#writers with learning disabilities

[canonkiller]

do you consider your self made?

[rfswitchart]

Just a casual reminder to everyone: Art is art, writing is writing. It doesn't matter if you're making original art or writing fanfiction, just make more of it. As a friend of mine famously said, "Make Mediocre Art With Alarming Frequency." And honestly, I think fanart and fan fiction are a great way to sharpen and hone your skills. Again, make more of it, become better at what you do, and have a lot of fun doing it.

[bugbrews-creations]

The best friends

[brittlebutch]

bill and ted and their efforts in education is something thats So Important to me - they really do want to learn and find new things soo interesting, its just that traditional teaching methods fail them. even stuff they love (music) took them so long to learn !!!! which is something i feel like ppl miss a lot. choosing to learn smthn that is difficult and has a steep learning curve is actually So Hard and frustrating and bill and ted actually put in so much effort to learn!! and ofc it works out (they win battle of the bands, become famous, save the world etc) but i feel like they wouldve worked at it even if they never met rufus and all that bc they approach life with such genuine earnestness. which is a trait i admire so much and they make me so happy :)

yes dude you absolutely hit the nail on the head!!! i love love love that Bill and Ted don't make it through any of the movies thanks to any kind of special skill or innate talent, they manage to make it through just because they're so affable and enthusiastic that people around them (even some who would have reason to actually dislike them) just can't seem to help but be taken with them and decide to help them out - no perpetuating the myth of independence anywhere!!

and you're so right about the time travel probably not being strictly Necessary in their development like, their audition at the beginning of Bogus Journey isn't very good but it's still technically way more musical than their garage jam sessions were in Excellent Adventure! (You could argue that's just the Princesses carrying the sound, which is probably true to an extent, BUT I don't think that's it entirely bc there's not any discordant distortion-noise like there was in EA and parts of the melody do seem to cut out when Bill and Ted pause playing to speak) So they were learning and improving between movies, it's just that they're naturally kind of slow at it AND they've also probably not been able to focus on learning all that well bc they're working full time and struggling financially - once they take like a year and a half outside of time to practice nothing but guitar they're able to show off some serious musical acumen, and THEN i love how Face the Music shows how even though they've both gotten pretty Technically skilled at a huge variety of instruments, they're still 'bad at it' bc they struggle to write music that other people enjoy/understand and they still aren't overly bothered by that at all!

Also love that the same applies to Billie and Thea - they seem to have a much easier time of things than their dads do wrt learning/innate skills BUT they're still 24 and haven't moved out or gone to college or gotten jobs or anything and no one (other than Chief Logan ofc) puts them down or admonishes them for this! They're both loved and supported wholeheartedly by their parents (who OFC understand it all completely) and they make it through the movie the same exact way Bill and Ted did! Even though Billie and Thea do rely on a more-than-solid grasp of musical history to navigate the circuits of time, their ability to sway the historical figures to their cause largely thanks to their enthusiasm for the topic and general affability and i love how that's always upheld by the movies as a Valued Trait i love it SO much

[roguemonsterfucker]

Sorry to talk about it again but I'm just still flabbergasted by the whole plagiarism thing

Like... When watching hbomb's video the first time and seeing him point out the rewording of stuff to change it *just* enough to (hopefully) not get caught stealing... I flashed back to my college days of when I did exactly that. 😅

There was a limit on how many actual quotes I could use, so I got around that by literally looking at my sources and rewording it enough to get past the plagiarism checker (TurnItIn.com my belothed) without losing the meaning of the text that I honestly didn't fully understand because I was writing on topics I had no real knowledge of myself.

BUT BUT BUT

I still cited my fucking sources.

Yes, I was using other people's words so I could get through the hell that was college, but if you read my stuff, you'd know exactly where I got it from. I never claimed credit for all the ideas.

And... again... I was just doing it to survive. I wasn't making money. I didn't even end up actually graduating, so it didn't even help me academically.

Somerton on the other hand not only rarely *if ever* credited the people whose words he stole, he was doing it for money, while also putting down fellow queer creators. He *wanted* full credit for all the ideas in his videos. To cite his sources would be to pass the credit on to others. And he couldn't do that.

