When People Comment They're Surprised I Didn't Cure A Character I Gave A Disability To By The End Of

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.

Do blind people turn or face whoever is talking? The comic im planning to make has a blind character and i wonder how much should i make her eyes and head move. If the blind character (lets call her A) is sitting beside her friend, B and then B starts talking, does A turn her face around to B? or does she keep facing forward? Judging by where a voice is coming from, is it possible for a blind person to have eye contact without seeing where the other person's eye is? Or can a blind person only roughly guess where the other's person eyes could be? Im sorry if this is worded weirdly. english isn't my first language lol.

Yes, Blind People’s Eyes Move

This post discusses ableism briefly, centering on social issues for blind people around eye contact.

Your English is fine. Don’t worry. Thank you for this helpful question.

Blindness is a spectrum ranging from low vision to total blindness. That could play a role in how much eye contact blind characters make. Personal preferences and culture are other factors.

Generally, blind people face the direction of the other person unless it is uncomfortable or impractical to do so. They may be more relaxed about it around friends, though this depends on the person. Blind people also try to face someone when conversing so they can hear each other better, but how this is done might depend on the setting. So, yeah, I would suggest drawing blind characters facing the person they talk to, for the most part. This could mean turning their head or their body at some points in the conversation or the entire time. It doesn’t need to be all or nothing.

As for eyes moving, I actually encourage writers and artists to include blind characters with eyes that move. This is because it normalizes the idea that our eyes move. Sometimes they move even more than sighted people’s eyes do, depending on the condition the person has, as well as light perception or any other remaining vision.

Blind people are sometimes accused of faking when our eyes move or when we make eye contact (or look toward cameras in videos).

I remember learning that the animators of Avatar: the Last Airbender tried hard not to make Toph’s eyes move. While I can understand the thought process behind this, her eyes would move even if she is completely blind. She could make voluntary eye movements and may even have involuntary eye movements, as I mentioned, depending on her eye conditions. Overall, I would have liked a show that normalized Toph’s eye movements and perhaps even commented on it plainly for the benefit of children in the audience. While it is a subtle detail, especially considering Toph’s already groundbreaking character, I think it would have introduced many children to this idea at once and in a fun way.

Draw blind characters with eyes that move, please.

On the subject of making eye contact: it depends.

Many people can make approximate eye contact using the sound of someone voice or remaining vision. In some cultures or situations, blind people could be punished socially for lack of eye contact, or viewed as distant or rude. However, some people may not care about eye contact at all; not every person who isn’t blind cares about eye contact either. Some people find it offensive or off-putting. Again, it depends.

A blind person may be able to get away with lack of eye contact if they use a white cane and disclose their blindness upfront. Even then, this does not guarantee the person they are talking to will be okay with it or understand why the person isn’t making eye contact. This is especially true for people with low vision who don’t use white canes daily. You could probably play around with that in fiction. Depending on the culture of the characters, the setting, level of closeness, and their individual feelings on eye contact, a blind character’s level of eye contact may change. This could be an interesting way to show relationships between characters, so I encourage you to have fun with it.

If you have more than one blind character, it may also be cool to show different thoughts on eye contact.

I hope this helps.

This has been cross-posted on WordPress.

Kleptomania moment when you steal a thing and right after you go "Fuck! I don't need this! What do I do with this??" And then you argue the logistics of giving it back.

And then you take it home and live with the fact that you stole something you'll never use. Again.

I want to see representation for pyromania that's not just crazy guy set chairs on fire and went to jail

I want to see the actual symptoms

I want to see a kid grow up with a clear affinity for fire

I want to see someone staring at fire and flames while the others are talking

I want to see someone use flames as a way to calm down

I wanna see someone use fire as a way to cheer up and feel better

I wanna see someone play with a lighter like those characters who play with a coin as they idle

I wanna see someone who has lots of candles, like a hoard of candles, a collection of lighters and matches etc

I wanna see someone struggle with impulses and handling repercussions

I wanna see someone burn edges of notebooks without a reason for doing so other than liking it

I wanna see someone who burns their hair clippings instead of throwing them away especially if it was an impulsive haircut

I wanna see someone have a lighter at the ready and never for cigs

I wanna see actual day to day pyromania symptoms in a character and not have them be some defining character trait nor a main antagonist or 'insane trouble maker' trope.

what i need narc abuse believers to realize when we say "narc/npd abuse doesn't exist" is that we are not saying:

your abuse wasn't real or valid

pwNPD are never abusive

pwNPD are perfect angels who can do no wrong, ever

you're a liar

you're lying about your abuse

there is a 0% chance your abuser had npd

abuse isn't real

abuse doesn't happen, ever

you're an abuser

you are, without a doubt, not disabled, and also one hundred percent ableist and sanist

we are saying, though:

narc abuse itself, as a concept, does not exist

narcissists do not perpetuate any type of abuse that egotypicals can't

your abuse and trauma wasn't narcissistic abuse but rather emotional or psychological abuse

narc abuse itself, as a concept, has harmed pwNPD and their relationships

narc abuse has ruined any chance of finding actually good resources

narc abuse itself, as a concept, has been used to abuse narcissists

narc abuse itself, as a concept, is named after a mental disorder, which is inherently sanist and ableist

you have ableist and sanist biases that you do need to check, regardless of if you're intentionally or actively trying to harm people or not

Some of y'all be like "Oh yeah I support Cluster B" until they:

Have debilitating cognitive problems

Are depressed

Have emotions that aren't aesthetically pleasing

Don't know healthy coping mechanisms

Have a different view of social norms

Struggle with relationships

Do actions that for you are "obviously purposefully evil"

Explain the thought process behind their actions, not excuse them

Have trauma that just by existing doesn't invalidate yours but somehow that thought scares you

It's almost like you don't support Cluster B, hm.

Basic Respect for Cane Users

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION]

Pic 1: A title card that says ‘basic respect for cane users’.

Pic 2: Not all cane users are: physically weak, slow, elderly. Some cane users can: run, lift heavy things, ride bikes, skateboards, etc. Cane users are not all the same.

Pic 3: Do: move out of the way for someone using a cane, give your seat to a cane user on public transport, offer to carry something for your friend or co worker with a cane, ask cane users what their access needs are, treat cane users with respect. Remember that not everyone with a physical disability uses a mobility aid.

Pic 4: DON’T: touch cane users without their explicit permission, make assumptions about whether someone 'really’ needs their cane, give unwanted advice about someones disability, make a cane user feel bad or like they’re an embarassment. Remember: people might not use their cane full-time, you can’t know if someone is faking.

Please share!

Lets try this again.

Kiku is trying to crowdfund to get a nimbo posterior walker because Kiku's current mobility aids aren't meeting Kiku's needs.

Kiku is try to raise enough to get the walker, a seat harness, and a tablet mount for Kiku's talker.

The walker is $322.64, the seat harness is $94.50, and the tablet mount is 37.04.

Kiku's goal is $510 to cover taxes and fees.

$0/$510

Cash App

Pay $nonspeakingkiku on Cash App

Instantly exchange money for free on Cash App

My sister’s blind dog loves fetch

(Source)

sure there’s a ramp, but is it steep? is there a curb at the top? is the ground uneven? do i need a key for the elevator? are the aisles and doorways wide enough? do i have room to turn? is there furniture and clutter in my way? is the carpet difficult to wheel on? can i open the doors myself?

accessibility to wheelchairs is more than just a ramp.