while this hesitation is very rarely applied to straight up villains (again we come back to media's historic villainization of facial deformity). It's a trend that's always ticked me off in fanart too. The boy's face was melted, for gods sake. Zuko was always portrayed as an attractive boy in the cartoon (fire nation girls fawn over him) even with the intensity of his scar which is something I've always admired! People exist with scars similar to Zuko's in real life, and should not only be permitted to be represented as good guys and/or as attractive when their scars are toned down to be "palatable"

Like I said there's more that I loved than didn't love about the trailer, that can be a whole essay on it's own but I needed to get this very specific vent off my chest because it missed the mark so hard and stands out like a sore thumb in comparison to all the other visuals that hit the nail on the head to me

[aptericia]

Not proud to be here.

--

Ok, here goes draft like 5 of this fucking post. I spent 4 hours tossing and turning in bed last night thinking about this, and then this morning I found a tumblr post that really helped me understand what I was trying to say.

The post talks about how aromantic "advocates" claim that "aros don't take up resources, so there's no reason not to include them!" And if that's actually what people believe, I think I can finally articulate why it is that I feel so alienated in queer spaces.

It's because aspecs in general aren't "welcomed" by much of the queer community. We're tolerated. We perhaps get the luxury of not being contradicted on our own identities, or not being specifically kicked out of LGBTQ-only spaces, but that's the whole point: what we get out of the queer "community" is people NOT doing things, not actually doing things FOR us. And that, frankly, is not enough. We deserve conversations about us. We deserve to have others consider our feelings, even when making lighthearted jokes. We deserve varied, respectful representation in media. We deserve the active deconstruction of amatonormativity in society. We deserve to have space made for us, rather than at most being told we should "go take up more space!" ourselves.

Of course, the reality is that my being aspec is a personal matter that does not inherently affect anyone else. But the same can be said for literally any queer identity. Your being gay doesn't say anything about me, so of course I shouldn't hurt you for it, but why should I help you either? Because your happiness and comfort are important. The same goes for aspecs.

And most of the time, I don't even need anyone to make space for or expend resources on me; I can live fine in everyday, non-queer-specific places without mentioning my identity at all. But it's the queer community that claims it will make that space for me, doesn't, and then acts defensive and morally pure if I call out the hypocrisy because "we're queer too, you can't erase our identities to advocate for yours!!!!"

Again, this post isn't about specifics. I have queer friends who are incredibly thoughtful and supportive about my identity, just as I have non-queer friends who are. I find more solidarity in aspec-only communities, as well as trans/genderqueer ones, although there are still many exceptions. This post is also not about amatonormative ideology, which is extremely common from queer and non-queer people alike. This post is about the reason I've felt so betrayed by the queer community.

--

On a personal note, I remember being so excited when I started identifying as aromantic (and later asexual). Fitting myself into labels has been a lifelong struggle for me; to this day I still can't confidently say if I'm White or PoC, neurotypical or neurodivergent, abled or disabled, cisgender or not cisgender. I continue to struggle making friends because I don't fall into social cliques. To discover that I officially, certainly, was LGBTQ+ lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. And now I'm just so sad to find that despite that, I'm still stuck in the middle. I didn't get rewarded with a community. I still feel alienated from both queer and non-queer people. I know it was silly to get my hopes up when there's such vast diversity in both groups, but it really was a disappointment. Going to my first Pride parade last year was really the moment where I realized this.

[sirfrogsworth]

This was some of the most high effort bullshitting I've ever seen someone go through just to keep disabled people out of their D&D campaign.

It's so incredibly simple. And as someone who is chronically verbose, even I could boil it down to a single sentence.

PEOPLE LIKE TO SEE THEMSELF REPRESENTED IN THE MEDIA THEY CONSUME.

There should be a name for that.

Like... representative analogs.

Representism.

Representology.

I'm sure someone will think of something to call it. And then let everyone know how much it matters.

But seriously, It really does not need to be any more complicated. And it isn't even that complicated to come up with reasons disability exists in a magical realm.

Perhaps magic caused the disability in the first place. Or it is a curse not easily undone. Or perhaps magic gets better over time like science. 100 years ago, an infection was a death sentence. Now we have antibiotics. And the magic to "cure" disabilities just isn't advanced enough yet.

I could literally do this all night.

Fantasy is probably one of the easiest genres to include disabilities and it is really gross how many people want to deny us this opportunity for... representation.

[relaxxattack]

ik it’s been said by much more knowledgeable people, but marriage for polyamorous people is more important than just representation or equal rights; it’s not just that poly people (and gay people) should be allowed to marry because it’s a symbolic ceremony that straight people get to do— it’s because it’s a LEGAL DOCUMENT giving you express LEGAL RIGHTS to that person’s well-being! it gives you the ability to make decisions for them if they are unable— say; unconscious, unwilling, or dead— it gives you the rights to their property, makes you next of kin guardian for the children you have together, makes it so you can file taxes together, makes it so you have the right to see your partner if something happens and they are confined to a hospital room. and so much more than that!

i feel like it’s so common to shrug off marriage rights for unconventional relationships or families because “it’s just a symbol and title— they can still just hold a wedding if they want to have one! they don’t need to do that to live together and raise children, so just leave it be.” but it’s NOT just a symbol or title. it is a fundamental right to be able to put YOUR future (your children, your estate, your possessions, your life if you’re in a coma) in the hands of people you actually love and trust

how many stories have we heard about trans people buried with their deadname, because the only people legally allowed to handle their funeral were their transphobic parents?

this is why gay people back in the day used to adopt each other. because marriage wasn’t legal and they needed SOME form of recognized protection if anything happened.

and, though i can’t speak much on it, this is also why the laws for disabled married people need to be different.

EVERYONE deserves the right to marry who they want. because marriage is a FUNDAMENTAL right, about CHOOSING who you trust to be legally handling your affairs.

and if who you trust is multiple partners, or even just several of your friends, it should be legal for you to tell the government that.