Edited to add: It's probably a bit extreme to say I "stole" anything for my papers. Like I said, I cited my sources. I just paraphrased what I could when needed, probably to a degree that was questionable at worst. I just have anxiety and feel like "OH NO I"M A TERRIBLE PLAGIARIST."

[panphilosopher]

[mindrottinglystupid]

Hyperthymesia Research

Hello Hello Everyone!!

I am currently in the process of writing a book (if one can call it that) in which the main character has Hyperthmeisa, a condition where a person has an astounding memory of one's life. Of course, this condition varies from person to person, but that is the overview. If anyone has any research already done on this topic and could share resources, that would be amazing!! I will post the first chapter of the book on AO3 whenever I feel that I have a good enough understanding of hyperthymesia's effect on people's lives.

I am also doing research about mental hospitals in the Petoskey, Michigan area (specific, I know) for this book as well, so if anyone has information on or around that topic as well, it would be greatly appreciated!

[owlbloop]

I was made broken

And I will not deny that

-

I was made with a torn manual

With pieces from incompatible sets

And thread where iron bars belonged

Singing my invisible alphabet

-

And everyone knew

When I spoke too much

Too little, too loud, too blunt

When I spoke my language of feathers

-

Owls are famously silent

They have pummels

Special feathers that break up sound

They are famously slow

-

The bird of wisdom is a foolish symbol

Because it might see everything

Might hear everything

But it cannot say anything besides questions

-

It can only ask over and over

Scream, shriek, trill, sing

It can only fly unrelenting

While other birds fly ahead

-

An owl cannot hug you

Cannot understand you

It only has down to thread nests

And talons to tear/hold

-

And I am not even an owl

Because I am wingless

Because I am trapped play a game

That has no end or winning

-

I do not even have the endurance

To fly alongside it

All I can do is listen

And keep my eyes widened

-

I can do complex mathematics

At half the pace a flawless student could

I can offer frosting in the place of touch

I can ask over and over

-

Why the world will begrudge me breathing

Why every shadow moves and scuttles

Why the quiet night holds me where day will not

Why I have to fight to live

-

And I can

I will write

Over and over

Of waves, and feathers, and stars, and wishes

-

In silent bleeding words

And shattered sentences

That mean nothing

But what others say they will

-

Till I have written so many pages

That I have written wings

[bmpmp3]

speaking of my best friends :, -, and ,, im an art history/visual culture major and i write these really fucked up 50-100 word sentences in a lot of my assignments and i joke about that often to classmates but earlier today i was reading an article about impressionism for class and i was looking at some of these quarter-page long sentences like damn. maybe im in the right field

[bluemarbled]

'Wow you're really knowledgeable about medical stuff!'

Dude. I'm disabled. You're damn RIGHT I know how an emergency room actually works.

Unfortunately.

[yukiwhitetm]

Too Young

by Yuki_White (@yukiwhitetm @sentariana)

What does it mean

When you say to me

That I am “too young”?

Too young to live

in pain chronically?

So, what is, shouldn’t be?

Too young to struggle

to stand and walk?

Yet here I am, struggling.

Too young to be

Constantly, unendingly

Tired? But I am exhausted!

How old do I have to grow,

What is your timely aim,

For you to accept my disability?

See, my pain does not diminish,

Nor my ability to move improve

Nor my fatigue depart from me

In the face of your judgement,

Claiming me to be

“Too young”.

Too young for what?

Too young to struggle

or strain for quality of life?

No. Disability does not

Discriminate

On gender, age or race.

Man or woman. Young or old.

Black, Hispanic, Asian,

Indigenous or White.

It makes no difference

To any disability

Or learning difficulty.

So, when you say I am

“Too young”,

It is a lie you tout as truth.

All “too young” is

Is discrimination and

An inability to accept reality.

