“Don’t Let Your Disorder Define You”

Aspie supremacists: autistic people are actually smarter than allistic people.

My friend: *helps me remove the handle of my cane from my mouth after it got stuck*

years later House is still as relevant as he ever was

nonverbal / nonspeaking ppl, what you sound like inside head (internal voice)? like when talk to self inside head

[nonverbal nonspeaking as in full time experience not episode or “go __”]

try include as much option as can think of but am sure missed some… feel free tell me / elaborate in comments / reblog / tags >:)

Yeah, Cass is a completely different issue. Young Justice seems to have a racism issue (and a quarter billion other issues,) and how they changed Cassandra's storyline is a good example of that. Excellent points

(Cass will also get her own post, by the way)

I love the Young Justice Barbara Gordon

[Plain text: I love the Young Justice Barbara Gordon.]

(Keep in mind that I am not paraplegic, just a nerd)

I was never the biggest fan of the original Killing Joke storyline (and I will fight people on this,) but I think Young Justice managed to turn it into a plot that wasn't actually bad. In fact, they did a lot of things really well.

The original storyline, The Killing Joke, gave Barbara Gordon waist-down paralysis after the Joker shot her. The problem with that is that he shot her in the stomach at an extremely close range, the muzzle of the gun literally pressed to the middle of her stomach. At that close a range, depending on the gun and bullet, he probably shattered half of her spinal cord, if not more. The thing about shatter injuries to the spinal cord is that they cause more complications in upper-body mobility than other spinal injuries. If a significant portion of her spinal cord was shattered, Barbara wouldn't be as good as she is at fighting. The damage would cause problems in the rest of her body. And then, of course, everyone is grieving for her and so sad that she'll never walk again and have to retire and I'm pretty sure Batman does something drastic? And that's... really not a plot non-disabled writers should go for.

However, in Young Justice, it's completely different. Barbara saw Cassandra Cain, who was unidentifiable but very small so obviously a young child, going after Joker with a sword, so she chose to get between the child and her target to prevent Cass from doing something that could never be taken back. She took the slash, which hit her lower back, just above her tailbone, so that it didn't go to Joker's neck. And the other characters handled it well. Nightwing was a bit panicked, of course, but that's because Barabara had a severe injury that was life-threatening. Batman, knowing that Nightwing had called for a medical evacuation and that he was handling first aid, took the sword from a terrified Cassandra ever so gently, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Cassandra was horrified, of course, but it was because she'd just hurt someone who wasn't her target severely, not because Barbara was now disabled. And then Barbara tells her that she didn't do it to save Joker, she did it to save Cass. And Cass is horrified and probably hates herself in the moment, sure, but that memory later becomes something that strengthens her. Cass gets kidnapped in that episode and remembering that during her captivity helps her. It's a memory of the woman who would later become her older sister and one of her best friends. She knows that Barbara, the woman who has done so much for her, will help her. She won't rest until Cassandra is safe, even if it means coming after her herself.

I also really like how the plot handled this. Number one, we don't know off the bat why Barb is paralyzed, it doesn't come up until it's relevant, she's just paralyzed. And when it does come up, it's not a tragedy, it's Barbara risking her life to save the soul of a child who didn't understand the moral consequences of what she was about to do. She chose to do that and she would do it again. That's a really interesting way of subverting the exhausted "disabled by an accident" trope, because yes, it was an accident on Cass's part, but Barbara knew she was probably going to get badly hurt. It's similar to a character running into a burning building to save someone else. They accept the potential consequences because they couldn't live with themselves if they didn't help. She took the risk, she knew what could happen, which is so much better than her having no choice and being shot. It's far less tired an idea and a very interesting spin that I quite like.

Going back to the injury, let's get in-depth about that. I mentioned how a shatter would impact her upper body, too. But the way she was injured in Young Justice, which was probably severing the connection between two very low vertebrae or possibly cutting a vertebra itself if Cass put enough force behind it, makes sense. It wouldn't have as much a major impact on her upper body, so it makes sense that she can throw the person who snuck up on her like it's easy. Barbara can be an excellent hand-to-hand fighter and it's not unexplainable. We don't see her exercising in her chair, likely because she has the wrong chair for both exercising and her disability (she has a hospital-type wheelchair instead of a lightweight chair, which is, I think, just poor research,) but she clearly still does because she's still extremely good.

Also, I like how there's no cure plot. The show might still be ongoing so I don't know if that'll last, but for now, she hasn't been cured and shows no desire to be. The comics would occasionally have her paralysis cured and thank the gods they didn't go with that, even with a character (we won't get into the absolute disaster of Violet Harper here) who could, in theory, heal her, and I love that. For some reason writers are afraid of keeping their disabled characters disabled, so I'm surprised and glad they didn't take the easy out.

