#paperboy karl ho

[paperboy-pb]

☆ Everyone, meet P.S. 361's 7th grade Special Ed: CLASS 7-C!

The Paperboy kids! At least, the ones you'll be seeing the most: Matthew's class! Together, they're all kind of a hot mess. After all, they're all very different, complex people-- and Special Ed isn't always the happy, safe-haven that it's made out to be!

I can't wait to show off all their shenanigans :]

[allthingspaperboy]

Some of the first pieces of concept art for Paperboy! Meet Matthew’s class, also known as “Nuccio’s Class” or Class 7-441! (June 2021) There’s more people in this story, but let’s start with them! 

- MATTHEW BOSTON is the class art kid, known for being a hard-worker! He is our protagonist and has a number of physical and health issues, although they don’t hinder him on a daily basis. 

- ANDREA BELTRAN is Matthew’s partner-in-crime, the feisty (and dyslexic) tomboy of the bunch. Many say she’s an absolute idiot, but not many really get to know her. 

- AZA KANAAN’s the loud-mouthed leader of the pack, an absolute agent of chaos! The “H” in ADHD is very prominent with this one. 

- LEVI TRAINER is a mean-spirited “popular girl” who manipulates others for the sake of entertainment. Her popularity all comes from a place of fear within the others, especially Matthew, and no one knows what her deal is. 

- Meanwhile her twin brother LINUS TRAINER is a pessimist who’s desperate for validation over all else. While he also has ADHD, he and Aza are very different. 

- AMELIA PIGNALOSA is a soft-hearted and spineless sweetheart. If she does have any diagnoses, she doesn’t know about them; all she knows is that she tends to lag behind the class academically. 

- And then there’s JACK MARINE, the all-star of the bunch... who nobody likes. Despite his stutter, he still manages to be the class bully through getting physical. 

- OLIVER HANES’ is an aspiring social media influencer who already thinks he’s king of the world. His dysgraphia plays a role in his love for technology, which lets him convey things without writing. 

- WILBUR WATTSON’s the top of the class academically, and a pretty chill loner. While the artwork here is too outdated to display it in his design yet, Wilbur’s blind in one eye. 

- RUDY DELAMERCED almost never speaks, but he does sell things like toys and snacks to other kids! While he isn’t exactly deaf, he does wear hearing aids; he just hides them under his hair. (Only one image here depicts this) 

- AARAN MUSA (who got a name-change very recently) is the happy-go-lucky type. His only troubles in life are when his Tourette's decides to interfere with his daily tasks. 

- last but not least we’ve got KARL HO, a very skilled gamer who doesn’t get enough credit for all he’s worth. He’s a loveable big guy who tends to be underestimated on account of his down syndrome. 

[paperboy-pb]

It's back-to-school season, and PAPERBOY's prologue will be wrapping up soon!

Looks like these 5 didn't exactly get the memo.

[paperboy-pb]

One of the big themes I want to emphasize in PB is disability acceptance.

As "PAPERBOY" progresses, I'm gonna be showing off how much it hurts to live in a world without it-- having people not accept you solely because of conditions you can only help so much is horrible. And we all deserve to be accepted as we are by the people around us.

But at the same time, you shouldn't feel obligated to love every part of your disability either. Self-acceptance doesn't come naturally to everyone. And who knows, maybe your disability really does get in the way sometimes!

Amelia, Aza, Rudy, etc. don't really mind their situations. They're just used to it, and it barely bothers them, if at all. But maybe you're not like them!

Maybe you're like Wilbur & his Blindness, where your disability is taking away things you loved, leaving you to grieve.

Or maybe you're like Linus & his Epilepsy, where you've found a way to make life work for you but still think it's annoying sometimes.

Maybe you're like Karl & his Down Syndrome; it's not something that you can hide, but sometimes, you wish you could. It'd be nice to blend in with everyone else for a second, you know?

Or maybe you're like Matthew & his health conditions, and you've faced a lifetime of abuse for being born that way. And you're having a hard time accepting yourself as a result.

Or maybe you're like me & only recently got diagnosed with something. And you don't know how to handle it.

...

I got 4, if you're wondering. Autism. Asthma. MDD. But a while back, I found out that I've been suffering PTSD, too. And I didn't take it well. Honestly, I'm still not.

I don't know if it ever truly goes away, and I don't want to live with it. I'm not going anywhere, of course. But I've worked hard enough, man, give me a break! Am I supposed to just be okay knowing that I'm gonna keep having flashbacks & nightmares over stupid shit nobody understands? Having a TV in my head that constantly loops home videos I never wanted to see again?

It's not fair. I'm not even 20. I shouldn't have such dark, smudged skin under my eyes.