Next time, I ask that you

Cast aside all stereotypes and biases

and engage with me honestly

[you-have-been-frizzled]

i wish i knew another writer with dysgraphia or dyslexia

[house-of-slayterr]

Rant From An Autistic Person:

TLDR: Stop using mental illness as an excuse for your Villains

I think I’m starting to realise that a lot of Slashers have a lot in common with Autistic people. But I’m not sure how we’re supposed to feel about this. Obviously we all in this community, adore our Slashers, but that’s because we all understand they are fake. They have now real bearings in our world, and therefore cannot hurt anymore. No real people suffer as their victims.

But shouldn’t we take offence to this? Because most of the time it’s neurotypical people writing these stories and directing/working/staring in these films.

Like let’s talk about some non horror aut sic characters first. And do correct if I’m wrong, but I believe both of these characters are Canonically autistic.

The most well known would be Sheldon form the Big Bang Theory. Everyone quotes him as autistic representation all the time. Now of course he’s only one demonstration of the neurotype, but at the end of the day it’s still representation. From the autistic community, I hear complaints that’s he’s just a basic Cis/het white man with “high functioning” autism. (Although we do not use functioning labels, or the term Asperger’s anymore, that was at the time what he was stated to have) And from the neurotypical side people still call him odd, but they are more excepting of his traits because they aren’t as “burdensome” on society. He’s just seen a “quirky”.

Another example that falls under the same quailfiers would be Shaun from The Good Doctor. Again, played by a neurotypical person, not someone who actually has autism. And people infantilise his character whenever he’s showing that he need higher support efforts. But then everyone praises him because “wow, I didn’t know autistic people could be doctors” which is incredibly insulting. But most people accept him because again, he’s just “a little quirky”

But back to the slasher community. There are people out there that think we are disgusting because we enjoy slashers/gore/horror. Because they are unable to separate reality, from fiction, or at least not as severely as we do.

I vividly remember getting bullies in school and someone saying “(Dead name’s) gonna be the school shooter, just you wait” because I did not hide my love for the horror genre. And I don’t see why I should have to. But that statement, it killed me inside. Do you know how awful it is to have to try and defend yourself from a statement that heavy? It was like the weight of the entire universe was thrown on my shoulders, and I was just expected to take it as a “joke”.

But this girl genuinely thought that because at the time I was Interested in learning about the Lizzie Borden case, that that meant I wanted to hurt people. I was also dressing fairly alternative at this time. I made its know that I wanted to be a mortician. (I still do, I’m just figuring all that stuff out though cause jobs are hard, lol) I sometimes have what neurotypical people would consider an “inappropriate” reaction to death, or dead things. I enjoy collecting bones, and learning about cannibalism, autopsies, taxidermy, entomology… So I get excited when I get to participate in my special interests.

But this makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and I’m tired of them making that my problem. Having a fascination with the dead, doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to become a killer. I have so much respect for dead things, I ask the Earth before I pick it’s flowers, or use any of its resources. Because as a Witch, that is a part of my specific path and spirituality. But again, that does not help my case because a lot of people think witches like me are satanists who want to sacrifice babies and goats or some shit.

Some people may just say these are harmless jokes, or overexaggerations, and that nobody really means it when they say these things. But you don’t get to make that call. The person saying the offensive things doesn’t get to decide if it’s offensive or not. That’s like saying a white person gets to decide if black face is racist or not. These jokes propitiate harmful stereo types, and can be passed on to people who don’t know any better. And you can’t say that all autistic people won’t understand, because even if one of us isn’t “smart” enough to understand your words directly, it’s still effects us at the end of the day.

Over and over again we are othered and forgotten about. We’ve been plagued by the curse of being forced to exist in a world that was built for us. We’re made to feel unsafe, and risk our own health to make everyone else feel “comfortable” with our existence. I mean even the diagnostic criteria isn’t an accurate depiction of what autism acatully is. Instead of defining us by what we can do, and experience and change in the world, we’re defined by how much of a nuisance we’re are perceived to be on society.

Instead of saying stuff like “Autistic people have an amazing capacity for learning and retaining information about subjects they are passionate about.” It’s always “Autistic people can’t hold conversations and obsess of silly things. They don’t know how to shut up about it, and it annoys me. Therefore they are being rude.”