Finally, I love that Oracle is still able to do field work with special equipment. Does she go onto the actual field herself? No, not really. But she uses small drones and other things to help out, such as the tiny drone that gave Cass a lock pick or her hacking into systems to protect her allies from security measures. Babs doesn't need to stop being a superhero because she's disabled but also doesn't suddenly use a mech or something, she just finds ways to work with her new circumstances to keep doing what she wants to do, just in a different way. She's still a massive threat to her enemies, just in a different way, utilizing talents she already had (Barbara is extremely intelligent and very creative) to continue to help people.

TL;DR, I really, really like how Young Justice handled Barbara Gordon. If we must have more characters disabled in accidents, this is a very good way to do that.

boy it would be nice to be able to google something related to personality disorders, psychosis, intellectual disabilities, autism, DID/OSDD, etcetera without finding majority articles that are like “how to deal with a person with X” “how to cope with your child with X” “how to spot someone faking X” “can people with X be cured?”

“No Offense, But If You’re Blind How do You Read, Type, Write, or Do Anything Online?” A Resource Post For Your Everyday Ableism

This is a question blind people get almost every time they go online, use phones, write, etc. Sometimes the questions are genuine and gently curious. More often than not they hold assumptions meant to mock, to silence, or even to justify harassment. Often, this is a way to accuse blind people of faking.

While there are bigger issues within the system, this kind of ableism perpetuated by individuals can be harmful and often makes the bigger issues worse or renders them invisible to the general public. For example, assumptions like the ones hidden in the question in the title are what keep blind people from employment. This kind of ableism can be used to justify physical violence.

While we may feel like we can’t fix systemic issues, the best things the average person can do is educate ourselves and change our behavior. This is true for ableism. If you ask the questions I list above, you are dealing with ableism.

Yes, even if that is not your intent.

Why Are These Questions So Bad?

To read more about how ableism harms blind people, check out this post about myths.

If You Really Want to Know How Blind People Do Things

Here is this post where I answer your common questions.

Here is a post about making content accessible for blind people. You will find information there about how blind people use online, print, Braille, and audio content. Link here.

Here is a post about how people write in Braille.

If You Want to Know And Don’t Have Time to Read Long Posts

You are online now. You should have access to a search engine. Put in some work. You can also search on YouTube if you like videos or audio.

If It Was Just a Joke

I have a post for that as well.

If You Are Wondering Who You Can Ask, When, and How to Ask in a Way That Isn’t Ableist

First, do your own research. This will remove the assumptions from most questions you have. People are also more willing to answer questions they have not heard millions of times. Also, examine your reasons for asking. Do you want to know because you don’t want to look it up yourself or are you looking for ways you might best help your student or a co-worker?

Second, accept no as an answer. Note that some people are perfectly fine answering questions in person, but some are not. Also, online questions can get overwhelming and frustrating, mostly because people are able to research before asking and choose not to.

Most people are happy to answer questions from children.

Third, consider going to people open to doing the work. Pay them if possible. That includes people writing books, consulting, doing presentations, or even blogs like mine that are specifically dedicated to answering questions. The difference is that we are prepared to do this and can do so when we choose. You aren’t stopping us when we’re in the check-out line or on a date. At least I hope not.

Fourth, listen to what that person says.

If You Want to Support Blind People

If you engaged in this before, change your behavior. Inform your friends and family. Support blind people. You can do so financially by donating a nonprofit helping blind people such as the ones listed on my blog. You can also buy things from this list of businesses.

“Imagine having a child that refuses to hug you or even look you in the eyes”

Imagine being shamed, as a child, for not showing affection in a way that is unnatural or even painful for you. Imagine being forced, as a child, to show affection in a way that is unnatural or even painful for you. Imagine being told, as a child, that your ways of expressing affection weren’t good enough. Imagine being taught, as a child, to associate physical affection with pain and coercion.

Hi there! Can you give any advice on how to write someone becoming disabled through a traumatic injury? The Transition phase particularly, the emotional aspect and things to consider and pay attention to? I've been disabled since birth so my journey is completely different to the one my character will have. And while I went through transition phases too they were never going from being abled to disabled but from my condition worsening over the years. I've done research but I figured maybe you have a mod who'd be willing to share some thoughts on this? Thanks!

Hi, you might find this and this post by Mod Faelan useful! You can also check out our #acquired disability tag :-) (smile emoji)!

Mod Sasza

Being disabled has made me notice all of the ways the world is failing in accessibility. I’m fortunate that I can now open doors with my arms/hands, but do you know how many times I look around and there is no wheelchair access button on public doorways? Or how many times the button is broken? Or how there is no place to sit in a store, or the chairs were recently removed when I planned on using them to rest? Not to mention the uneven sidewalks, or aisles that are too narrow, or whatever else? People really do forget disabled people exist.

My sister’s blind dog loves fetch

(Source)