I revel in being autistic. I've made it work for me, and in my case, I find almost no downsides. And I don't really mind my Asthma anymore. I've had it pretty much my whole life now, & I'm kinda just used to it. Same thing with Depression, although I'm obviously not happy to have that one, either.

With PTSD though, it's newer. I've only had symptoms for a few years, and I've only known what was wrong for one. And I have to worry.

Is something gonna set it off? What do I do when it acts up? I'm interested in someone-- is my PTSD gonna be too much for them to handle? I feel weak, and if anything, I'm mad at me for getting traumatized in the first place!

I know I was a kid & that the trauma was genuinely bad, but... I'm a bit of a New York hard-ass. I'm supposed to be tougher than this, man! I was supposed to come out on top, brush it off & overcome it like I'm the shit.

A life with something as debilitating as PTSD is not what I had in mind. It's like... an injury, almost. You look at the damage and go, "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

And I know I have to learn to accept life with PTSD one day. Because if I don't accept myself, I'm gonna be fighting myself & making it worse as hell. But I don't like how it holds me back in life. Or the toll it's taken on my body. And y'know what, we disabled people can be mad about that shit!

Why shouldn't we?

...

We're allowed to be hurt over it. We're allowed to be angry, annoyed, displeased, or whatever else we feel about it.

Getting back to Paperboy, we already know that Matthew struggles with being a disabled kid because he's been brought up to believe that being so is synonymous with worthlessness & inferiority. Not only that, but it's been a lot of bad people's "excuse" for targeting him. So... he hates it.

And that's okay for now. It's his to think about. Not anybody else's.

But he's not going to stay there, either. Because if you wanna live your life to the fullest, you're gonna need to live *with* disability. Because it is a part of life. Like it or not. And one day, he'll find a way to live with that.

If you notice anybody struggling with internalized ableism, or disability grief, or even just frustration... help them, but don't push them into acceptance too hard, either. It's a process.

Trust the process.

[paperboy-pb]

Are there any characters with Down Syndrome in Paperboy?

Yes, one of Matthew's classmates! One of my favorites, actually :]

(UPDATE: 09/06/2023 -- Here's a picture of him!)

He's a very friendly Asian boy named Karl Ho & is mainly into video games. Last time I posted art of him on the IG was December 4th!

I don't want to spoil too much, but I'll tell you a little more about him!

Karl is very friendly, silly, social, but calm. He's always down to make a new friend and spends a lot of his time either watching cartoons, or gaming with friends. Half the time he wears pajamas to school... just because he can. He's always looking for fun, and as of late, he seems to get along better with younger kids, because they're less judgmental & (sometimes) they have more in common. But of course, his two BEST friends (Aaran & Rudy) are indeed his age & all in the same class with him and Matthew. He tends to stay in this trio more often than not & is rarely spotted without them.

Like stated above, Karl has Down Syndrome (+ intellectual disability as well,) so this causes people to act... "weirdly" towards him.

Strangers see his face & whisper to each other. Adults at school talk down to him like a baby; and while no one in class has the audacity to bully him outright, sometimes certain classmates tend to write Karl off / "forget" about him because they think he can't understand things, like the drama that goes on between kids. Especially now that they're in middle school, as social dynamics are becoming more complicated & a lot of kids' interests are moving on to more "mature" things, meanwhile they see him as very childish. (For example, one of the other kids, Levi, is big into scary things like Creepypasta & horror.)

So of course, Karl tends to be out of the loop more often than not. He considers almost all his peers as his friend, but only really has the two good ones.

Karl is actually fairly perceptive though, & almost ALWAYS notices when this happens. And he doesn't like it very much, but he stays quiet, pretends like he didn't see or hear a thing, because he actually isn't sure how he wants to handle it yet. He doesn't like being seen as a baby-- he's the biggest kid in this class! Aaran in particular is always the first to remind people of that.

And not only that, but he isn't all innocent, either: he's not always happy, he makes mistakes, he can bad words just like the other kids, and sometimes he follows the crowd when he shouldn't, just for the sake of feeling included. Plus... he's actually the most girl-crazy one out of the boys, lol. Little man definitely wants to find a girlfriend.

He's not just simple & sweet-- he's competitive in games, kind, a mini hopeless-romantic, not the best at speaking up, and always good company. Albeit a little dorky.

And Karl knows why people do this, but at the same time, he doesn't get it & wishes they wouldn't. It's not fair. And hopefully one day, he'll start to actually voice that himself.

...

As for him & Matthew-- they get along pretty well! Matthew tries not to talk to him about personal issues, though; Matthew doesn't think they're close enough for that yet.

I can definitely see Karl spamming him over Discord to play Among Us or something on a Sunday night, & Matthew VERY enthusiastically joining, lol.