So I bring us back around to our beloved Slashers. Do you guys realise how many of them are non verbal? I mean there’s Jason Voorhees, Micheal Myers, Bubba Sawyer, Thomas Hewitt…. That’s a trait that’s commonly seen as a bad thing to neurotypical people. Parents will cry about how their children “can’t communicate” with them, but they never stop to observe their child’s different ways of nonverbal communication. They assume just because they can’t talk or articulate themselves, they must be “stupid” or “slow” or “low functioning”, but that’s simply not true. A mute neurotypical person can’t talk, but they’re still smart. Their lives are still worth living and celebrating. But Autistic people aren’t afforded the same luxury, simply because nobody wants to put in the effort.

It doesn’t help that people often turn to Autism Speaks for all their neurodiverse questions. When that company literately spreads lies and misinformation. And tortures innocent children, simply because they are express themselves differently. ABA therapy is literally just forcing autistic people to fit into a allistic mould. It’s dangerous and harmful, an frankly disgusting.

Do you know how many parents I see how do nothing but complain about their children? Parents who genuinely believe they would be better off if they killed their children. Parents who’ve actually gone through with it, and some of which never get charged because “oh they were under a lot of stress, it was understandable.” I’m tired of society treating all disbaled people like we don’t matter. Like we’re nothing more than a sob story to get them sympathy points. I hate seeing parents film their children in their most vulnerable moments while they are having a meltdown for “educational” purpose. Especially if their child is unable to consent, it’s vile, and inexcusable.

There so many of us who try to help and educate, yet no one will actually listen to the marginalised groups about how to help us. The same way some white people will only care about racism, if another white person is calling them out on it. If a black personality dared to do that they are “rude” and “argumentative”. Or the way people are saying “Hellen Keller can’t be real; how could she communicate, I don’t believe it.” As if there aren’t thousands of Deaf/Blind people who exist to their day telling you how hurtful that sentiment is.

Do you guys know the first thing a person with a disability or chronic illness hears when they talk about their struggles? It’s always “you’re so brave” or “If I were you, I would kill myself.” Because we will always be viewed as a problem. We’ll never be defined by more than our “worst” traits. We ask people to call us “disable person” and they say “person with a disability” or “Differently abled” or autistic person” and they say “person with autism” because they literally have to remind themselves that we are also people. I can’t take off my disabilities, I can’t shove them in a little box for safe keeping. They are part of who I am, they are the building blocks designing how I have to live my life. My foundation may be a little unsteady, but that doesn’t mean you have to tear down my house right away. Let it’s fall on its own time, it doesn’t matter if it happens a little sooner then the rest of the houses on the block.

Autistic people are often quotes to have “no empathy” when really we just have a difference in empathy. Having more empathy doesn’t make you better than someone else. And having low empathy doesn’t make you a bad person. So it hurts my heart that in the media we consume, neurodivergent people often end up relating to the villain. Of course, most villains are also queer coded, but I’ll save that lecture for another time.

People seem to think when they hear the sentence “I relate to Micheal Myers” that I’m talking about finding joy in killing or hurting people. But they never stop to ask what I mean by that. They never sit and think “oh, maybe they relate to being mentally ill, and forced into getting help against their will, and not being understood.”

You guys do know we’re are supposed to be routing for Samuel Loomis in that movie right? He’s supposed to be the hero, the good guy, the man who stops the boogeyman. But we don’t, because we see that he’s also a horribly flawed human being. He treats his patients like shit, and some of his tactics are borderline criminal. He’s not better than Micheal, but he’s not the one with a “scary” mental illness.

Take Carrie white for instance. I think she is honestly one of the better examples of a Slasher who exhibits autistic traits. She takes things literally, has difficulty socialising and making friends. She doesn’t understand when she’s being bullied at first. Her own mother babies her, until she stops listening and being obedient. And what does her mother do? Try to fucking murder her own child because she’s “unruly” and “need to be punished.” Sure it’s an extreme example, but this happens to far more autistic people in real life than you’d think. Carrie was fine, until she was pushed yo the edge. She could have lived her whole life, happy and exploring her powers. Maybe even been a hero instead, but she wanted adored that luxury. Sue is the only one that really understood her, which is why she was spared. And she’s the only one who will ever know what a gem Carrie was before she was made to be a monster.

Norman Bates is also a really good example of an autistic person I think. Of course the more obvious diagnosis everyone focuses on is the Dissociative Identity Disorder (formally knows as Multiple Personality Disorder) (also how weird is it that there are two Freddie Highmore characters on this list, I think I could probably fit more in if I search other genres) But if you watched the show, instead of just the original movie, you get to see a lot more of his personality. You actually get to understand Norman as a person, before seeing him as the antagonist. He too has awkward speech, he gets upset by change, he doesn’t understand when someone is flirting with him. He feels his emotions very instantly, and does have violent outbursts during his meltdowns. But do they show us this to humanise him? No, they added it to his character because it’s entraining to watch mentally I’ll people get pushed to their limits. We are a spectacle to behold.

Dr Herbert West form the Reanimator series! Another genius level autistic intellect! He has a special interest in science and dead things. They could have made him a character who found the cure to cancer or HIV. But no, it was more entailing to make him a wanna be Frankenstein’s, and cross moral boundaries for his own gain. And if you asked anyone why he did it it’s “because he’s crazy” not “because he wanted to” They almost always blame the mental illness, not the person who has the illness.

It’s the reason Aaron Stampler gets away with his crimes in Primal Fear. He faked a mental illness so he would get put in a mental facility instead of rotting in jail. Instead of being “Aaron Stampler, the killer.” He’s “Aaron Stampler, the killer with multiple personalities!” Or Split, the movie that just antagonises DID for no reason whatsoever. There’s clearly a supernatural element in that movie with “The Beast” so why not make it’s a movie about possessions? I would have loved to watch a story where The Beast posses poor little Kevin’s body, and makes him do horrible things. But no, instead we stick with the trope that all people with DID are unpredictable and dangerous. And that they all have an “Evil alter”

I’ll never be ashamed of my love for the horror community again. Because I know my place, I know my moral standing, and I have done nothing wrong. If people want to assume my special interests or jobs or hobbies make me a bad person, then that’s their problem. I cannot force anyone to open up their ears and listen to me, but I also won’t stand idly by and watch as people who don’t know what they’re talking about, do harm to my communities. These are my people, and I love them, and will defend them with my last breath. We need to destigmatise mental illness, because too many people die each year because they are made to feel like villain, or like their lives aren’t worth living. And that’s not ok with me.

[majimassqueaktoy]

Just thinking. Trying to maybe write later...

[grey-gazania-fic]

The Lucky One

A young Nandorin woman is saved from death by Amras and taken in by his people. As the events of the First Age unfold, she must come to terms with the consequences of swearing her loyalty to the Sons of Fëanor. Find the whole Chosen Exile series here. This installment rated T.

FA 35

Linn was hunting with her brothers on the day she died. It was early autumn, and the sun kissed tops of the trees with gold as she walked on silent feet beneath the cool canopy of leaves. Overhead, squirrels busily gathered seeds, their chittering joined by the occasional cheep of a finch.

There were pheasants in abundance in this part of the forest, and Linn had three already in the rough sack slung over her back. Smoked and seasoned, the meat would help see them through the coming winter, and tonight they would share their bounty with their neighbors.

Perhaps the handsome Orn from across the river would join them. Perhaps he would ask Linn to sing.

She smiled to herself at the thought before turning her attention back to the forest. It was best not to lose focus. Dangerous things dwelt under the trees -- bears and wolves, and wild boars like the one that had killed her mother when Linn was just a child.

Bel, Aras, and Tor were spread out in a crescent ahead of her, but it was her sharp ears that picked out the sound of something following them. She whistled a three-note bird call, and her brothers froze in their tracks, each readying his bow.

“What is it?” Aras breathed in her ear once she had joined them.

“We’re being followed,” she murmured, her spine prickling uncomfortably.

Bel jerked his head toward the nearest tree and made the sign for climb, and Linn nodded. Dropping her sack beside the mossy trunk, she grabbed hold of the lowest branch and pulled herself upwards, careful not to snag her bow or quiver as she went. When she judged herself to be high enough, she stopped and peered out from between the leaves.

Her breath froze in her lungs. There was a pack of monsters behind them, moving low and quiet through the underbrush. Linn was young; she had never seen an orc. But she had heard the stories, and she knew what she was looking at. She whistled a warning, a shrike’s shrill shriek, and dropped to the ground to join her brothers as they ran. It was their only choice. They were outnumbered, armed only with light bows, but they knew the forest better than the orcs did. Hopefully they could lose them in the trees.

Linn had heard the stories. Orcs were vicious. Orcs were wicked. Orcs reveled in bloodshed and death. If orcs found you and you could neither kill them nor escape, you should pray that they killed you, because if they carried you north to the Iron Mountains you would become an orc yourself.

The stories didn’t mention that orcs were fast. The four elves ran and ran and ran, but the orcs were gaining on them. With each foot Linn and her brothers lost, escape slipped further and further away. As Bel and Aras ran ahead, Tor grabbed Linn by the arm, pulled her around behind the thick trunk of a tree, and boosted her up into the branches.

“Hide,” he hissed.

Linn climbed, her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Tor dash after their brothers. He’d almost reached them when he stumbled and fell to the ground with a pained cry. An arrow had struck him in the calf, and blood bloomed across his breeches, dark and wet.

Bel whirled around, an arrow of his own already nocked, and fired back at the orcs, striking their leader in the eye. It fell with a cry of its own, but its death only seemed to enrage the others. Even as Aras joined Bel in his attack, the orcs swarmed forward, trading their bows for heavy blades of iron.

Wounded, already grounded and vulnerable, Tor fell first, nearly hewn in two. Linn swallowed a scream and reached for her own bow, only to find that the string had snapped during her climb. She was unarmed. Her brothers were being slaughtered before her eyes, and she was unarmed and helpless to intervene.

Aras continued to fire, but his quiver was soon empty. He tossed his bow aside and threw himself at the orcs, only to be slain by the same blade that had killed Tor, his blood mingling with his brother's on the dull iron.

As she watched Bel struggle with the creatures, Linn made a decision. She would not let her brother stand alone. She leapt from the branches, landing squarely on one of the orcs. With a desperate grab, she wrested its dagger from the sheath at its waist and plunged the knife into its back.

It stumbled and dropped its sword, but quickly regained its footing and turned on her with a growl, knocking the knife from her hand and forcing her to the ground. She screamed and clawed at its face, but it only laughed. Then it grabbed her by the wrists, pinned her arms, and sank its teeth into her throat.

She struggled, but the creature was holding her tight enough to bruise, too tightly for her to escape. Again and again and again it tore at her flesh, ripping her neck to shreds. She soon went limp beneath it, choking on her own blood as she gasped for breath.

The leaves above her wavered and blurred. She could feel the earth shake beneath her, thump thuh-thump thuh-thump, but she didn't recognize the hoofbeats for what they were until a man charged past her on a horse, firing at the orc as he went.

The monster abandoned its attack on her and plucked the arrow from its arm, but before it could finish rising to its feet, a second man appeared, russet-haired, with eyes that shone like stars. He swung his sword and removed the creature's head with one blow.

Dropping to the ground beside Linn, he pressed his hands over her bloody throat. His lips moved, but she couldn't hear what he said. She couldn't hear anything at all. The world grew dim around her, until all she could see was the stranger's shining eyes.

Soon, the darkness swallowed even that.

continue reading on AO3

[inkovert]

I'm thinking of starting a "what do you want people to know about _____" ask series (? game?). To help with doing research about experiences real people go through via real accounts rather than whatever tidbits I stumble upon on google or reddit.

An example would be: what do you want people to know about figuring out you're bi? (this is a rather mild example...some of the ones I will ask about will be a little more intense and will be tagged with appropriate tws) and you can pop into my inbox (anonymously ofc, or not if you feel comfortable) and share an answer from your personal experience.

Would people be interested in participating in this? Like this post if so.